Ide Bisnis Unik (Unique Business Ideas)

Are you a florist? Do you need a product to differentiate you from all of the other flower shops in your community? Have you heard about rainbow roses? Rainbow Roses, the brainchild of Dutch flower shop owner Peter Van de Werken, are colorful roses that are made by injecting die into the stem of the roses while they are still growing. This results in the color being drawn up and absorbed by the petals of the flower.

The Happy Rose is unique due to its rich and exuberant colour combination and the special colouring technique that lies hidden behind this. One look at this cheerful rose and you will feel happy. Decorate your living room, patio, reception area, waiting room or conference room with the Happy Rose. Happy flowers for a happy home and office.

Source: Business Opportunities Weblog

Travelling witha toddler can be more than a challenge. Just getting all of the essentials packed up and ready to go can be trying. Once you get to the airport, bus depot or train station you are already at the end of your rope and the journey is just beginning. Inevitably, your little monkey will become either completely energized by the hubbub or will have a complete meltdown. Either way, it can be hard to keep your cool as you manoeuvre around the busy building.

The last thing you want at this point is to have to chase your toddler through the crowd. The Strolley by Castiglione Morelli Design is perfect for just such an occasion. Created by Rafael Vinader Balibrea, this suitcase/stroller was the winner of the Samsonite Baby Travel Design Competition. This amazing innovation functions as a traditional hard-case rolling suitcase, but has a stroller portion that can be pulled out when necessary. The Strolley gives you the ability to navigate the crowds easily with your toddler without the worry that he/she will get lost or trampled. Once you reach the check-in point you will not have to struggle with trying to carry your child, luggage and an awkward stroller. It sounds like a great idea all around.

Source: Inventor Spot

We've seen a few different efforts to help travellers share rides to and from airports, most recently Virgin Atlantic's Taxi2. Now there is another one, Ridepenguin, which is currently in beta at Seattle's Sea-Tacand Las Vegas's McCarran airports.

Ridepenguin helps travellers reduce costs and emissions by sharing taxi rides to or from the airport. Users start off on the free service by indicating which airport they're going to, when, and from what part of town. Ridepenguin then estimates how much money and emissions would be saved if the traveller shared a ride, and invites them to broadcast their journey share request. If Ridepenguin finds amatch, it informs users by SMS. From there, the individuals concerned can exchange messages or phone numbers to coordinate the pickup. The service is available both for desktop computers and for smartphones running a mobile browser.

Source: Springwise

Photographers, being the creative types, often find themselves favoring a more artistic fashion style. Choices, however, for camera bags tend to be more limited-fashion and function just don't always collide. That's why one design company has decided to focus on bridging the gap. Emera has created chic camera totes that are stylish, so women that do photography as a hobby or as a career can feel as good about what they're carrying their equipment in as they do their favorite handbags. They're available in modern or quilted designs, and while they might look like purses, they are specifically built to accommodate precious camera equipment. The inside of the bags are divided to fit a camera and all the accessories, with small closing compartments for smaller items like memory cards and batteries. Now all photographers can put fashion first, and keep function for their camera in mind. If you're a female photographer, are Emera's designs accessories you'd tote?

Source: Inventor Spot

Solar-powered system makes plants on the streets glow green. The Light Tree by industrial designer Omar Huerta mixes hydroponic techniques with the best and the latest in solar technology to provide a unique lighting system that also grows plants and is powered entirely by renewable energy. The tree-shaped system uses water to conduct light that is generated by several LEDs located in its base. At the same time, water feeds the seeds that are located in the upper extremities of the Light Tree that grows plants using hydroponic techniques. The seeds can also be removed and transplanted to can be left there to have a nice glowing tree.

Source: Eco Friend

Derived from the natural inclination to flip and play with pens, Bali Yo is simultaneously a toy and pen designed to maximize hand-eye coordination with its three-piece twirl-able construction. The center piece, a functioning ballpoint pen connected to two parallel arms, means that the symmetrically-sized pieces swing and rotate, changing speed and exertion as you play. The cleverly designed BaliYo structure allows for a number of engaging tricks, including two-handed, aerials, spins and quick flips for hours of carefree fun. The refillable pen enhances fine motor skills and will write upside down or at any angle, as well as underwater.

Source: Cool Hunting

Two new graduates from UC Berkeley's Business School are trying to turn coffee grounds into a high demand food for local consumers. But the venture doesn't stop there, it gives back to the community as well. What do mushrooms and a pile of used coffee grounds have in common? "Mushrooms biologically grow really well in hardwoods, and so, coffee acts like a hardwood biologically, and we can grow them pretty well in that," said BTTR Ventures co-founder Nikhill Arora. The mushrooms aren't caffeinated produce, they just absorb all the coffee grounds' nutrients. So, why in the world are two new graduates from UC Berkeley's Business School, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez, growing mushrooms for a living?

