New Business Ideas

From Dick Tracy, to Star Trek, to Knight Rider, Samsung & Nissan's new smartwatches harken back to the fictional timepieces of our favorite entertainment of the past. While allowing us to dream about a future world of unbelievable gadgetry back then, TODAY-- Samsung and Nissan have melded the past with the future -- to provide us with super smart watches in the present.

Sniffing  tools that are meant to be used for writing isn't an activity that is generally recommended. In fact, there is a stigma associated with people that enjoy sniffing permanent markers - and let's just say that stigma doesn't reward people for intelligence.  Smencils hopes to change all that by making pencils that are not only cool to sniff, they make you smarter too.

What's a publisher to do? After being bruised and battered by Panda and Penguin updates, thousands of websites have gone from Google's first page of SERPs [search engine results pages] to having their keywords literally losing gravitas and sinking to the bottom of the heap. Like tumbleweeds rolling across the digital desert, in the wake of cotton mills [Google's original target] being expunged from SERPs, many reputable newsworthy sites also had to shutter their virtual doors due to an ever-evolving ALGO constantly reinventing itself.

Bitcoins burning holes in your pockets? Online stores like Beijing-based IwannaBuy have embraced the hot new digital currency, supporting payments in Bitcoin as an innovative complement to online banking and online payment systems like PayPal and AliPay.

Society's focus on reducing environmental impact is improving, and it is an even greater priority when the people engaging in environmental programs get something out of the deal. In order to encourage commuters to reduce their environmental impact, Bejing has started to accept an unusual form of currency in exchange for their transportation services. The Bejiing Subway System is introducing a program that has been coined Recycle-to-Ride (pun intended) to encourage citizens to reduce their waste, or at least what they do with it when they produce it. Because, the subway system, which is used extensively by commuters in Bejiing, accepts plastic bottles and other recyclables in exchange for subway tokens.

We've all watched a child tear through wrapping paper with excitement to get through the gift it contains, only to  discover that they find more entertainment value in the wrapping then the gift itself. This is often disappointing to the gift-giver as it was the gift, and not the wrapping paper, that they selected with care. But who says it has to be that way? Certainly not Gift Couture - a business that designs wrapping paper that is as fun as the present it contains.

Charles Michael Yim took a very deep breath after scoring big time on the ABC TV show Shark Tank this past week to pitch his latest invention. And while he might have exhaled a whiff of champagne with that sigh of exhaltation, we're sure he drove off under the legal alcohol limit. Why? Because Yim is the creator and developer of the first breathalyzer that interfaces with a smartphone.

Not everyone likes to be around a significant number of people. especially not while on a holiday vacation. I don't know about you, but a trip to Alcatraz Island would be an enjoyable way to spend a few days away from it all. It isn't a prison, but The Seafort Hotel is equally cool with similar benefits of isolation.

The Russian government has recently decided to create its own version of Silicon Valley outside the capital city of Moscow. But instead of Apple products, expect to see a different type of innovation emerge from within.