Archive for December 2010
Laughing All The Way To The Bank
Snuggie infomercials are cheesy, but that cheesiness played a huge part in making the Snuggie one of the biggest success stories in infomercial history. “By the end of 2010, the company will have sold 25 million blankets, the equivalent of one for about every 12 residents of the United States,” The New York Times reports. [...]
It took a lot of hard work and patience, but Square Shooters has finally been taken off the ice and released on dice reports TheTelegraph.com. Created by Carmelyn Calvert of Eldred with help from her best friend and business partner, Paula Johnson of Nutwood, the inventors call the game the “first deck of cards on [...]
Via: Walyou
Building Business Was A ‘Snap’ For Inventor
As an architect, David Child spent years putting pieces together. Five years ago that turned into a new toy discovery, reports Daily Times. Sitting in his apartment in 2005, the Wayne resident folded a business card. “Wow,” he said to himself. “You can make all these complicated shapes.” That event served as the basis for [...]
Business Is A ‘Grand Slam’ In The Garage Sale Industry
When most people think of garage sales, they think of junk. However, that is not necessarily what comes to mind for Ben Weissenstein. As the founder and CEO of Grand Slam Garage Sales, he can see the money making potential that is available in this industry. Grand Slam Garage Sales runs garage sales for people, [...]
Via: Laughing Squid
Frugal Parents Skip Stores And Swap Online
Stephanie Edwards-Musa finished her Christmas shopping early this year. Her 13-year-old daughter is getting a PlayStation 2 and clothing from Hollister and Aeropostale. For her 5-year-old son, it’s a bundle of toys, mostly “Star Wars”-themed. The bill? $45. USA Today reports that Edwards-Musa, a Houston Realtor, found these items used on ThredUp.com, an online toy [...]
I’ve saved the best for last. Here’s my last holiday gift idea and it’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen this year. The Parrot AR.Drone Quadricoptor. It’s a little pricey at $300 bucks, but you do get free shipping. As a sucker for gadgets and toys, learning about a helicopter whose mobility can be [...]
“Gift Conversion System” Transforms Duds Into Hits
In what surely must be the greatest gift-giving innovation since wrapping paper, Amazon’s new patent liberates you from having to suffer through unwanted gifts, reports Fast Company. You know that relative whose gifts are a little, well, off the mark? The one who hasn’t seen you in years, and keeps buying you sweaters that would [...]
U of M Student Awarded For Baby Clothes Rental Biz
According to The Detroit Free Press, Allen Kim found out in mid-September that he won the College Entrepreneur of 2010 award. It is an honor that hasn’t yet lost that special feeling. “I really can’t believe it,” said Kim of Ann Arbor, who created a company called Bebarang, which he describes as similar to Netflix [...]
Scientists Build “Smart” Christmas Tree
According to a story at Fast Company, scientists have figured out how to engineer a Christmas tree with longer needle retention time. What other bells and whistles can we expect from these so-called “smart” trees? The idea came a few years ago when a devastated small-business owner called on Dr. Raj Lada, a plant physiologist [...]
Mom’s Success With Bootstrapping
When Angelia Kane graduated from college she went straight into freelancing. She started with web design, which eventually evolved into consulting. However, it was after the web bubble burst she found her way into marketing. The mind behind Bedtime CEO, she now offers coaching and other services to fellow parents that are just trying to [...]
5 Gallon Water Bottle Christmas Tree
Photo by mtsn.
First Care For Electronics, Jewelry
Moisture is the enemy of electronics and jewelry alike. It can cause your favorite necklace to tarnish, or it could make your cellphone stop working. First Care Bag is a special bag that you can store your favorite jewelry and electronics in. The bag is made to remove moisture from your personal items, and helps [...]
Teacher’s Invention Finds Unexpected Uses
Fran Rebello created the Yacker Tracker to give teachers a way to quiet their students without having to raise their voices. According to KRCR-TV, the device sounds a siren and flashes a red light whenever noise goes above a preset level, but teachers aren’t the only ones taking notice. The Yacker Tracker has been put [...]
How Americans Spend Their Money
‘Tis the season for turning otherwise normal people into up-at-dawn, deal-seeking lunatics. What better time than the holidays to look at how consumers — in the U.S. and around the world — spend their discretionary dollars (as opposed to outlays on necessities like food and housing). For a U.S. snapshot, Forbes turned to SpendingPulse, the [...]
In less than a year, WikiLeaks has released hundreds of thousands of classified documents while its frontman Julian Assange became embattled in a sex scandal, was arrested, and faced extradition from Sweden. The site’s secret-document dumps have spawned contentious political debates, international nail-biting, and near-daily headlines. According to Inc.com, all that buzz has been a [...]
