If you're not on the iPhone bandwagon and aren't impressed by the Samsung lineup, fret not — there may be a better option for you yet. The Google Pixel lineup has emerged as a very real contender for the best smartphone you can buy.

Although Google recently introduced the budget-friendly Pixel 3a and 3a XL smartphones for $400 and $480 respectively, many Android fans are eagerly awaiting the launch of its high-end Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones.

The Pixel 4 and 4 XL are slated to be released later this year, and there are plenty of rumors circulating about when we can expect these two smartphones to hit the market, and how much they'll cost. We're keeping an eye on when Google may drop its newest devices, but here are our predictions.

When will the new Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL come out?

While there's no certainty around the Google Pixel 4's release date quite yet, we do know that it'll be sometime in the fall. If history is any indication, we can expect an announcement in early October, and an actual release a few weeks later. For example, the Pixel 3 was announced on October 9 and was subsequently available in stores on November 1. The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2XL followed a similar timeline as well.

The folks over at GottaBe Mobile have a hunch that the launch event will be the second Tuesday in October (October 8) and that the actual release in stores will follow in mid-October.

It seems as though Google wants to keep up with Apple and Samsung's design and technology ethos, so it looks like we'll have a new Pixel that has no bezels and edge-to-edge display. A Google patent also recently revealed a bezel-less phone with dual front-facing speakers, so this could be the design that we're in for.

9to5Google also reported that there will be a second camera in the back for better photography and that both the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL will feature the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, wireless charging, water-resistant properties, and alas, no headphone jack.

How much will the new Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL cost?

If the technology and design of the new Pixel phones are set to match that of Apple and Samsung, then we can only expect the price to also be on par. That means that the newest Pixel will be quite expensive, with experts suggesting a starting price of at least $799. The Pixel 4 XL, of course, will be even more expensive given its larger size, its additional cameras, and longer battery life — that model could start around $899.

For folks looking to tack on additional RAM and storage, prices will probably increase by another couple hundred dollars.

The good news, however, is that we can probably expect older generations of the Pixel to be discounted as a result of the new release.

Check back regularly, as we'll update this post when we know the official launch and release date of the 2019 Pixels.

Which Pixel phones are currently available to buy?

You can currently buy the high-end Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, which were released in 2018, or you can pick up the newly released budget-friendly Pixel 3a and 3a XL phones for a much lower price. The Pixel 3a series phones start at just $399 and $479, which is much cheaper than the $799 to $899 price tags of the flagship Pixel 3 and 3 XL.

We recommend going for the Pixel 3a or 3a XL if you prefer to save a bit of money. Those of you who want a flagship phone will want to wait for the Pixel 4 and 4 XL.

Check out the Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL on Amazon for $399 and $479 or the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL at Best Buy for $799 and $899.

Whether you need a pair of white pants or simply want to give your closet a spring refresh, you'll have all the clothing, bag, and jewelry sale choices you could possibly want this Memorial Day.

ALALA: 20% off sale styles through May 29 with code "POOLSIDE"

Amour Vert: 20% off sitewide from May 25 through May 27

Andrew Marc: Up to 60% off styles plus and extra 20% off sitewide with code " AMSTRIPES" through May 28

Athleta: 20% off swim through May 27

AUrate: 15% off orders under $250, 20% off orders between $250 and $750, and 25% off orders of $750+ with code " MAYDAY19" through May 27

Banana Republic: 40% off everything through May 28

Bandier: Extra 25% off sale styles through May 27

Ban.do: 25% off Summer Favorites + a gift with purchases of $50+ through May 28

Baublebar: New markdowns added to sale through May 27

BLANKNYC: 30% off sitewide through May 27

Chrome Industries: 25% off new styles + an extra 30% off sale items through May 27

Coach: Up to 50% off women's and men's items through May 27

Cole Haan: Extra 40% off sale styles with code " EXTRA40" through 6 a.m. May 30

DL1961: Extra 25% off sale items with code " KICKOFF25" from May 26 through May 27

eBags: 20% off sitewide from May 24 through May 25 + an extra 30% off from May 26 through May 27

EyeBuy Direct: 20% off frames and 30% off lenses with code "20AND30"

