Now tell me something I don't know!
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Did you know..?.. Let's keep it hush-hush.. and not spread rumors.Shhh..
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-- There was a college football coach that had a player on his team who was a bit slow. The Dean told him that if the player could learn the formula for water, then he would be allowed to play in the big game. The day of the big game came and the Dean called the player into his office and asked him to recite the formula for water. The player grinned real big and said,
"H I J K L M N O."
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-- Every once in a while the thought strikes me that we all get lost in semantics, that too many words just bog us down. We want to get to the end result without going through 'the big details.' ---- "The Associated Press: Esquire magazine unveils cover with electronic ink" -- -- In this topic, I'll try to get right to the point ---------------- ---->
You'll have to unscramble it. Figure it out and cherry-pick what you want to keep. -- FERINSTANCE: ------->>
------->> "When Start-ups Can't Sell" --
-- The lesson in today’s highly competitive environment: Products are sold, not bought.
-- In fact, a full and accurate description may be too much. If a prospect feels he has learned all there is to know about a product, he will make up his mind on that basis -- and not call the company for more information. The company will not have had a chance to fit its solution -- which may not be obvious to the prospect's problem, which he may not realize he has... ---------->> Game Changers - washingtonpost.com
-- "EA Mythic is scheduled to launch its newest game this week, a virtual world called Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. It's in the same sword-and-sorcery genre as the mega-popular World of Warcraft, in which players pay a monthly subscription fee to take on virtual roles. Nash is in charge of the game's online launch outside of the United States.
-- Virtual-world games have always had a larger share of women players than other games, Nash says. That's probably because they are often as much about collaborating as a team, or just hanging out, as they are about going on adventures.
-- Having a diverse group of players can improve missions. "When you have a healthy mix of guys and girls going on a raid, it helps with the tactics," Nash says. Guys sometimes want to run in and fight the monsters without coming up with a strategy. With women on the team, she says, "there's a lot more 'Have we thought this through?' "
-- "L.A. prepares massive water-conservation plan - Los Angeles Times" --
-- "Segway Inventor Unveils Machine That Turns Sewage Into Drinking Water | AHN | May 15, 2008" -- -- "Henkel USA & Canada - Henkel Innovation Trophy" --Laundry & Home Care: Heavy duty detergents, fabric softeners, laundry care preparations or additives, dishwashing detergents, multi-purpose cleaners, scouring agents, floor and carpet care products, bath and toilet cleaners, glass cleaners, kitchen cleaners, special- purpose cleaners, air fresheners, and insecticides for household use. Cosmetics/Toiletries: Hair washing and hair care products, hair colorants, hair styling products, perming products, fine soaps, shower gels and bath additives, deodorants, skin creams, skin care products, products for tooth and oral care, perfumes and fragrances, and products for professional hairdressers. Consumer and Craftsmen Adhesives: Wallpaper pastes, adhesives for ceiling and wall coverings and tiles, renovation products, grouting and joint sealing compounds, polyurethane foams, instant adhesives, contact adhesives, wood glues, assembly adhesives, PVC pipe adhesives, floor covering adhesives, waterproofing and moisture protection, heat insulation, coatings, roofing products, glue sticks, glue rollers, correction products, and adhesive tapes. Henkel Technologies: Bookbinding, labeling, woodworking, hygiene, structural, packaging, laminating, electronics, automotive, pressure sensitive and reactive adhesives, high performance sealants, composite/composite adhesives, soundproofing materials, corrosion inhibitors, surface treatments for metals, organic coatings, plastisols, water treatment products, industrial cleaners and lubricants.
ICGC@aol.com
From: ICGC@aol.com
Subject: Interesting news from Procter & Gamble
Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008 5:36 PM
From Procter and Gamble:
Is this the P&G you recall?
Remember the old P&G? Invented everything internally; owned all the intellectual property rights; almost never collaborated with external partners. Remember? A culture change is underway, and P&G has moved from "Not Invented Here" to "Proudly Found Elsewhere."
