TrendCentral: With much of tweens’ entertainment—and thus their spending—happening online and now even through gaming consoles (PS3 games cost $8 per download), it has become more difficult for parents to track what their kids are charging to their credit cards. A recent slew of “allowance 2.0” tween-friendly debit programs are giving tweens responsibility for their own spending and we expect […]
Allowance 2.0
Maximum Protection Umbrella
Popgadget: American industrialists try to build better mousetraps, but northern Europeans apparently need better umbrellas. The SENZ Umbrella has been designed to directly fill a need – to prevent a strong wind from turning an umbrella inside out. The SENZ team has redesigned the umbrella to be both stronger and more aerodynamic. The asymmetric shape keeps the rain from hitting […]
Easy Veins
Shiny Shiny: Young and old, nobody likes needles. But we all have to put up with them from time to time, whether you’re doing ‘something amazing today’ by giving blood, or just having a plain old blood test. The Luminetx VeinViewer claims to make the process a bit less painful, by showing the needle-wielding nurse exactly where to poke to […]
Knork
DailyCandy: If it were up to you, you’d wrap yourself in pizza and eat your way out. But since there’s a little thing called manners, settle for a Knork instead. Inventor Mike Miller thought of the idea while eating pizza with his buddies. It dawned on him how to solve the problem of eating a pepperoni pie politely: Integrate a […]
I’m Not a Plastic Bag
The Independent (Online Edition): It’s just a bag. All right, so it’s a tote bag designed by Anya Hindmarch, the queen of Bagland. A bag that retails for £5 but is now changing hands for up to £200 on eBay. A bag so hot that it was chosen as the official goodie-bag for guests at the 2007 Vanity Fair Oscar-night […]
Tune-In Bed
Shiny Shiny: Remember when an iPod dock was a clever idea? Since then, we’ve seen iBelts, Inflatable iChairs, iProjectors, iLoo Roll, you name it. What on earth is next? Why, the Tune-In Bed, of course! This is no ordinary iPod dock! You can sleep in it! This is also no ordinary bed! It plays music from your iPod! Of course, […]
CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter Issue 39
New Business Ideas/Opportunities Featured In This Issue: SERVICES Charmin Restroom Procter and Gamble’s bathroom tissue brand operated a 20-stall restroom in the heart of Times Square, calling the service ‘Charmin’s holiday gift to New York’. The facilities offered clean, deluxe bathrooms, baby changing stations, stroller parking, seating areas, and of course lots of luxury toilet paper. RETAIL Supermarket Self-checkout At […]
Pee Battery
Gizmodo: Who knew you could use urine to power a battery? The Pee Battery uses the ions in human urine to keep 1.5 volts streaming for 90 minutes, and its makers say it can be tweaked to last even longer. They’re even saying that all other bodily fluids work equally well. Sounds like an unpleasant way to get that iPod […]
Build Your Bed
Iconoculture: Called BuildTheBed, the product caters to DIY boudoir decorators who want to put their personal memories, fantasies or digital art in a place of honor, if not dreamy contemplation. In a choice of sizes and styles, from arched to rectangular, BuildTheBed’s colorful headboard gives a personality billboard-like prominence. Can’t decide what’s best? Sleep on it. If you can’t settle […]
Cellphone Billboard
The Boston Globe: In an ad-saturated world, the cellphone screen is a nearly pristine canvas. But a number of area companies are helping to transform the device that 220 million people are loath to leave at home into a personal, pocket-sized billboard, hawking everything from the latest ringtone to Fabio-favored “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!” “We’re calling the phone […]