Bits Special Section: Online Reviews? Researchers Give Them a Low Rating

New York City Casts a Net to Catch the Next Big Start-Up
A nonprofit, Tech:NYC, aims to work with city, state and federal officials to help make New York more appealing to start-ups, big tech companies and venture firms.

Entrepreneurship: Selling Surfers on a New Way to Ride the Waves
Slyde, a handboard start-up, has tackled the added burden of inventing a market for a product and popularizing a sport.

Virtual Reality Lures Media Companies to a New Frontier
Condé Nast and Vice Media, among other companies, have used virtual reality for storytelling, and others are investing in the technology itself.

Start-Up Plans 3-D Visualizations of Pot Strains, Using Genetic Data
Phylos Bioscience is unveiling a marijuana guide called Galaxy, offering people a way to see how Sweet Island Skunk might be related to Humboldt OG.

‘Whole Foods Effect’: When Small Food Makers Get the Call to Go Big
Elation can quickly turn to fear as small companies must suddenly learn how to produce at larger volumes while maintaining quality and consistency.

General Mills and 7-Eleven Join the Venture Capital Crowd
Through the funds, companies scout for new products or services and business partners, but critics say the funds contribute to inflated valuations.

The Ethicist: Two Cents, Too Late
The sound-financial-advice edition.

The Money Issue: Want a Steady Income? There’s an App for That
A Silicon Valley start-up wants to put workers on an even keel.

Small Australian Software Firm Helps Join the Dots on Panama Papers
Software produced by a little-known Australian developer has helped journalists piece together news leads from the mountains of data found in the contents of the Panama Papers, one of the biggest document leaks in history.

As Minimum Wage Marches Toward $15, Small Businesses Adapt
In the aftermath of California and New York becoming the first states to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15, some small businesses with hourly workers are rethinking how they can absorb the increase.

U.S. Small Business Confidence Hits New Two-Year Low
U.S. small business confidence fell to a fresh two-year low in March amid persistent worries about sales and profits, the latest indication that economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter.

Fred Hayman, Whose Giorgio Boutique Led Gilding of Rodeo Drive, Dies at 90
Mr. Hayman realized a vision to transform Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles into a luxury shopping destination to rival New York’s Fifth Avenue.

San Francisco Joins the Growing World of Small Operas
Several large companies are finding aesthetic and economic advantages to sometimes going small.

‘Fintech’ Loses Some of Its Attraction for Investors
In recent years, money has poured into financial technology start-ups, but some have trouble keeping their lofty valuations when they go public.

Opinion: Congratulations! You’ve Been Fired
Life in the new tech workplace is suspiciously like life in the old sweatshop.

For Indian Start-Ups, Tenacity Beats High Tech
Venture capitalists looking to fund start-ups in India place more emphasis on execution than on intellectual property.

First Words: How ‘Empowerment’ Became Something for Women to Buy
The corporate vision of female strength profits from the same old power dynamics.

Milk Jumps Onto the Small-Batch Bandwagon
Dairies are starting to market their wares as handcrafted, local, premium — and pricey.

Entrepreneurship: Ride-Sharing Start-Ups Compete in ‘Uber for Children’ Niche
Heavily vetted services cater to the needs of working parents to get children where they need to be when their parents can’t, and even offer babysitting.

Wealth Matters: Borrowing Directly From the Wealthy Can Be a Lifeline for Some
A relatively new twist on peer-to-peer lending can give investors a remarkable return.

Books of The Times: Review: ‘Disrupted,’ a Tech Takedown by Dan Lyons, a.k.a. Fake Steve Jobs
The blogger behind “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs” lost his Newsweek job and tried a start-up. The result of his adventure: a coolly observant book.

Start-Ups Aim at Overlooked Demographic: The Unbanked
An organization called the Financial Solutions Lab teaches interested start-ups how to address the problems of low-income consumers.

Entrepreneurship: A Cocktail Shot Company Looks Beyond Beer Pong
LIQS uses premium spirits, real fruit juices and low sugar in its premixed cocktails, which come in sealed plastic shot glasses.

