Archive for June 2010
Cambridge News: Kenneth Roy Sherhod, 80, has designed and built the tricycle, which is operated by pedals which move up and down rather than round and round, as on regular bicycles. The new tricycle is based on Archimedes’ principle of levers. Mr Sherhod built the Archimedes Lever Tricycle as a retirement hobby and rides it, [...]
California, in its desperate search for revenue, might be the first state in the nation to sell advertising on license plates. In legislation authored by Senator Curren Price, the DMV has been authorized to partner with innovation companies for the purpose of researching, developing, and implementing new technology at no additional costs to the DMV [...]
Procter & Gamble Launches Male Homemaker Site
Procter & Gamble has launched a household tips website for the growing number of American men who have become homemakers in a tough job market according to a Reuters report. The site, Manofthehouse.com, went live this month and offers the kind of advice on child-rearing, cleaning and cooking more often found in women’s magazines. The [...]
Rural Entrepreneurs Are On The Rise
Katrina Frey just wanted to make a little extra money so she started cooking up some jellies and syrups. By selling them out of the back of her van at the local farmers market she managed to make $5,000 that year reports ABC News. Today, after taking her venture online and moving to a building [...]
It had to happen. (Actually, it’s just a photoshopped concept) Ringtones are next. Photo by geekosystem.
The New York Times recently took a look at self-employment and the people who think about taking that step. How can a salaried employee with some savings tell if the idea of becoming self-employed is a viable option and not just an escape fantasy? And how can a recently laid-off employee with some severance pay [...]
The iPad Book Publishing Secret
According to VentureBeat, aspiring book authors face two hurdles: Rejection from publishers, and the high cost and hassle of trying to publish a book themselves. Self-publication company FastPencil has come up with a clever new option: Authors who sign up with FastPencil can now publish their books directly into Apple’s iBooks catalog. No permission required,” [...]
Public Libraries As Biz Incubators
Phil Shapiro at PC World supposes you have an idea for a new digital services business – a business that delivers some value to others over the Internet. No matter how good your idea might be, getting such a business off the ground requires a given amount of capital. And this business might require business [...]
Patent Office Proposes Expedited Review For A Price
Reuters reports that companies and inventors who pay extra would be able to get a quicker review of their patent applications under a proposal by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. How much extra, the PTO isn’t saying. The proposal — which is being put out for public comment — is part of the patent [...]
Remember These? AT&T’s You Will Commercials from 1993
Do you remember these commercials from 1993? It’s no longer “You will.” Today, it’s “You do.”
The idea of Father’s Day was conceived slightly more than a century ago by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a [...]
Internet Breathes New Life Into Clock Radio
In the 1980s and 1990s, a clock radio would have vied with underwear as the most boring gift. But according to The New York Times, that changed in recent years, thanks to the advent of digital music players, most notably the iPod. It gave the clock radio combination new life — and has made it [...]
The bean counters at Fast Company did the math on Dad’s holiday. 100th anniversary of the first observance in 1910. There are approximately 66,000,000 FATHERS in the U.S. Consumers spent an average of $91 on Father’s Day in 2009. One in Four dads spend less than an hour with their kids each day. Thirty-eight percent [...]
According to Studio5.com, the pillow tie was invented by BYU student Thomas Brown as a project for an entrepreneur class. His idea soon blossomed into an online company where people could order these funny, yet practical gifts. The tie inflates quickly and easily via a small opening on the backside to become a comfortable pillow. [...]
Father’s Day A Sign Of Recovery?
According to The Christian Science Monitor, there are plenty of signs these days pointing towards a slow, tepid recovery. Here’s a more hopeful indicator – the Father’s Day factor. The average adult will shell out $94.32 in Father’s Day gifts this year, up from $90.89 in 2009 according to a National Retail Federation (NRF) survey [...]
New Bizop Classified Ads This Week
New listing this week on the Business Opportunities Weblog Classifieds. How To Buy And Sell Cars For Profit! How To Start A Hot Dog Cart Business Shoemoney System Secret Blog Weapon High School Dropout Banks $94k From Banner Ads! The Affiliate Code Start Your Own Business Blogger Wanted: Blog Job How To Start A Home [...]
Unique products to amuse and inspire. Mr. Potato Head Elvis. Comes with play barbiturates and amphetamines. Bearded Beanie Hat. For the stylish convenience store thief. Beer Blaster. The squirt gun for adults. Atypyk Gun Shirt. Nah, this won’t lead to any trouble. Photos by entertainmentearth/inewidea/trendhunter/joshspear.
According to The New York Times, Rick Siegel would be in his clothes closet, running late, wrestling with the plastic bags that encased — and the twist ties that entangled — his dry cleaning. Surely, he thought, those twist ties would drive him mad. A trip to the closet made Jennie Nigrosh’s stomach clench: Where [...]
