Archive for January 10th, 2012
Today in Entrepreneurial History: January 10
1776 – Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense. 1870 – John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil. 1901 – The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas. 1990 – Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications.
The CarCapsule is a vinyl bubble that seals your vehicle completely away from dust, dirt, condensation, and other elements. A continuous ventilation system removes odors, eliminates condensation, reduces heat build up. Prices range from $269 for a motorcycle to $449 for a large truck.
TicketBust.com: They Made a Business Out of Something Anyone Can Do for Free
Steve Miller saw a business opportunity when his brother received a speeding ticket. In California, there’s a process called “trial by written declaration” that makes it easier to get a speeding ticket dismissed or the charge reduced. Although the notice is on the back of every ticket, few people notice it, Miller said. And it [...]
Two layoffs made a great whoopie pie for two Maine residents. Their joblessness pushed them to start a bakery, called Chococa Baking Company, just as whoopie pies began gaining popularity in 2008. Money Magazine reports: Had Julie Ganong and Alan Mons not both been laid off in 2008, the couple might not be making whoopie [...]
Waterproof Your Cell Phone, No Case Required
Ever spilled your coffee or, heaven-forbid, dropped your cellphone into the toilet? Popular Science has up a profile of a product demoed this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that will protect your phone from such mishaps. Liquipel covers devices inside and out with a transparent coating thinner than a human hair [...]
No More Germs: A Self Sanitizing Keyboard
Did you know that computer keyboards are dirtier than your toilet? A consumer advocacy group commissioned the tests in which British microbiologist James Francis took a swab to 33 keyboards, a toilet seat and a toilet door handle at the publication’s London office in January. Francis then tested the swabs to see what nasty germs [...]
Will Someone Please Invent a Hoverboard?
Do you remember the movie Back to the Future 2? In the film, Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to year 2015, where they encounter all manner of futuristic devices, including flying cars, self adjusting sneakers and hoverboards. There are still three years left before we catch up with the “future”, and unlike self adjusting [...]
Entrepreneurs Racing For Domain Names
The Wall Street Journal: This week will bring the long-awaited opening up of a new realm of Web addresses in which just about any word—such as dot-furniture or dot-arcticvacations—can serve as a domain name. And to some, that spells opportunity. Beginning Thursday, the organization that oversees the Internet will start accepting applications to manage new [...]
Women Receiving Patents On The Rise
The Sacramento Bee: The number of women obtaining patents has grown at an accelerating rate over the past 35 years and in numbers considerably higher than previously reported, a new study commissioned by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) has found. The largest spike came in 2010, when 22,984 patents were granted to women, a [...]
Alexander Graham Bell Letter Up For Auction
A little piece of history has been placed up for auction recently. It is a letter from Alexander Graham Bell to his father, with a drawing of his plans for the telephone. Bell writes in the letter, postmarked from Washington DC, on December 30, to his parents that he is ‘quite troubled by your account [...]
Even with a little controversy behind the service and a loss of customers, Netflix saw serious gains over the last 12 months. What does this say for ‘net-to-door rental services? Is this still a decent market for new companies to enter? Netflix Inc., the film-streaming and mail-order DVD service, rose the most in almost 12 [...]
