Author Archives: Angela Shupe
Businessweek: “Washington is not doing enough,” so businesses have to “step up,” Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz said yesterday in a telephone interview. Customers of the Seattle- based company have given about $2 million to Create Jobs for USA since it was created last year. The Starbucks Foundation seeded the fund with $5 million to [...]
There is a reason people love the tagline, “There’s an app for that,” so much. It’s true. There are apps for everyone, including inventors. Here are a few shared by Davison Inventions. iHandy Carpenter This app has five of the most well designed tools for builders, makers and carpenters. InventionLand An app on a mission [...]
An Arabian Apprentice-Like Show To Launch
The new show may not feature Donald Trump, but it does seem to take a few cues from his American show, The Apprentice, reports Arabian Business. Titled ‘The Entrepreneur’, the show is likely to begin in the third quarter of 2012. “It welcomes a new genre of entrepreneurs: people who have ideas that are impactful [...]
Ideas Are Nothing Without Execution
What is a good idea if you do nothing with it? It is still just an idea. It takes work to build a simple idea into a successful business. So let’s consider that very first moment when you think it is a good idea to run your own show; you have read of these entrepreneurial [...]
Accessories For iPad Users With Disabilities
Making life easier for people in need is always good business, as one entrepreneur has discovered. The assistive devices started really by accident. My first handmade product was an iPad stylus made from a highly conductive fabric sock (knitted by my wife!) that can be wrapped around any pen holder (the Stylus Socks). They worked [...]
USA Today: Using cow stem cells grown in a petri dish, the researchers have created small strips of muscle that will be mixed with blood and artificially grown fat to make a hamburger, the BBC writes. Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is being courted to cook “a golf ball-size of this stuff,” physiologist Mark Post of [...]
Braille Meets Touchscreen With Free App
The increasing popularity of touchscreen phones has caused some problems for the visually impaired. However, the new BrailleTouch app hopes to fix that. In an app coming to the market relatively soon for both iPhone and Android, Georgia Tech researchers have reduced the price of realistically typing Braille on a smartphone from $1700 plus the [...]
Entrepreneurs Turning To 3-D Printing
USA Today: Matt Sullivan, a retired soldier, still has trouble explaining his right leg to strangers. The shiny chrome surface, embossed with the lightning bolt logo of his beloved San Diego Chargers, covers the calf area of his prosthetic leg, the result of a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2010. At the naval hospital where [...]
OurWindsor.ca: Get ready to pitch your idea to the producers of Dragons’ Den when they visit the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce (2575 Ouellette Place) on Saturday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pre-registration is strongly recommended and you do need to be prepared: Act like this is the real thing. Present how [...]
Are You Ready For An Employee?
Chron.com: Before putting an ad in the paper, think about whether you’re really ready to become a boss. If a solo practice provides you with a comfortable living and an enjoyable lifestyle, you might want to stay a one-person shop. Be realistic about your personality and skill set. Being your own boss is one thing; [...]
ASA After Roastcosy For Claims
The Daily Record: Helen Waterston has been told by advertising watchdogs the ASA to change the wording on her website for the Roastcosy. But yesterday, she slammed the order following a single complaint which, she says, may have come from a competitor. Mum-of-one Helen, 46, added: “It’s ludicrous. I just don’t understand how just one [...]
Laboratory Style Initiative: Innovative Lab Coats
What does it take to make your basic laboratory coat great? It takes Laboratory Style Initiative. They specialize in lab coats, and the people who wear them. I recently asked the founder, Elaine Tanhehco, a few questions about her business. Tell us a little about Laboratory Style Initiative. Laboratory Style Initiative produces high-end lab coats [...]
Inventors Thinking Outside The “Qube”
GB Tribune: Their Qube Shaker, an innovative percussion shaker, has been marketed successfully by Latin Percussion, the world leader in production and marketing of percussion instruments. LP has taken the technology used in its wildly successful and award-winning Qube Shaker and created a jingle version that sounds like nothing else you’ve ever played. Inside the [...]
Heart Attack At Heart Attack Grill
When you dub yourself as a company bad for your customer’s health, is it a tragedy or publicity when one of your customers has a heart attack while eating a 6,000 calorie burger? For Heart Attack Grill, it could possibly be both. So this story may sound too good to be true: A customer at [...]
A business would not exist without a decent customer base. This infographic helps depict the different layers behind customer loyalty and why it’s important. Infographic after the jump.
Don’t Fear An Increase In Minimum Wage
An increase in minimum wage may mean paying employees more for doing the same job, but that does not mean it is without its benefits. The Huffington Post recently looked at reasons why you should embrace the change. According to some estimates, many minimum wage employees will leave employment for a 5 or 10 cent [...]
Inventor Converts Air Into Fresh Water
KSAT.com: The heart of his invention is Sears Kenmore 70-pint dehumidifier. Condensed water is further purified and sterilized with filters and ultraviolet light. It takes about three days to make 40 gallons of ultra-pure water that are stored in a food-grade plastic barrel. The parts to the machine cost around $700 but he can sell [...]