"I was a business-political science student. Alex was business-education. So neither of us had any background in mycology, but I think we both have the passion to do something -- one, on our own, and two, that kind of looked out for the community and had a social conscious as well," said Arora. The pair was inspired after hearing a Calguest lecturer talk about mushroom-growing as an innovative way to fight malnutrition. "We heard of a fact that a lot of women in urban areas in Colombia and East Africa were using the coffee pulp to grow gourmet mushrooms," said Velez. Seeded by a $5,000 social innovation grant from Cal, they researched and launched a for-profit social venture called BTTR Ventures; BTTR stands for "Back To The Roots." The goal is to be a sustainable company focused on social responsibility. They're accomplishing this by diverting one of America's largest waste streams out of Bay Area landfills.

"We realized Americais like absolutely addicted to coffee," said Arora. So it dawned on them they could help the environment, at least locally, by collecting a ton of coffee waste a week from local shops like Peets Coffee and Whole Foods' Alegro Cafe. And then at a local warehouse in Emeryville, a small crew of employees packs sterile bags full of grounds, growing hundreds of pounds of gourmet oyster mushrooms a week. After harvesting, they're sold at local farmers markets and grocery stores. A Whole Foods store in Berkeley is one of seven in the Bay Area that buys the BTTR oyster mushrooms. Now each store orders about 15 pounds per week and apparently they've been pretty popular because the last delivery already sold out. But this is about more than growing mushrooms -- the post-mushroom coffee grounds are then re-used as compost, which is sold to consumers, and some is also donated to local school gardens and non-profit urban farms. In its first year, BTTR Ventures is already growing a profit and making a difference in the community.

Source: ABC Local

If you cannot find a pair of headphones that visually meets your needs from Kotori’s more than 100 variations, you may have more serious problems than just the lack of cool audiowear. However, if you just don’t like any of the suggested color combinations, you can easily design your own by selecting the color of each of the 10 components, or just hit shuffle and see what happens randomly. With the technology of the Japanese Fostex, supplier of recording and speaker gear for professionals, Kotori headphones should meet your needs also in audio quality.

These headphones will likely add a few problems to your life, though: They are so cool that you will forever be telling everyone where you got them and you will have to keep a close eye on your Kotoris as your design-hungry friends will want to borrow them. Apparently, kotori means little bird, or lucky bird in Japanese, and screech owl spirit in native American Hopi language. Either way, you will want to flaunt these, even if you only played mute. In the appealing Japanese style that it both cute and sleek in its rounded friendliness and minimalist functionality, Kotori headphones have a yummy sensibility that makes you want to choose several pairs at once. Each of the seven pre-set themes – pop, sweet, cool, vivid, natural, animal, and delicious – has 15 variations.

Source: Cool Hunter

PriestmanGoode has a radical solution to how hospital wards should be designed. PriestmanGoode, a London design house, has worked on everything from cell phones to speakers to ffirst-class cabins or Swiss Airlines. But Britain's Design Council, hoping to see what serious design thinking might produce, asked them to work on something completely different: Hospital Wards. PG has just released their proposal today, in a “healthcare manifesto.” The central problems facing hospital design happen to have already been solved in the design of first-class cabins for airlines, they say. Think about it: Nurses need to be able to visit patients easily and efficiently. So do airline stewards. Hospitals, meanwhile, need to maximize their square footage utilization, while giving patients privacy and--ideally--a comfortable, homey environment. Which actually happens to be exactly what airlines do, in their first-class cabin.

PG points out that hospitals usually attempt to solve their design requirements with architecture, which is both expensive and hard to adapt when technology changes. By contrast, they propose pre-fab, lie-flat beds and room dividers, similar to what they’ve designed before. These would be far cheaper to manufacture, more flexible, and far more space efficient. Moreover, the arrangement would allow nurses to easily monitor dozens of patients, while offering each one privacy. Of course,this probably wouldn't be a replacement for private rooms--but rather the grim recovery wards familiar to anyone who's spent any amount of time in a hospital.

Source: Fast Company

Some people need a kick in the pants before they change course. For Carlos Salgado, 41, it took a knock on the head. In 1998, the art handler and sculptor was working at the Guggenheim Museum SoHo in New York City. One moment he was disassembling a 400-pound steel sculpture by Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi; the next he was lying on the floor. Part of the massive artwork had fallen on his head. Healing was a slow process. Fighting his workers' comp case was an even slower one. Salgado was relegated to his couch, where he found himself devouring books on furniture design and mulling a career change. By the time he'd healed from the accident, an entrepreneur was born. Salgado got together with fabricator Bart Bettencourt. Together they hatched a plan: Turn salvaged scraps into sophisticated furniture.

