This Issue’s Top Stories:
LIFESTYLE & LUXURY
Dating Cards
In a variation on online dating, two new concepts allow people to connect online after first meeting (briefly) in the physical world. Canadian Admit an Attraction prints Attraction Tickets for members. Members hand out a ticket to someone they meet in public. A ticket receiver can then go online to check out the member’s profile using a unique access code, and get in touch if the attraction is mutual.
Sleep Music
If your mind wanders before three, try Bedtime Beats, a CD designed to help you snooze. Unlike your Ambien/Prosecco experiment, the sleep aid was mixed by real scientists. The smarty-pants at Case Western Reserve University discovered that classical music played at 60-80 beats per minute can improve your sleep.
Jetpack Flight
All those promises of a future with jetpacks getting you from here to there have finally come true. Before you start planning your trip to Miami, the amazing JetPack will only give you a 3 min thrill ride.
EDUCATION
Ace Test With Warcraft Manga
Good news for manga-loving teens: Reading Warcraft can help you pass the SATs. Kaplan Publishing has partnered with TokyoPop on a manga series designed to give kids a leg up on the verbal part of the dreaded test.
SERVICES
Hearts Truck
Already a hit in L.A. among the kind of crowd that populates the The Cobra Snake’s website, Heartschallenger is kind of a gourmet hipster Good Humor truck. Often making appearances (for hire) at parties and festivals, Heartschallenger is stocked with a global buffet of frozen treats ranging from Japanese mochi and Italian…
AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL
Planters’ Buddy
The 7-in-one planters’ buddy is an ingenious, trowel-like garden tool that truly multi-tasks. Why it’s cool: You’ll probably find way more than seven ways to use this slick new stainless steel tool (and the fact that it could double as a weapon of self-defense isn’t even one of
SPECIAL FEATURE
MIT’s Annual InvenTeams
Evans was suffering a stroke that day five years ago. It robbed him of his ability to walk and speak. But a device developed by a team of high school students now allows Evans, of Los Altos Hills, Calif., to use a laser pointer to do basic tasks with a turn of his head.
HOW-TO-GUIDES
How To Build Positive Relationship
Positive relationships are the key to success in business. What if we’ve already burned bridges with the people we’ve done business with in the past? Is it too late to make peace? Or, how do we prevent burning bridges with the people we’re doing business with now?
How To Start Or Grow Your Business
Are you an entrepreneur seeking to start or grow your existing business? Then you definitely want to take advantage of these exclusive training segments from educators like Brian Tracy, Dr. Joe Vitale, Dan Poynter and Bob Doyle; over 4 hours of detailed online video training. This is your “Business Success Scholarship”, compliments of Northstar Thinktank.
WORK LIFE
Beating Startup Stress
If you burn out in a new business venture, it’s the result of intense and arguably greater pressure built up over a shorter interval, and it’s infinitely harder to walk away.
SALES AND MARKETING
Consumers Evangelist
Recently, my colleague Max Kalehoff and I put together a list of “Top Ten Principles of Consumer Consumer Generated Ad Campaigns.” Max added a few additional thoughts on top of this list in his most recent MediaPost column. Key message: by all means test the waters, but keep a good check list in front of you!
CUSTOMER SERVICE
What Customers Want
JetBlue remains the best low-cost carrier for the third straight year, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2007 North America Airline Satisfaction Study. Linda Hirneise, executive director believes JetBlue kept its ranking because the airline commands a fiercely loyal customer following with its modern amenities.
BUSINESS IDEAS
Budding Business Ideas
Young British entrepreneurs are launching a new website to house spare business ideas that can be developed by anyone that finds them interesting. James Murray Wells, the twenty four-year-old multi-millionaire founder of www.glassesdirect.co.uk, and Oli Barrett, founder of new ideas company Connected Capital, are behind the venture. It will be launched this week and is called IdeaVolcano.com
STARTING UP
Beat The Rivals
Competition is as inevitable in business as death and taxes are in human existence. Even if your startup business has stolen a march on the rest of the world with your product, service, execution, distribution or customer service, somebody else will inevitably try to chase you down and beat you at your own game.
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