Archive for November 2009
San Diego Business Journal Online: Carlsbad housewife-turned-entrepreneur Stacey Ross has taken the informality of a neighborhood mothers group to the Internet to build a thriving new business. Her enterprise, sandiegobargainmama.com, offers up a plethora of local bargains, discounts and handy tips, all targeting the market for nonworking moms with young children. “It certainly has been [...]
Brain Games Targets Aging Population
In 2006, the US counted 37.3 million aged 65 or older. By 2030, the US Administration on Aging expects the number will have increased to 71.5 million. With this burgeoning market clearly in mind, Marbles: The Brain Store is urging the residents of Chicago to “outsmart their age” with a range of products to help [...]
Small Bizs Can Get Black Friday Bargains
Rhonda Abrams over at USA Today has put together some tips for small biz owners to take advantage of Black Friday shopping. 1. Make a list of stuff you really need. Don’t buy just because something’s cheap. It’s tempting, I know. 2. Check to see which version of Windows 7 you need. If you have [...]
Inventor In Spotlight With ‘Cool Tool’
Dan Fenstemaker has beefed up his Web site, and he’s getting ready to be busy during the holiday season, reports CantonRep.com. Why? Fenstemaker’s invention will be featured over Thanksgiving weekend on DIY Network’s “Cool Tools” television program. Inteletool — interchangeable telescopic tool — is just that. The tool head comes off the pole and the [...]
18-Year-Old Inventor Shows Off Doodle Bra
Who knew a doodle could make you a millionaire – and could land you on national TV? That’s what The New York Daily News asked. It did just that for 18-year-old Rachel Segal, from Ashland, Oregon, inventor of something called “The Doodle Bra.” The high school student appeared on “The View” as part of a [...]
LIFE magazine has put together an interesting collection of dumb inventions. External Turkey Roaster, 1966. Just in time for Thanksgiving. Baby Holder, 1937. Can you say slingshot? Finnish Portable Sauna, 1962. Never Let ‘Em See You Sweat. Mini Television, 1966. Take that iPod! Photos by LIFE.
Niche Biz: Baby Name Translation Service
The New York Daily News asks, what’s in a name? Maybe more than you thought. A British translation firm will vet expectant couples’ off-the-wall baby names, ensuring their offspring aren’t saddled with monikers that mean something embarrassing in another language. Today Translation’s new service might have come in handy for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, [...]
If you’re one of the surprisingly large number of Americans who follow the Tour de France every summer, you may have noticed massive, gorgeous printed messages on the route roads, reports Fast Company. Nope, they’re not paint–they’re made of chalk, and they’re sprayed on the road surface by ChalkBot, a massive trailer-mounted inkjet printer sponsored [...]
This smart Upcycle Ottoman by Gus* Modern is made of repurposed jute bags that were once used to carry organic fair trade certified coffee according to Inhabitat.com. Produced in a limited quantity, each piece is unique and shows the branding and markings of the bags used in the process. No word if they still carry [...]
Biz App: FreeConferenceCall.com
For many consultants, real-time collaboration with clients is extremely important. Setting up one-on-one phone calls is easy, but if you need to have three or more parties on the line, things get tricky — and expensive, says Small Business Computing. FreeConferenceCall.com offers free private conference lines. Just enter your name and an e-mail address on [...]
CNNMoney.com asks, short on cash? Join the new old economy and swap. There’s no recession in barter,” said Debbie Lombardi as she navigated the crowd at the Barter Business Unlimited’s Annual Business & Holiday Barter Show, in Bristol, Conn. More than 1,000 people affiliated with 100 vendors of all kinds packed into a hotel event [...]
Mom Selling Children’s Cooking School
Glendale News: Glendale mom Laurie Lupinetti opened Young Chef’s Academy in 2005 so she would be home more with her daughter Sarah, then 6 months old. It was an opportunity for Lupinetti to blend her love of cooking and love of children while fulfilling the dream to own her own business. Opening the cooking school [...]