Frank and Oak: $35 off + no styling fee on your first box with code " GET35" through 9 a.m. May 28; 20% off sitewide with code " MEM20" through May 28

Fossil: extra 25% off on sale styles with code "READY25" through May 27

G-RO Luggage: Up to 40% off sitewide through May 27

Gaiam: 20% off sitewide with code " MEMORIAL20" on May 28

Gap: 40% off everything with code " READY" through May 28

Greats: 20% off sitewide with code " SUNNY20" through May 27

Happy Socks: 20% off sitewide + free shipping with code " MEMORIAL20" through May 27

Holly & Tanager: 20% off sitewide through May 27

Hush Puppies: 30% off select full-priced styles with code " SPLURGE" from May 26 through June 1

Keds: 25% off full-priced items through May 28

KidPik: 50% off whole box + free styling and shipping with code " MEMORIAL50" through May 28

Lively: Free Tangerine tote with purchase through 8:30 a.m. May 28

L.L.Bean: 20% off your purchase through May 28

Macy's: Up to an extra 20% off select departments with code " MEMDAY" through May 27

Manduka: Up to 50% off sale items through May 28

M.Gemi: 25% off the Before They Go section through May 27

Naadam: 15% off with some restrictions with code "SUNSOUT" through May 27

Nike: Extra 25% off sales styles with code " SAVE25" through May 29

Nisolo: 15% off select styles with code " SPRING15" through May 27

Nordstrom: Up to 50% off sitewide during the Half Yearly Sale through June 2

Old Navy: 50% off all tees, tanks, shorts, and swim through May 31

Pact Apparel: Through May 27, take 20% off sitewide, plus an extra 10% off orders of $100+

Paravel: 20% off sitewide through May 27

Primary: 50% off the Warehouse Sale through May 27

Rhone: 2 for $150 or 3 for $198 Delta Pique Polo Classic Collar Shirt through May 27 + free 2-day shipping on the polo bundles through May 24

Richer Poorer: Take an additional 20% off sale items with code " MEMORIAL20" through May 27

Rocksbox: Get your first month free through June 9

Soko: Extra 20% off all sale products through May 27

Solid & Striped: 20% off sitewide through May 27

Ted Baker: Up to 40% off select men's and women's lines through May 27

ThinkGeek: Extra 75% off Clearance items with promo code " DOORBUSTER" through May 27

Timbuk2: 25% off hardmarked items through May 30

True & Co: 20% off sitewide (some exclusions apply) through May 28

Vida: 25% off any order with code " 3DAYGETAWAY" through May 28

Zappos: Up to 50% off sitewide through May 27

Zenni: 20% off sitewide with code " TWENTY20" through May 27

Memorial Day weekend has historically been a slow one for the movie theater business, despite Disney's efforts.

Last year its standalone "Star Wars" movie, "Solo: A Star Wars Story," took in $103 million over the four-day holiday weekend. A major disappointment for a movie set in a galaxy far, far away. And before that, the studio had worse performers from the likes of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" (2017), "Alice Through the Looking Glass" (2016), and "Tomorrowland" (2015).

This year they slotted the live-action remake of "Aladdin" over the holiday and it seems Disney finally found itself a title that motivated people to take a break from pool parties and barbecues to go to the multiplex.

"Aladdin," a remake of the beloved 1992 Disney animated movie, took in an estimated $86.1 million over the weekend domestically, and by Monday's holiday will have a $105 million take. It was released on 4,476 screens, the widest ever for a Disney release over Memorial Day weekend.

Read more: How "Booksmart" went from a 2009 script collecting dust to this year's must-see movie of the summer

The $105 million four-day gross is the sixth-best opening ever over the holiday weekend, passing 2011's "The Hangover Part II" ($103.4 million).

It is also the third-best opening of the year, knocking off Universal's "Us" ($71.1 million). Disney now holds the top three domestic openings of the year, as "Aladdin" joins "Captain Marvel" ($153.4 million) and "Avengers: Endgame" ($357.1 million).

Audiences are certainly feeling differently about the movie than critics. The critical score on Rotten Tomatoes is a rotten 58%, however, it has a 93% audience score with over 6,300 of those being verified audience members. "Verified" is the new audience feature Rotten Tomatoes launched last week, which highlights how many people out of the audience score bought tickets to see the movie.