If you thought the iPad was too big now, you may be surprised to hear a smaller version may become available in the near future, reports InformationWeek. This new device, or iPad Mini if you will, would boast a screen with similar resolution to the current iPad 2. The iPad 2′s 9.7-inch display has 1024 [...]
Social Entrepreneurs Changing The World With Startups
Not only are the young making an effort to help change the world, they are starting businesses that project their positive attitudes, reports VentureBeat. There is no clear-cut definition, but most social entrepreneurs would agree that their overarching goal is to use business and business process to drive social or environmental impact. “There is a [...]
Business Resolutions You Should Keep
It is now the middle of February, and you have probably forgotten many of the New Year resolutions you vowed to keep. However, JSOnline has some for your business that you need to keep. Specialize – In an effort to build business, many companies try to be everything to everyone. But that effort can often [...]
Inventor On The Fast Track With HeatTrak
Hillel Glazer used to shovel snow for money when he was a teen. At 33 years old, he has decided it was time for the walkways to clear themselves. So, he created a snow melting mat. “I thought, there’s got to be a better way,” said Glazer, now 33, who owns HeatTrak, a Paterson-based company [...]
Inventors: No Formal Education Necessary
Some of the best inventions came from the minds of men and women who never finished school, including the microwave. Percy L. Spencer never graduated from high school, but in 1945 he invented the microwave oven. The heating efficiency of a microwave oven is due to the fact that water strongly absorbs microwaves. That’s why [...]
Steve Jobs was many things during his life. He was an entrepreneur and innovator. He was also a man with an FBI file. Here are a few things about Steve Jobs, the man, that the FBI had on him. The person who emerges from the 191 pages of the file is not dissimilar to the [...]
Robot: Best Toy In The Universe?
What does it take to create the best toy robot in the universe? Jaimie Mantzel thinks he has created the answer with his currently unnamed robot, reports Gizmag. Mantzel’s little robot walks on six legs and is guided by a remote control, but what makes it stand out are the different attachments that can be [...]
Not everything comes off a production line today. Chris Bagley has discovered his niche by handmaking skis from his workshop in Maine. Making these first pairs wasn’t easy. Bagley endured making skis in a barn with a kerosene heater, which he estimates warmed the room to about 40 degrees in the winter. It took days [...]
11 Year Old’s Eco-Friendly Fashion Accessories
Starting a business is hard enough if you’re an adult. If you’re a child, the complications only increase. However, many children succeed in business. Some mow lawns, walk dogs, or baby sit for a living. Maya Penn runs a fashion accessories business. Maya Penn, CEO and owner of her own online boutique “Maya’s Ideas,” started [...]
Artisan Creates Glamor From Grocery Bags
While many people argue whether plastic bags should continue being used, one woman is upcycling them into unique products. Based outside of Washington, DC in Stafford, Virginia, Tina Dean Designs is owned by Tina Dean Allen. No one will guess that these stylish accessories were once grocery bags. Plastic bags are prepared into plarn (plastic [...]
Walter Hunt was trying to find a way to repay a debt. While nervously wrapping a wire around his finger, the idea suddenly hit. It soon became the dress pin, later known as the safety pin. It was one of many Hunt inventions, including the sewing machine, knife sharpener, a streetcar alarm bell and a [...]
The inventor of the digital camera, Kodak, is now leaving the camera business, reports Reuters. Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, said on Thursday that getting out of cameras would result in “significant” job losses. Most of the 400 people in that business are based in Rochester, New York, and work in research [...]
OC Register: More than one in five small-business owners (22%) expect to add jobs over the next 12 months, while 8% expect to eliminate jobs, according to the new Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index poll. This is the most optimistic owners have been in four years, Gallup says. Small-business owners tend to be optimistic. Otherwise, [...]
Heart Catheter Decreases Health Costs, Save Lives
Chicago Tribune: Reavill won a prestigious contest in London late last year called the OmniCompete Health Pitch Battlefield, whose independent judges said his invention is a simple way to catheterize the heart. It reduces risks to an “absolute minimum” by moving the catheter insertion to the arm, the judges said, replacing a complex wire-guided procedure [...]
Apple, Inventor Face Off Over driPhone
Apparently one “I” can make a big difference if you choose to name a product with the word phone in it. At least, that is what driPhone recently discovered. Apple, through a Wellington-based patent firm, told Hayden Crowther it was opposing his application to trademark the driPhone name in New Zealand because it is too [...]
StepNpull: Open Doors Hands Free
Our next interview in the Get on the Shelf series features Mike Sewell and his product, the StepNpull. What product did you submit to Wal-Mart’s Get on the Shelf contest? We submitted StepNpull which is a hands free door opener designed for commercial latch less doors. It gives the user the option of pulling the [...]
How Healthy Is Your Small Business?
Not sure how healthy your small business is? Take a look at some advice from the Herald Sun. IS YOUR BUSINESS UP AND COMING? A NEW business needs a proper financial, operational and legal structure to chart its early days, including market research and a monthly or weekly cash flow projection and budget. IS IT [...]