Mompreneur Protects Sleeping Babies On The Go With SnoozeShade
If you’ve ever been out while pushing a baby in a stroller, then you probably know what it is like to try and help them fall to sleep or stay asleep. While you could always drape a coat or blanket over the stroller to help keep the sun out and help your child sleep, it [...]
Toronto-based Sprouter is an online community that allows small business owners and entrepreneurs to share links, ask questions and share expertise with their peers, reports trendspotter Springwise. Whereas most social networks focus on connecting users with people they already know, the premise behind Sprouter is that it’s often the people one hasn’t yet connected with—but [...]
The Secret To Finding Venture Capital
As any entrepreneur who’s spent some time trying to understand the venture capital universe will tell you, VCs typically invest locally, reports Fast Company. The logic goes like this: Having startups to invest in nearby makes it easier for both parties to interact, get guidance, brainstorm, etc. So if an entrepreneur believes that getting venture [...]
In 2001, Sunit Saxena made a midnight run to the grocery store for wonton wrappers. When he couldn’t find any, he went looking for a clerk. The aisles were empty. He discovered the workers holed up in a back room tearing price tags off merchandise to reprice it for the next day, reports CNNMoney.com. I [...]
How to Make Money on Twitter with Ad.ly
Ad.ly, is a brand new Twitter advertising network that can make you money, even if you don’t have thousands of followers.
Best Inventions of 2009: Edible Race Car
TIME‘s picks for the best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year, we’ll feature some of the ones we find interesting. If it’s impossible for a race car to be “good” for the environment, maybe it can at least be a little friendlier. Meet the WorldFirst F3 project, a Formula 3 race car developed [...]
Find Small Biz Legal Resources
Small Business Computing says quality legal advice and services are expensive. But for small companies trying to navigate the minefields of setting up and running a business — especially for the first time — not getting legal advice can end up being even more expensive. What does a cash-strapped small business have in the way [...]
In tough economic times, it can make sense for consumers to be both transumers—eschewing the burdens of ownership in favor of shorter-term privileges—and sellsumers, making the most of what assets they do own writes trendspotter Springwise. Aiming to facilitate both is NeighborGoods, a brand-new site that helps consumers borrow, lend, rent, sell and buy stuff [...]
Stay-At-Home Mom Turned iPhone App Guru
Cincinnati.com: Move over Chad Ochocinco. There’s a new iPhone sheriff in town – a stay-at-home mom of six who has taught herself how to program applications herself. Now, Crysta Pleatman has successfully launched eight applications for Apple’s and AT&T’s popular device, with more on the way. “This was just so new when it launched that [...]
YouTube Direct Lets ‘Citizen Journalists’ Submit News Videos
With the advent of “citizen journalism,” anyone with a camera, an Internet connection, and a few questions can become a member of the fourth estate. But how do you know if this reporting is accurate? AppScout reports that YouTube has a new portal, dubbed YouTube Direct, intended to provide news organizations with a more organized [...]
Insomniac’s Sleep Invention Goes Public
Kate Evans, 25, said the device she created to help her battle insomnia as a student is now available online. She designed the Light Sleeper while suffering from insomnia during her time as a product design student at the University of Central Lancashire and involves a blue light that moves across the bedroom ceiling, UPI.com [...]
Stimulate The Economy With Your Brain
Pamela Slim at Escape From Cubicle Nation has put together an interesting list of things you can do, right now, to stimulate a small corner of your local economy without spending a dime: 1. Mentor a new business owner. 2. Host an event at your local coffee shop. 3. Send an email to friends raving [...]
Best Inventions of 2009: School Of One
TIME‘s picks for the best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year, we’ll feature some of the ones we find interesting. This past summer, in a sixth-grade math class, New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein piloted a small program in which individualized, technology-based learning takes the place of the old “let’s all proceed [...]
