It’s your pet peeve. You lent your best friend Fred the Halo 3 disc (it’s your favorite game) a week ago and now you’re dying to start shooting some alien enemies. The game disc has returned to you, but with visible scratches and it suddenly does not play on your Xbox 360 anymore, at a time when you most want to play the game. How do you control your anger and not blow up at Fred?

To prevent such ugly situations from happening again, you need Protective Disc Skins™ from d_skin™, a break-through product in disc protection that snaps on, plays on and always stays on to provide you with scratch-free digital entertainment. It has been named one of the coolest inventions ever by Time Magazine. Visit www.dskin.com for more info.

d_skin Protective Disc Skins offer music fans, movie buffs and game enthusiasts a safer, longer-lasting method for protecting their purchases. By eliminating scratches, the Protective Disc Skins helps to extends disc life and reduce the high cost of replacing damaged computer and video games. How does d_skin prevent your disc from being scratched? The Protective Disc Skin contains a special patented optically clear protective cover that acts as an external “Skin” for discs, guarding against scratches. The unique patented Liplock Seal™ snaps onto the edge of any standard-size disc and holds the protective "Skin" tight in place.

Moreover, because all discs protected with d_skin Protective Disc Skins are readable right through the skin, you need not remove the protective skin while playing video games as well as while burning data onto blank discs. The protective cover doesn’t degrade sound quality, file integrity or interfere with the laser.

Consider the convenience of using d_skin. Once your discs have been "skinned", there’s no need to store them in bulky jewel cases, CD holders and CD sleeves anymore. You can do away with these bulky, space-consuming protections forever. If the d_skin disc protector gets scratched, simply snap on a new one. d_skin Protective Disc Skins are designed for PlayStation, Xbox and most computer games. It can also be used in home, auto and portable CD and DVD players.

So, before you lent the next Xbox game to your best (and sometimes careless) friend Fred, get one of these Protective Disc Skins from www.dskin.com. It’ll go a long way in getting back your disc with not a single scratch on it!

This post is a sponsored blog post.

Fighting the Saw-Tooth Effect

Months ago you thought you were such a huge success, pulling in a large deal involving huge revenue for your business. How were you to know that at the same time you were destroying the very business you were trying to build? If this, or something less dramatic yet similar, has ever happened to you, then you could be experiencing the Saw-Tooth Effect. What’s the Saw-Tooth Effect? It’s all very simple to understand. But not many businesses realize it until it is too late.....

Continued in BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 55 >>>

- Beer Brick
- Handvertising
- Metal Refreshing Lollipop
- New Life For Old Photos
- Frisper Freshkeeper
- Garden Water
- Sharkah’s Organic Jeans

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>

- Things To Consider Before Starting A Business
- How To De-clutter Your Computer
- Prepare For Your Career
- Festival Business
- Tell Them About Quality
- Be An Eagle Entrepreneur
- Positive Workplace Relationships

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>

Can't stand your demanding boss anymore? Start your own business! Before that, be sure to subscribe to our free informative newsletter. BIZNESS! is jointly published by CoolBusinessIdeas.com and GetEntrepreneurial.com What you get in BIZNESS! - the latest new business ideas, small business advice, business tips and info and entrepreneur resources. Everything you need for your brand new business!

Free 145-pages PDF report (worth $75) - "2006's Best Business Ideas" - included with your subscription. Learn more here.

EARTHtimes.org: Sugar Inc. announced today the launch of PetSugar.com, a new site geared toward pets and the people who love them. The site is celebrating its debut with a $500 Petco gift certificate giveaway that will be offered at PetSugar.com. With PetSugar's launch, Sugar Inc. repeats its proven formula of combining incisive lifestyle and entertainment editorial with user-generated content.

"The popularity and indulgence of pets has grown to be one of the most popular topics across the Sugar Network," said Lisa Sugar, Editor-in-Chief of Sugar Inc. "PetSugar is packed with useful information and entertaining features that will engage pet owners. So whether your pet is perched on your shoulder, carried in a designer dog carrier, or sleeping on your lap - PetSugar has something for everyone who loves or is loved by an animal."