There’s something you need to know about two of this year’s hottest holiday toys: Your kids won’t let you buy just one, reports The Wall Street Journal. In the tradition of Hot Wheels cars, Beanie Babies animals and Pokémon trading cards, Squinkies and Zoobles toys have been carefully engineered to make children crave them in [...]
Baggy pants are a fad that, well, not everyone enjoys. While many people have hoped that the fad would die out, Andrew Lewis invented a product based on it instead. According to the NY Daily News, his invention, called Subs, is a type of suspenders that will keep baggy pants from falling too far down. [...]
Senzu Jewelry For Fashionable Women
Nothing can replace a beautiful piece of jewelry. The right necklace, earrings, bracelet, or ring can say a lot about the woman wearing it. A new direct sales company is helping women find the right piece that speaks to them. Senzu is a direct sales jewelry business located in Canada. They offer beautiful pieces of [...]
Photo by Peter Brooker/Graham King. Via: Neatorama
WikiLeaks Takes Aim On Richard Branson
According to The Telegraph, Wikileaks recently released some information that has Richard Branson criticizing the British education system. The entrepreneur made the comments at a business lunch in Beijing, according to a confidential US diplomat’s report. Chinese businessmen at the event titled What Makes a Good Entrepreneur, held in January 2008, complained that their British [...]
Entrepreneur Scores With Low-Tech Game
Spud Alford saw some kids playing a game he remembered playing during his own childhood–finger football–and thought there had to be a better and safer way. He invented the board version of the game in 1989, but he didn’t “take it to the next level.” After a brief run, it died. Entrepreneur reports that for [...]
Don’t tell Santa, but the national infatuation with Silly Bandz and other shaped, silicone bands that were America’s hottest fad in 2010, seems to have snapped. USA Today reports that with Christmas just days away, many retailers say they have cut way back on the number of bands they carry and some have stopped selling [...]
Helping Entrepreneurs This Christmas
If you’d like to give a gift to an entrepreneur this Christmas, you might like this opportunity from Gospel For Asia. It’s a Christian program that I support – perhaps there are other non-sectarian ones you may prefer. Maybe KickStart.org is a place you’d like to give. Some of the gifts are what you might [...]
Grandparents’ Giving Is Gift To Economy
Mary Hopp has firm beliefs about her role as a gift-giver to her seven grandchildren. Every Christmas, the grandchildren – ranging in age from 5 to 16 – receive books. “I don’t think I should be looked at as a bank,” said Hopp, 68, who lives in El Dorado Hills. According to The Sacramento Bee, [...]
Inventor Swaps Science For Sales
An award winning scientist and inventor, Damini Kumar has decided to tackle something a little different. Damini has recently launched an ecommerce site called Boutiqua. According to the Sunday Business Post, her shop features unique products that are handmade in India. With the help of her husband, Mark Canavan, her business is beginning to take [...]
Entrepreneur magazine reports that a fellow home brewer e-mailed Eric Olson a photo of a crazy-looking pub on wheels in Europe. “I said, ‘Damn, this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.’” He tracked down the creators–brothers Henk and Zwier van Laar in (where else?) Amsterdam–and asked how to make [...]
Women In Business Make Strides In Retail And Services
In the past 35 years, female entrepreneurs have come a long way. According to the Post-Tribune, that trip is not yet complete. In 2007, women owned 7.8 million businesses and accounted for 28.7 percent of all businesses nationwide, according to the survey. These firms generated $1.2 trillion in receipts, about 3.9 percent of all business [...]
The Perfect Christmas Tree For Bookworms
To get everyone in the Christmas spirit, we will exhibit an unusual Christmas tree from today till Friday. Enjoy! What’s better than giving the bookworm in your life a great tree for the holidays? Building them an entire tree out of green-colored hardcovers. What a creative idea! Via: HolyKaw Photo by livbit.
Gaston College Offering Free Seminars For Entrepreneurs
Gaston College is doing its part to help current and potential entrepreneurs receive the information they need to grow by offering a few free seminars. They will cover a variety of topics, like legal issues, record keeping, tax issues, marketing, and business planning. Some of these lessons could be invaluable to the right person. According [...]
Intuit’s Open Call For Entrepreneurs
In the latest example of companies recognizing the benefits of crowdsourcing, software maker Intel has issued an open call for budding entrepreneurs who have ideas that can help the company develop new products or make improvements to their existing line of financial management tools. Through a new site called Intuit Collaboratory, the company will post [...]
New Small Biz Loans Approved In ‘Minutes’
The Small Business Administration announced two new lending initiatives aimed at getting relatively modest loans to small businesses quickly, according to a story at CNNMoney.com. The idea is to get loans under $250,000 into the hands of small businesses efficiently: Applications are only 2 pages long and can be approved in anywhere from “minutes” to [...]
