Couch shopping just got a lot easier, according to Lorena Chatterjee, co-founder of Leap Commerce, a startup offering a shopping app called Best Decision. It’s available for iPhones and iPad, and a website will be launching soon. The app allows users to buy from a variety of stores and websites using just one shopping chart; already the app includes more than 100 million products. Of the hundreds of participating retailers, Chatterjee said users can access big names like Walmart, Best Buy, Macy’s and Nordstrom.… more

Everywhere you look there are deal websites popping up, but one new company is angling for something all together different: the cash economy. KokoChé is a smartphone mobile app that aims to serve communities and businesses that are excluded from bigger companies like Groupon and LivingSocial because they cater to people with credit cards, or do not have websites. The app is launching in East LA, Koreatown, Silverlake and Echo Park in California for Android, and for iPhone in the near future.… more

Pandora, the online music streaming service, keeps track of the number of Latinos who are using the platform, and as a result, the company is able to leverage that audience for specific sponsorships for advertisers. The company does an annual survey of its users in order to be able to leverage its users base. An interesting post in AdWeek points out that, although Pandora keeps track of this data, Spotify does not, and as a result Pandora has been more apt at leveraging its Latino audience.… more

Nuevo Labs is a Chicago-based business accelerator program trying to develop Latino entrepreneurial talent. Co-created by Patricia Martinez and Juan Hernández, applications for businesses and entrepreneurs open soon. Business accelerator programs such as Nuevo Labs provide a three-month intensive mentoring program for early-stage ventures. Business accelerators also create the opportunity for the investor community and local industry experts to interact with the startups in the program.… more

Regalii is a a hybrid Facebook-mobile app that allows users to send money to relatives in other countries for use at the stores where they shop. Essentially, you link the app to your Facebook profile, then select a dollar amount for a certain store and the recipient receives a code via SMS to redeem the gift card in the store. The app bills itself as a free form of remittance — money sent to Latin America from people here in the United States. Often these remittances are sent via services like Western Union, which have fees tacked onto the transaction.… more

A study in Research in Higher Education found that, “majoring in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) proves to be the most profitable for minority students, whether they actually pursue the STEM field professionally or not.” According to a story in The Huffington Post, the study followed over 1,000 Asian, Latino and black students for nine years, finding that:

Among the students surveyed, those who majored in STEM subjects earn at least 25 percent more than their peers who majored in humanities or educational fields, the study found.

… more

Beatriz Acevedo and partner Doug Greiff were often asked by clients to name a “destination on the web that had critical mass” for U.S. Hispanics. Neither had an answer. So the self-described “hardcore television oriented” duo set about crafting MiTú, a YouTube network catering to Latinos. Three months later, the site boasts more than a million subscribers and cultivates content from 180 channels in six categories. “As a bilingual Latina… it’s just hard to find a place to find a lot of what interests you.… more

A new study shows that, while Latino businesses — 20.7% of the total in Texas — are the fastest growing in the state, there are key factors that prevent them from expanding to beyond just a handful of employees. About 47% of these businesses have between one and four employees while 73% have less than 25. The study, by Bureau of Business Research Survey of Hispanic Businesses with Paid Employees in Texas, found that limited access to resources, information and trained employees were the top factors preventing this growth. … more

Agriculture and technology are things that don’t usually go together. However, Alon Salant and Rob Spiro at Good Eggs have found a way to bring organic local food and technology together in an innovative way. Eating healthy and organic food has been a bit of a craze recently, with people wanting to move away from factory-farm produced meat, and pesticide-doused plants. Local organic food has begun to appear on peoples’ radar again. Despite the benefits (and there are many) to organic food, it is not easy to shift to an organic diet.… more

A report from comScore found that Latinos continue to overindex in smartphone adoption compared to other groups. The study also found that Latinos are more likely to convert to customers in response to digital advertising, that movie and music consumption is higher among this group and are more “socially engaged” on the Internet. Among other things, this report shows why allowing for a fair mobile marketplace is of particular importance to Latinos. The report notes:

Hispanics continue to outpace non-Hispanics with the adoption of smartphones, an increase from 43% in 2010 to 57% in 2012 compared to an increase from 36% in 2010 to 46% in 2012 for non-Hispanics.

… more