From product information and reviews to spotlights on celebrities and their pets, PetSugar is an entertaining and definitive source on topics related to pets and their pet owners. In addition, PetSugar has fun, interactive programs such as polls, quizzes and a featured Pet of the Week. PetSugar extends the Sugar Network's unique combination of world-class editorial and social networking by enabling users to establish profiles for their pets, and through them, further connect and share with the community.

Sugar Inc. Launches PetSugar.com, Dedicated Site to All Things Furry, Feathered, Feline and More [EARTHtimes.org]

Realty Times: Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) can be devastating for those who suffer from it. Fragrances drive these people crazy -- sometimes to the point where they can't perform normal, everyday functions.

Perhaps few people understand this more so than Siri Amrit, the founder of an internet retailer called Tigerflag Natural Perfumery.

Tigerflag specializes in fragrances, candles and other products for those with multiple chemical sensitivity. Few companies have this special focus.

Siri has MCS and in the past she found herself working for a company that was filled with something that made her walk out the door. Fragrances. It seemed that every person there was wearing some fragrance of some kind -- and that environment was making her ill.

Siri made a deal with her co-workers. If she could locate quality fragrances that would not trigger a multiple chemical sensitivity reaction, her co-workers would at least try them.

Siri did research and found certain fragrances from throughout the world made the old fashioned way, without the synthetic petroleum constituents that make some people ill. Her co-workers loved the products and in time, Tigerflag Natural Perfumery was born.

Now for the caveats: I am not a doctor and I am not promising that these products are safe for those who wear them, or those who come within the vicinity of wearers.

New Internet Store Offers Fragrances and More for Those with Chemical Sensitivity [Realty Times]

Los Angeles Times: Stores such as Barneys New York and Fred Segal Apothia have been adding to their stables of swanky, chemical-free beauty lines lately, but these brands are still in the minority at major beauty counters, sprinkled into a larger mix of conventional labels.

Enter Vert - the first beauty outpost in L.A. to exclusively stock upscale beauty lines that are 100% free of synthetic ingredients. The airy, Zen-inspired boutique on Venice's hippie-chic Abbot Kinney Boulevard is the brainchild of Renata Helfman, a veteran makeup artist for film and TV who conceptualized the store after growing weary of tracking down her favorite eco-luxe beauty products in varied locations across the city.

In fact, she had the idea for Vert (which means "green" in French) while in her car. "I couldn't believe there wasn't a place that has all these brands under one roof," she says. "It dawned on me one day - what a great idea."

One-stop shopping for eco-luxe beauty products [Los Angeles Times]

Think Geek: A few of us monkeys at ThinkGeek had this great shared dream a few months ago. In it, the whole world was 8-Bit, just like the video games we grew up on. We found ourselves having to leap from platform to platform, to search for pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, and to fight scary mutated plants and animals. The music was awesome (and still stuck in our heads) but the coolest part was what we were wearing: a tie. But not just any tie, an 8-Bit tie!

We woke up screaming. An 8-Bit tie - what an awesome way for the drones of Cubeland to show their independence from Corporate America! So, we did what we knew you'd want - we had the ties made. Silk-like Microfiber construction, clip on* (for easy dressing and t-shirt wear if needed), and custom designed by us for you. You'll be the envy of the office or, at least, you'll get tons of attention.

The ThinkGeek 8-bit Tie [Think Geek]

The Age: On a narrow Tokyo street, Aya Tsukioka demonstrates clothing designs she hopes will ease Japan's growing fear of crime.

With a deft motion, Ms Tsukioka, a 29-year-old fashion designer, lifts a flap on the front of her skirt to reveal a sheet of cloth printed in bright red, with a soft drink logo partly visible.

By holding the sheet fully open and stepping to the side of the road, she shows how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.

The wearer hides behind the sheet, which is printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine.

"It is just easier for Japanese to hide," Ms Tsukioka said. "Making a scene would be too embarrassing."