Listen Now: Or download: Weekend Wrap-up December 18, 2010
He was born Soren Adam Sorensen in Denmark in 1879 and migrated to the US with his family at age four, and grew up in Perth Amboy, New Jersey where his father operated a saloon. In 1904 Adams found himself employed as a salesman for a dye company. One of the products he sold caused [...]
Google originally released the App Inventor software to education-focused groups in July. According to Time Techland, it is now available for everyone. The real question is: Can you turn this into an opportunity to promote your business through your own app? App Inventor promises a simple, visual way to program simple applications—”like fitting together puzzle [...]
Positive Mood Allows Brain To Think More Creatively
“Generally, positive mood has been found to enhance creative problem solving and flexible yet careful thinking,” says Ruby Nadler, a graduate student at the University of Western Ontario. According to a story at PhysOrg.com, she and colleagues Rahel Rabi and John Paul Minda carried out a new study published in Psychological Science. For this study, [...]
WhipCar Lets Owners Rent Out Their Vehicles
Don’t use your own car that often? Then a unique website, WhipCar, might be able to help you recoup some of the cost. They have made it possible for car owners to post their vehicles for rent, allowing people in their neighborhood to rent the car for short periods of time. The owner can set [...]
It’s a big time of the year for tree-tailers, so Intuit thought they’d offer a closer look at the industry. Photo by Intuit.
Public Library Allows Patrons To Also Borrow People
The Human Library Project aims to break down prejudice barriers by creating settings where people of different backgrounds can engage in conversations according to a report in Yonge Street Media. The idea of a Human Library first emerged in Copenhagen about a decade ago, as a way to break down prejudice by bringing people of [...]
Where The Squeegee Got Its Start
Among mankind’s greatest inventions or discoveries: the automobile, airplane, baseball, light bulb, jazz, telephone, radio, penicillin, motion pictures, television, rock ‘n’ roll, computers and, of course, the squeegee. Hey, don’t laugh. Where would we be without the squeegee? We need sparkling windows to look more clearly at the muddled outside world. According to The Oakland [...]
Inside The Fed’s $100 Billion Printer Error
Whoops! The new bills’ high-tech anti-counterfeiting features were too much for government printers. Now about a billion bills are in quarantine, and many will need to be burned. Printer errors–we’ve all been the victims at one point or another. But what if a printer error set you back $100 billion? That’s the situation the Federal [...]
Pair Give Incubator Concept New Twist
A real estate investor and tech executive have come together to create a new business incubator model for young tech companies, reports The Dallas Morning News. Their Tech Multiplier is the latest in a string of new offerings of office space, funding and mentoring for entrepreneurs this year, a trend that points to the improving [...]
As any pet owner would know, animals feel anxiety. New situations, thunderstorms, travel, etc. can all have an effect on them. A professional dog trainer, Susan Sharpe, was looking for a way to help new dogs relax when they were dropped off at her Doggie Resort. Aware of some work in this area on other [...]
Cool Invention: Portable Braille Translator
PSFK.com reports that one of the winning entries at the 2010 Red Dot Concept Design is the “Haptic Braille” by Baek Kil Hyun. The mouse-shaped device scans any text, identifies the characters using optical character recognition technology and converts them into Braille on its surface, enabling the visually impaired to read any printed material, without [...]
New Approval Setup For SBA Loans
On Wednesday, the SBA announced two new lending initiatives to help get modest loans out to small businesses quickly reports CNN Money. The idea is to get loans under $250,000 into the hands of small businesses efficiently: Applications are only 2 pages long and can be approved in anywhere from “minutes” to 10 days, according [...]
January 1, 2011 Is Public Domain Day
According to Gutenberg News every new year since the first copyrights expired, back around 1724, the world has looked forward to the expiration of copyrights and the availability of public domain works, which have been kept under publishing monopolies. This coming January 1, Europeans will see a nice list of great works entering the public [...]
How Your Parents Helped Make You An Entrepreneur
Think your decision to own your own business is all yours? Maybe not. BusinessNewsDaily reports that new research finds that your parents had a lot more to do with your career choice than you thought. Psychologist George Holden at Southern Methodist University hypothesizes that parents guide their children’s development in four complex and dynamic ways: [...]
Here’s a cool STOCKing stuffer. Company Stock. How about a share of Hershey’s for the chocoholic? Or a share of Starbucks for the latte lover? The gift of stock ownership – and an introduction to the wild world of stocks – starts with a stock certificate from OneShare.com. With more than 150 public companies to [...]
Irish Entrepreneurs Boom in Crisis
The economic turmoil in Ireland has given Irish entrepreneurs an opportunity to rise out of the shadows of big business. A crisis can be an opportunity to some, as Fast Company explains: With her country embroiled in budget cuts, a $113 billion bailout, and a general financial frenzy, product designer Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh’s obsession with [...]