From The Shed To Internal Combustion Engine Wizard
NZ Herald: Shepherd was always bothered by the inefficiencies – especially the lack of leverage – in the internal combustion engine. With the overall idea in his head he began to sketch out an engine design, which was built into a prototype and exhibited at the Hutchwilco Boat Show and is now on display at [...]
Debbie Pifer never imagined her doughnuts would go to the Superbowl, but this year they were delivered to the NY Giants. The mother-in-law of Jim Cordle noticed her blueberry doughnuts and ordered dozens for the team. “We were just a little excited,” said Debbie Pifer, owner of White House Fruit Farm. “Here we are in [...]
Stride Rite Seeking Mompreneur Ideas
Boston Herald: Stride Rite hopes to reach a wide audience of “mompreneurs,” according to product line manager Kate Cox. “Robeez by Stride Rite was created by a mom for moms, and we wanted to continue in this tradition as we look to add new ideas to our celebrated footwear brand,” she said. Stride Rite is [...]
Japanese Entrepreneurs Dream Of Silicon Valley
Manufacturing.net: Small but growing numbers of Japanese entrepreneurs are jumping into the startup scene in northern California, particularly since the earthquake and tsunami last March. They include Naoki Shibata, who took the plunge by giving up the sort of life many Japanese in past decades spent their lives trying to attain. Only 30, Shibata had [...]
Small Biz Optimism At Three Year High
Fox Business: Three out of four (75 percent) small-business owners in the U.S. are confident about the future of their businesses, a new economic report shows. This is the highest level of small-business optimism in this country in the past three years and a jump from 64 percent of owners giving future prospects a thumbs-up [...]
Spin Mail: The Mailbox That Pivots
Ever wonder about your safety while stepping out on the side of a busy road to remove your mail from the mailbox? Spin Mail has created a simple solution by making it easy for you to turn your mailbox around to face you, without you having to step out near traffic. Reed Holmes of Chester, [...]
Parenting Advice That Works In Business
Who wants to learn the same lesson twice? Forbes has a list of advice that works for parents and entrepreneurs alike. Don’t lose sight of who you are. The experience of owning and running a business can be all-consuming – and so too can having a child. But be careful; don’t relinquish all of your [...]
Boy Scouts of America and Edison Nation’s Innovation Challenge
The Boy Scouts of America and Edison Nation have come together to challenge kids between the ages of 7 to 21 years old to participate in the Boy Scouts of America Innovation Challenge. The Innovation Challenge is looking to today’s kids to develop tomorrow’s products. Whether the invention solves a problem around the house, the [...]
Health Drinks Have Gone To The Dogs
According to WalesOnline.co.uk, Brian Conlon didn’t intend to create a health drink for dogs. He happened upon the idea by accident, and Woofit was born. We had built a new shed onto the old one in the garden, but there was a crack in the perspex roof so when it rained little drops of water [...]
GoPillow: The Baby Pillow That Travels
Next in our series of interviews with the contestants in Walmart’s Get on the Shelf contest we have Tangela Walker-Craft, the inventor of the GoPillow. What product did you submit to Walmart’s Get on the Shelf contest? The GoPillow!- Uses include, but are not limited to: Breast feeding pillow with built-in privacy cover-up Pillow and [...]
Superbowl Ad For The Little Guy
Superbowl ads may represent the largest companies around the world, but one ad this Sunday will be for the “little guy,” reports OC Register. Kauffman says that the ad, which employs the same animated illustration style used in the Foundation’s popular Sketchbook series, outlines the growth of a simple idea into a successful business. It [...]
Potato Farmer/Inventor Makes Sorters Affordable
The Packer: Jones said he was motivated to create the E-Sorter because he wanted to give growers a better option at a better price. He said there are a of lot high-tech sorting/grading machines with expensive computerized scanners and cameras that were designed with the process in mind, but not the grower. “I started working [...]
Musical Tool Land Inventor In The Shark Tank
Dothan Eagle: Thirty years ago, Travis Perry watched as guitar students of all ages became frustrated during lessons. Many would give up within 60 days – a time Perry calls the “two-month hump.” Perry eventually stopped teaching guitar and went to college. He played with the band Silverado, lived in Nashville for a while, owned [...]
Sherpa Carry: Professional iPad Case
Next in the Walmart’s Get on the Shelf series of interviews, we have Jay McGinnis with the Sherpa Carry iPad case. With the introduction of the iPad, business men are constantly bringing the device to meetings. In many ways, it has replaced the briefcase. It can be used to do so much, but it requires [...]
MarketWatch: For the period spanning Dec. 24 to Jan. 23, Intuit reported small business employment inched up 0.2%, equating to an annual growth rate of 2.9%. During the month, small business hourly employees worked an average of 107.5 hours, down slightly from 107.6 hours in December. Average monthly pay for all small business employees slipped [...]
Teenager On Forbes 30 Under 30 List
If Forbes 30 under 30 list wasn’t interesting enough, they made it even more interesting by listing a 17 year old as one of the successes. A 17-year-old inventor from Texas, Javier Fernández-Han, the son of immigrants from China and Mexico, was named one of “Forbes’ 30 under 30″ this year, for his inventive use [...]
