Inventory Management for QuickBooks

http://www.fishbowlinventory.com

"Fishbowl Inventory is the #1-Selling Inventory Control Program for QuickBooks."

Price starts at $4,195.

Water - Iodine Purification

The manufacturer of this product is having trouble complying with DEA iodine requirements.  The DEA pressured his iodine supplier to cut off shipments to him.

http://www.mercurynews.com/saratoga/ci_19385037
... he sold close to 24,000 bottles in his last few months of business at $6.50 a pop.
At its height, Polar Pure was bringing in about $100,000 a year ...

... the state Department of Justice fingerprinted the couple and told Wallace he needed to show them such things as a solid security system for his product.

... the new rules ordered him to pay a fee, get permits, and keep track of buyers. But his iodine distributor -- warned by the DEA -- won't sell to him.

http://www.polarequipment.com/directions.htm
The bottle features a cap with measuring lines and bottle interior conveniently traps iodine crystals.

Person Tracking by tracking Cell Phones

Interesting marketing use of cell phone location information.

FootPath Technology
The units measure signals from the consumers' mobile phones using unique technology that can locate a consumer's position to within a few metres. These units feed this data (24 hours a day 7 days a week) to a processing centre, where the data is audited and sophisticated statistical analysis is applied to create continuously updated information on the flow of shoppers throughout the centre.

Pricing
we do not expect you to pay for our equipment or installation costs. Nor do we expect you to pay for us to maintain and upgrade equipment
depends upon:
The size of the area to be monitored;
The type and amount of data that you require; and
The length of time for which you wish to purchase the data.

55,000 square metre mall that was interested in purchasing a full FootPath solution with data year round (52 weeks) the price would be 69k euros per year.


Hackers could create cheap devices to transmits these codes, which would put bad data into the monitoring system.

Company to Rollup WiSPs, WiSP backoffice

Hosting.com has a strategy of buying existing hosting companies to roll them up into a larger, streamlined company.  This provide efficiencies of scale, standardized features/products, and additional upsell opportunities.

Do the same for the wireless internet service provider industry.
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Alternatively, provide everything for a wisp and allow the local person to just put up hotspots and get customers.

Hadoop Consulting Shop

Boutique IT shop specializing in Hadoop.

Hadoop is a java-based platform for distributed data processing that can handle big data.  Is is not transactional.

What Hadoop needs, Feinsmith said, is more maturity as an enterprise platform, including more monitoring and virtualization capabilities, and more integrations and compatibility with existing business intelligence and analytic systems.
... IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle--multibillion-dollar vendors with substantial data management software revenue at stake--have all embraced Hadoop this year.

Cloudera provides enterprise support and Hadoop management software, claiming more than 100 customers.

Electric Grid Frequency Regulation

There is a market for electric grid frequency regulation.

http://www.miller-mccune.com/environment/vehicle-to-grid-a-new-spin-on-car-payments-36697

Regulation fine-tunes the balance between supply and demand to make sure that the electricity in outlets has a frequency of exactly 60 hertz at all times. ...
To provide regulation, an electricity generator must adjust output up or down based on a hard-wired electronic signal that grid operators send out 400 times a day. ...
The world market for regulation services is $6 billion — $1.5 billion in the United States and $4.5 billion overseas ...

http://www.energycentral.com/reference/whitepapers/contact_vendor/103334/Grid-Scale-Frequency-Regulation-Using-Flywheels

The grid frequency regulation function addresses the balance between the network’s load and power generated. The intent is to maintain the grid at the target 50Hz or 60Hz operating point. When there is more load than generated power, frequency drops, and vice versa. The system operator generates a signal, Area Control Error (ACE), based on the difference between load and power.

... open bid auction markets for frequency regulation services. A large part of the United States and some countries utilize such markets.

Regulation Service requires the abilities of a sophisticated network -- because there are over 5 million Regulation requests per year.

Current RTO and ISO Compensation Practices Article in Federal Register.

Frequency regulation service is the injection or withdrawal of real power by facilities capable of responding appropriately to a transmission system operator’s automatic generator control (AGC) signal.

