Blog Entries : Products and Innovations

Electricity From Sweat

Monday 8 Sep 2008 by Andrew | 3 Comments
Filed under: Products and Innovations Tags: , , ,
electricity from sweat

Quote source : Springwise
Image source : Springwise
The Green Microgym, which just opened last week, is a 2,800-sq-ft neighbourhood gym that generates a significant portion of its own electricity through the sweat-producing efforts of its members. Fully equipped with name-brand cardio equipment, a full weight room and a room for yoga/stretching, movement and core training, The Green Microgym uses a combination of solar and pedal electricity for a chunk of its energy needs. Solar panels atop the site generate almost 3 kilowatts of electricity, while the gym's Team Dynamo and Spin Bikes—engineered by founder Adam Boesel to connect to wind-generator motors—can collectively generate up to 750 watts. In addition, the Green Microgym is working on ways to capture the excess energy from its elliptical trainers as well.

The Green Microgym also aims to use less resources than the average health club. Its SportsArt EcoPowr Treadmills, for example, use 30 percent less electricity than others, and the facility features EnergyStar-rated (and member-controlled) ceiling fans, compact fluorescent lights, lower-energy LCD TVs and double-flush toilets. It also avoids the need for large water heaters by not offering showers.

Now here's an idea I really like. It's so simple it makes you think "Why didn't I think of that?", although I don't much like the no-shower thing.

Just think about it, if every item that spun, rotated or moved could be modified in such a way to generate it's electricity and if all these items could be hooked up to battery cells to be stored, we could save tons of money for our homes and businesses.

This got my brain creaking with excitement at the many ways we could generate electricity :

  • Mini turbines in our toilet flush and kitchen sinks - everytime you flushed or turned on the tap, the water would spin the turbine and produce a bit of power.
  • Exercise wheels not only for our hamsters, but for our cats, dogs etc. Just let them let go running in the wheel and voila... electricity!
  • Generators fitted to bicycles, motobike and car wheels.

This has even got me thinking about a product that could make lots of money. I'm off to do a bit of research to see if there's already a patent for it!


Keeping Birdie Close To You

Wednesday 6 Aug 2008 by Andrew | No Comments
Filed under: Offbeat, Products and Innovations Tags: , , , , , , , ,
keeping birdie close to you

Image source :
Dr Foster Smith

Dog and cat lovers have it easy all the time. They have portable carriers in all shapes and sizes to transport their furry friends whenever they need to go anywhere - until now that is.

Dr. Foster and Smith have come up with a sling bag that is actually a portable bird cage to easily transport your bird - to the veterinarian or the park - and keep him close, safe, and secure. It's a hands-free, vest-style bird carrier with padded shoulder straps and quick-clip waist strap for comfort. So you little birdie gets to enjoy the ride as well, the carrier has a durable mesh fabric front that allows good airflow and visibility for your bird. Zippered opening at top and bottom allows access. I'm sure you're wondering what happens when your little feathered friend decides to go right? Well there's a nifty removable bottom tray that catches messes and wipes clean easily. There're even a 1/2" diameter beveled perch and two toy hanging loops for those long trips when birdie can get bored and need some recreation! But before your start thinking is this is just the thing to show off your pet eagle or vulture, Dr Foster and Smith Travel and Outdoor Bird Carrier is designed only for small and medium size birds, such as parakeets, conures, canaries, finches, budgies, and lovebirds.

After reading about this product, I wonder when someone else is going to come up with a sling bag carrier to lug their pet boa constrictor or creepy crawly tarantulas around to show off to the world!

If anything at all, this bird carrier should appeal to every bird lover simply as a great conversation starter! There are more ways to make money than you think.


Phil Tapia - Serving Up Success And Making Money

Monday 14 Jul 2008 by Andrew | No Comments
Filed under: Entrepreneurs, Home business, Products and Innovations Tags: , , ,
Phil Tapia - serving up success

Quote source : FindArticles
Image souce :
Tray Display Advertising

Phil Tapia can testify to the manifest virtues of occasionally cleaning out the family garage.

It was during a day spent with his dad, Mike Tapia, amid boxes and oil stains two years ago, that Tapia discovered his Tray Display Advertising business, or at least the idea for it.

Uncovering examples of the advertising Mike Tapia had done with his Billboard Bags Inc. -- on liquor store and fast-food bags -- in the early '90s reminded the Tapias of an idea Mike Tapia had hatched for selling ads on fastfood restaurant placemats.

Just about two years later, Tray Display Advertising Inc., is supplying 125,000 advertising sheets a month to 23 Wendy's locations in Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Woodland Park, with another 15 stores to come next year in Tucson, Ariz. and pizza box lid toppers for 12 Little Caesars stores in Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

Tapia banked sales of $60,000 in the company's first full year.

What made Tray Display Advertising take flight was its simplicity.

Tapia sells ads to a mix of a dozen or so local and national companies, has the 81/2-inch by 11-inch sheets printed in Oklahoma and then delivered to a central distribution point for his clients.

Wendy's of Colorado Springs estimates it saved $10,000 last year by not having to pay for its tray placemats. And the restaurant gets the central position on the sheets for its own advertisement, without cost.

Tray Display Advertising groups advertisers together so local businesses save on advertising costs, plus they get their ads in front of thousands of eyeballs everyday. And as far as I'm concerned, when I'm wolfing down my burger and coke, there's pretty much nothing else to do except to read what's on the tray mat.

Now isn't this one of those ideas that make you think, "I could do this!"?