For startups that aren’t interested in paying to pitch their business to angel investors there are some free services popping up that might help reports The Wall Street Journal. Earlier this year, Internet entrepreneur and blogger Jason Calacanis started Open Angel Forum, which holds free pitch events in various cities where entrepreneurs selected from a [...]
Food processors’ byproducts such as rice hulls, nut shells, and other waste are normally trashed. But Jason Aramburu, Chief Executive Officer of re:char, sees it all as an untapped source of cooking fuel and fertilizer, reports Bloomberg Businessweek. His company designs and builds equipment to make biochar—a type of charcoal that retains moisture in soil—and [...]
Everyday Behaviors Can Produce Clean Energy
According to a story at Fast Company, all vibrations are good vibrations in the world of energy harvesting. Whether it’s a road under heavy traffic or commuters pounding the sidewalk pavement, micromovements on any surface can be converted into clean energy by power-scavenging devices fitted with piezoelectric (PE) crystals. These pressure-sensitive materials — normally made [...]
Anne Marie Fantin has always worried about what type of jobs her son would be able to get once he was finished with school. Eric, who is disabled, has found his calling in lawn care and his mom is doing what she can to help back him up reports The Windsor Star. Eric, who turns [...]
Amid the hardship and devastation of the oil spill, some Louisiana locals are diving into the cleanup and unearthing a goldmine, earning the nickname “spillionaires.” ABC News takes a look. (There may be a short commercial before the news report)
New Powers For President In Cyber-Attack Response
Bloomberg Businessweek is reporting that the president could order emergency measures to combat cyber attacks under legislation introduced by three senators who say the Internet has unleashed a new breed of cyber-terrorists. Under the legislation, the president’s specific powers would be developed with companies and wouldn’t allow the government to take over private networks or [...]
al.com: While most Alabamians may view bamboo as a nuisance akin to kudzu, an entrepreneur with a vision for using it as major renewable resource for fabric, food and paper brought her message to the state today. Jackie Heinricher, a biologist and CEO of Booshoot Gardens LLC of Mount Vernon, Wash., made a whirlwind visit [...]
Sell Your Products to Tens of Millions of Customers
StartupNation is collaborating with Overstock.com to help connect your small business with the tens of millions of shoppers at Overstock.com through Overstock’s Main Street Store. It’s a brand new way for you to expose your products to a massive and targeted customer base, and to do so without having to take unnecessary risk or make [...]
Inside Gatorade’s Social Media Command Center
In the realm of marketing, Gatorade is probably best known for splashy commercials featuring some of the world’s most famous athletes. Mashable reports that a new effort behind the scenes of the PepsiCo-owned sports drink maker is putting social media quite literally at the center of the way Gatorade approaches marketing. The company recently created [...]
How The World Spends Its Time Online
Mashable reports that according to a new study from Nielsen showing Internet usage in April 2010, 22% of the time, you’re engaging with social media. 22% might not seem like a mammoth percentage, but you have to take into account the fact that this finding is on a global scale. Also, a few more telling [...]
The American Dream Is A Hard Sell In Europe
The Epoch Times: Europeans are less prone to start their own businesses even if they obtain a windfall inheritance, compared to Americans and Chinese. Entrepreneurs are also more highly esteemed in the United States and Asia, compared to how they are viewed in Europe. These findings were in a recent survey by the European Commission, [...]
Green Biz: Powerhouse Dynamics
In 2008, as the market for home energy management systems grew, Nielsen Van Duijn and Carsten Steenberg founded Powerhouse Dynamics to commercialize a monitor they had developed as a side project. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that their system, which connects to a home’s circuit breaker, allows homeowners to track where and when they consume the most [...]
We’ve always known that entrepreneurs are a little different than everyone else. They have traits that make it easier for them to take risks and remain hopeful when times are tough. According to The Wall Street Journal a new study just might prove that entrepreneurship just might be in their DNA. Turns out, part of [...]
After years of working for an airline, 60 year-old Linda Nagamine used $2,000 that had been earmarked to buy a ring to start Honolulu-based EZ Living Connection. And the company just had its first product–a keychain-like device that attaches to a woman’s purse strap and puts an end to the days of searching for keys–featured [...]
Sister-Diane over at CraftyPod discusses Creative Commons licensing with attorney Martin Ertl and crafter/enthusiast Kim Werker. They talk about why Creative Commons is relevant not only to crafters, but to anyone who shares original work on the web. Photo by Creative Commons.
5th Annual National Invention Search Contest
Steve Pope, President of the Inventors Club of Kansas City announced that the ICKC is launching their fifth National Invention Contest. Inventors and Entrepreneurs are invited to submit their US Patented or Patent Pending products for a chance to win the opportunity to have their consumer product marketed and sold in retail stores. Only 20 [...]