P&G now looks external first for best-in-class solutions to its innovation needs. And P&G defines innovation broadly - technology, "cooked products" in market, packaging, design, manufacturing processes, new business models, new ways to go-to-market, and trademark licensing.
P&G's External Business Development group, led by Vice President Jeff Weedman, has the mission of finding external sources and accessing their capabilities and expertise to accelerate P&G's own innovation. Conversely, they also look to connect with other companies to provide access to P&G's capabilities and expertise - even in marketing. This is not the P&G you were a part of just a few years ago! P&G calls this approach to open innovation "Connect + Develop." It is about tapping into the resources of the best scientists, researchers, engineers, and companies in the world.
From time to time, P&G will have an "urgent need" that they are trying to source. Attached is the most recent one. If you or your company can help, please contact Pramod Reddy at 513-983-2623 or reddy.pk@pg.com . Feel free to forward the need to other partners or companies you think might be interested.
A list of P&G's current needs and assets available can be found at the Connect + Develop website, www.pgconnectdevelop.com.
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Specific Request: Auto-foaming granular detergent
P&G is looking for an auto-foaming technology that is more cost & space effective to incorporate in a powder laundry detergent.
Description of the Need:
A technology that produces self fizzing on contact with water to enhance foam in a powder laundry detergent for hand wash geographies. The product must dissolve without agitation & quickly deliver rich/creamy foam, yet rinse easily. The cost of the foaming system should be <1/2 cent/use.
What P&G Is Looking For:
We are looking for chemical/physical solutions with the following criteria:
- Foaming performance:
1. auto-foaming upon contact with water, no need for manual/mechanical agitation, dissolution takes no more than 2 minutes
2. the foam has creamy/lathery appearance similar to draught beer/cappuccino. Methods include bubble size (typically <1mm) and elasticity/cushiness
3. suds collapse / disappearance after 1-2 rinses.
- Dosage per hand wash detergent in line with current weight/volume-size consumer habit of about 35gr and 67cc. Surfactant base is already about 30gr, not to be reduced unless solution technology delivers a synergistic effect on cleaning
- Foam chemical cost target : up to 0.5 US cents per wash
- Compatible with detergent chassis and not negatively impact cleaning performance
- Can become proprietary in a detergent/hand wash context
What They Are Not Looking For:
- Options requiring a separate device
- Classical citric/bicarbonate admix does not meet above criteria
- Chemistries not compatible with a wide breadth of washable fabrics and dyes
- Technologies not process scalable at relatively low costs
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From the Secret Files..
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-- "Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway by Jerome R. Corsi" -- "Immigrants behind 25 percent of tech startups" -- Thought of the Day:
--
"If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future - look into your present actions." Chinese Proverb From an article in Inventors' Digest: Davison Design now InventionLand (11/10/2006)
-- Forbes.com has published a great article about Davison Design's name change to InventionLand. It's an eye-opening article about the workings of a company that claims to be in business to help inventors develop their products.
-- Some 55,000 inventors call Davison each month. Wonder how many of them know of the company's success rate, which, according to the article, "as of late October, only 0.001% of Davison's revenue was derived from royalties paid on licensed products."?
-- Assuming the company doesn't have trouble with decimal points, the royalty business provides Davison $250 a year in sales."
-- "Spotting Sweet-Sounding Promises of Fraudulent Invention Promotion Firms" -- Outsourcing - "DonDebelak.com - Online Article 1" -- "Online Articles" -- -- "Solve-It! Marketing Co. - Inventor Services"
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"It allows you to meet with representatives from many companies at once, rather than flying and looking all over the country." "Attending a trade show also allows you to see what some of your own competition have bean doing." "When you survey their booths, ask key questions that will solve your problems." "Attending a trade show allows you to learn much more about your industry."
