Archive for the 'News' Category
Startup Tips From Forbes Youngest Billionaire, Sara Blakely
Pantyhose without feet made her rich, and it make her Forbes youngest billionare. Now she shares some startup tips she learned on her personal journey. 1. Don’t let the first “no” (or five) stop you. 2. Don’t quit your day job just yet. 3. Don’t seek validation from others. 4. Hire your weaknesses. 5. Never [...]
Invisible Robots Are Everywhere
Joe Posner: “A month ago Marketplace told me they’re doing a weeklong special called “Robots Ate My Job” this week and asked if I could make videos to go with it. Where to start? “Even though we don’t see them with anthropomorphic features and two arms and legs walking down the streets, there are robots [...]
Daily Mail: The purchasing and selling of private property was legalized by President Raul Castro in Cuba last November in a bid to keep the struggling Communist state afloat. Only citizens and permanent residents are allowed to buy properties in the Communist country but many Cuban exiles in America are entering the property markets through [...]
NZ City: Hard times mean families are coming second according to a study of small business owners. MYOB has found almost three quarters of small business owners have to sacrifice time with their families in order to work longer hours so their business survives. It’s also found 58 percent have cut back on family holidays. [...]
Why Your Business Needs to Accept Credit Card Payments
The world of mobile credit card processing has changed dramatically in the past 18 months. The widespread popularity of smartphones is helping to push the acceptance of chip-based credit cards in the U.S. via the now globally accepted EMV standard. The terminals used for EMV mobile credit card processing are also enabled for near field [...]
Gold Prices Drive Business Growth
MSNBC: fe is suddenly very good. In almost every way Nevada is still reeling from the recession. It has the highest unemployment rate in the country at almost 13 percent, and one of the highest foreclosure rates. But in the northeast corner of the state, almost 500 miles from the Vegas strip, li In Nevada’s [...]
NY Times: The next two months will bring sleepless nights and high anxiety — and quite possibly an extraordinary windfall — for a small universe of people in Maine. They are the lucky few with licenses to catch elvers — young, tiny eels that look like cellophane noodles and by some accounts are fetching up [...]
Steve Jobs Tops Fortune’s Top Entrepreneurs List
GantDaily.com: Describing Jobs as “our generation’s quintessential entrepreneur, Visionary, Inspiring, Brilliant, and Mercurial,” Fortune said Jobs always used his intuition to create great products. Gates garnered the number two spot on Fortune’s list because he not only turned “concepts into companies” but also changed the “face of business.” Others on the list were Fred Smith, [...]
FUBU inventor, Daymond John, recently offered some business advice to college students at Kennesaw State University. Here is some of what he shared: John said entrepreneurs should set goals, do their homework, make sure they love what they’re doing, have a brand that briefly sums up who they are, and always continue moving forward in [...]
Grants Helping States Promote Small Biz Growth
Times Record News: The State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) grant initiative, launched under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, is a pilot grant program authorizing up to $90 million in grants to the states and U.S. territories over three years to help them increase the number of businesses that export, as well as [...]
Could Morse Patent The Internet?
Samuel Morse may have come long before the invention of the Internet, but that didn’t stop him from trying to patent the basic idea behind it, reports The Wall Street Journal. This would have been a patent for all uses of the telegraph—and would also have included the Internet. The 19th-century justices refused to block [...]
Cleveland.com: The black-and-white, two-dimensional matrix barcodes are made for easy linking to content on smartphones. Instead of browsing the Internet, a person can scan a QR code — that can be found in magazines, newspapers, advertisements, almost anywhere — and get specific information about a menu, a store sale, or video about a product. The [...]
Advice For Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Thinking about starting a business? The Wall Street Journal has a collection of advice for people getting ready to take that leap. –Don’t start a business to get rich because there may be surer routes to material gain, such as working for an existing multinational and building up stock options. Start a business if you [...]
Social Networking Is Also Marketing
Wisconsin State Journal: Social media sites allow the public to gather information and make buying decisions about products or services. Because customers spend so much time online, businesses that distribute their message via social media have a greater opportunity to reach and attract new customers and also keep long-term customers. According to Leo Burnett, a [...]
Men Shop Online, Even While in Stores
Do you use a smartphone to do product research when you’re shopping in a retail store? According to a survey by Men’s Health magazine and GfK Roper, 27% of men look up product reviews while shopping. Women may be shopping commandos, but men are catching up to them. One big reason is men’s ease with [...]
While putting your head in the sand and ignoring technology will do no good for your business, there are still some tech traps you should avoid. Here are a few from USA Today. Lack of security: Your customer lists, account numbers, passwords, bank information, data, contracts, and other vital information are the lifeblood of your [...]
Submarines of the future aren’t big and bulky. One Canadian inventor has created a submarine suit that can be worn and manned by one person. The all-metal suit weighs up to 595 pounds (270 kilograms) and is equipped with a vast array of life-support systems and tools to explore the deep-sea, thruster pack included, at [...]