She said her idea of the vending machine disguise was inspired by a trick used by Japan's ancient ninja, who cloaked themselves under black blankets at night.

Some of the ideas, including the vending machine disguise, have yet to become commercially viable.

Japanese skirt fear of crime [The Age]

Inhabitat: Upcycling is a 21st century term, coined by Cradle to Cradle authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart, but the idea of turning waste into useful products came to life brilliantly in 1963 with the Heineken WOBO (world bottle). Envisioned by beer brewer Alfred Heineken and designed by Dutch architect John Habraken, the “brick that holds beer” was ahead of its ecodesign time, letting beer lovers and builders alike drink and design all in one sitting.

The final WOBO design came in two sizes - 350 and 500 mm versions that were meant to lay horizontally, interlock and layout in the same manner as ‘brick and mortar’ construction. One production run in 1963 yielded 100,000 bottles some of which were used to build a small shed on Mr. Heineken’s estate in Noordwijk, Netherlands. One of the construction challenges “was to find a way in which corners and openings could be made without cutting bottles,” said Mr. Habraken.

Today, the shed at the Heineken estate and a wall made of WOBO at the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam are the only structures where the ‘beer brick’ was used. As to the remaining WOBO’s it’s not clear how many exist, or where, but the idea, even some four decades later, remains a lasting example in end-use innovation.

HEINEKEN WOBO: The brick that holds beer [Inhabitat]

TownConnect is an exclusive, private online service that organizes and connects families to people, activities and organizations in the towns in which they live. Because today’s families juggle full, fast-paced schedules, they can easily lose touch with the people and activities in their towns. TownConnect brings people together to create stronger communities and keeps people in the loop.

From sports schedules to carpools, TownConnect is designed to help track and manage the lives of busy families. A centralized family calendar, address book and private family blog make it easy to keep tabs on all elements of day-to-day family activity. TownConnect makes it easy for members to integrate events and contacts from their existing tools like Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, AOL and Yahoo.

TownConnect.com

Entrepreneur: While a bed and breakfast is by definition a lodging that serves breakfast as part of the room rate, there are several different types of B&B properties ranging from intimate family homes with less than a handful of guest rooms to full-fledged country inns with a dozen or more rooms. Part of the charm of B&Bs is that each is a bit different, but they all fall somewhere within five basic categories. A homestay, also called a host home, is a private home with one to four guest rooms that are used to bring in supplemental rather than primary income. Homestays don't typically post signs on their property or advertise, relying instead on reservations services. A bed a breakfast is a step up from the homestay, typically consisting of four to five (but as many as eight) guest rooms and a live-in owner or host family. Bed and breakfasts typically have a sign out front, advertise and conform to zoning, health and other government regulations. Bed and breakfast inns are full-fledged lodging establishments rather than a family home with rooms to rent. With six or more guest rooms and a live-in host, the B&B inn has a well-posted sign, does lots of advertising and adheres to all government regulations. Bed and breakfast hotels are really B&Bs but instead are hotels with 30 or more rooms in a historic building. Breakfast is offered as part of the room rate. Unhosted apartments or cottages are sort of a cross between a vacation rental and a B&B, a self-contained lodging that is completely separate from the host's home.

Bed and Breakfast [Entrepreneur]

During the summer months, every large city in America is filled with hundreds of festivals. If you are an entrepreneur looking to get into a retail business, these festivals can be an inexpensive way to test out your products to see if it will really attract a large enough customer base to warrant a year around business. But remember when you are writing your business plan; you have avoided a lot of the costs of a permanent location by having a festival business.

You pay a small fee to the festival and have not encountered rent and utilities, which are some of the high expenses for a fixed location. You have also not had to do much in the way of advertising. The festival had done advertising and has a client base that will show up. You only need to have an attractive booth to entice the customers over to your location. Make sure your signage looks professional and is viewable from major traffic centers for the festival.

But many people get into festival sales as their business instead of a trial for their business. With a number of calls you will find a listing of the festivals in a newspaper calendar or an on-line calendar of the festivals for the year. You will see that you can find festivals going 30 weeks in some of the northern climates up to every week of the year in some of the moderate climates. You can work as much or as little as you want or whatever season you want to work by starting a festival business.