With "Aladdin" at the top of the domestic box office, that makes four out of the last five weeks a Disney title has been the number one movie since April 26. Previous to this, "Avengers: Endgame" was tops for three-straight weekends. Last week's win for "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum" is the only movie to take the gold from the house Mickey built.

But staying at the top won't be easy for "Aladdin" going forward. There's a lot of competition next week with Warner Bros.' "Godzilla: Kind of the Monsters," Paramount's Elton John biopic "Rocketman," and Universal's latest Blumhouse release "Ma."

Average demand expressions: 23,431,928

Description: "DOOM PATROL reimagines one of DC's most beloved groups of Super Heroes: Robotman aka Cliff Steele (BRENDAN FRASER), Negative Man aka Larry Trainor (MATT BOMER), Elasti-Woman aka Rita Farr (APRIL BOWLBY) and Crazy Jane (DIANE GUERRERO), led by modern-day mad scientist Niles Caulder aka The Chief (TIMOTHY DALTON). Each member of the Doom Patrol suffered a horrible accident that gave them superhuman abilities, but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found their purpose through The Chief, coming together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence. Following the mysterious disappearance of The Chief these reluctant heroes will find themselves in a place they never expected to be, called to action by none other than Cyborg (JOIVAN WADE), who comes to them with a mission hard to refuse. Part support group, part Super Hero team, the Doom Patrol is a band of superpowered freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them."

Rotten Tomatoes critic score (Season 1): 95%

What critics said: "DC's Doom Patrol isn't the first television show to bring about a team of unconventional heroes, but Doom Patrol places itself among the best of them." — Joseph Dominguez, Film Inquiry

The chair you sit on matters.

Sitting puts pressure on your body, and having insufficient support can lead to pain or poor posture, which puts stress on your shoulders, back, and neck.

After sitting uncomfortably in a standard office chair for too long, I decided to upgrade. But instead of just buying another office chair, I decided to look at gaming chairs instead.

PC gamers spend extraordinary amounts of time in front of a computer screen. They need supportive chairs so they can stay focused and perform at their best for long periods of time. I figured, if a chair can be good enough for them, it will definitely be good enough me, a regular computer user who spends a lot of time sitting in front of a desk.

I reached out to Secretlab— a company founded in 2014 by two competitive "Starcraft II" players — which was kind enough to send me one of their most popular chairs, the Omega, to use at home. The Omega retails starting at $360.

Here's why I'm never going back to a traditional office chair after spending time working in Secretlab's Omega chair.

Brands that sell their products online and directly to consumers — think Harry's for razors or Allbirds for shoes — have been able to establish major businesses because without physical stores or working with wholesale partners, they're able to deliver quality products at a reasonable price.

But as Public Goods CEO Morgan Hirsh told Business Insider in a recent interview, one major flaw in the direct-to-consumer model could be that over time, people will become tired of having to buy different products from different brands.

That's why in 2015 Hirsh co-founded Public Goods — an online marketplace of over 100 products (from paper towels, to toothpaste, to food products like pasta or apple sauce) all touting the Public Goods brand.

"Walmart essentially consolidated mainstream shopping and mom-and pop-shopping," Hirsh said. "Amazon's been a consolidation of e-commerce. And so, really what we need to do is be the consolidation of direct-to-consumer."

Hirsh — who previously ran a leather goods manufacturing company — said that soon after starting Public Goods, he worked with an advisor who had ten years experience at both Trader Joes and Whole Foods. From that key connection, Hirsh said he was able to establish relationships with top manufacturers who met his standards for quality and sustainability. Those manufacturers work with Hirsh and his team to develop new products, which are then packaged under the unified Public Goods brand.

Today, the Public Goods lineup includes personal care, household, and food categories, but over time, Hirsh says he plans to expand the offering even further.

Read more: Here are the pitch decks that helped hot startups raise millions

As for where Public Good's customers — who pay a $59 per year membership fee — are located, Hirsh says they aren't concentrated on the coastlines or in major cities across the US, but rather, they're more likely from secondary cities or suburbs. Many are moms looking for an easy, affordable, and eco-friendly options for their children, Hirsh tells us.

