Archive for August 2006
Business Fills An Itty-Bitty Niche
St. Petersburg Times: Last December, Cecilia Sayre went to a shower for a single mom who had recently adopted a child from China. Though she wanted to find a gift that held personal meaning and cultural relevance, she was stymied by the lack of selection. “Though Chinese pajamas are gorgeous, a person only wants so [...]
Craigslist: An entreprenuer in Texas is offering to scan family photo albums and place them on a DVD for safe keeping. He offers to organize the photos according to date or subject matter and only charges 25 cents per photo. Any one with a scanner and a computer with a CD or DVD burner could [...]
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Get Rich Slowly.
This week’s Carnival of Business is up at Consumerism Commentary.
Making Dough Selling to Fratboys
Unusual Businesses Ideas That Work:: Reading a business magazine in the doctor’s office inspired Joseph Tantillo to try his hand at online retailing. At the time, he and his wife were expecting their first child and wanted to work from home. An article about starting an online store jumped out at him, he recalls—and, as [...]
Only on eBayCan 34,000 Look at a 12 Cent Car
A rundown car described as the “biggest pile of crap on Ebay” finds fame on the Internet by generating 34,000 hits and selling for about $549. The surprising popularity of the entry prompted the owner to turn it into an event for charity.The owner is Jason McCluskey, 31, a chef from Portsmouth on the southern [...]
Skype For Mac Offically Released
Equinux today released MediaCentral 2.1, an update to the media solution for Mac OS X offering seamless Skype integration, as well as an active on-screen display with dynamic content. The software is designed to turn a Mac into a home theater system with support for numerous audio, video, IP TV, TV, IP radio, games, and [...]
e-Media Exchange a eBay Created Site
Nine advertisers have joined to create and test e-Media Exchange, an auction site created by eBay Inc., to buy advertising time on TV, the Wall Street Journal reported.Advertisers include large companies such as Toyota Motor, Wal-Mart Stores and Microsoft Corp. TV executives opposed the idea because online auction site may contribute to the decline of [...]
I read the other day that approximately 700,000 people in the United States make their living full-time by buying and selling stuff on eBay, the online auction site on which you can buy everything from a $259,000 Rolls Royce to $2 Tupperware. After the Columbia shuttle disaster in February 2003, chunks of the craft found [...]
Skype Eager To Release Mobile Phone Version
Skype is expected to announce a version of its service for Windows-based mobile phones as soon as this week in a move that reflects eBayâs eagerness to profit from Septemberâs multibillion-dollar purchase of the VoIP pioneer. For owners of dual-mode phones, a major benefit will be that they will be able to choose whether they [...]
What Every First Time Inventor Must Know
Inventors’ Digest: In honor of August being National Inventors’ Month, Inventors’ Digest magazine will unveil a compilation of its best and brightest articles from the past two decades, providing the first downloadable volume free of charge now and throughout August, to help novice inventors move from idea to product development success. The 20 volume series [...]
Feedback on eBay Worth its weight in gold
A good reputation at Ebay is “worth its weight in gold”, according to German researchers who have conducted a detailed analysis of the relationship between positive feedback and successful sales on the auction site.According to the boffins from the University of Bonn and the University of Aachen, a good reputation on Ebay translates into cold, [...]
Keeping PayPal on Online Usage Safe
Online ecommerce is growing rapidly, and with that is the growing opportunity for fraud and scams. As Internet users, it is our responsibility to take some precautions that will make our online transactions safer.One area we need to take responsibility for is protecting our online payment information. Online payment providers have come and gone, but [...]
Got Skype Then You Need Verballs
I’ve just seen these cool little Verballs which are designed to make your Skype experience a little more fun.They’ve been designed by Aardvark Innovation and are effectively a USB speaker and mic combo that interact with your Skype software – but done up as fancy characters: called Mr V, Britney, Baby, Striker and Slick.Verballs move [...]
Skype Says Tens of Millions Use Software
SKype says that tens of millions of people around the world now use its software to make and take no-cost or low-cost phone calls over the internet. Most do so with no additional PC hardware other than a microphone headset. Yet there are alternatives that let you use a conventional phone or, better still, a [...]
Venture Blog: I spent last week in Europe meeting with entrepreneurs in Amsterdam and Paris (it is a tough job but someone has got to do it). I met with some very smart people who are working on interesting projects. They are absolutely committed to their startups and are, in varying degrees, having some success [...]
30 Second/One Question Interview with David Tufte
Stealing a great idea from Darren, I’ve started a 30 Second/One Question Interview. My first participant is David Tufte, a professor at Southern Utah University. I asked: One man’s trash, is another man’s treasure. What product or service have you imagined would be a good business opportunity, but you’ve rejected because it’s too off the [...]
Startups Offer Protection from Identity Theft
Startup Journal: Scott Mitic thinks it is far too easy to be ripped off by identity thieves, and he is making it his business to do something about it. As a former executive at Fair Isaac Corp., a Minneapolis data-management company, Mr. Mitic watched millions of people wake up to the importance of credit ratings, [...]
How to Launch A Business in Your 20s
Startup Journal: Starting a business at any age takes nerve. Unless you’re thick-skinned, motivated and willing to take major financial risks, you’re probably better off working for someone else. But building a business as a twentysomething has its own special challenges. On the one hand, you have decades to recover financially if the business goes [...]
Escape Velocity: Pay attention to the idea that won’t leave you alone — this is taken from Paul Hawken’s Growing a Business. Sometimes an idea catches hold of you and you find you can’t put it down. Pay attention to that! Just start working on it. Can’t get yourself to do anything on it? Move [...]
No Letup in Sight for Growth of Home-Based Businesses
GM Today: With flexible work hours, no commute and a high level of autonomy, operating a home-based business certainly has its advantages over traditional employment. With many of the obstacles to starting such a venture now diminishing, recent research indicates that more and more individuals are in fact striking out on their own. “With phones, [...]
Impact of Perception and Professionalism on Start-Ups
ByteStart: When we meet someone for the first time, we all generally make assumptions based on our first impressions of them. Our perception of a person, and ultimately whether we are drawn to them or not, can have a massive impact on our relationship with them in the future. In the relationship between a consumer [...]
Seth Godin: People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.
7 Basic Steps To Selling on eBay
I’ve recommended eBay before as a great way to test a new product. For a growing number of entrepreneurs, though, eBay is their sole storefront. The beauty of eBay is that it lets you get into e-commerce without having to go through the trouble and expense of setting up an e-commerce site of your own. [...]
New Tools Bars Opening Soon For Skype
If you are a Skype user then make sure you check out the Skype website on Thursday. There will be additional toolbars for you to add to make calling easier. These new toolbars will allow the Skype user to easily start a voice call in three areas: e-mail, MS Office, and the Web using IE [...]
Uncommon Enterprise: On the Fly
MyBusiness Magazine: “When it comes to providing advertising to customers, the sky’s the limit for Jay Saber—literally. Saber, owner of Woodside, Calif.-based Roof Ads, offers companies over-the-top exposure for their businesses: For between $5,000 to $200,000, Saber paints a business’ name or logo across a rooftop. Fly over San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Carlos, San [...]
How To Know When It’s Time To Move Your Home-Based Business Elsewhere
Laurie Zuckerman at MyBusiness Magazine: When Belinda North launched Sophia’s Style Boutique, an online children’s clothing store, it seemed like she was onto the perfect plan. The business would satisfy her entrepreneurial urges, bring in some extra income and still allow her to stay home with her young daughter. Now one year later, Belinda and [...]