There is a lot of work in these businesses that everyone should consider. With a store, you just open the door each morning. But with a festival business, you will have to unload and set up your merchandise every morning and put it away every night. Make sure all of your display methods are bought with this in mind. Items on wheel that you can move along a rough terrain are great. Make sure you have an adequate vehicle to carry all of you set up and merchandise and that you have an easy way of loading and unloading it.

Unsure if you want to get into this business? Go to a festival in your area. During some of the slack time, ask some of the booth owners a lot of questions about their business. Also you may fine one that is willing to hire your for a nominal fee or as a volunteer to help them with the next weekend’s festival. Work a few festivals unloading and setting up each morning with the owner to make sure your really want to do that many weekends during the year.

This new weekly column, 101 New Business Ideas for Retirees, is compiled specially for CoolBusinessIdeas.com readers by Stan Spector. See all articles in this column by Stan Spector.

Stan Spector is the author of “Baby Boomers’ Official Guide to Retirement Income - Over 100 Part-time or Seasonal Businesses for the New Retiree”. The book website is at StanSpector.com.

Springwise: Garden watering bans are a fact of life these days, and not just in dry climes like much of Australia and the Western US. But a new Australian invention can keep lawns and gardens green without using any extra household water.

The Water-Leech, which retails for AUD 200 and up is a breadbox-sized device with a universal hose attachment that hooks up to shower or sink drains. Instead of letting grey water escape down the drain, a pump in the unit draws it into a self-contained storage tank. The pump is powered by a rechargeable battery instead of a wall plug to prevent any possibility of electric shock while its in operation. When the Water-Leech tank is full, owners simply wheel the unit outside to water their plants. (Providing biodegradable soaps and detergents are used, water from showers, baths, laundry, sinks and dishwashers is completely reusable.)

Low cost grey water recycling [Springwise]

Strange New Products: The Zilopop is marketed as a breath freshener, in the form of a stainless steel lollipop.

It's made in Germany and marketed in the USA by Charlotte, NC-based Frieling USA, where it's dubbed, "SmellKiller".

When your saliva touches Zilopop's stainles steel lolly, it activates its "weird science" to neutralize the foul-smelling molecules in your mouth.

After one to two minutes suck, all odors in the mouth removed. Zilopop consists of a very high-quality stainless steel, the property has, in conjunction with moisture to neutralize odors.

By suck at this stainless steel is the breath of food smells clean. The stainless steel zilopos is tested and safe.

Zilopop - Stainless Steel Lollipop [Strange New Products]

So you have seen advertisements from commercials to billboards. Now advertisers are looking at your skin to place their ads! Look at how this Orange County based company is getting venues to let advertisers on their customer’s hands.

This is a new form of advertising and is completely different from the television commercials and magazine ads people are used to. What do you call advertising on your hands? "Well I like to call it Handvertising", said Mike Brown CEO of Handvertising USA.

Handvertising USA is transforming the way advertisers are looking at your skin, more specifically your hands. "Almost everyone has been to a county fair, swap meet, bar or club and had had their hand stamped for proof of entry. We have found a better use for this space that could make everyone happy" said Mike.

HandvertisingUSA.com

Gearlog: In the past couple years, plenty of laptop-bag makers have ventured beyond the ubiquitous black-nylon clones; but I rarely see a bag I'd use even if I didn't have a laptop to put in it. But the Vintage Laptop Satchel, from Solo, has such great, simple styling and uses such beautiful materials--espresso-colored buttery leather on the outside, a gorgeous rich-blue lining--that I'd take it anywhere.

It's really good looking, but it also fulfills its function admirably. The Satchel can fit laptops up to 15.4 inches; the laptop section isn't thickly padded, but it's fine for small bumps. Just don't fling the bag around. There's another section inside large enough for papers and magazines, as well as three gadget slots and a smaller zippered compartment.