The bulky dog crate in Betsy Hauser’s living room was really cramping her style, reports Forbes.com. Her answer: a line of custom crate covers, pre-manufactured crate covers and dog beds, sold in various colors and sizes (all cotton and machine washable) through the Mutt Huttz Web site and fifty independent pet stores across the U.S. [...]
80% of US Consumers Won’t Pay For Online Content
ReadWriteWeb is reporting that according to a new Forrester survey, almost 80% of Internet users in the US and Canada would not pay for access to newspaper and magazine websites. Those users who would consider paying for content are mostly interested in subscriptions. Only a very small number of consumers is interested in making micropayments [...]
Moms Launch Education Game Rental Website
Bakersfield.com: Christy Baker, a stay-at-home mom, liked the idea of buying educational games for her children, but found they were expensive and the children lost interest in them after a while. She did some research to see if there was anyone who rented games for systems such as Leapster and Vtech, but found none. She [...]
Lessons Learned From A Million-Dollar Mistake
Entrepreneurs are forever learning from their own mistakes, so once in a while it’s nice to learn from someone else’s for a change. Tech entrepreneur Neil Patel shares the story of his million-dollar mistake made while pursuing a web-hosting start-up. Patel lists a number of things that went wrong with the businesss, poor money management [...]
Startups Continue To Attract Funding, Create Jobs
Innovative startups in the U.S. continue to attract capital from investors, and in turn are doing their part to counter the trend of the rising unemployment rate in the country, reports TechCrunch. According to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and StartUpHire.com, thousands of jobs are available at venture-backed startups today, despite the overall job-cutting [...]
For those in the professional world, it’s easy to fall prey to bad habits — procrastination, poor time management, and impatience are all examples of behavior that can affect the productivity of one’s work or business. Fortunately, says Web Worker Daily, training the brain to adopt good habits doesn’t take as long as most people [...]
Best Inventions of 2009: Wooden Bones
TIME‘s picks for the best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year, we’ll feature some of the ones we find interesting. It’s odd to think of putting sticks of wood inside people as a revolutionary medical procedure, but that’s exactly what a group of Italian scientists is working on. They’re using wood — red [...]
Cyber Monday is, of course, what is touted to be the busiest day of the year for online sales. It comes the Monday after Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving that kicks off the holiday shopping season at bricks and mortar stores), reports Inc.com. Here’s where, you, the online seller, have a distinct advantage over [...]
Is Imitation The Hidden Key To Creativity?
People like Catherina Fake, the Flickr co-founder, and Stefan Sagmeister keep their creative juices flowing. They point out: Constantly working hard blinds you to breakthrough ideas; one solution is taking copious time off. Maybe that solves the problem for individuals. But can society organize itself in such a way as to maximize the number of [...]
Mobile Nail Spa Business Is Heavenly For Mompreneur
Naperville Sun: Tinika Amison realizes that if she is going to help people, the first step must literally be her own. The 33-year-old single mom of three children who lives in Naperville launched a new mobile nail spa business earlier this year known as Angel Feet. It’s an at-home nail service that Amison said focuses [...]
Fridge Locker Stops #1 Office Crime
According to a 2008 study, 98% of employees said the worst office crime was to steal food from the office refrigerator, reports PRWeb. In order to solve this shocking and growing epidemic, Locker Brand, Inc. has officially launched its flagship product:The Fridge Locker. The Fridge Locker is a high density polyurethane storage unit that conveniently [...]
Tribune Media Services has put together a list of eight reasons you should be telecommuting. 1. More than two-thirds of surveyed employers report increased productivity among their telecommuters – as much as 35 percent more productivity at some high-profile companies such as American Express and Best Buy. 2. Teleworkers typically continue to work when they’re [...]
Global Times: A gym coach in Shenyang, Liaoning Province [of China] has launched a secret sideline – by renting himself out as a punching bag for stressed women. But Lin Xiao said he has not told his family about his new sideline. He told the Liaoshen Evening Post, “It fits in well with my day [...]
