Some experts think the time is right to test consumers’ appetite for same-day service. Others warn of a hidden danger lurking behind these ventures that could test the fabric of society itself.

This morning find out about Secura’s new real estate venture capital fund; the pros and cons of enterprise investing and whether the Holy Land has what it takes to build a life sciences cluster.

With your coffee this morning First Read brings you news that Blackstone may have to sacrifice fee revenue to win CalPERS pledge; BlackBerry 7 has been approved for Pentagon use; the anti-Facebook is getting bought and shut down and Amazon moves into high fashion.

Amazon has spent 24 months crushing brick-and-mortar competitors and driving the company’s share price through the roof. And they’ve gone and done it in a way that bankers hate to see–without much M&A.

David McClure has alluded rather vaguely during recent public appearances to a new fund at 500 Startups. Now we know for sure.

Capping off an afternoon where both TNT Express and Peyton Manning found new homes, Kiva Systems and its robotics technology makes it a Merger Monday.

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc shares fell to their lowest level since late March on Thursday on concern about sales growth during the online retailer’s crucial fourth quarter.

Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note from Wednesday that Amazon has typically bested overall online sales growth by 23 points.

comScore reported earlier this week that online holiday spending in the U.S. rose 15 percent to a record $35 billion from November 1 to December 26, versus the comparable period last year.

Can you name America’s largest startup? It’s not Facebook or Amazon or even Home Depot. It isn’t even a technology company. This little known giant is the Transportation Security Administration and its massive scale up offers a roadmap for entrepreneurs eager to turn big ideas into sustainable businesses. The secret isn’t just a clear mission [...]

Groupon is a lot things: ambitious, audacious. Tomorrow, it will be a public company, too. But investors should be very wary about assuming Groupon is the next Amazon. Despite the many times the analogy has been drawn, including by Groupon’s management and investment bankers, nothing could be further from the truth. A Bloomberg article published [...]

Will Amazon’s new Kindle Fire “kill” the iPad?

Naw.

That’s the question we asked you this week. Amazon, on Wednesday, set the world on fire when it unveiled its long-awaited tablet. The Kindle Fire will run on a unique version of Google’s Android operating system but it doesn’t have all the nifty stuff that comes with the iPad. For example, it doesn’t have a camera and there are no cellular options, no built-in GPS and no Bluetooth. The software options are minimal and, at 7-inches tall, it’s smaller than an iPad.

But at $199 it’s mighty cheap. The iPad, with all its nifty gadgets, starts out at $499. Because of this, some are claiming the new tablet will be an “iPad killer.”