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The pain Henry Evans felt in his head was so severe, he dropped to his knees and had to crawl to the car that would take him to the doctor.

Evans was suffering a stroke that day five years ago. It robbed him of his ability to walk and speak. But a device developed by a team of high school students now allows Evans, of Los Altos Hills, Calif., to use a laser pointer to do basic tasks with a turn of his head.

The “Laser Finger” was one of several student inventions on display from around the country Wednesday at MIT’s annual InvenTeams initiative. Among the other projects: a “fire grenade” that can suppress particularly dangerous blazes and an “A-Pod” that reminds Alzheimer’s patients to perform important tasks.

InvenTeams, which is part of the MIT Lemelson program to honor and encourage inventors, is not a competition, but a way to inspire a new generation of inventors, said the program’s executive director, Joshua Schuler.

Since the pilot program in 2002, the number of grants — which range as high as $10,000 — has grown from three to 20 projects this year.

“We’re trying to develop more technically creative young people and give them the confidence they can do this,” he said.

Fox News

Higher ferry fares, new bridge tolls, increasing gasoline prices, as well as traffic headaches all seem to be stacking up against Kitsap County residents who work for employers in other counties.

But the antidote to this transportation mess could be a new beneficial lifestyle — telecommuting. And it appears that companies in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties are beginning to recognize the benefits for themselves as well as their employees.

In the future digital world, Kitsap Peninsula could be the ideal place to live and work, according to local officials trying to position Kitsap County for a workplace revolution.

“Every morning, I get out of bed, put on my clothes and start to work,” said Patti Mitchell, a business analyst for Safeco Corp., who works out of her home near Poulsbo.

“I find that I’m a lot more productive (at home),” said Mitchell, wife of Olympic College President David Mitchell. “When I’m in the office, there are more distractions. Someone can come over and start to talk and there is no way to cut that off.”

Perhaps once a week, Mitchell needs to visit her office in downtown Seattle, usually for a face-to-face meeting.

“I whine, because the traffic is so horrible,” she said. “It usually takes an hour and a half to three hours to get there. It costs me about $40, including two ferry trips plus gas.”

Kitsap Sun

The new PennyBay.com websites’ motto boasts that you can place an Auction or Classifieds ad for less than a penny… hence the name “PennyBay”. Ad listings for less than a penny, means they’re literally free.

PennyBay.com offers their free auction and classified ad placements to registered sellers, and registration to the site is free. The PennyBay site is, of course, free for shoppers and buyers, to use as well.

The “PennyBay Auctions” function on the site allows sellers to place their goods in various style auctions such as “Standard”, “Private”, “Dutch”, and “Buy It Now”, just like the other pay auction sites, but without listing charges.

The “PennyBay Classifieds” function is just like any other pay classifieds newspaper or website, where sellers list their merchandise or services, within the “Employment”, “Real Estate” or “Personals” categories, etc., except on PennyBay.com, placing that classified ad is without costs. Uploading a few photos to any ad, auctions or classifieds, is free of costs as well.

Ads can be upgraded for just “pennies”, with the “Listing Extras” feature. The “Listing Extras” feature allows users to add additional indicators to their listing to attract more attention from potential buyers while they are browsing the site, with features such as “Attention Getter” images, “Featured Ad” or auction listing, “Preferred Placement”, & “Bolding” to draw special attention to ads. Again, listing most of these extras is available for just pennies on the dollar.

Women who return to work part-time after having children have more difficulty juggling career and family than mothers in full-time jobs.

And those who think they can solve the problem by starting their own business are wrong, with self-employed women even more likely to be stressed because they lack time.

“It is a double whammy for part-time working women - their jobs aren’t the best career option and more is expected of them on the home front,” said Barbara Pocock, head of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia.

Professor Pocock conducted in March the first national survey of work-life outcomes, called Work, Life and Time, polling 1435 male and female Australians.

The results, to be released today, “confirm that long work hours have a negative effect both on the individual in terms of health and in the broader context of friendships and community involvement”.

Professor Pocock said men tended to be more dissatisfied with how they managed their work and home life, but women were more stressed because of time pressures, particularly women with children.

“This is a significant finding given the uniquely Australian dependence on part-time work by women with children,” Professor Pocock said.

Australian

1. Record/CD Stores
2. 1 Hour Photo Shops
3. Video Rental
4. Camera Stores
5. Neighborhood Bookstores
6. Niche Art or Craft Stores
7. Travel Agencies
8. Neighborhood Grocery Stores
9. Neighborhood Movie Theaters
10. Independent Pharmacies

Entrepreneur

The downside of mixing business with blood should be obvious - or at least it will be when you start getting late-night calls from Aunt Tillie asking about your schedule for an IPO.

But hitting up relatives is how a lot of businesses get going. It’s what Kyle Campos and his older brother Aaron had to do.

In 2004 the brothers, both software engineers, quit their jobs in Santa Barbara and decamped to Buckeye, Ariz. After visiting relatives there earlier that year, Kyle had become convinced that the town was “filled with wide-open opportunities,” especially compared with the software biz. “The tech sector was getting hit hard,” says Aaron. “I didn’t have a good feeling.”

