| How to Make a Biz Out of Jailbreaking iPhones Posted: 11 Apr 2012 04:32 PM PDT 
According to the Washington Post, jailbreaking iPhones and other smart phones is a lucrative business. Kevin Lee, a George Mason University senior, says he earns about $50,000 a year with an illicit-sounding pitch on Craigslist: “Get Your iPhone Jailbroken Today.” If you want to get started jailbreaking phones, don’t worry, it is not illegal in the United States. Under the DMCA of 2010, jailbreaking is legal in the United States, although it voids Apple’s device warranty. To get started in this business, just Google “how to jailbreak iphone”. There will be plenty of pages to get you started. 
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| Niche Biz: Dog Poop Remover Posted: 11 Apr 2012 04:02 PM PDT 
Business Week: Jacob D’Aniello, co-founder and chief executive officer of DoodyCalls, can imagine only one scenario in which his business could fail. “If one day, everybody in the world woke up and decided they loved picking up dog poop,” he says grimly. “If it suddenly became everybody’s favorite recreational activity, that would be a terrible day for us.” Luckily for D’Aniello and his company, which just celebrated its 13th anniversary, the world’s feelings about animal feces probably won’t be changing any time soon. People love their dogs almost as much as they hate the smelly gifts they leave behind. But for just $15 per week per dog, DoodyCalls will come to your home, apartment, community, or place of business and eliminate any evidence that a canine used it as a personal bathroom. “Our customers aren’t lazy,” D’Aniello stresses. “They’re just upwardly mobile.” He compares his service to pre-made spaghetti sauce. “You could make your own,” he says. “But you don’t.” Doody Calls is also a franchise. Here’s more info. Where’s the idea for Doody Calls come from? Commuting home from work one evening in late 1999, Jacob D’Aniello was listening to a popular radio talk show that brings low-brow humor to the masses, when on came an interview with some wack-job who’s all evangelical about his wonderful career picking up dog poop. Jacob almost changed the channel, but then realized that the guy actually loved his job, earned a good living (claimed, in fact, to be making more than D’Aniello was earning at the time), worked his own hours, said his clients loved him, and didn’t have to commute anymore. Granted, it wasn’t rocket science or brain surgery, but it got him thinking. 
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| He Built A Better Hammer Posted: 11 Apr 2012 03:55 PM PDT 
Most people would not give the hammer in their garage or shed a second thought. After all, the job it fills is quite simple. The person picks it up, and it hammers things. However, Kenneth Del Colgiano felt that was not good enough. Kenneth has created the Wise Hammer. It not only hammers things, but it has a built in stud sensor and marking nub. Everything a person could possibly need to hammer in a nail is included in one hammer. Read the rest. 
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| “Follow Your Passion” is Horrible Advice Posted: 11 Apr 2012 03:53 PM PDT 
Your passions aren’t worth anything says Mark Cuban: Think about all the things you have been passionate about in your life. Think about all those passions that you considered making a career out of or building a company around. How many were/are there ? Why did you bounce from one to another ? Why were you not able to make a career or business out of any of those passions ? Or if you have been able to have some success, what was the key to the success.? Was it the passion or the effort you put in to your job or company? Photo by BalazsT/ShutterStock. 
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| Photographer Turns Tutu-Maker Posted: 11 Apr 2012 10:03 AM PDT 
The Post-Journal: Making an additional prop for photos has turned into a second business for a Jamestown photographer. Michelle Clark started her business, SmileMAC Photography, two years ago. Mrs. Clark said photography is a passion she has had for many years. However, in preparing photo sessions for little girls, Mrs. Clark has found a second passion – making tutus. ”I needed more props for little girls when I’m taking photos and I decided to make a tutu,” she said. ”After taking a few photos of people’s children in a tutu, I started receiving requests from people who wanted to buy them.” The several requests Mrs. Clark received turned into a second business which is called Tutu Creations. Photo by cath5/ShutterStock. 
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| Niche Inventions: Inflatable Booster Seat Posted: 11 Apr 2012 08:00 AM PDT 
Belfast Telegraph: The mother of two boys had the idea for BubbleBum in 2009 while making frequent trips between Derry and England to visit a sick relative. After being stranded at an airport without a car seat she proceeded to solve the problem not only for herself but for all other parents who are faced with the same issue. Grainne developed an inflatable seat that could be packed and taken on holiday. Within 18 months the product was being sold in more than 20 countries. “I created the BubbleBum out of sheer frustration with what was currently available on the market,'' she said. "Modern families do a lot of travelling in cars, coaches and taxis, and bulky, heavy booster seats just aren't practical.''
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| Small Biz Confidence Drops Posted: 11 Apr 2012 07:30 AM PDT 
USA Today: Confidence fell 1.8 points to 92.5 on the monthly index published by the National Federation of Independent Business, the lobbying group said Tuesday. Nine of the 10 indicators the federation tracks dropped, with businesses showing less confidence about everything from credit conditions to hiring plans. More entrepreneurs also expect to raise prices, in what the group called a sign of the impact of energy bills. Economists expected the NFIB report to be weak, but not as poor as it was, economist Leslie Levesque of consulting firm IHS Global said. The report is consistent with the idea that the economy’s growth slowed in the first quarter from its 3% pace in the final three month’s of last year.
Photo by Kevin Dooley 
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| Today in Entrepreneurial History: April 11 Posted: 11 Apr 2012 07:03 AM PDT |
| Small Biz Owners Get Help With Web Presence Posted: 11 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The free consultation was part of the national Get Your Business Online initiative, a two-day event full of free services sponsored by search engine giant Google and business software provider Intuit for small-business owners. The initiative is meant to connect Google and Intuit employees with small business owners in various cities so they can provide step-by-step guidance for building a free website using Intuit’s Sitebuilder Plus service. In addition to providing the site free of charge, the program gives business owners a free domain name, free Web hosting for one year and free online tools and training to customize the site’s functions and increase its reach to potential customers. Google has informally helped small businesses in 23 countries get online over the past few years and decided to bring the initiative to America last year. So far, approximately 150,000 businesses in more than 15 cities across the nation have taken part in the program, which will eventually reach cities in every state.
Photo by Robert Scoble 
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| Ramos Clock: The World’s Most Annoying Alarm Posted: 11 Apr 2012 06:30 AM PDT 
Kima TV: There is no snooze button. If you unplug it, a battery takes over. As wake-up time approaches, you cannot reset the alarm time. It could be the world’s most exasperating alarm clock. Once it goes off, to stop it you must get out of bed, go into the kitchen or bathroom, and punch the day’s date into a telephone-style keypad. That’s the only way to stop the loud `ding-ding,’ designed to sound like a customer angrily banging on a concierge bell at a hotel. It was invented by Paul Sammut, a 25-year-old engineer who lives in Hoboken. During the day, he builds and researches underwater robots and vehicles at the nearby Stevens Institute of Technology. He acknowledges there is one way to stop the alarm without getting out of bed. “You could smash it,” said Sammut. But with a $350 price tag, that would be a really expensive way to sleep in.
Image from Ramos Clock 
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