Street Fight Daily: Google Home Enables Retail Purchases, IBM and Visa Partner for IoT Payments

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Google Home Can Now Buy You Stuff from Over 50 U.S. Retailers (VentureBeat)
Google Home owners can now use their smart speaker to shop for goods from about 50 retailers across the United States, such as Costco and Toys “R” Us. Participating Google Express retailers range from big names like Walgreens and Petsmart to many small businesses with only a few locations.

Openings and New Hires at Lyft, DAC Group, and Placed (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Navads, Brandify and Foursquare.

Visa, IBM Team for Consumer Payments through IoT Devices (MediaPost)
IBM and Visa are now teaming so that those payments can be made through any IoT device. The idea is to tie the two companies’ services together, so that payments can be made by any smart or connected device, such as a smartwatch, appliance or a car.

Street Culture: Sitter.me Puts Company Culture of Trust and Respect First (Street Fight)
“The culture starts at the top and stays with the top and there is nothing more important than leading by example in that respect,” says CEO Kristen Stiles. Her company, Sitter.me, connects parents with local babysitters.

Facebook Isn’t Going After LinkedIn, It’s Chasing a Much Bigger Jobs Market (Quartz)
Alison Griswold: When it comes to matching employers with job seekers, Facebook has a much bigger space to play in. Facebook’s users include LinkedIn’s “thought leaders” and white-collar professionals, but they’re also people seeking hourly positions and part-time work.

How Do People Use Voice Assistants on Smartphones? (eMarketer)
HigherVisibility found that different generations of smartphone users used virtual assistants for different reasons. Millennials, for example, were most likely to manage alarms, play music, play audiobooks and search for movie times.

After Apps Won Round One, How Will Mobile Be Monetized? (AdExchanger)
Eric Berry: Apps have primacy through home screen placement, offline behaviors, and access to operating systems. Mobile web, meanwhile, is largely a poor experience with slow page loads and ads that move or obscure content. This compounded the advantages of apps and their relative share of engagement.

Why Snap Would Lowball Its Valuation (TechCrunch)
Matthew Lynley: The short answer for why Snap lowballed its initial valuation for its initial public offering is that it probably won’t be that low for long.

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