Three Student Entrepreneurs Offer New Future For Athletic Clothes
LeHigh Valley Live: “It goes back to high school in 2009,” said Krass, “I played lacrosse with Sam and we just started hanging out and talking about how cool it would be to start a clothing company.” Maybe the biggest inspiration the duo had was the success apparel company, Vineyard Vines was having in 2008 [...]
Coventry Telegraph: Mick came up with the idea after visiting his son’s student digs at Oxford University. He said: “My son’s shower was really small and all these bottles of shampoo and conditioner were at the bottom. I thought ‘What can I do to change this?’” Mick spent three years on the invention and carried [...]
Draw Something Takes Pictionary To A Whole New Level
The Guardian: Draw Something is the latest classic board game to be reinvented for the digital age. Words With Friends is the new Scrabble, Monopoly is a hit online. But none has rivalled the phenomenal growth of Draw. The game has been a winner from day one – it was averaging three drawings a second [...]
Auction: Want to Buy 167 Liquor Stores?
Do you want to start a liquor store in a big way? If you want to get into the business in a really big way, the Washington State Liquor Control Board has put all 167 of their state owned liquor stores up for auction. According to the state, the 167 stores do $888 million in [...]
Casting Calls For Invention USA
Want to show your invention to the world? History Channel’s Invention USA is looking for you. There are just a few, but important steps, to apply for an interview by the show casting directors and the hosts of Invention USA, Reichart Von Wolfsheild and Garrett Lisi. Most importantly, you must have a prototype. It can [...]
Gaza’s Power Problems Inspire Inventor
Gaza has been faced with unstable power supply for the past five years. Instead of suffering in silence, Mahmoud Shaheen created his own solar source. Mahmoud Shaheen, a 55-year-old chemistry professor, started investigating the possibility of generating electricity at home a long time before the bombing of the generators. “I started thinking of this experiment [...]
Keeping Young Entrepreneurs Engaged In The Classroom
If you want to raise the next generation of entrepreneurs, the best place to start is in the classroom. The Huffington Post has a few ideas on how we can teach tomorrows entrepreneurs today. Make schoolwork relevant. Students might have a dream job, but they often overlook the stepping stones to getting there. Math, science, [...]
Cheap Shale Oil Will Revolutionize US by 2020
Business Insider: Oil and gas production in the United States and North America is going to skyrocket in the next 8 years due to strides in natural resource extraction, write Citi analysts in a report published yesterday. In fact, they went so far as to call North America “the new Middle East,” at least in [...]
Man Who Brought Bagels to America Has Died
Murray Lender, the man credited with introducing the bagel to America has died at 81, the AP is reporting. Lender’s father, Harry Lender, immigrated to United States from Lublin, Poland, in 1927 and opened what would become Lender’s Bagels that year in an 800-square-foot bakery in New Haven. Two years later, he had his wife [...]
Niche Health: Pain-Free Needles
When is the last time you were jabbed with a needle in the name of health care? One inventor hopes to relieve some of that pain. Oliver Blackwell says his pain-free needle could be used in millions of procedures every year and lead to a more pleasant experience for patients. He also says it will [...]
Are Tech Savvy Companies More Successful?
What stands between you and success? Could it be the technology you enlist to help you grow your business? The Wall Street Journal thinks it might be. Web-knowledgeable small and midsize firms in industries ranging from retail to manufacturing. They create twice as many jobs as companies that have limited Internet use, according to a [...]
Walmart Bringing Ecommerce to Cash Customers
Bloomberg: “Next month, Walmart.com is starting ‘Pay With Cash,’ aimed at the 20 percent of Wal-Mart customers who can’t shop online because they don’t have bank accounts or credit cards. Using the new program, these core Wal-Mart customer can reserve products online and pay cash at their nearest store. Wal-Mart is reaching out to more [...]
UK Teenager’s Cheesecake Biz Get’s Funding from Richard Branson
Click Liverpool: A Liverpool teenager has had his business dream turned into a reality, after convincing Sir Richard Branson to invest in his mobile cake venture. Aaron Booth, an A Level student at Liverpool Community College (LCC), met Sir Richard during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress being held in the city this week. Aaron is a [...]
Amazon Created New Market for Other Entrepreneurs To Thrive
ActiveFilings: Although Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, its expansion into selling so many different types of items has created a marketing channel with room for similar operations. One example is Alice.com, a website that sells only household items. Alice.com is headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin. The company started in 2008 and has since established a [...]
Farmers Of The Future Won’t Have To Drive Their Tractors
According to Grand Forks Herald, the next time you see a field being tended by a farmer, he probably won’t be driving the tractor. Initially, the tractors will be primarily for tillage. They’ll have “follow-me” technology, to trail behind a lead vehicle between fields and then follow another tractor, “just like a hired hand would.” [...]
What happens when you don’t have enough bandwidth to stream a movie, but you don’t want to down load it onto your computer? John Strisower hopes to give you a device that you can simply plug into your devices and play, reports The Sacramento Bee. He’s just launched a company, FlixChip Corp., that aims to [...]