The partners called their fledgling company Scrapile. In 2003 they unveiled their laminated-wood creations at two design shows before they even had a business plan. When orders started piling up, they had to develop an efficient production strategy, and fast. "Our initial products were too labor-intensive," Salgado recalls. Advice from fellow artisans streamlined their method for assembling scraps into large planks. Last year Scrapile brought in $80,000 in revenues. Now the company hopes to expand by repurposing waste streams from manufacturers of crystal, ceramics and glass.The Future Perfect, a design store in Brooklyn, has carried Salgado and Bettencourt's furniture since the beginning. Owner David Alhadeff is impressed with the company's evolution so far. "They have gone from offering a simple form made out of very beautiful material tomaking one-of-a-kind, gallery-worthy objects," he says.

Source: CNN Money

There hasn’t been much innovation in the world of pencils since the eraser was added on. Sure there’s the mechanical pencil, but pencil purists like myself don’t really count those as true pencils. They are bastardizations of the ultimate writing instrument (you can’t dispute it, quill pen fans, don’t even try). Well designer Alexander Hulme has made a simple change to the pencil that just might change the way we think about pencils.

By adding a simple notch into a pencil, he has changed the entire dynamic of pencil storage. Now you can simply clip a pencil onto your shirt pocket, allowing easy access to the writing tool. Pocket ability is no longer solely the domain of the pen. It’s a whole new world out there. Yes, we are sure some wood shop teachers and whittlers out there have made their own versions of this before and you could too, unless you’re one of those (gasp) pen people. Argh.

Source: Craziest Gadgets

Roisin Madigan, a student, is being paid to do what student's do best - sleep. Miss Madigan, 22, is earning £1,000 to sleep in designer beds every day for a month. The student, from Harborne, Birmingham, is helping with a "sleep survey" carried out by luxury bed specialists Simon Horn Ltd. The company sells luxury Savoir Beds, originally made for the Savoy Hotel. General manager Craig Roylance said Roisin will not only provide an objective view of the beds on sale, but will also be part of a look into what brings a good night's sleep. He said: "It's a slightly quirky way of doing something quite serious. "We're very passionate about beds. We wanted to conduct a sleep survey to help our sales team, but more importantly our customers. "Just being in a good, good bed is not the only thing for a good night's sleep - there's lots of different factors such as routines before you go to sleep, drinking, light, temperature.

"We wanted to find somebody that for a month could sleep on our beds and somebody who was articulate and interested in writing about it." He said they advertised the position and were shocked to have 400 applicants in the first day alone, followed by 200 in the second day. The winning applicant proved to be Roisin Madigan, who studied Writing for Media Arts for two years at the South Bank University in London but moved back to Birmingham. Mr Roylance said: "Because of the high cost of living in London, Roisin actually ran out of money and could not complete her course so she moved back to Birmingham. "In her we've found somebody who is absolutely perfect." He said the22-year-old will spend 10am to 6pm in beds in the company's showroom in Edgbaston, then will blog about her experiences.

"We know exactly what we want her to do," he added. "She will not only be testing the beds, but we'll be putting her under certain conditions such as giving her alcohol or caffeine, changing the light, and changing the temperature. "On some days she'll be actually sleeping in the window. "There's an element of altruism to it, helping a student who hasn't got much money, but there is a serious side to it. We're not just splashing out £1,000, we want something in return."

Source: Telegraph

Smokeless, non-toxic, dripless and reusable! Unscrew the plastic cap and light the cotton wick on the Colour Flame Candles to create a safe and brilliant colourful flame. When finished replace the reusable cap. Colour flame candles have to be the coolest cake toppers ever. Candles where the flame is of different colors, not just the candles themselves. The flames burn in red, orange, blue, purple, white, and green. Bring out a set of these colored flame candles into a darkened room at a birthday party and you will instantly wow and amaze the party.

Source: Craziest Gadgets

Happy socks make for happy feet and with Happy Socks’ huge assortment of fun & colorful socks you’re sure to find some that you love. Happy Socks also make for a happy friend so if you need a fun gift for a friend, give them a pair of these cute socks. Happy Socks are made from a combed cotton blend and each toe is hand stitched to ensure a snug fit. Our socks are knitted on high-precision Italian machines to keep your feet content both for the socks softness and long-lasting, superiorquality.

Source: Fresh Trend

Nick Currie points us to a rather interesting cafe concept. Mahika Mano is located in the Kichijoji area near Tokyo, and features hammocks in place of traditional seating.