Hands On: Solo Vintage Laptop Satchel [Gearlog]

Cool Tool: This service will digitize your old slides, negatives and photographic prints at high quality and at a very cheap price. I've been using them to scan my 30-year backlog of photographs and I have been delighted with the results. I've used other services to scan my old photos; ScanCafe is by far the best deal. Their prices are fantastic. To scan a slide is just 24 cents, a color negative 19 cents.

Here is how it works: You pack up your images and mail them to ScanCafe's headquarters in Northern California. They count them up, and repackage them before shipping the pieces to India. In India they are scanned, touched up, rotated and then privately posted to your account at their website. You then go through the images online and select which ones you'd like to keep. You are allowed to dismiss (and not pay for) up to 50% of the total for that order. You can reject images because you aren't happy with how they look online, or simply because you don't want the image. In the specific case of original photo negatives, there is no reliable way to communicate which image(s) you want on the strip, so ScanCafe will scan the entire strip of negatives. You'll have to reject the particular frames you don't want (but no more than 50% of the total order. Combine them with slides to keep your percentage down.)

ScanCafe [Cool Tool]

Protect your discs the easy way with Protective Disc Skins from d_skin. They protect your DVD, data, video game and music discs from scratches even while they play. Just snap a d_skin onto your favorite discs and consider them protected. The beauty is, d_skin stays on your discs even while they play. That's right - your discs are totally readable right through the skin. Once your discs are skinned, there's nothing to take off or put on when you're playing, storing or transporting. One d_skin does it all.

Protective Disc Skins from d_skin

“Caller tune Advertisement” is all about publishing advertisements as caller tunes on user’s mobile phones, so that the callers will listen to the advertisement until the user picks up the phone. In a nutshell, this idea is all about the mobile users trading their ringtone airtime for monetary benefits, which can be used to publish advertisement.

This concept is all about publishing advertisement as a replacement for caller tunes or in-conjunction with caller tunes in user’s mobile phones. In return, users will get monetary benefits like free recharge coupons, discounts in bills, partial reimbursement of bills, free talk minutes, free value adds like free SMS, etc. These kinds of freebies will attract users to allow users to give up their ring tone airtime to place advertisement. Gaining publisher base will be a challenge. A good publisher base means a huge market potential. The success of this advertisement medium will be determined by the publisher base.

This new business idea is patent-pending and its owner, TarryOnline is looking for interested investors.

Cool Hunting: Bulky design, fussy mechanisms and the trickiness involved in resealing the bags offsets the glory of vacuum sealers' ability to keep our precious Roquefort, pineapples, mushrooms and the like at their freshest. In steps Oliso's Frisper Freshkeeper to the rescue. With its compact egg-shaped design, stupid simple operation and bags that open and reseal almost effortlessly, the Frisper solves all the problems of your grandma's vacuum sealer and then some.

Its patent-pending technology makes sure that it works quickly and powerfully to suck the air out of the specially designed bags. Unlike other models that require alignment with the entire edge of the bag, the device seals along predesignated spots making it easy to position. The modification means that the Frisper is about a quarter of the size of other sealers, not much larger than a person's hand—something that those of us who store their vacuum sealer in the basement, unused, are pretty stoked on. It's great when reinvention improves on usability, but better yet when it makes it useful at all.

Oliso Frisper Vacuum Sealer [Cool Hunting]

The Cool Hunter: The newest front in the ecological war on waste appears to be denim. Hailing from the unlikely origins of India, Sharkah Chakra has appeared on the market as the answer to the organically-leaning, ecologically-savvy consumer's denim conundrum.

The company's philosophy is, "to make the world's best and only hand made denim using a simple age old concept of treating others as you wish to be treated." Using this Golden Rule as their guide, Sharkah Chakra has harnessed the Free Trade talents of indigenous indigo farmer, dyeing masters and tailors. The laudable process comes together to create an equally praiseworthy product: stylish, wearable jeans for the masses.

Sharkah Chakra - Organic Jeans [The Cool Hunter]

Canton Daily Ledger: At some point in life, just about all of us have spelled something out on our plate with food. A University of Illinois Horticulturist has taken this concept to new heights - spelling out the words "Fresh Salads" on a billboard advertisement using real, growing lettuce.