Tools For Entrepreneurial Success
Business Insider: 1. Be An Active Listener 2. Empty The Cup 3. Analysis Paralysis 5. Breakdowns And Breakthroughs Visit the article for a full description of each tip for success. Photo by Clare Bell
Crickey! There’s a Marmite Shortage in NZ!
New Zealand is running out of Marmite! Marmite, if you don’t know, is boiled yeast which is eaten on buttered bread. The NZ Herald has the story: Marmite supplies are on a knife edge, with lovers of the spread being urged to ration their use as supermarkets run low on stock. Manufacturing of the popular [...]
Infographic: Startups Drop For 2011
A recent study released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has shown that startups declined during 2011. Here is an infographic to help break down that information for you.
Entrepreneurs Who’ve Changed Our Lives
Here is a list of entrepreneurs from iOL Scitech who have changed the way we live today. Mark Zuckerberg Facebook; £11bn Facebook connected 500 million people across the world and inspired a Hollywood film along the way – as well as generating £11bn for its founder – not bad for a college drop-out. At 27, [...]
In my continuing coverage of the decline of business card usage come this article from the LA Times: Chalk up another looming casualty of the Internet age: business cards. Ubiquitous as pinstripes, the 2-by-3.5-inch pieces of card stock have long been a staple in executive briefcases. Exchanging cards helps to break the ice and provides [...]
Inventor Plays With Innovative Toy Inspiration
How many times have you toyed with your inventions before reaching a final product? For over a quarter century, Tony Morley has tinkered with 30 creations that have been manufactured. Actual prototypes reach into the thousands. Morley grew up in California and graduated from Brigham Young University with an industrial art degree before starting a [...]
The man behind the energy drink, Chaleo Yoovidhya, passed away at the age of 90. The partnership with Austrian-born Dietrich Mateschitz 28 years ago took the world beverage market by storm. Mateschitz, who visited Thailand in 1982 and discovered Krating Daeng helped cure his jet-lag very quickly. He approached TC Pharmaceuticals with a proposal to [...]
Are you getting ready to lease property for your business? There are a few things you should do before you sign. While professional advice is a must, you should at least be aware of some of the key issues. To start, be sure the lease clearly states what the lease payment covers. Are utilities such [...]
Preventing Entrepreneurial Burnout
The next time you begin to feel a little worn thin, keep in mind these tips from Forbes. Schedule many regular micro-breaks. Build 5, 5-minute breaks into every day. Stress accumulates in your body, your mind, and in your work. Taking care of your self also takes care of your work. Give yourself permission to [...]
Loan Program Helping Local Small Biz
San Francisco Examiner: In the next eight months, The City plans to issue about $1 million in loans to people wishing to expand or start a small business. Mayor Ed Lee’s proposed $1 million for a small business revolving loan fund was approved Wednesday by the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee. Jennifer Matz, [...]
Take Advantage Of St. Paddy’s Day
What is your business doing to market itself this St. Patrick’s Day? Here is an idea from The Street. Using St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday marked in the U.S. mainly by green beer, leprechauns and four-leaf clovers, is a great way to lure customers in the door, says Charles Gaudet, founder of PredictableProfits.com. “The most [...]
PayPal Introduces Credit Card Swiping iPhone Device
Do you have a small business that sometimes needs to take credit cards, but not quite enough to make it worthwhile to go through the hassle of getting a dedicated credit card machine? PayPal today launched a new device, called PayPal Here, in the US, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong, that consists of a free, [...]
Nots!: Snackable Sunflower Seeds
Minnesota Public Radio News: Rob Fuglie’s brainstorm began with the swinging of a hammer to smash sunflower seeds on his kitchen counter. His young son is allergic to nuts and so, tired of munching plain old sunflower seeds, Fuglie endeavored to create something more crunchy and tasty. “My wife and I missed peanuts in our [...]
Google Launching Small Biz Initiative In Oregon
OregonLive.com: Google’s free website initiative launched this week in Oregon, offering small business owners help creating a website. The program, called Oregon Get Your Business Online, targets small business owners without an online presence. It also extends domain names, a business email account and free web hosting services for a year. The Internet giant is [...]
Encyclopedia Britannica Says Goodbye to Printed Books
Reuters: The Encyclopedia Britannica, which has been in continuous print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1768, said Tuesday it will end publication of its printed editions and continue with digital versions available online. The flagship, 32-volume printed edition, available every two years, was sold for $1400. An online subscription costs around [...]
NewsMax: Lammoglia’s AIRE mask, which harnesses the wind power from breathing, “contains tiny wind turbines and the energy created is transferred through a cable to your electronic device,” the Mail reports. “I hope to bring the concept into production and reduce the carbon footprint,” Lammoglia told the Mail. “It can be used indoors or outdoors, [...]
Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Bradford engineer Andrew Nichols is on his way to Parliament with a novel idea on how to stop sewers causing a stink. The 25-year-old, who is a research engineer at Bradford University, is taking his invention to London on Monday in the hope it will win votes and approval of the [...]
