Archive for October 2010
Video: Why Can’t Chuck Get His Business Off the Ground?
Profiting from Volcanic Eruptions
AFP: A new line of perfume is about to explode onto the Icelandic market, made of melt water from a glacier sitting on top of the Eyjafjoell volcano that erupted in April, spreading ash and flight chaos across Europe. “When Eyjafjoell started erupting I suddenly got the idea to bring the power of Icelandic nature [...]
NY Times: It was just about a year ago that Kevin Faler came up with his get-rich-quick marijuana scheme. No, he does not plan to sell the drug, even if Californians vote next week to become the first state in the nation to fully legalize it. He intends to sell the Internet real estate that [...]
Why drive on land when you can use a scooter underwater? Andrew Sneath has designed a unique scooter that can take its riders on a drive down under the water instead of above it reports Digital Spy. The scooter, called the HydroBOB, is extremely easy to handle and only requires a short 10-minute session to [...]
It’s amazing what a little spray paint can do. There is no try, only do….do. Eh, have you seen Mick? Trick or treat. Got any catnip? Photos by TrendHunter.
Mom Creates Eco, Kid-Friendly Play Structure
When Gitane Royce decided to buy a playhouse for her daughter, she was less than thrilled with what the stores had to offer reports SeattlePI. Having an educational background in environmental science and research, Royce wanted something sturdy and eco-friendly. Her frustration with the products on the market led her to start her own San [...]
Cool Invention: Robot Lifeguard
Automating life-saving. That’s the plan for one Arizona entrepreneur, Tony Mulligan, who designed a remote-controlled buoy named Emily to help rescue swimmers in distress. Emily — an acronym for Emergency Lifesaving Lanyard — can race through rippling waters at 24 miles per hour and rescue swimmers twelve times as fast as human lifeguards, according to [...]
SBA Gives $2 Billion In VC To Small Businesses
According to the Charlotte Business Journal, the SBA’s venture capital program has given out more than $2 billion in financing in 2010. It has helped over 1,300 small businesses. That’s a 10% increase for Small Business Investment Companies from the previous year. The SBA’s fiscal year ended Sept. 30. SBICs are privately owned and managed [...]
5 Myths About Becoming An Entrepreneur
Steve Tobak over at The CBS Business Network says not to quit your day job yet. 1. Being your own boss and not having to kowtow to anyone. There’s no shortage of bosses and people you have to kowtow to when you’re an entrepreneur. Depending on your situation, there are investors, customers, partners, and here’s [...]
Jumping On The Food Truck Wagon
Some restaurant chains are now experiencing a different kind of foot traffic, according to The Wall Street Journal. While the food truck trend has been around for a few years now, the article reports on the rise of recognizable restaurant chains using food trucks and vans to catch customers on-the-go. “A small but growing number [...]
So-called “domainers” have gobbled up thousands of marijuana-related Web URLs recently with the hopes of turning a profit after legalization. The New York Times surveyed both individuals and media companies that have flocked to the new space just as California’s landmark Proposition 19 hits the ballot next week. One such domainer, Kevin Faler of California, [...]
Startup School Inspires Budding Entrepreneurs
The annual Startup School, put on by the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students and Y-Combinator, featured founders and investors in Dinkelspiel Auditorium. More than 800 prospective entrepreneurs attended reports The Stanford Daily. The day’s list of speakers included Silicon Valley heavyweights such as Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, Reid Hoffman ‘89, founder [...]
Journey From Prostitute To Entrepreneur, Author
The first thing that Cathrine Ann admits is that, “I’m totally phony.” From hair extensions to plastic surgery, there isn’t much left that you could call authentic. The one thing that is not fake? Her new book, Beautiful Buttons: A Memoir of Survival and Triumph. She has no real secrets there reports The Globe and [...]
Work from Anywhere: Handy Portable Offices
IKEA PS Laptop Workstation Louis Vuitton Suitcase Armoire Box Office Cart Desk Via: Mashable Photos by Ikea/Reghardware/Bornrich/Comforthouse.
Students Flock To Entrepreneurship Courses
Fairfield County might soon become the new home of the entrepreneur reports ctpost.com. In response to interest from their students, Fairfield University’s Charles F. Dolan School of Business has launched a new concentration in entrepreneurship. “When we’d make presentations to students on management, we would get inquiries into whether we had courses on entrepreneurialism,” said [...]
“I’ll have a Big Mac, French fries, Coke and a wedding for 50, please.” Yes, fast-food giant McDonald’s is getting into the weddings business – initially, only at three restaurants in Hong Kong – with “McWeddings,” Reuters recently reported. Sure, McDonald’s move doesn’t have immediate implications for hotels; initially, McWeddings will most likely lure couples [...]
If you’re looking for a way to stop your kids from losing their straws, one mom-owned company has “the strawlution”. Unlike most straws that will slip out just as easily as they slip in, Straw-lution straws are made to stay where you put them. They have little hooks, much like a fishing hook but not [...]