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"Attend the right trade show to license your invention" by Paul Niemann Let's say you're in the process of launching a new product. There are several main benefits of attending trade shows in your industry. For example, I managed to find a distributor for my product at one. -- Here are 3 main benefits:1. It allows you to meet with representatives from many companies at once, rather than flying and looking all over the country. Plus, you'll learn of many companies worth visiting who you'd never even have heard of before. For example, if you're trying to get an automotive product onto the marketplace, the conventional wisdom would be to stop by the booths of only the main automakers. You should also want to visit with some of the many suppliers to the auto industry who sell to those big companies, and they're much easier to work with than those bigger ones.2. Attending a trade show also allows you to see what some of your own competition have bean doing. When you survey their booths, ask key questions that will solve your problems. 3. Attending a trade show allows you to learn much more about your industry. I've talked with booth vendors who have been in the industry for a long time, and this became helpful because my product is in an industry in which I had never worked. -- In short, I have benefited from almost every trade show that I've ever attended, and I usually do NOT rent a booth. A booth is usually very expensive. In fact, many times it is better to NOT rent booth space, especially if you go to the trade shows by yourself. -- Here's why: If you rent a booth space, it means that you'll be tied to your booth most of the time. If you're alone and you leave to explore the other booths, your booth would remain unstaffed and, as a result, unvisited. You'll miss sales.
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"In fact, many times it is better to NOT rent booth space, especially if you go to the trade shows by yourself."
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-- On the other hand, if you don't rent booth space, you're able to wander the exhibit hall to meet with prospects and to see what others in your industry are selling. [And they're attending their booths, having no time to visit yours, if you had had one!] -- Earlier I mentioned that I managed to find a distributor for my product. How? I showed a sample of my product to people at a number of booths (while, of course, having proper IP protection), and I received many very favorable comments from the majority of them. But it was a man who owned his own company, who also did not have a booth there, who I met in the hallway outside the exhibit hall. -- I guess the moral of my story is "That (sometimes) it's better to be lucky than be good." I've found that the more people I talk with the luckier I get. There's no guarantee that my new partner will be able to bring in a lot of sales for my product, but we're off to a good start. --> If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. --> -- The teacher wrote on the blackboard: "I ain't had no fun in months," then asked the class, "How should I correct this sentence?"
-- Little Johnny raised his hand and replied, "Get yourself a new boyfriend."
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In the parlance of playing cards, "Opportunity Knocks" - But You Go For GIN.. in Gin Rummy You go for the bigger award.. You try harder to Win
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-- This may be an opportunity for the right person . . . .
-- We've been commissioned to produce a new series for Discovery Channel. --
>-- We're looking for both a host and a separate consultant. - Obviously, the consultant only has to have the knowledge.. Not the dashing good looks!
-- We are planning to shoot primarily in the states, only visiting outside facilities where needed. Right now, we're scheduled to begin in June and shoot fifty days over 6 months. This is subject to change, depending on research and development.
-- The brief for the host and project is below:
-- The show is 10 hours for Discovery Channel, to be aired in the US and Worldwide. -- Currently, the show is titled, "Surviving Tomorrow,"? where we will take a look at the latest in design safety and technology, with an eye on testing each product to it's limits.-- Our ideal host is male, late twenties to late forties. He's good looking, fun and hip, with the sort of big and electric personality that leaps off the screen. He will also have a terrific sense of humor - and maybe a hint of endearing geekiness!
-- He has an inventive streak a mile wide that lets him think outside the box; - this is someone who can surf the cutting edge to creatively re-apply existing/emerging technology to new and surprising - 'sometimes left-field' uses. - His background will be in either engineering, crash testing or product design; - maybe even all three. - Our host will design and test his own concepts; he will also test the ideas of other technological innovators; and his mission will take him all over the US 'and outside' to talk to engineers and get involved in state of the art crash testing. -- Please have any interested people get in touch with me at engineershow@yahoo.com. They should send a jpeg photo and list of qualifications.
-- Sincerely,
-- Michelle Katz -- Producer
--
Darlow Smithson Productions, London
-- Www.darlowsmithson.com
--
Phone: 44 (0)20 7482 7027 -
Fax: 44 (0)20 7482 7039
--
Everyone has a scheme for getting rich that will not work. Yeah. Everyone hits a brick wall now and then; the trick is not to do it with your head. -- "Music To Our Ears - 9 Clever Musical Ads From Around the World | Inventor Spot" --
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Bulletin Board
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-- "Everyday Edisons | PBS Invention Show | Ordinary People Extraordinary Ideas" -- Everyday Edisons will be hosting a casting calls in Atlanta, Ga. on Saturday, January 12, 2008. This is the first of five national casting calls taking place in 2008. Minnesota Inventors Congress
January 23, 2008
Going global is taking the Minnesota Inventors Congress on the road again. This time its Bangkok Thailand.