"It's not like your cool, New York City, San Francisco, LA brand," he said. "It's for practical people that want to buy healthy products, but don't want to pay ridiculous prices for them."

To date, Hirsh and his New York City-based team have raised $6 million from seed round investments to help fund their vision for creating the direct-to-consumer marketplace for everything.

But Public Goods isn't the only company to believe in this industry shift. One of its biggest competitors, Brandless, has raised almost $300 million to date.

Still, Hirsh remains confident that a value driven company and product lineup will attract a loyal following regardless of the competition.

"The idea has always been the same — to build a one-shop-stop for essential items that people need across categories guided by our values, and their values," Hirsh said. "We're building products that are healthy, sustainable, and beautiful, but all at a fair price."

Here's the pitch deck that has helped Public Goods raise millions:

Lissa Minkin's first project as VP of People and Workplace at hardware startup Tile was bound to make her an unpopular new face.

The task: quickly and respectfully let go of 30% of her new colleagues.

Following a disappointing holiday season, the company, which makes small devices customers can use to track lost items like keys, was scrambling financially. By the time Minkin joined from startup Addepar in January 2018, leadership had decided to cut 30% of its staff.

Minkin says that she was made aware during the interview process that the company was facing some challenging personnel decisions, but said she didn't realize the gravity of the situation until stepping in the door on her first day.

Read More: New Y Combinator President Geoff Ralston explains why he's so excited about investing in the youngest startups, and his philosophy for helping them to grow

"It was awful but I'm glad I was here because I can make sure we treat every single person with utmost respect," Minkin told Business Insider. "I've spent the rest of the time here trying to figure out how to retain the people who were left. We still had a viable business and excellent talent."

Winning back trust

So Minkin, a human resources industry veteran with experience at Facebook and eBay, set out on the gargantuan task of turning around the small company's culture to improve employee retention.

First, she said, she went on a listening tour of remaining employees to gauge sentiment and uncover where the problems persisted. She relied on over-communication and transparency, something she says is key to building trust within a workforce of any size.

"First and foremost I answered the Glassdoor reviews," Minkin said, referencing the popular career reviews site, where employees can leave feedback on management.

"We had some really awful [reviews] when I first got there because people were angry, so I went in and answered every single one. It was a lot of tough feedback for our CEO at the time, so I told him to get up and tell people, hey, 'I am taking it to heart.' I give him a ton of credit for that," she said.

Tile's popular trackers help you locate lost items using an app on your phone. Tile

Minkin also said she set up a weekly all-hands meeting with leadership so any employee could ask whatever was on their mind. Giving employees a regular forum in which to hear from executives and provide direct feedback helped cut down on gossip that tends to run rampant in an information vacuum, she said.

"Obviously I didn't have a ton of resources to work with, but I'm a scrappy person so I rolled up my sleeves and got to work," Minkin said. "It's not always about money, it's really about integrity and communication and transparency and truth and making sure people know where they stand. We wanted to make sure we care for these people, and that drives the business."

Reforming the culture

By September, then-CEO and cofounder Mike Farley stepped down and was replaced by board member CJ Prober, who left his job as COO at GoPro to become Tile's current CEO. Although Minkin won't name names, she said that a big factor in changing the culture at Tile to something more transparent and inclusive involved getting leadership on board with prioritizing the development of corporate culture and values.

"When I came in, the company was much more of a 'command and control' culture," Minkin said. "There was no transparency, no feedback, and it was very hierarchical. Over the past 16 months, we've made a concerted effort to change that. If you hire smart people, you should be honest with them and have them help solve problems."

Minkin told Business Insider that one of the biggest mistakes she's seen founders of high-growth startups make is deprioritizing culture and hoping that it will "figure itself out."

"You have to be deliberate about culture," Minkin said, "It has to be something you talk about at exec staff meetings. You can't just ignore it and expect it to be good. That's what I learned at Facebook. [CEO] Mark [Zuckerberg] and [COO] Sheryl [Sandberg] talked about culture every day and what was expected at the company and of us every day. The leadership team has to make it a priority as much as anything else the company does."

Unlike Uber, Lyft is focusing more on partnerships with other companies than in-house development of self-driving cars. On the day of its first quarter earnings, for example, it announced that Waymo self-driving minivans would be available in the Lyft app in certain Arizona locations.