Testimonials: Collect, Manage, Publish

Collection, management and publication of targeted testimonials.

$27 - $127 per month.

Organic Chai

Create an organic chai product.

Experiment by adding fennel seeds, coriander seeds, nutmeg, star anise, and lemon or orange peel.

 

May omit the milk and sugar and offer them separately.  Basic black chai:

• 1½ cups cold water
• One 2-inch piece cinnamon stick, broken
• 2 heaping teaspoons black tea
• Seed of 3 cardamom pods
• One ¼-inch-thick slice fresh ginger
• 3 whole cloves
• 2 black peppercorns
• ¼ to ½ cup milk
• 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1. Bring water to a boil in small saucepan. Add cinnamon, cover, remove from heat; steep 2 minutes. Return pan to heat; bring to a boil. Add tea, spices, milk and sugar; cover, and remove from heat. Steep 3 minutes.
2. Pour mixture through fine wire-mesh strainer into warm teapot, discarding solids. Garnish with cinnamon sticks.

 

 

Variation of kahwah, a Kashmiri green tea:
• 1½ cups cold water
• 2 heaping teaspoons green tea
• Seed of 1 cardamom pod
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 strands saffron (optional)
• 6 blanched almonds, chopped
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tablespoon honey
1. Combine water, tea, spices and almonds in small saucepan. Cook over low heat until hot (do not boil). Partially cover; steep over low heat 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in milk and honey.
2. Pour through fine wire-mesh strainer into warm teapot, discarding solids. Serve.

In India, Tulsi Chai, made from holy basil (Ocimum sanctum), is used to treat colds and reduce stress.  Sweet basil can be substituted for holy basil.

• ½ cup holy basil leaves
• 2 cups cold water
• 2 heaping teaspoons green tea
• Seed of 1 cardamom pod
• One 1⁄4-inch-thick slice fresh ginger
• One 2-inch cinnamon stick, broken
• 2 whole cloves
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Milk, to taste
1. In small saucepan, boil basil and water. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in tea, spices and honey: bring almost to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and steep 3 minutes.
2. Pour mixture through fine wire-mesh strainer into warm teapot, discarding solids. Serve with milk. Garnish with skewered crystallized ginger cubes, fresh basil leaves and grated nutmeg.

Unemployment Claims

Sell services to businesses to handle their unemployment claims processing.

"... take the hassle of handling claims and meeting state requirements out of your hands. We work directly with you and your managers to collect all the data necessary to meet the state’s deadlines, reducing your claim exposure and improving your results."

Online unemployment claim response tool.  $15 per claim.

questions about the claim
formatted claim response, providing all pertinent information in a clear and easily understood format which can then be printed on your company letterhead for mailing.
enter the key unemployment documents
create an appeal letter
track the claim.

Oil & Gas Regulatory Compliance

Services to help oil & gas producers comply with regulations.

http://www.lesair.com/index.php?id=8&page=About_Us
"... assists upstream and midstream oil and gas companies to comply with the continually evolving environmental regulations facing companies."

http://www.ltenv.com/lte-expertise/regulatory-compliance/spcc
"Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) evaluations and has prepared over 3,000 SPCC plans for onshore oil and gas production and bulk storage facilities, including tank batteries, transfer stations, produced water disposal facilities, compressor stations, dehydration facilities, terminals, maintenance shops, manufacturing facilities, asphalt plants, and communications facilities."

Rebate Processing

Rebate processing firms need inexpensive office space with decent internet connectivity and a good, captive, inexpensive work force.
What does this pay per piece and per campaign?

http://www.acbcoop.com/IncentiveProgramManagement/Rebates.aspx?gclid=CLiTh6DIp6wCFUcaQgodimmTDQ

http://www.pfcfulfills.com/rebates.aspx

http://www.parago.com/our-solutions/rebates

Capacitor Power for Electric Bikes

Electric bikes are using heavy batteries that don't last.  Repackage capacitors to fit the form factor of electric bikes.

Trading Journal

Online trading journal and mobile app for stock traders.

http://slopeofhope.com/2011/11/your-trading-journal-market-sniper.html

- Did I follow my trading plan for the trade? If not, why not.
- At what point in the trade did I doubt the trade.  If so, why
- What  did I do right in the trade
- Where did I stumble in the trade?