It wasn't that many months ago that the Minnesota Inventors Congress (MIC) Executive Director, Deb Hess, returned from an international invention show in Taipei Taiwan. And now she is packing for a trip to Bangkok Thailand. Hess will be participating in the First International Inventor's Day Convention as a speaker, jury member and exhibitor, Feb. 2-5, 2008. The organizers are hosting an international seminar on Feb. 3rd celebrating "Global Sustainability." She will be covering initiatives being developed by independent inventors, companies and research facilities in North America. Featured projects will include an aviation fuel that reduces greenhouse emissions; biofuels; hybrid vehicles; sustainable communities; wind power and geothermal manufacturers.
This event also kicks off the year long celebration of the 40th Jubilee of the International Federation of Inventors' Associations (IFIA), according to the organizations' President, Dr. András Vedres, Budapest Hungary. Inventors from 23 countries are registered to participate. "The MIC is the first United States organization to join this prestigious international organization," comments Hess. MIC members were invited to submit their inventions for consideration and these 5 will be showcased:
Invention name and inventor: IRE Rejuvenater Portable Battery Charger, Rafael Ruiz, Poteet Texas USA.
Invention Description: High amp portable battery charger powered by internal combustion engine, that charges and rejuvenates drained lead acid batteries. Charges from one battery, to a series of batteries, in parallel or series. Go Green with the BioDiesel option, also available in gas and propane.
Invention name and inventor: Mass Transit Concept, Bill Kurtz, St Croix Falls Wisconsin USA.
Invention Description: This mass transit concept uses an enclosed system by means of magnetic levitation rail cars that will transport people with their vehicles, powered by electric motors (wind/solar power option available.) This concept offers the independence of using your own vehicle to enter and exit the system.
Invention name and inventor: Stay-Clean Curtains, Donald Darnell, Auburn California USA
Invention Description: To keep dust, debris, sprays and spills from remodel projects for home or businesses safely. Low cost plastic disposable dust curtains that resist falling down and can be quickly installed in under two minutes.
Invention name and inventor: Multi-Function Toilet Tool, Richard Bixby, Ukiah California USA.
Invention Description: Self attached hanger and tool saves water, chemicals, energy, eliminates problem before, during or after you flush. Opens clogs, removes hidden items, no rubber gloves needed, sanitizes in seconds. Wheelchair accessible one hand use, uses rotation inertia.
Invention name and inventor: Invisible Home Gym, Shula Pressler, Northridge California USA
Invention Description: Conversion from furniture to gym configuration takes about 30 seconds. Arms, upper body, legs and thighs can be exercised in the comfort of your living room while watching TV. Single chair and His & Hers configurations are available.
Plans are underway for the 51st Minnesota Inventors Congress event, Invention & Idea Show™ 2008, June 13 & 14, in Redwood Falls MN.
For more information:
Deb Hess
Executive Director
Minnesota Inventors Congress
P O Box 71
Redwood Falls MN 56283
507.627.2344
mic@inventhelper.org
www.inventhelper.org
Best regards,
Deb Hess
Executive Director
The Minnesota Inventors Congress (MIC) is a private, Non-Profit 501(c)(3) organization. This message is not to be considered legal advice. The MIC is not a law firm and does not provide legal or patent, trademark or copyright advice. Posted messages may contain information helpful to some people under some circumstances. Please use caution when evaluating any information, including but not limited to: business opportunities; links to news stories; links to services, products or other web sites; and postings by group members. No endorsements are ever issued by the MIC, expressed or implied.
51st Annual event: Invention & Idea Show - June 13 & 14, 2008
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. John F. Kennedy
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