"We have two pieces of our autonomous strategy," Co-founder John Zimmer told analysts and investors on the earnings call. "One is first party, which is our Level 5 group. We believe we're in a great position, given our platform, our access to data, and an amazing talented team to build our own self-driving components."

To date, the company has provided over 35,000 autonomous rides in Las Vegas as part of its partnership with Aptiv.

"Something that's important to note is that those investments that we're making today and our first-party system can benefit the existing business even before there's autonomous vehicles through mapping a better ETAs and therefore a higher utilization and efficiency in the marketplace," he continued.

"But we are agnostic to where this technology comes from. And so therefore we have a third-party part of our strategy, and Waymo is a phenomenal partner with leading AV technology. And so it's part of that two-pronged strategy, and it doesn't affect the other relationships that we have. And you can expect more developments on both sides of that strategy."

Read more: Lyft executive suggests drivers become mechanics after they're replaced by self-driving robo-taxis

Amazon's Prime member service has almost become synonymous with the company and comes with dozens of perks. I won't try to sell you a membership, but if you order from Amazon multiple times a month, a Prime membership will bring tons of value. There's certainly a reason more than 100 million people have invested in the service.

You can share an Amazon Prime membership with one other adult, and kids who share the account can access perks like Amazon Prime Instant Video. Amazon Family provides a 20% discount on diapers, baby food, and household items.

If you're a student, you can use an email ending in .edu to sign up for Amazon Prime Student. The service offers a six-month trial and costs $6.49 a month after that. People receiving Medicaid or EBT benefits are also eligible for a discounted Prime membership at $5.99 per month.

Hello!

Direct-to-consumer brands like Away, Brooklinen, and SmileDirectClub grew up on Google, Facebook, and Instagram, upending the retail business along the way. Now, they're starting to broaden their horizons.

"We found that digital platforms scaled well for our first few years, but we struggled to cut through the clutter and tell the story we wanted," Caroline Bank, associate director of marketing at ice-cream brand Halo Top, told my colleague Tanya Dua last month.

That presents a sizeable opportunity. As my colleague Lucia Moses reported this week, in the TV world, NBCUniversal and CBS are building teams to go after direct-to-consumer dollars. Comcast Ventures is even training startups like Away and Hippo to become TV advertisers, and says they're spending millions of dollars a year on TV.

(It could also be good news for other social-media platforms. Popular direct-to-consumer brands like Brooklinen, Curology, and MeUndies are flocking to Story Ads on Snapchat Discover, for example, as Instagram gets crowded and pricier.)

It's small fry right now, with DTC brands representing just 3% of TV advertising, though that's growing. But it's a rare bit of good news for the TV business, which faces competition for TV ad budgets from the likes of Roku, Hulu, and Amazon.

Separately, I'm excited to announce that Business Insider is hosting a finance event at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, June 10, from 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. IGNITION: Transforming Finance will feature top Wall Street executives and innovators who are disrupting from within.

Attendees will hear from the likes of Omer Ismail, the head of digital finance for the Americas at Goldman Sachs, Megan Brewer, head of the technology innovation office at Morgan Stanley, Huw Richards, the head of digital investment banking at JPMorgan, and more.

Interested in attending? Admission is free but space is limited. Please complete this form to be considered for our invitation list. And as always, you can contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any ideas or suggestions.

-- Matt

Quote of the week

"Every pitch, every presentation is primarily about telling a story and not about designing beautiful slides, necessarily." - Mitch Grasso, a Silicon Valley founder, on how to design the perfect pitch deck.

In conversation

Traveling back in time to the age of the dinosaurs is beyond the reach of science. But that doesn't stop photographer Christian Voigt from trying to re-animate creatures from the Mesozoic era through the lens of his camera.

Voigt has traveled to five natural history museums across Europe to photograph dinosaurs and other extinct animals' skeletons, producing a collection of images that depict these long-dead creatures in a new light.

"I sought to really bring these animals to life," Voigt told Business Insider, adding, "I have to remind people that these aren't Hollywood images, but rather real animals that lived millions of years ago."

But photographing museum specimens presents unique challenges for a photographer, since the skeletons cannot be shifted, posed, or removed from their display cases. Museums also restrict the use of additional lightning, so Voigt photographs the dinosaurs using only natural light and relies on a black back-drop to separate each animal from its neighbors.