10,000 Websites Integrate With Facebook Every Day
Mashable reports that Facebook Chief Operations Officer Sheryl Sandberg made a “surprise” appearance at Pal’s Innovate Developer Conference to announce its new integration with PayPal. During her short speech, she dropped a few interesting tidbits of information related to Facebook’s growth. The first interesting stat surrounded social games. According to Sandberg, more people play games [...]
VIA: CreditLoan
This Entrepreneur is Rolling in Dough…Pizza Dough
Mitchell York, About.com’s Entrepreneur Guide recently discovered an entrepreneur who is rolling in dough…pizza dough. I recently attended a charity event on eastern Long Island and met Matthew Michel, the founder of Rolling in Dough Pizza Co., a mobile pizza truck with a wood-fired oven that caters parties on Long Island and in New York [...]
Google’s New Ad Product For Businesses
On Monday the frustration that resulted while trying to buy ad space on Google is now gone. They have now unleashed Google Boost, a new ad service that will help local businesses, reports the Financial Post. The software makes the [previously] complicated and involved process of establishing an ongoing Google ad campaign almost entirely automated. [...]
Aussie Mum’s Kitchen Table Games Empire
According to a story in The Sydney Morning Herald, a stay-at-home mother of four from south-west Sydney could make a fortune out of a simple Nintendo DS accessory she invented out of frustration. Janene Samuel, 42, invented the Gametag after her young kids kept losing their Nintendo DS games, costing her close to $100 every [...]
Mom’s Product Helps Kids Put The Right Foot Forward
When Ellen Lichtman’s daughter was only three years old, she was hit with a moment of inspiration. Just four years later and she brought it to life. Ellen is the creator of the Shoezooz, a product that helps children tell the difference between their left and right shoe reports SF Gate. “It’s a simple idea [...]
Ketchup Packs Have Inventor Seeing Red
According to a story in The Detroit Free Press, David Wawrzynski says H.J. Heinz ripped off his concept for a better condiment package without compensating him. So now he’s putting the squeeze on the ketchup giant. “They took my idea,” Wawrzynski, 40, of Roseville said this month after suing Heinz in Wayne County Circuit Court [...]
Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverage Creates Controversy
I has only four ingredients: alcohol, caffeine, guarana and taurine. It comes in a multitude of flavors, and it’s now under fire by critics. Four Loko is an alcoholic energy drink that was created by Ohio State graduates, Chris Hunter, Jason Freeman and Jeff Wright. Inspired by their time in school, they decided to fill [...]
Finding Good Biz Name Takes Simplicity, Luck
What’s in a name? If it happens to be Twitter, the answer is roughly $1.1 billion. In just four years, Twitter has gone from birdsong to the most used word in the English language, according to Global Language Monitor data for 2009. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Twitter spokesman Matt Graves explains that his company’s insipidly [...]
Niche Biz: Online Dating Coach
Trendspotter Springwise reports that New York-based eFlirt Expert is a company that strives to help singles market themselves well online and then successfully navigate the transition into the real world. Recognizing that success in online dating is initially a matter of putting one’s best self forward on the web, eFlirt Expert begins by helping clients [...]
Unleashing Your Inner Entrepreneur
“Do you possess the “entrepreneur gene?” asks Sharon Nunes, writing for Businessweek. Nunes is vice-president of Smarter Cities Strategy & Solutions at IBM. That’s a common quandary for people I know, especially those who work at large companies. Creativity is key to being a successful entrepreneur—from how you run your business with slim resources to [...]
Business Exchange Helps Local Entrepreneurs
If you’re in Warren, Ohio, there is a new program in place to help your start up keep growing reports the Business Journal Daily. The Warren Business Exchange, unveiled by city officials and the Warren Redevelopment and Planning Corp., is designed to provide startup and early-stage businesses in the Warren area with the resources they [...]
2.75 Billion Hours Wasted Waiting For Deliveries
Listen to this shocking statistic from The Denver Post. Last year, Americans wasted 2.75 billion hours waiting for their packages to be delivered. That’s the equivalent of 1.3 million people out of work for a year. The problem is those three-hour windows that have become standard. And now some companies are trying to curry favor [...]
Student Awarded For Solar-Powered Fridge
A 23 year old British inventor, Emily Cummins, has been named among the most outstanding top 10 young people in the world reports Mail Online. [She] is receiving two major honours for her inventions which include a solar-powered fridge and a water carrying device designed for use in Africa. The Leeds University graduate was selected [...]
When we think of tea lovers, the first thing that might come to mind is a nice warm cup of tea. However, CrafTea has taken a whole different approach on that topic. Offering various shirts dyed using tea, it’s pretty safe to say that they put the tea in t-shirt. Putting all sarcasm aside, they [...]
