CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter Issue 31

New Business Ideas/Opportunities Featured In This Issue:
SERVICES
Artistic Babysitters
Artist/sitters arrive (on time) toting toys and supplies, guaranteeing hours of creative play. The on-call babysitting service is staffed entirely by working actors, musicians and visual artists.
LIFESTYLE & LUXURY
One Stop Cut
Guise, located on Halsted in Lincoln Park, is the creation of Brad Habansky who was looking to create a one-stop shop where men felt comfortable; and that he did.
Ready Daddy
The bag has a nice, manly look, and includes all the pockets and flaps you’d expect from a good diaper bag, including a vinyl changing mat, a video that gives good step-by-step instructions on things such as bottles, diapering, car seats, and other baby skills.
RETAIL
Unmanned Stores
Calling Get & Go Express an “unmanned c-store” might be a bit misleading. It not only doesn’t have a staff, but the goods are all stocked in machines facing outward.
MOBILE
The Invisible Code
Fujitsu unveiled a new type of “invisible” barcode, called FP (Fine Picture) code, which allows data to be embedded directly into color print photographs.
Mobile Concert
Cingular is using innovative new technology that lets its customers dial a number that connects them to a live feed of the Stones rocking the Stade de France, in Paris.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Fruity Ice Cubes
Children can thus pour spring water over Ice Kids fruit ice cubes and enjoy the same tastes as their favorite juices without consuming extra sugar.
MARKETING
Virtual World Marketing
Menti can create objects within the game that detect the presence of another player’s avatar. The avatar is then invited to touch the object to take part in a GMI survey, with questions and answers delivered through the game’s chat interface.
BRANDING
Workspace Brands
Companies are increasingly coming to terms with the idea that the workspace, is an under-utilized brand asset.
ENTERTAINMENT
Game of Faith
Eternal Forces is based on the best-selling Left Behind book series about the apocalypse. But it’s the apocalypse without dismemberment or graphic bloodshed, though the game has an element of violence that some Christians argue is counter to teachings of the Bible.
AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
Burning Garbage
A Florida county has grand plans to ditch its dump, generate electricity and help build roads — all by vaporizing garbage at temperatures hotter than parts of the sun.
Green Pass
The Menlo Park (Calif.) company sells “green tags,” which cost up to $80 a year and which are designed to offset the emissions a car spews into the air during that period.
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