Aaron and Kyle, neither of whom had run a business before, began brainstorming about starting one together. Both had frequented a smoothie joint in Santa Barbara, and they fell in love with the idea of starting their own. They found an industry consultant online who helped them write a business plan. Then they hired an experienced designer. The Main Squeeze would be a 1,200-square-foot store with hardwood floors and stainless-steel tables. And it would cost more than the $130,000 they had saved.

That’s when they drew up a list of 40 friends and relatives they could solicit as investors. “We wanted it to seem like we were offering them an authentic business opportunity,” notes Kyle. For that they turned to CircleLending, a site that helps informal borrowers create formal lending deals. The siblings spent $99 to set up a loan agreement, choosing an attractive interest rate (9%), a repayment schedule they figured they could afford (either five or seven years) and a $1,000 minimum.

Four folks each lent them $1,000, and another four each threw in $5,000. Last year the Campos brothers whipped up a profitable $210,000 in sales, and they’ve been paying their investors on schedule for close to two years. Says Kyle: “Not one has complained.”

CNN

Many of us swap CompUSA service horror stories, but here’s an especially horrifying one. My AR&D partner Terry Heaton purchased a digital camera for $269 at a CompUSA liquidation sale. Terry bought the camera for his step-daughter amid a $3,500 purchase. One problem: they sold him an empty box.

There was no camera inside. When Terry went to a nearby CompUSA, the manager there told him that, since a liquidation company technically sold him the camera, CompUSA wouldn’t give him a refund. So, Terry wrote a note to Roman Ross, CompUSA president and CEO. Ross passed it along to a staffer who had the nerve to blame Terry: “The return policy for all merchandise, as printed on your receipt and posted throughout the store, clearly stated ALL SALES FINAL…. if the camera you purchased was a clearance item, you should have inspected its content prior to purchase.”

And there you have it. Terry is to blame for not inspecting the box to make sure he wasn’t being defrauded. All sales of empty boxes are, apparently, final. It doesn’t matter the technicality - in CompUSA’s name, on a CompUSA receipt, $269 was stolen from Terry and CompUSA won’t give it back. It’s not just “buyer beware,” it’s “don’t be a buyer.”

Lost Remote

Think you need to fire your boss for being an idiot yet?

A health inspector noticed rodent droppings Monday. A contractor laid out glue traps and caught six by Tuesday morning. An employee called the health department to report the mice and says her bosses fired her.

Health inspectors closed a Pizza Hut restaurant in east Raleigh after a worker found live mice inside it. The employee who notified the health department about the mice says she was fired for reporting the problem.

The restaurant scored a 90 during an inspection on Monday, but the inspector noted rodent droppings behind an ice machine. The inspector says the droppings weren’t enough to close the restaurant because she didn’t see any live animals inside during the inspection.

A contractor laid out glue-covered boards Monday night to get rid of the rodents, and an employee found six live mice stuck to the boards Tuesday morning.

That employee called the Wake County Health Department, and an inspector ordered the Pizza Hut closed. The inspector also pulled the restaurant’s permit so it can’t operate until the rodent problem is corrected.

A spokesman at Pizza Hut’s corporate office says he expects the restaurant to reopen Wednesday.

WfMyNews

It’s always been true that if you want to earn more money, you should think about going back to school.

But how many people realize that so many teaching posts could carry six-figure salaries?

According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor showing average salaries for a range of occupations, six categories of teachers are included in the rankings showing jobs where the average of the top earners (the 90th percentile) is in excess of $100,000

They range from math teachers to those who impart knowledge about home economics. In math, for example, the official Labor Department definition of jobs done by those in that teaching category is “teach courses and/or pursue academic research pertaining to mathematical concepts, statistics and actuarial science and to the application of mathematics in solving specific problems and situations.” So each teaching group specifically includes university and college lecturers at the postsecondary level, rather than high school teachers.

The data also show, of course, that the true average wage for all the teachers included in the data set is between Read the rest of this entry »

You too can achieve great success by applying sales and marketing techniques of strippers. Here are the 10 sales and marketing techniques I have learned from strippers:

Sales Technique #1 - Give them something for nothing
One of the first things a stripper will do is come up to you and flirt with you. She will likely sit on your lap or do something to raise your excitement level. For this, you have to do nothing. But you do get a sample of the service and if it is a good one, your chances of buying the service increases. This also applies to the dances they do on the stage.

Sales Technique #2 - Understand your customers
Strippers get to know their customers by asking questions. This allows them to develop a rapport and tailor the sales pitch…

Sales Technique #3 - Tailor the Sales Pitch
Strippers will try different sales pitches to different people based on what she thinks they like. “I like to get dirty” or “Have you seen my great ass?” or “My tits are real”. Each pitch may be the one thing that converts the potential customer into a buyer. (Pointing out a tight ass works well for me). And she revises her pitch based on experience.

Sales Technique #4 - Make sure you are selling a great product/service
She knows she has to have a great product. If she put on 30 pounds or hadn’t showered for the past 4 days, she would likely not get as many customers. Regardless of how great of a Read the rest of this entry »