Boston Beer Is Paying It Forward
When Jim Koch wanted to start the Boston Beer Company more than 25 years ago, the hardest thing was getting someone to give him a business loan. The Milford Daily News reports that now, the founder of the brewery that makes Samuel Adams Boston Lager is making it easier for small businesses to get a [...]
Half Of Small Bizs Denied Credit
Half of small businesses that want credit are being denied it, according to a new survey. Inc.com reports that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York surveyed 426 small businesses in June and July for the report, which defined a small firm as privately owned, with 500 or fewer employees, and less than $25 million [...]
Kit Kat, Coca-Cola, Jelly Belly. Sure, they all taste great. But there’s something else at play that makes these brands so attractive: repetition. A study published recently in the Journal of Marketing found that brands with repetitively structured names favorably affect how consumers perceive and choose items and decide where to buy them. The study, [...]
You may not be required to prove you have a certain IQ level before you can start a business, but have you ever wondered how smart you needed to be to succeed? Small Business Trends recently took a look at all the statistics to see just how smart most entrepreneurs really are. As you might [...]
Idea For My Startup Came At Music Festival
The idea for MessageParty, like most startups, came from a combination of personal frustration and curiosity. Amanda Peyton, writing for the Huffington Post, was at a large music festival and needed some information, but she had no idea where the information tent was or who to ask. All she had was her phone — and [...]
Mompreneur Program Empowers At-Home Moms
The Smart Start-Up Coach for mom-entrepreneurs, Britt Michaelian, is launching a new series today that can help mompreneurs build their own business. It is called, “The Big Picture Mom Program.” The program’s goal is to give moms the confidence to provide an excellent foundation for their life, their family, their business and their brand. Working [...]
‘Who Dat’ Trademark Fight Is Back
Last year, New Orleanians rose up with one voice and beat back the mighty National Football League when it tried to assert ownership of their beloved Saints’ signature slogan. Turns out, maybe “Who Dat” belonged to a couple of guys in San Antonio all along. According to the Times-Picayune brothers Steve and Sal Monistere make [...]
The inventor of the MetroCard, Raymond deKozan, has taken his last train. He passed away last week at the age of 74 reports Crain’s New York Business. An electrical engineer by training, deKozan founded what eventually became Cubic Transportation Systems in 1972. The San Diego-based company is a subsidiary of the Cubic Corp., a major [...]
Amazon Offers Free Web Services
Mashable reports that Amazon.com just revealed a free usage tier for its Amazon Web Services. The announcement was just a footnote to its Q3 2010 earnings call, but it has broad implications for Amazon and the future of the Internet. Starting November 1, new AWS users will be able to take advantage of the following [...]
Why Everyone Needs A Side Income
According to Xin Lu over at Wisebread, side income is something everyone needs. Here are a few reasons why you should start building an income stream outside of your main job. 1. It’s a Personal Safety Net Your side income can be your personal safety net against unemployment. Job security is really a thing of [...]
This video candy has nothing to do with business opportunities, but it might make you look at the world a little differently after viewing. Stand by to be amazed. Via: UniqueDaily
Weekend Wrap-up for October 23, 2010
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15th Annual Independent Inventors Conference
The 15th Annual Independent Inventors Conference, co-sponsored by the United States Patent Trademark Office, and Invent Now will be held in Alexandria, VA at the US Patent and Trademark Office campus on November 4 – 5, 2010. A pre-conference workshop (November 3, 2010 from 5pm – 7pm) is included with your registration for anyone interested [...]
Journey To Inventor’s Secret Island
Dean Kamen, the man who invented the Segway, has turned a tiny island off the coast of Connecticut that he calls North Dumpling into his own vast, personal laboratory. NBC Today interviews Kamen about his new science show. Kamen’s TV show ‘Dean Of Invention’ premieres Friday, October 22nd at 10 PM Eastern on Planet Green.
Toe Puppets Next show after my pedicure. Anti-Eating Mask You only eat fava beans and a nice Chianta. Device For Moistening The Adhesive Coating On Postage Stamps And Envelopes I got no spit. Apparatus For Facilitating The Birth Of A Child By Centrifugal Force Mom, tell me again how I was born… Photos by USPTO.
A few years ago Jill Plumb decided to create a raised vegetable garden. However, she was having trouble. She went into her home, and as she started to put some napkins in a holder a lightbulb went off in her head reports The Sun News. The MBrace was born. After making that napkin drawing in [...]
According to Wired, the Concept 1, a $300 basketball shoe that features a proprietary springlike device under the balls of the feet, has been banned by the NBA since it may, in the words of a league spokesperson, give players an “undue competitive advantage.” Called Load ‘N Launch, the feature was developed by Athletic Propulsion [...]
GameTag Helps Kids Keep Track Of Nintendo DS Games
As most people know, Nintendo DS game disks are small, expensive, and easy to lose. One day, after giving her kids 2 DS games each, she is vacuuming when she comes upon some of those disks. While most mom’s would be mad about their kids losing these expensive games so quickly, she started thinking. That [...]