Pierceall was first contacted by the Leo Burnett advertising company to ask for his assistance in creating the billboard for one of their clients, McDonald's Corporation -- the goal being to stress the fresh salads in their menu. "Burnett googled horticulture and Chicago and my name kept coming up, so they called me," said Pierceall.

The billboard was mounted in Wrigleyville near the intersection of Addison and Clark streets. Pierceall said that the "shelf life" of the billboard is unlimited as defined by Mother Nature, and even she can't be pushed. "The ad agency wanted the billboard to be up this summer, but I told them it had to wait because lettuce is a cool season crop and would never be successful in the summer in Chicago. The seasonal nature of the plants defined the presentation timing and the eventual length of the presentation, kind of like installation art."

Pierceall has over 30 years of experience in environmental education and landscape design. Currently he is advisor of a horticulture degree-completion program for Chicago area students.

U of I horticulturist grows salad billboard [Canont Daily Ledger]

Here’s a million-dollar question: how do I increase the Google PageRank of my website?

According to search engine optimization specialists, the two most crucial factors affecting your website’s ranking are the availability of useful content and quality links. You’ve got to have helpful, regularly-updated and keywords-rich content on your website before you can attract the Googlebot over and rate your website highly. But, without sufficient inbound links, how is a reader from Brazil going to find and read your interesting content on your website? Not only that, but the inbound links have got to be from quality, relevant website too.

If you have a website or a blog, I’m sure you agree with me that it’s an uphill task to acquire quality links. So, the next million-dollar question is: how can I increase the number of links to my website?

You can exchange links manually; email the PageRank 5 website’s webmaster and ask for a reciprocal link. You can also add your website to web directories such as Yahoo! and DMOZ. Or you can advertise your website through pay-per-click exchanges such as Google’s Adwords. All these methods have their pros and cons. What if you have an advertising system that includes all of the pros and would let advertisers get better rankings in search engines with a few simple clicks of the mouse?

Yes, you have such a system, and I’m referring to the new TNX.net. TNX (short for “thanks” in SMS-speak) is a new innovative business idea. It works wonders for both advertisers and publishers. For advertisers looking to improve their websites’ rankings, TNX allows them to buy millions of links from other sites in few clicks. For publishers looking to earn some money, it’s a good way for them to monetize their websites. All links are direct; they are located on main pages and high-ranking inside pages. Links are displayed prominently on well-noticeable spots for maximum exposure, and are tied in with keywords so that Googlebot will take notice.

TNX offers link targeting by specific niche and geographic region. That makes it a breeze if you want to target Chicago residents who are looking for florists. You can also filter by the Google PR of each page and link popularity (Yahoo! backlinks) of each website. TNX makes it possible to combine different types of targeting and compare the efficiency with different configurations. TNX even provides a calculator of how many links you will get on based on the parameters you chose and your spending plan. Creating an ad campaign is a painless process with TNX’s well-designed Ad Campaign Wizard.

For publishers, TNX offers an easy way to sell links and monetize your website. It’s free to sign up and get a publisher’s account, and you’ll be automatically credited with 2,000 TNX points upon signup. In TNX, transactions are carried with TNX points. You can use TNX points to pay for advertising of your website. You can also hold on to your points and watch its price grow or sell your points to TNX (funds are credited to your PayPal account) or any other TNX member. TNX is currently doing a promotion whereby you can receive additional 5,000 points free by posting on this thread in the DigitalPoint forums. TNX points are now being valued at $0.61 per 1,000 points.

To sell links on your website, you simply grab the TNX system code and place it into your website. When the system code is placed on your website all the links that are purchased by advertisers will be automatically displayed on all pages that have TNX system code included. Whenever a link on your website is sold to one of our advertisers, you get paid. It’s easy for publishers to get started.

TNX even has got an affiliate program. When you refer a new webmaster to the system, you will receive 13.3% of all TNX points which he/she will earn in the future. You can then use the TNX points for your own advertising.

