| Employment And Revenues Slowly Rising For Small Biz Posted: 01 Jun 2012 03:30 AM PDT 
BusinessWeek: The company’s Small Business Revenue Index shows that retail, professional services, construction and real estate businesses saw revenue increases in April. Revenue was flat for employers in food service, health care and social services. The Revenue Index is based on data from 170,000 small businesses. The Small Business Employment Index showed a 0.2 percent rise in employment for the current month through May 23 compared with the month before. This is equal to about 40,000 jobs created, but that number is likely to change as Intuit recalibrates the index. The Mountain and East South Central regions experienced the most employment growth during the month, with the Arizona, Colorado and Virginia experiencing the biggest gains.
Photo by haymarketrebel 
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| Does Your Business Plan Feel Like This? Posted: 31 May 2012 10:37 AM PDT |
| Inventor Makes Solar Water Heating More Affordable Posted: 31 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT 
EADT24: Tom Seppings, of Beccles, has created the SolaPlug, which aims to make the heating of water cheaper and also easier to fit. The invention is a flanged adaptor which connects solar heating panels to an existing hot water tank, meaning that the cylinder can be retained rather than scrapped. Mr Seppings noticed through the course that a lot of plumbing work was required to install the technology and that the benefits were not big enough for many people to be able to afford it. "The main obstacle has been the high cost of fitting it into existing homes. I looked at ways of making it cheaper. Fitting a new tank is a third of the cost so I looked at alternatives. "I came up with the flanging arrangement and did some research and I was amazed no-one else had done it. It was almost too good to be true." Mr Seppings applied for a patent in August 2007 and exhibited a prototype in 2009, since when he had continued to fine-tune the product for the market place.
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| Today in Entrepreneurial History: May 31 Posted: 31 May 2012 06:38 AM PDT |
| Daylight Viewfinder: Viewfinder For Your iPhone Posted: 31 May 2012 06:26 AM PDT 
Cnet: Paul Anderson, an inventor based in Oregon, has created an iPhone accessory called the Daylight Viewfinder, which blocks out stray sunlight and improves your ability to see images on the screen when framing your shots. The device is made up of two components: an eyepiece attachment and a dedicated camera app. Users first need to launch the app, and then affix the eyepiece attachment to a specific part of the iPhone screen via a suction cup. The built-in magnifier in the eyepiece enlarges a small 216×162-pixel view of the scene on the iPhone’s Retina Display, giving you the equivalent of an electronic viewfinder (EVF). Made in the U.S., the Daylight Viewfinder is only compatible with the iPhone 4 and 4S, fourth-generation iPod Touch, and new iPad. The dedicated camera app will be available for free on the Apple App Store and the Daylight Viewfinder attachment can be had for a basic $20 pledge on Kickstarter.
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| Travesso: Espresso That Travels Posted: 31 May 2012 05:31 AM PDT 
FCN: During the day he’s a sales rep with Thigpen, but in his spare time he works with his friend Jim on The Travesso, which is basically a handheld, travel sized espresso maker. It makes a shot of espresso without the really expensive machine. Plus the deer hunter with disriminating taste can take it in the tree stand with him. That’s how the idea was born. Toney was taking the kids on a camping trip and wanted to bring espresso with him.”
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