 When  you make an error, make a statement of correction. An example: I did not honor my stop in the trade according to my trading plan. I moved it NOT according to plan…therefore, in my next trade,  I will adhere to my trading plan as to stops. I will place stops and manage my stops according to my trading plan. This will demonstrate that I am a patient and disciplined professional trader.

Here is a more complex grading system and one I use.

A=I followed my trading plan and made good money.
B=I followed my trading plan and made some money.
C=I followed my trading plan and lost some money.
D=I did NOT follow my trading plan and made good money.
E=I did NOT follow my trading plan and made some money.
F=I did NOT follow my trading plan and lost money.

US Immigration Service For The Rich

USA has fast-track citizenship for those who can come in to country with cash to start job-creating business. Provide a service to the super-rich Asians to streamline the process.

Business ideas under $1M immigrants could fund:
Starting a wood burning facility (to power heat/steam in Rocky Mountain region hit by pine beetle) would cost about $1M if county provides cheap land lease.

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2010.12.24
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101222/ts_nm/us_usa_immigration_business

In 2010, nearly 2,000 would-be immigrants, many from China, applied for EB-5 visas, the most ever in a single year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that oversees the program.

"I always tell the people who approach me that the EB-5 investment program is a risky business," said Brian Su, a Springfield, Illinois-based immigration consultant who publishes a popular blog on the program. "If you cannot bear the loss, the total loss of your investment, don't play this game."

In 2007, there were just 11 specially designated businesses allowed to offer EB-5 visas to foreign investors in exchange for their cash; today there are 117 and 88 more are applying for the status. Many of the newcomers are commercial real-estate builders looking for alternative funding to keep their projects alive.

oversight of the EB-5 program is theoretically shared by USCIS and the SEC.

the annual filing -- known as an I-924A

10,000 special visas, known as EB-5s, have been set aside annually for foreign entrepreneurs, and their immediate family, who agree to invest as little as $500,000 in ventures that will either create or save 10 U.S. jobs within two years of their arrival.

several dozen businesses that accept investors through the program have started a Chicago-based trade group called the Association to Invest in the USA (IIUSA).

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20110907
Top of Chinese wealthy's wish list? To leave China

China's richest are increasingly investing abroad to get a foreign passport, to make international business and travel easier but also to give them a way out of China.

The United States is the most popular destination for Chinese emigrants, with rich Chinese praising its education and healthcare systems. Last year, nearly 68,000 Chinese-born people became legal permanent residents of the U.S., seven percent of the total and second only to those born in Mexico. Canada and Australia are also popular.

Wealthy Russians have also been establishing footholds abroad for the past decade, seeking a safe haven both for their money and their children.

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2011.11
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=facb83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=facb83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/EB-5_visa
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Nearly 6,000 foreign EB-5 investors have applied for permanent residency through the program since it was created, but only 3,200 have received green cards. In an example of how interest in this program has soared, 715 investors applied for permanent residency in the first four months of this year.

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2012.02.22
webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577181461401318988.html

Recent statistics show rising demand for "investment immigration" visas to the U.S., Canada and other Western countries. The U.S. program, EB5, can grant up to 10,000 visas annually to people who invest $1 million and create at least 10 jobs in the U.S., or invest $500,000 in a rural or high-unemployment area.

In fiscal 2011, the U.S. received 2,969 applications (each of which can cover several family members) from China for EB5 immigration, compared with just 787 two years earlier, according to the U.S. immigration agency. Chinese applications accounted for 78% of the global total in 2011.

Canada received 2,567 Chinese applications for a similar program in 2011, up from just 383 in 2009, according to its immigration authorities. Demand has been so strong—particularly from China—that Canada imposed a cap of 700 applications per year, starting July 1, 2011. That quota was filled within a week, with 697 of 700 applications from China.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304203604577393841014313050.html
More Wealthy Chinese Said to Prepare Exits

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USA Visas for 500k home purchase:
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/election/2011/10/20/visa-for-house-bill-terrific-toll-brothers-chief-says/