On a whole, TNX is a new business idea that promises to transform text link advertising on the Internet. Designed with an intuitive and easy system, it offers a good way for advertisers and publishers to participate in text link advertising.

This post is a sponsored blog post.

Maktoob Business: Samsung and Bang & Olufsen Inspire the world again with Serenata, the pure music mobile. Serenata is a music mobile phone focusing on sound quality and at the same time on bringing a more sophisticated lifestyle to the customers. To own Serenata is to enjoy the best possible music experience while you are on the move. Bang & Olufsen's expertise in concept development, user interface experience, acoustic sound capabilities and design skills together with Samsung's leadership in mobile phone technology, engineering and quality have realized a new way of combining unique music and mobile experiences for consumers.

"Since we started our first co-operation with Bang & Olufsen, we have only been confirmed in our belief that both companies share a passion for innovation and consumer-focused technology. Serenata is another example of new ways to think of the mobile phone. I'm proud to say that our customers can see a true innovation of music player and mobile phone as we have opened a new era of mobile phones with Serene two years ago", says Geesung Choi, President of the Telecommunications Network Business in Samsung Electronics.

"We have high expectations to Serenata, as it is a result of our joint vision to constantly push the boundaries, and bring unique and exciting products to our customers", states Torben Ballegaard Sørensen, CEO of Bang & Olufsen.

Serenata represents an innovative approach to a personal music player. Two companies' astonish-ing technology and design bring the experience of digital music to quite another level for music fans on the move.

Samsung and Bang & Olufsen Inspire the world again with Serenata, the pure music mobile [Maktoob Business]

A Crystal Clear Vision Ensures Success Throughout Your Organization

With increasing global competition, it is more important than ever that each employee in your organization have a clear understanding of the company’s overall vision, be in alignment with the organizational goals, and have identified how their day to day activities contribute....

Continued in BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 54 >>>

- CouponCowGirl
- Jigsaw-Puzzle Bed
- Do Good 4 Debt
- Facebook Readers Shirts
- Instant, Easy Remote Working
- Shuffle The Diamonds
- Urban Dare

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>

- Building A Gamers' Brand
- Emotion-Stirring Marketing
- Main Customer Focus
- Being Your Own Boss
- How To Make Your Website Work For You
- Focus On Your Writing Skills
- Home Business Basics

Continue reading these top stories in the BIZNESS! Newsletter >>>

Can't stand your demanding boss anymore? Start your own business! Before that, be sure to subscribe to our free informative newsletter. BIZNESS! is jointly published by CoolBusinessIdeas.com and GetEntrepreneurial.com What you get in BIZNESS! - the latest new business ideas, small business advice, business tips and info and entrepreneur resources. Everything you need for your brand new business!

Free 145-pages PDF report (worth $75) - "2006's Best Business Ideas" - included with your subscription. Learn more here.

Iconoculture: Got an itch for the good stuff? There's nothing more teeth-gnashing than making that big-time buy and then finding out it went on sale. But who has time to track the ups and downs?
A new site, PriceProtectr.com, monitors prices so consumers don't have to. The free service follows prices at 46 stores, including Amazon, Sears, Costco, Best Buy and Target.

Consumers enter the URL of the product from the retailer's online store, then sit back and relax. If the cost goes down, Price Protectr emails a notice and tells consumers how to track down that cash.

A sweet receipt: Consumers wary to fork over major bucks for, say, a plasma TV can feel more confident that someone has their back.

Why make your customers rely on an independent service? Offer an automatic email notification service for refunds and brand loyalty will get a boost.

A new site protects consumers from falling prices [Iconoculture]

If you have good writing skills why don’t you capitalize on this skill for your retirement business? But there is a catch to these types of businesses. Don’t think your main business will be doing the writing. You main business will be selling. You’ll see as I go along what this means.

You could write a book and try to find a publisher to publish your book. It’s a low probability situation that a well known publisher will pick up your first book. You could take your book and have a “self-publishing” company put it together and make it available at all of the on-line book stores and any book store can order it for a customer. But you are the “Chief Marketing Officer” and the hardest part of the job is generating the sales.

