Tag Archives: Entrepreneur

Write On

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While reminiscing about your childhood I’m sure you have fond memories of digging through the biggest Crayola box to find that perfect color. Now, as an adult, you may not be digging through that same crayon box, but if you’re a designer we’re sure you wish you could.

Scribble is the pen that changes how we interact with color. All you do is hold the back of the pen up to a surface and the pen will scan and reproduce the color within seconds. Most graphic designers would love this capability to be digital in order to replicate the color onto their computer rather than paper. No problem, there is a scribble stylus that functions the same way to easily translate the colors from the world around you, digitally. This pen makes designing and recreating colors easy. The scribble also has an associated app where you can find colors you previously scanned to use again, or share with others.

The Scribble recently started funding on Kickstarter, so if you’re ready to bring some more color into your life, go ahead and contribute.

What Sparks our Fire: A great design tool that is fun and easy to use.

What’s your favorite color?

The Future of Charging

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Just last week we shared a post on a new portable phone charger that can charge your device quickly and easily. The Ultra-X is a great look into where we are today with charging. Meredith Perry and her company, uBeam, are looking past today and into the future of charing technology.

uBeam will allow you to charge any device completely wirelessly – no plug, no pad, just a receiver attached to your laptop or phone. The device is capable of transforming electricity into sound waves, that are then distributed and turned back into electricity by the receiver. The only catch, the technology is not capable of charging through walls. But, the ease and accessibility of being able to fully interact with a laptop or phone while in the same room as the wireless charging station is a huge improvement. No more holding your head down towards the outlet in order to be able to talk on a dying phone. uBeam announced today their prototype is fully functionally and plans to be ready to hit the market in 2016.

What Sparks our Fire: An entrepreneur pushing the limits of wireless technology.

Do you think uBeam is the future of charging devices?

Wake Up!

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Nothing wakes me up in morning better than the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Unfortunately, that requires me to get out of bed and head into the kitchen. Well, European industrial designer, Josh Renouf, is currently working on an innovative solution.

The Barisieur is a bed-side coffee pot that also functions as an alarm clock. The noise from the stainless steel ball bearings that boil the water through induction heating plus the smell of the coffee will gently wake you up, as opposed to the ringing of an incessant alarm clock. It features compartments to store coffee beans, sugar, and milk. By preparing it all before bed you can ensure your coffee will be fresh and delicious as it wakes you up in the morning. Prices are estimated to be between $250 and $420, and you can sign up now to receive updates as to when it will be officially for sale.

What Sparks our Fire: Starting the day off right – with a cup of coffee.

Do you love our posts about coffee products as much as we do?

Keeping Cool

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A few weeks ago we wrote about The Coolest, a cooler that does just about everything you’d imagine a cooler could do. Well, we were wrong. The IcyBreeze cooler doesn’t have all of the features of The Coolest, but it does have one that sets it apart.

This cooler doesn’t just keep your drinks cold, it also cools you with a built in air conditioner. Now when you’re enjoying your summer weekend on the beach you can easily cool off without having to get wet. Simply fill the cooler with two quarts of water, ice, and beverages and the rechargeable battery will keep you cool for up to seven hours.

This summer the cooler really seems to be the center of everyone’s attention. The Coolest is now the third most funded Kickstarter project ever hauling in over $7.5 million dollars as I write this with 31 days left. The IcyBreeze isn’t fundraising and is the basic cooler ($279) is available for pre-order.

What Sparks our Fire: Even more innovation in an area that has lacked for decades.

Which do you prefer – The Coolest or The IcyBreeze?

Say Goodbye to Parking Tickets

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Getting a parking ticket can easily ruin a day. They are frustrating to receive – especially when wrongly accused. The price of a parking ticket is just marginal enough that for many people it isn’t worth the time to fight it, causing them to simply pay the fine.

Fixed is here is help you out. The app, currently only available in San Francisco, coming soon to Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, will fight your parking ticket for you. All you need to do is upload a picture of the ticket into the app and a representative will file the complaint and handle the rest. Fixed will only charge you if they win the case (According to VentureBeat they’ve won 20-30 percent of their cases so far). So if you lose you pay the ticket, but if you win you pay just 25% of what the fine would’ve cost you, to Fixed – a bargain considering it’s a 75% savings with no time spent.

The company has just completed $1.2 million dollar round of funding which will help them expand to more cities across the country. Keep Fixed in mind next time you get a parking ticket and don’t have the time to fight it.

What Sparks our Fire: An app that helps save both time and money.

Have you ever gotten an undeserving ticket you just paid instead of fighting?