Click here: for a journey around NYC streets with NY Times reporter Bill Cunningham and his look @ peekaboo/lace fashions in women’s wear. The lace-leather jackets are really nice. Opens up a whole new world for designers and entrepreneurs.

And for those of you who missed SNL’s Sarah/Joe skit, it’s embedded below for your entertainment. Hank

The Collegiate Entrepreneur Career Connections Event

Meet Indiana entrepreneurs, learn about job opportunities in their companies

Wednesday, October 29, 2008, from 11:30—3:00

Marriott Downtown Indianapolis (bus available from Purdue at 10 am)

Join 30 successful Indiana entrepreneurs to learn about current or future job opportunities

within their companies. Open to all undergraduate and graduate students, the event is sponsored

by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

REGISTER NOW, SPACE IS LIMITED!

EVENT: www.eventaris.com/careerconnections/

BUS: www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/certificate/events

Details:

10:00 Bus leave Purdue Grant Street garage

11:30 to 12:00 Registration and sign up for Speed Networking

Sign up for a 10 minute appointment to speak with representatives from Indiana start-ups.

12:00 to 1:00 Luncheon with speaker Dr. Gary Anderson, Senior Advisor of TL Ventures

1:00 to 3:00 Networking with host company executives

3:00 Bus returns to Purdue

Join the Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Program Facebook Group!

Go to http://www.facebook.com/n/?group.phptgid=8757694861

T

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Newspapers in particular are becoming extinct in the digital world. Plastic Logic has a device coming out in Jan 09 that completely blows everything digital away. Rather than blather away about it, watch the 5:55 video below. It will be well worth your time! It is one uber device! Students should love it. Hank

Ever wondered how a woman’s brain works?
It’s finally explained here in one, easy-to-understand illustration:

Every one of those little blue balls is a thought about something that needs to be done, a decision or a problem that needs to be solved.

A man, of course, has only two and they take up all his thoughts. Hank

Next Tuesday and Thursday my ENTR200 classes are going to learn first hand about what it takes to turn a “normal” VW into a electric/battery-powered vehicle. At noon, in MJIS 1001 on Tuesday, we will have a presentation by  Michael D. Kane, Ph.D., Department of Computer and Information Technology, Lead Genomic Scientist, Bindley Bioscience Center, Purdue University, on the conversion he has recently accomplished and entrepreneurship topics in general. On Thursday at noon, he will be bringing his converted 1973 VW to the MJIS building for a “show.” MJIS 1001 is a large classroom, and readers of this blog are invited - except Jim S.

D&D Motor Systems, Inc provides just about all the parts, for about $4,000, needed to make the conversion. See link for details. Of course, the majority of these “homebrew” conversions are very limited in range due to available battery (lead-acid) technology. Many companies are working on this, including Firefly. China is well on the way toward development of LI-based car batteries, and in fact used electric-powered vehicles during the recent Olympic Games they hosted.

I’m certain many of you will have detailed questions and may be skeptical as to the practicality of such effort. Keep an open mind - you might learn something useful for future applications. Hank

PS: Today Honda is bring back their Insight name and announcing a new Honda Hybrid due out in April 09 for less than $20,000. They are going after the Prius market where Toyota has had little direct competition. Interesting the way SEO is working; when I did a Google on Prius this morning, the first entry up was the Honda link above.

First, make a good product. Fishing rod? Ok. Then, give it a memorable name. Ugly Stik? Oh yes, that will do just fine. Talk about name differentiation. That’s a name with balls.

In 1908 The William Shakespeare, Jr. Company had more than a dozen employees and created high quality products under the slogan “Built Like a Watch.” Seven years later Bill’s company became “The Shakespeare Company.” The company’s tradition of innovation continued through the century, right up until 68 years later when the manufacturer’s first Ugly Stik tubular fishing rod was heralded by a trade publication as perhaps “the most remarkable product of the last two decades.” The first Ugly Stik’s design used the ferruless construction and the “Howard Process,” which probably means very little to people who don’t fish, but which amongst anglers and rod-makers was a very big deal, technologically. This breakthrough led to a new caliber of fishing rod that could be bent from end to end into a circle without snapping or splintering, and yet retained a high level of stiffness so it would not be flimsy and unmanageable when trying to the land the big one.

Essentially, this is the foundation of Ugly Stik’s success: It delivers an exceptional product, at a reasonable cost, to those who are looking for just such a product and doesn’t waste its time with those who are not. This humble strategy has made Ugly Stik the bestselling rod on the market today. To get an idea of the brand loyalty Ugly Stik enjoys, read the viewer comments accompanying one of the brand’s recent television ads . (It is also noteworthy that in this ad Ugly Stik has managed something that seems very simple but is actually quite rare: a funny commercial that also highlights an actual product feature.)

All of the  above is excerpted from Abran Sauer’s article in the 9/29/08 issue of brandchannel.com’s brandfeature-profile here: The video ad cited above is embedded below. Hank

Sometimes “just the facts” says it all in an ad. Consider iPhone’s cut below. Like the iPhone, sometimes simple is better. Hank

The Mineral Information Institute (MII) is a national 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating youth about the science of minerals and other natural resources, and about their importance in our every day lives. The table below provides info on a yearly basis. You decide what this means to you and  your chosen career. Hank

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) - A Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary agreed to buy 10% of BYD Co., a Chinese producer of rechargeable batteries, electric cars, and car parts, for US$230 million, the companies said late on Friday.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. said in a statement that it would buy 225 million shares of Shenzen-based BYD (BYDDF:

BYDDF 1.09, -0.11, -9.2%) (HK:1211: news, chart, profile) for HK$1.8 billion.

BYD’s Website says the company’s 130,000 workers produce information-technology products including nickel-cadmium and lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, mobile-phone displays, keypads and housings; laptop-computer keypads, and more.

The above info is from MarketWatch Weekend edition here: This is not a “I told you so” but…. See previous blog entry. The big guy is movin’. Hank

Hybrid Technologies, Inc., (OTCBB: HYBR) was incorporated in Nevada in 2000 and is a development stage technology company that is focusing its resources and efforts on the development and marketing of lithium-powered vehicles and products, as well as on commercial and residential properties. Everything from scooters, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, cars and homes are being converted successfully to zero-emission, lithium-powered vehicles and facilities. You really need to check out their web site to see what all they’re into!

Hybrid Technologies opened a fully owned subsidiary in India on May 14, 2008 to create greater in-house capabilities for R&D and to tap the vast knowledge pool of engineers in India.

At the present time, their stock is trading at an all time low of $1.50, having peaked @ a 52 week high of $18.41. See detailed Google finance info here: If “things” get settled in Washington shortly, look for stocks like this to take off. Check out the WSJ interview below about one of their more speedy offerings - 170MPH will “get ‘er done.” Hank

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