Source: PSFK

Designer Simone Wittmann has created a concept design aimed at helping travelers get rest on public transportation. The Napper is a hooded shawl that features a concealed set of Bluetooth headphones and a Bluetooth enabled luggage lock. An alarm will sound in the headphones if the user’s bag is moved more than a meter away. Offering a compact form for easy transportation, the Napper can be folded into a compact bag which is also useable as a pillow.

Source: PSFK

Narwhal Company started after spending too many hours in front of a computer screen during my 9-6, forty plus hours work week. An entrepreneur at heart, the idea to make accessories out of neckties emerged from a series of brainstorming sessions. Narwhal Co. was founded because the founder wanted to be a small business owner, produce a unique and green product that people would want to own and provide quality employment for people who might not have it otherwise. Ultimately, Narwhal Co. is designed to be a catalyst for funding domestic and international humanitarian projects.

In 2001, Sean O'Connor was a co-owner of Thee Parkside, a San Francisco club that served up punk bands along side yak burgers and bear-meat chili. When the dot-coms collapsed, he pared down the menu to focus on cheap, creative snacks. During an experiment with whipped cream canisters and funnel cake -- a project that failed miserably-- he stumbled on a better idea: putting pancake mix in pressurized cans for quick and easy breakfasts. By 2005 O'Connor, now 38, had left the restaurant business and filed patents for Batter Blaster, an organic pancake-and-waffle mix in a pressurized can with a point-and-shoot nozzle.

Through word of mouth, social networking and publicity stunts -- traveling 180,000 miles in an Airstream trailer to visit county fairs; rallying a team to cook 76,382 pancakes in eight hours to set a Guinness World Record -- O'Connor and his 16 employees have gotten Batter Blaster into 13,000 outlets nationwide, including Costco and Whole Foods stores. "We aren't feeling the recession like everyone else is," he says. "We are one of the few truly innovative products to come out in the egg and dairy set." In 2008 Batter Blaster's annual revenues hit $15 million. O'Connor expects the total for 2009 to surpass $19.5 million. "It sells incredibly well. It's a convenience item and great for the elderly, who make single servings, along with parents, single people and campers," says Jeff Mejia, director of perishables for DPI Specialty Foods, which distributes the product to Albertsons, Bristol Farms and Jensen's stores. The product retails for $4.99 a can.

There's no denying the lowbrow reputation of sprayable foods. (Think Easy Cheese and Reddi-wip.) O'Connor argues that what Batter Blaster lacks in cachet, it makes up for in a hassle-free, fun-to-use design that appeals to families. That sounds about right to chef Manuel Trevino of the newly opened Travertine restaurant in New York City."I would most likely only use it when cooking for my kids," he says. "You will undoubtedly be sacrificing a little flavor for fun, but utilizing a spray makes it easier to master the art of creative pancake-making, which children tend to love." O'Connor is banking on kid-friendliness. His plans? More versions of the product that add new flavors, along with brightly colored batters, in the mix.

Source: CNN Money

Scott Yen loved his pet fish but hated their tanks. “Fish tanks, by nature, are very ugly,” he says. That’s why the 31-year-old was so interested when a friend brought up the idea of creating a more attractive aquarium a few years ago. Scott intended to design something that would look like a decorative painting. What he came up with was the Aquavista 500, a 6.6-gallon tank that is roughly 4 inches thick and hangs on a wall, secured by a steel bracket. “The whole concept of the Aquavista brand is to take an everyday product and turn it into a piece of art,” says Scott. Customers can choose from more than 24 inter-changeable frames and eight different backgrounds to customize their hanging aquariums.

This novel idea started taking shape in 2003, when Scott came up with a simple design that he took to a local machine shop, which produced the first rough prototype. Scott and his father, Stephen, 64, used their own funds to finance the creation of the product, and they consulted outside engineers who helped them with the overall design and materials. To make the aquarium easy to maintain, they added a wet-dry filtration system, lights, a small LCD temperature display and a heating system. By 2004, they had filed patents and incorporated the company. By the next year, they had located an overseas manufacturer in China. The aquarium, which is designed for fresh water fish, comes pre assembled with all the necessary parts.

In 2006, Scott left his job as an investment banker to work full time on Aquavista. “I didn’t know where this would go,” Scott says. “Something told me this was something special when I saw how people reacted to our product.” The company’s unique aquarium is now sold online and through the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog, and Aquavista has distributors in Europe and the Middle East. Scott is also currently in talks with major retailers to carry the product nationwide and projects 2007 sales of more than $1.5 million.

This thing is called "Book Book" and it's available from TwelveSouth for $80. Would be an easy remake, though, if you could find an appropriately-sized book. Besides the cool factor, disguising your expensive laptop as an old book has obvious security advantages.

Source: Geekologie