Drones Marshaled to Drop Lifesaving Supplies Over Rwandan Terrain
Zipline, based in California, raised $18 million and partnered with the small African country to shuttle packages of blood and emergency medicine.

AccorHotels of France Buys Onefinestay for $169 Million
The European hotel group is acquiring the British short-term vacation rental company just as concerns mount about the health of Europe’s tech scene.

Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Set Up Hands-On Incubator
The program, Expa Labs, will take a smaller-scale approach to helping start-ups grow from idea to prototype to marketable product.

Entrepreneurship: Pop-Up Stores Thrive in a World of Failing Retailers
The stores don’t sign long leases, stash away much cash or carry big credit lines. And consumers can meet the designers and touch their works, which cannot be done online.

In Alabama, New Life for the Onetime Sock Capital of the World
When the local industry collapsed, it was ‘like a vacuum cleaner pulled all the people out of town.’ But then Gina Locklear had an idea.

First Draft: Small-Business Lobbying Group Steps Into Supreme Court Fight
Senator Mitch McConnell has noted that Judge Merrick B. Garland is opposed by the National Federation of Independent Business and that the small-business lobbying group has never before inserted itself in a high-profile court fight.

Entrepreneurship: Regrouping After the Death of a Key Executive
The loss of a founder or another crucial figure means those leading a small business must make important decisions while still in shock and grief.

Stay or Go? Cuban Entrepreneurs Divided on Where to Stake Futures
While many leave for the United States, business owners opting to remain are creating an expanding class, optimistic despite serious challenges.

Wealth Matters: When It’s Time to Buy Out Partners, but Money Is Tight
When a founder’s money is tied up in the business, it can be challenging to get financing to buy out existing partners.

Wealth Matters: Protecting Your Business, and Your Bank Account, in Case Clients Don’t Pay
Credit insurance, also known as receivable insurance, can help smaller businesses withstand failed or severely late payments from customers.

You’ve Bought a Small Business. Now What?
A start-up sounds exciting, but the risks are great. Buying a successful business can help people become their own bosses with a bit of a safety net.

Fit City: With Black Ops Laser Tag, Going to War (and Off the iPad)
The game, as in an 8-year-old’s birthday party at Indoor Extreme Sports in Queens, gets players off the couch and on to a bloodless battlefield.

Entrepreneurship: A Lumber Executive Loses His Voice and Finds Balance
Kevin Hancock, chief executive of a lumber company in Maine, found his life changed when a vocal cord disorder cost him his normal speaking voice.

Entrepreneurship: Sugru, a Versatile Glue From Ireland, Gets Help From Web
After many hurdles in the downturn, an Irish entrepreneur used social media to drum up interest, and she expects sales to reach $60 million by 2020.

Prototype: Some Kids Sell Lemonade. He Starts a Chain.
A Colorado organization is teaching financial literacy to those under 22, and thousands have participated in its entrepreneurship programs.

Entrepreneurship: Getting YouTube Stars to Sell Your Product
FameBit is an online marketplace where brands and YouTube influencers can connect.

Stripe Atlas Aims to Ease the Way for Foreign Entrepreneurs
The e-commerce start-up’s new product could let small-business founders avoid some bureaucratic steps and end up incorporated in Delaware.

Entrepreneurship: An Effort to Give the Art, at Least, a Home
The start-up ArtLifting takes pieces created by homeless and disabled people, finds buyers and shares the proceeds with the artists.

The Choices That Led Small Business Owners to Wealth
Executives who have expanded their enterprises share the critical decisions they made that resulted in increased revenue and greater personal wealth.

Entrepreneurship: Florist-Friendly Marketplaces Help Local Flower Shops Hang On
National merchants like 1-800-Flowers and FTD.com take more than 25 percent of a sale, squeezing local florists. But start-ups are challenging that model.

Entrepreneurship: Restaurants Work Around Liquor Laws With Wine-Based Drinks
Restaurants and bars are serving up lower-alcohol substitutes to work around restrictive local laws or take advantage of their loopholes.

Chip Credit Cards Give Retailers Another Grievance Against Banks
A battle between retailers and the banking industry over credit card technology adds fuel to a feud over what merchants pay for the processing of credit and debit transactions.