The Bubbly Colors Of Zubbles

Sunday 13 Jul 2008 by Andrew | No Comments
Filed under: Products and Innovations Tags: , , , , ,

the bubbly colors of Zubbles

Quote source : SpringWise
Image source : SpringWise

Technological advancements don't always have to be useful or change the world in a profound and meaningful way. Sometimes, they can just be fun. Like colored bubbles. A world's first, Zubbles are the result of 10 years of kitchen sink experiments by chemist Tim Kehoe, VP of R&D at product design firm Ascadia.

The bubbles work just like ordinary blowing bubbles, but come in rich, vibrant colors that are nearly opaque. The color is created with patented specialty dyes that disappear when exposed to air, water or pressure, and are non-staining and non-toxic. Announced in 2005, Zubbles was awarded a Popular Science award the same year.

Now this is one product that can simply be described in one word - FUN. I don't mind telling you that I feel like getting a case of Zubbles in all their available colors, then sitting in my bath an hour a day just blowing bubbles!

The kitchen sink (garage, kitchen table and probably the loo as well) has probably been the birthplace of many a wonderful invention so a word to budding chemists, engineers and inventors : Like Tim Kehoe, you don't have to limit yourself to a 9 to 5 job just going through the motions. Put all that wonderful brain power to good use.

I'm sure entreprising entrepreneurs can see a hundred and one ways to put Zubbles to good use. You can be a distributor, or simply add Zubbles to your events to give it that extra bubbly zing. It's sure to be a major attraction. Contact details can be found on Zubbles' Website.


Giving Funerals A New Twist

Wednesday 9 Jul 2008 by Andrew | 3 Comments
Filed under: Offbeat, Products and Innovations Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
star trek urn

Quotes from : BusinessWeek
Images via : Eternal Image & BusinessWeek

It's a good time to deal in death. The first baby boomers are entering their mid-60s, and the death rate in the U.S. is expected to rise from 8.1 people per thousand in 2006 to 9.3 in 2020, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Yet the traditional funeral industry is hardly healthy: The Federated Funeral Directors of America, an accounting firm for independently owned funeral homes, found that in the past 20 years, its clients' profit margins have been cut nearly in half. Some 44% of funeral home directors, up from 28% in 2006, blame the increasing popularity of cremations and alternative burials for sinking profits, according to consulting firm Citrin Cooperman. Some funeral homes have responded by offering themed funerals, such as backyard barbecues, while others diversify by hosting weddings and other events.

Clint Mytych, founder and CEO of Eternal Image (ETIM), was running a luxury car rental company in 2002 when it dawned on him that he'd like a car-themed funeral, and a casket shaped like a 1967 Ford Mustang (F). But not only could Mytych not find his Mustang casket, he didn't find anything that he thought had any personality at all. "I mean, nobody says, I am so excited about the Batesville #22 casket' because it's made of their favorite wood," says Mytych. He saw an opportunity in idiosyncratic funeral products that would reflect the customer's personal taste. In 2006 his Farmington Hills (Mich.)-based company introduced the country's first licensed urn—a twisted bronze spire topped with a cross, licensed from the Vatican Library Collection. Mytych has since signed licensing agreements with the American Kennel Club, Major League Baseball, more than a dozen universities, and most recently, CBS Corp., for the rights to the Star Trek brand. His urns cost about $800, compared with $3,000 for a traditional marble one.

Two more entrepreneurs who have found a niche in providing a twist to funeral services are Joseph Joaquin and Nick Drobnis :

Joseph Joaquin of FuneralOne

Nick Drobnis of Angels Flight

So there you have it. There is NO limit to what you can do to make money. Find a need and fill it and the world will find their way to your doorstep.

In this niche, the WORLD is your market because sooner or later, EVERYONE is going to need the services of a funeral home/entrepreneur.


WALA! Money Grows In This Garden

Tuesday 8 Jul 2008 by Andrew | 2 Comments
Filed under: Products and Innovations Tags: , , , , , , , ,
where money grows in the garden

Quote source : NYTimes
Image via : NYTimes

You know you are not in an ordinary garden when a man in dirt-covered trousers, tending witch-hazel plants, describes his work in words that could come from Nietzsche.

Dr. Hauschka products are made by Wala at its headquarters and have sales of nearly $150 million.
“It demands a higher level of consciousness and a force of will to garden at this level,” said Joscha Huter, 40, who cultivates the plants and flowers used to make the popular, expensive line of German natural cosmetics, Dr. Hauschka. “There’s a point where gardening becomes an art.”

Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Richard Gere and Robert Downey Jr. are among the celebrities who have publicly extolled Dr. Hauschka’s skin care products. While the stars may not express themselves like 19th-century German philosophers, their devotion has helped to win Dr. Hauschka a cultlike following from Beverly Hills to the Upper East Side.

“Dr. Hauschka is shining because they’ve been doing this for a long time, and now everybody wants to do it,” said Joe Smillie, the senior vice president of Quality Assurance International, a San Diego firm that certifies the organic content of food, fabric and other goods.

WALA is one of dozens of German companies — from windmill manufacturers to organic beverage producers — that are benefiting from a growing global appetite for environmentally friendly products. Germany’s recent economic renaissance has had an unmistakably green hue.

There's a growing trend these days and it's environmentally friendly. People are getting tired of companies that squeeze the earth's resources to line their pockets and not doing enough to replenish what they've taken. People are scared for their children - that they will leave a planet barren of natural resources.

So if you're thinking of a long-term business that will make money and help the environment as well, think green. It doesn't have to be a capital intensive business or an unusual niche. Sometimes, it's the simple ideas that no one else thinks is worth seeing through that will make you lots of money. Marty Metro's boomerang boxes is a fine example of this.


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