If you have an expertise in some industry along with your writing skills, you could produce a newsletter for that industry. Most industries have national and statewide magazines. Focus on a citywide newsletter for that industry. Let companies buy advertisement to sell their spare capacity-time, spare raw material inventory, job openings or their unique expertise. You will have to add a number of industry interest articles each month, much of which you can get from the Internet, with proper approval from the author. You can also write articles about local industry leaders. Much of the work will be maintaining the mailing or e-mailing lists to send the newsletter to and getting it out. You will see that much of your time will be in the advertisement sales and newsletter distribution tasks.

You can also select a small “interest” or “geographic” area and develop a newspaper for that area. College campuses, ethnic groups, noted neighborhoods and hobbyists are some areas you can consider. The hard part of setting up a successful newspaper is finding a sector that businesses will be willing to buy advertisement to reach that audience. Once you have a large enough critical mass of advertisers, it is easy to tailor the articles and reports to be of interest to these groups.

Writers get your quills out and try one of these ideas. It is a low initial investment to get these businesses going. You will put in a lot of your time to get them started but it won’t take too much up front money. Small publications frequently do not provide enough profit for a full time job, but we are looking for businesses that will only supplement your income. More details of each of these ideas can be found in my book.

This new weekly column, 101 New Business Ideas for Retirees, is compiled specially for CoolBusinessIdeas.com readers by Stan Spector. See all articles in this column by Stan Spector.

Stan Spector is the author of “Baby Boomers’ Official Guide to Retirement Income - Over 100 Part-time or Seasonal Businesses for the New Retiree”. The book website is at StanSpector.com.

Yuuguu, derived from the Japanese word for fusion, enables users to see, share, and take control of each other's computer screens and applications. Unlike previous Web collaboration solutions, Yuuguu supports Web browsers on any device, including mobile phones - for unprecedented flexibility. Users can securely share their screen with anyone at any time, whether they're on a PC, Mac, or mobile phone.

Free and easy-to-use, Yuuguu can be used by team members working on a project or by friends sharing applications. Colleagues and friends can message and chat while they share screens for enhanced collaboration. The platform includes high quality, low cost voice conferencing services for one-to-one and one-to-many voice calls. And Yuuguu's integrated presence status brings a sense of community to Web sharing, as users can see when friends are online and click to invite them.

Yuuguu - http://www.yuuguu.com

Bizreport: "With SmartEdition, publisher’s customers benefit from anywhere/anytime access to current and back issues of their publications, while enjoying audited paid circulation and a new advertising platform," was written on the company website.

The platform is geared toward small, local newspapers. Called AdGet, it is a cost-per-action model geared toward advertising for digital editions of the local papers. The platform allows for audio and video ads and also gives consumers a "click to transact" button so that advertisers can offer a quicker transaction. Restaurants could offer online reservations or car dealers could offer online sign-ups for test drives, according to one report.

The SmartEdition itself is a kind of cross between traditional newspapers and online editions. It offers a text reader for the online editions. NewspaperDirect is currently working with more than 550 local newspapers, many of which are in Canada.

Newspapers may get a boost from AdGet [Bizreport]

TheRecord.com: Debbie New needed to come up with a design for a knitted lace project. She pondered the possibilities until inspiration came in a flash - make a boat. Her lace boat, a water-worthy vessel reinforced with resin, is featured in her aptly titled book Unexpected Knitting.

"I thought it seemed like the obvious thing to make out of lace," explained the Waterloo woman. Obvious maybe to New, who's celebrated in knitting circles for her inventive and often surprising approach to knitting. New is invited all over the world to teach, although she is modest about her international reputation.

Knitting has enjoyed a surge in popularity recently, thanks in part to knitters like New and Waterloo's Sally Melville, who have infused the ancient craft with a playfulness that appeals to a new generation of young knitters.

Even celebrities such as Julia Roberts and Hilary Swank are spotted with yarn and needles on set, making knitting the hip thing to do.

Knitting Evolved [TheRecord.com]