What To Watch For With Work From Home Scams
photo credit: pena2 With the holiday season approaching, there are many people looking into work from home jobs to make a little extra spending money for the holidays. The problem is that the true work from home jobs can be very hard to find through all the scams and hustles that are going around. Look [...]
Grad’s Experience Transforms Her Into ‘Intern Queen’
Lauren Berger knows a thing or two about internships. The Countryside High grad, who bills herself as the “Intern Queen,” completed more than a dozen of them before she graduated college, reports TampaBay.com. Berger, 25, parlayed her intern status into an expanding brand that includes college speaking engagements, endorsements and an online site that boasts [...]
Slow Down And Boost Your Productivity
photo credit: lepiaf.geo An article was recently posted on Open Forum regarding how to boost your productivity in the work place by slowing down and taking more time for things that you have cut out of your day on purpose. It is stated that being busy is not always the best thing for your work [...]
Best Inventions of 2009: The $20 Knee
TIME‘s picks for the best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year, we’ll feature some of the ones we find interesting. Tens of thousands of amputees in the developing world wear an inexpensive prosthetic called the Jaipur Foot. But poor patients who lose a knee joint have few options: a titanium replacement can cost [...]
How To Market With True Meaning
photo credit: Tracy Hunter Proof is In the Results. What’s the ROI for marketing with meaning? Ask Tara-Nicholle Nelson, an Oakland, Calif., real estate broker and founder and Chief Visionary of {RE}Think Real Estate. Nelson projects the $75,000 she invested in positioning herself as an expert–empowering women to buy their own homes–to yield $1 million [...]
Course Shows Arts Students How To Become Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship programs at UW–Madison are supporting innovative thinking and actions, so says UW News. A new course, Art as Business as Art, is showing students in the arts the range of creative possibilities available to them and giving them the tools they need to advance their career goals. Art as Business as Art grew out [...]
Clock Winding Down On Patent Scams?
Relief might be in sight for retailers afraid that somebody somewhere has secured a patent covering some mundane process they regularly do in the course of selling stuff – be it the way customers swipe payment cards, their methods for collecting loyalty program data or the functioning of their Web site’s shopping cart feature, reports [...]
Teachers Raise Cash by Selling Plans Online
Kentucky.com: Between Craigslist and eBay, the Internet is well established as a marketplace where one person’s trash is transformed into another’s treasure. Now, thousands of teachers are cashing in on a commodity they used to give away, selling lesson plans online for exercises as simple as M&M sorting and as sophisticated as Shakespeare. While some [...]
Styllish Mom Nutures Baby Carrier Business
North County Times: Like countless new mothers, Robyn Collar found two hands weren’t enough. With an infant girl, Kayli, and a newborn son, Talen, Collar found herself more than 100 percent occupied. “I couldn’t change my daughter’s diapers because my son wouldn’t let me set him down without screaming,” Collar said. “I couldn’t see to [...]
New “Microformat” Could Change the Way We Read Online
Fast Company reports that it’s called “hNews,” and it could provide instantaneous context for any online news article. HNews is the product of a project overseen by none other than Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the physicist who created the first Web protocol in 1990 and is widely regarded as the “inventor” of the World Wide Web. [...]
Children’s Toy Inspires Cheap, Easy Production Of High-Tech Chips
In 2006, Michelle Khine arrived at the University of California’s brand-new Merced campus eager to establish her first lab, reports Technology Review. She was experimenting with tiny liquid-filled channels in hopes of devising chip-based diagnostic tests, a discipline called microfluidics. The trouble was, the specialized equipment that she previously used to make microfluidic chips cost [...]
How Twitter Is Changing The Face Of Media
The most radical shift to media in recent years is that we now have a central real-time hub that serves to enhance every other content platform on the web, reports Mashable.com. Twitter now provides a one-stop, real-time service for all of a person’s content. It allows us something that in the past only huge corporations [...]