"I can't touch them, or ask them to move a little to left, so I have to look for the best angle," he said.

Read More: The real T. rex looked nothing like the monster in 'Jurassic Park.' These 13 discoveries have upended our picture of the 'king of the dinosaurs.'

Voigt said he was inspired to work with dinosaur skeletons after a visit to the Natural History Museum in London some years ago. Seeing the displays made him want to photograph each specimen individually.

"It all started with wanting to bring these animals out of their glass boxes," he said. "In a museum, when you look at certain collections of animals and skeletons, they're always very packed together."

He said he sometimes spends an hour finding and capture a single, ideal shot. The resulting images reveal every groove, divot, and eye socket of the skeletal bodies of creatures like the triceratops, T. rex, and stegosaurus.

Here are 15 breath-taking images from Voigt's collection.

It's nearly impossible to run a successful retail business these days without some kind of online presence. And when it comes to selling wares online, small businesses have options.

Steve Wymer, eBay's chief communications officer and its head of global impact, highlighted the tools the e-commerce platform offers to independent sellers looking to move inventory online in a recent interview with Business Insider.

eBay provides guidance on things like inventory management, pricing, and discounting strategy to its tens of millions of sellers, many of whom have never sold things online before.

"What motivates a consumer to pull the trigger to buy something is a sophisticated science," Wymer said. "This is not something you guess at."

The company has made a series of partnerships with small business owners through its Retail Revival program, which has centered on specific cities including Lansing, Michigan; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Akron, Ohio. Small business owners selected for the program receive support from eBay to grow their customer base via the e-commerce marketplace, beyond whatever brick-and-mortar presence they might have.

eBay most recently announced it had selected Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as its next Retail Revival city.

"They can get, sort of, an e-commerce store in a box through eBay, where they can move those items and they don't have to pay for a content engine to drive traffic back to a site that they have to maintain," Wymer said.

He cited one example of a vintage store owner in Baton Rouge who told eBay: "I have a great website, I just don't sell anything on it."

Wymer also pointed out a major difference that sets eBay apart from at least one of its big rivals in the e-commerce space.

"We don't compete with our sellers, and we don't have our own inventory. We're a pure marketplace," Wymer said. "We succeed when our sellers succeed. Our whole goal is to help our sellers find the right buyers."

Steve Wymer is eBay's chief communications officer and head of global impact. Courtesy of Ebay

eBay has made this kind of comment before. It wrote in its first-quarter earnings release in April: "The company made measurable progress against protecting its unique advantage as a true marketplace in service of — not in competition with — sellers of all sizes, improving how people buy and sell on the platform."

While eBay does not mention any company by name, e-commerce observers might note that this could be seen as a subtle dig at Amazon, which has faced criticism for being both an operator of a third-party marketplace and a seller of its own goods.

Amazon has launched hundreds of private labels and exclusive brands in the last several years. Many of them, critics have pointed out, compete directly with third-party sellers on Amazon's own website.

Read more: Elizabeth Warren accuses Amazon of using a 'special information advantage' for 'anti-competitive' practices

Sen. Elizabeth Warren in March unveiled a plan to break up tech companies she says have gotten too big. In a blog post published to Medium, she specifically calls out Amazon:

Warren reiterated those criticisms in a town hall speech in April, to which Amazon responded in a statement to Business Insider:

Studies by third parties have borne this point out. A recent piece of analysis by Marketplace Pulse has suggested that Amazon's private labels have yet to take off with consumers.

In a survey of third-party Amazon sellers by Feedvisor, 68% said they had not been negatively affected by Amazon's private-label brands. Only 14% said they had been negatively affected, while 18% were unsure.

Amazon has also not shied away from throwing punches at eBay. In his annual letter to shareholders in April, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos compared the growth in merchandise sales of third-party sellers on eBay and on Amazon in the years from 1999 to 2018, concluding that independent sellers did "so much better selling on Amazon than they did on eBay."

"To put it bluntly: Third-party sellers are kicking our first party butt. Badly," Bezos wrote.

eBay said it has partnered with 300 small businesses through its Retail Revival program so far. The platform as a whole has 180 million active global buyers and 1.2 billion active listings.