Connecting With Your Community Online
Anyone who has ever surfed the web, used a computer or even purchased a smart phone pretty much knows what an app is. They’re everywhere. Applications can be a game, simplify purchases or replace paper when you need to jot down a quick note. However it is the mind behind those apps that you’ll find [...]
The Democracy Of Making (And Selling) Things
According to Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine’s editor-in-chief, atoms are the new bits — and because of this we are on the brink of the next industrial revolution. It’s happening in hackerspaces across the country where inventors aren’t just building prototypes, but taking their inventions directly to market, foregoing the traditional factory. The open-source movement is [...]
“Cardboard Mechanics” is an art installation created by four students at the Utrecht School of Art and Technology in the Netherlands. It is a clockwork machine built out of cardboard and controlled by an arduino. You can view more videos of the machine here. via Neatorama
Green Biz: Global Cycle Solutions
According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Global Cycle Solutions makes gadgets that let farmers in the developing world use bicycles to shell maize or charge mobile phones. Jodie Wu conceived the idea in 2008 while a student at MIT’s D-Lab, which incubates technologies for developing countries. She and six co-founders launched the business in 2009 with $30,000 [...]
CTV News: The National Hockey League playoffs end this week, and 29-year-old entrepreneur Juha Mikkola hopes to continue making inroads in Canada’s hockey-mad culture by selling floorball as an off-ice activity that helps players improve their skills. NHL stars such as Henrik and Daniel Sedin grew up playing this European version of floor hockey, the [...]
A Florida salesman is hoping the road to his success is paved in simple red bricks. Next week, Eric Polins will vie to become the “World’s Greatest Salesperson,” a contest put on by Ad giant OgilvyOne to see who can come up with the most convincing sales pitch for an arguably hum-drum product – a [...]
Whether their child wants to be a princess or dance like a ballerina, a variety of moms are creating clothing for their kids and selling it to you too reports ArgusLeader.com. Since shortly after Lydia was born, she’s been making her tutus, hats and head bands. “She has a lot of frilly stuff now,” [Stacey] [...]
Can Telecommuting Put The Brakes On Your Career?
Working from home may reduce commute time, save money, and shrink an employee’s carbon footprint. But it can also be a hazard to career advancement, a new study shows. Futurity reports that In a pair of studies—one involving in-depth interviews with office workers and another using a behavioral experiment—Kimberly Elsbach, professor in the Graduate School [...]
BBC: Bob Young is a self-confessed contrarian with a strong desire to change the world by allowing people to share and collaborate. The approach has served him well and has helped turn the Canadian into a multi-millionaire. Mr Young started out as a typewriter salesman and went on to found and run a computer-leasing company. [...]
Online Ad Revenue Will Soon Surpass Print
The Wall Street Journal reports that a PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that in 2009, online ad revenues continued to climb to $24.2 billion, while print ads fell 28.6% to $24.8 billion. Online ads are expected to rake in $34.4 billion by 2014, which means print ads should dip below their online counterparts in a matter of [...]
photo credit: Paulo Brandão During the past few years, business owners have seen some very rough times and their employees have been loosing faith as they watch several hundred people being fired and laid off permanently. I just read an amazing article located on EsbJournal.com that had some really great ideas for keeping your remaining employees [...]
Make The Most Of Running Your Family Business
Open Forum: When done well, a lasting family business can be a great experience. Not just for both the family members involved, but also the clients doing business with the company. Parents, children, siblings and several generations of family together can create a powerfully successful business model. One of the main concerns with running [...]
It All Started With A Cellphone…
In 2003, Tom Stemple had the sort of struck-by-lightning moment every entrepreneur dreams about–on steroids. Stemple’s brother had taken his wife’s cell phone to work by mistake, reports Entrepreneur. Drowning in a sea of drab black and silver cell phones hardly distinguishable from one another, Stemple decided there had to be a better way to [...]
Expand Your Thinking With New Experiences
Success magazine suggests that each month for 30 days in a row, commit to doing something new that you have thought about doing, but have not done, and notice how it affects your life. Some possibilities: do aerobic exercise for 30 minutes, listen to only positive music, don’t read the newspaper, stop watching television, eat [...]
In 2008, Peter Frykman, a mechanical engineering student at Stanford University, designed a small, portable laser-manufacturing system that could quickly and accurately punch holes in cheap plastic tubing to make affordable drip irrigation systems. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, in June 2008, he founded Driptech with $5,000 of his own money. The 26-year-old entrepreneur has raised [...]
Invention Blocks Vuvuzelas Sound
The endless drone of the vuzuzelas, the plastic trumpet, has become an infuriating and inescapable presence at World Cup matches and their global TV broadcasts. German inventor and programmer Tobias Herre has a solution. The Atlantic Wire is reporting that Herre has devised a way to filter the audio from World Cup through his computer [...]
