VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Pope Francis urged Catholics on Wednesday to avoid using smartphones and other technological devices at the dinner table. Mashable reported that Pope Francis told the audiences at the St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to set aside technology when eating meals and talk face-to-face to encourage togetherness and connection, which is very important for a family.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Thursday a proposal that would prohibit smoking in public homes nationwide. According to The New York Times, the proposed federal rule would affect 1.2 million public households and would mark the latest move to minimize unwanted exposure to secondhand smoke.

Microsoft teams up with Brooklyn-based start-up ConsensYs and launched Tuesday a cloud-based blockchain platform that lets financial firms experiment on bitcoin in a cheap and easy manner.

Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev NV, maker of the world's most famous beer has achieved a formal agreement to buy SABMiller PLC in a $106 billion deal. However, the deal will face a long process to pass regulatory approval in countries like from U.S., to India and China.

Dr. Ben Carson gave a bold tax proposal during the recent Republican debates, calling to eliminate all itemized tax code deductions, including mortgage and charitable deductions.

One of the US fastest growing fast food chains, Shake Shack announces that the company will increase its menu prices again by 2016. The announcement was made by the company's CEO, Rany Garutti to investors citing that it is preparing for a minimum wage hike by next year.

Chipotle Mexican Grill re-open their 43 restaurant who was closed down due to E.coli outbreak since earlier this month. After health officials in Oregon and Washington State did not find E.coli in the sample taken from the restaurants.

Apple is planning to make sure its iPhone users to continue using the company's latest payment service, Apple Wallet through the use of peer-to-peer payment service.

Swiss-based startup BestMile announced that it will begin on-road commercial trials of its autonomous bus system next year. The on-road trial will run for two years to test how well the vehicles operate in real-life traffic.

After enjoying successful services in several Asian countries, GrabTaxi introduced a carpooling service in Singapore. The service is available for testing on Wednesday in the country. Drivers participating in GrabHitch must provide elligible document and verification checks.

USDA monthly outlook reported that soybean crops are expected to reach a record high harvest in six years, thus lowering the price in CBOT. Two other U.S. major crops, corn and wheat also estimated to produce higher than expected result.

Walmart's labor activists have sent a petition demanding the company to give 10% employee discount in all food at all times of the year, following to successful effort to raise wages.

Microsoft's convertible laptop, Microsoft Surface Book, has six months delay on its launching in the U.K. While its pre-order in the U.S. has been available since Oct. 26, the device will not be available in the U.K. until March or April 2016.

Reacting to concerns over Chinese dumping, the world's second-largest economy has slapped a notice on complaints with World Trade Organization (WTO) that such baseless concerns about its cheaper exports should need to meet higher standards from December 2016.

Goldman Sachs sold 1.3 million shares from Valeant on Thursday, which the pharmaceuticals company was holding as collateral for its CEO, Michael Pearson.