Business Opportunities Weblog

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• Niche Biz: The Lazy Camper
• Mining the Asteroids?
• Wine About To Get More Expensive
• Today in Entrepreneurial History: April 19

Niche Biz: The Lazy Camper Posted: 19 Apr 2012 08:19 AM PDT Halifax Courier: A student is camping outside his university for a week to show off his new business idea. Former Brighouse High School student Jacob Hill, 19, has developed the Lazy Camper – an all-in-one tent he says will take the hassle out of camping. Jacob, who lives in Southowram, has invested lb30,000 in his business, Shaped Outdoors, after spotting a gap in the market. He said: “I went to Leeds Festival in a cheap tent I bought from a supermarket and I woke up on the first morning under water.” Jacob – in the first year of his business development degree at Huddersfield University – went on: “When you are planning a festival visit you tend just to think just about the price of the ticket and buy a poor-quality tent, but I think this is a solution to that.” The set includes a sleeping bag, camping stool, mess tin, cutlery, water carrier, stove, heavy-duty poncho and toilet seat covers.

Mining the Asteroids? Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:48 AM PDT Are Google executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, (Avatar and Titanic) director James Cameron, and Ross Perot Jr starting a company to mine asteroids? It sounds like it. Their new company promises to: overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of 'natural resources'. What else could that be other than asteroid mining? The press release is after the jump. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 18, 2012 Space Exploration Company to Expand Earth’s Resource Base WHAT:             Join visionary Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.; leading commercial space entrepreneur Eric Anderson; former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki; and planetary scientist & veteran NASA astronaut Tom Jones, Ph.D. on Tuesday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. PDT in Seattle, or via webcast, as they unveil a new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity’s prosperity.                         Supported by an impressive investor and advisor group, including Google's Larry Page *& Eric Schmidt, Ph.D.; film maker & explorer *James Cameron; Chairman of Intentional Software Corporation and Microsoft's former Chief Software Architect Charles Simonyi, Ph.D.; Founder of Sherpalo and Google Board of Directors founding member K. Ram Shriram; and Chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Group* Ross Perot, Jr.*, the company will overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of 'natural resources'. The news conference will be held at the Museum of Flight in Seattle on Tuesday, April 24 at 10:30 a.m. PDT and available online via webcast. WHEN:             Tuesday, April 24                         10:30 a.m. PDT WHO:               Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., Space Tourist, Planetary Resources, Inc. Investor Eric Anderson, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources, Inc. Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Planetary Resources, Inc. Chris Lewicki, President & Chief Engineer, Planetary Resources, Inc. Tom Jones, Ph.D., Planetary Scientist, Veteran NASA Astronaut & Planetary Resources, Inc. Advisor WHERE:           Charles Simonyi Space Gallery at The Museum of Flight 9404 East Marginal Way South   Seattle, WA 98108 Event will also be streamed online.

Wine About To Get More Expensive Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:41 AM PDT California wine is about to get more expensive. Silicon Valley Bank, which provides the wine industry with commercial banking services, predicts the fine wine business will see sales growth of 7 to 11 percent this year amid a looming grape shortage. "I think the consumer for the past five years has been used to getting really fine quality wines at a good price," said Rob McMillan, founder of the bank's wine division. "But as the balance evens out, you can't expect the producer to sell at a loss, which is really what they were doing." There’s a business opportunity here. Photo by Christian Delbert/ShutterStock.

Today in Entrepreneurial History: April 19 Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:11 AM PDT 1892 – Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile in the United States, in Springfield, Massachusetts. 1919 – Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump using a new kind of self-contained parachute. 1928 – The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published. 1955 – The German automaker Volkswagen, after six years of selling cars in the United States, founds Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to standardize its dealer and service network.

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