The signs are all there. The tech and automotive industries are becoming increasingly intertwined. Brands such as Tesla are as much tech firm as they are a car company. It's not just Tesla. Mainstream mass-market brands are also fully on board with the tech revolution.

Read more: These are the 10 most useless features in cars.

Semi-autonomous drivers assistance tech such as adaptive cruise control are now commonplace on everything from $150,000 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans to entry-level Subaru Crosstrek crossovers. And there's the connectivity. For example, General Motors has made Wi-fi hotspot capability available across its entire lineup products from the Cadillac Escalade to the Chevrolet Corvette.

As a result, it far easier to find a new car that's packed to the hilt with tech than it is to find one that's without tech. But there are a few new cars out there for the technophobes among us.

Low tech offerings these days run the gamut from economy cars that provide basic no-frills daily transportation to bare-bones speed machines designed for lightweight performance.

Here's a closer look at 10 cars for people who don't like tech.

As CEOs go, Gerry Smith is not short of experience.

Since 2005, Smith has led Densify, an award-winning cloud computing company that has worked with the likes of Dell, HP, and IBM among others.

Before that, he served as CEO of Changepoint, a software company he founded in 1992, helping it raise more than $40 million in venture capital.

This week, Smith told Business Insider how he sold Changepoint for $100 million in 2004, four years after a fire at his family home prompted him to call off an IPO.

It was a defining moment in his career, in which he felt he made the right call. But Smith doesn't reflect on everything in his career so warmly. There is one thing, in particular, he wishes he had done more often — and it concerns his approach to recruitment.

'Hire slow and fire fast'

"Hire slow and fire fast," Smith says, distilling his experience into a handy motto.

He explains: "I need to hire people, and move people on, a little faster than I have done in the past. I need to look more earnestly and make sure I'm doing the best for the company by looking a little more deeply at the people I'm hiring. Sometimes, that's been a challenge."

Without naming names, there is one case that sticks in Smith's mind.

"Years ago, I had a gentleman who regularly came into my office," he says. "He would say 'so, do you think I should be the president and CEO, now, Gerry?'

"I finally came to make up my mind and I said 'if I made you president, then everyone who reported to you would quit. I can't have that.' I then let him go.

Smith admits he needs to be more cautious when recruiting. Densify

"After I [fired him], a whole bunch of people came into my office who said 'thank god you fired him; I was writing my resignation letter.'

"So the fact [I took a long time to fire him] comes from my innate looking for goodness in people. I believe that all people have good value. Sometimes, they may have good value, but not for the position I've hired them for."

Smith also admits his natural lack of caution can hinder his hiring decisions.

Read more: This tech CEO cancelled a lucrative IPO hours after his house caught fire. He later sold his firm for $100 million.

"Most companies seek out reasons not to do something," he says. "I don't suffer from that when sometimes I should. I'm a 'ready, fire, aim' person.

"Sometimes I need a little more aiming before I fire; a little more research; a little more of a systematic approach. I need to be more critical of business plans, and of my own ideas. I'm a glass-half-full type of guy; I'm so convincing at times that I convince myself."

'I don't want to go into a business meeting with someone and not want to chat to them'

This isn't to say that Smith doesn't do any background research, however. What's more, his tendency towards seeing the good in people doesn't mean he's prepared to work with just anyone.

"One thing I look for in new hires - and this is absolutely critical - is that I don't want to work with d******ds," he explains. "I don't want to go into a business meeting with someone and not want to chat to them.

"To gauge whether a prospective employee is a good person, I ask other people whether they'd happily follow [the prospective employee] and move to my company.

Smith with the Densify team. Densify

"I'm looking for words that suggest they're good to work with, that the other person enjoys their personality - it's important to me. I want to enjoy them as a person."

Sometimes, Smith adds, a focus on hiring good people can have unexpected knock-on effects.

"I recently hired a new chief resource officer for Densify," Smith says. "Within months, a whole bunch of people who had worked for him [followed him to Densify]."

"There's an example of someone who is clearly well-liked, because people were prepared to follow him.

"That doesn't mean I don't like people who challenge others, but learn how to challenge so you get the most out of the person you're challenging."