DATA: General Motors Co. and Lyft Inc. will begin testing a fleet of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis on public roads within a year, a move central to the companies’ joint efforts to challenge Silicon Valley giants in the battle to reshape the auto industry.

DATA: Most merchants measure ecommerce success by revenue. Shopify’s dashboard notes tell me my website is in the top five percent of those launched in the last 12 months. But I don’t know if Shopify runs this message to sustain retailer confidence in its platform, or if my achievement is based on revenue growth.

MEDIA: Exclusive: Bisnow, a bootstrapped trade publication, just sold for $50 million. Started in 2005 by Mark Bisnow and his son Elliott, Bisnow produces newsletters, a website, and local events all focused on the commercial real estate market. The company, which never raised outside capital, makes most of its revenue on sponsorships and tickets to the 300 events it organizes annually.

BRAND: There are many tools out there to help challenger brands monitor social platforms for mentions of their brand name as well as key industry terms, including Google Alerts, Icerocket (a blog searching tool), as well as SocialMention and Topsy that both measure social media mentions. Once you are alerted to negative comments, the issue now becomes, how can you quickly formulate an appropriate response to avoid further escalation?

BRAND:This week, Adidas finally waved the white flag. It will seek a buyer for TaylorMade as well as for Adams, a club-maker, and Ashworth, an apparel line. It will hold on to Adidas Golf, its own division of golf apparel and shoes, and thus presumably retain active endorsement deals with Adidas-sponsored golfers.

ECOMMERCE: The Olympics are inspiring. During the games, consumers worldwide will watch some of this generation’s greatest athletes compete in events ranging from swimming and hurdling to Taekwondo and table tennis. Media consumption, television viewing habits, and even shopping behavior will change. What follows are four possible ecommerce marketing plans that honor the Olympics and may help your business connect with Olympic fans.

MEDIA: Live streaming via Facebook Live was opened to all verified brands at the end of 2015. Since then, many brands have got involved, not just broadcasters (such as the BBC, who trialled the tool as early as October of last year). Facebook's F8 conference revealed that APIs will be made available, allowing the integration of Live into third-party apps.

BRANDS: Brands including Benefit and Pampers are tapping the 3-month-old reactions to inform ad campaigns, using them as proxies for emotions. This can be used not just to gauge the success of brand campaigns but also to develop strategies for new efforts by figuring out what terms and themes resonate.