Business Idea of the Day

How much does it cost Netflix to stream a movie in HD? 5 cents 12.5 cents 23 cents 49 cents 99 cents View Results According to a story at Bloomberg BusinessWeek , delivering online video is becoming much more of a commodity business.

How much does it cost Netflix to stream a movie in HD? 5 cents 12.5 cents 23 cents 49 cents 99 cents View Results The answer tomorrow. Photo by Lightstorm Entertainment .

More than three decades after Clemens Franek moved to Los Angeles and teamed up with aspiring actor Woody Harrelson to sell beach towels whose circular shape helped beachgoers tan evenly, a Chicago appeals court has said the invention can’t be trademarked, reports The Chicago Tribune . Millions of dollars worth of the “most radical beach fashion item since the bikini” (as one ad put it) were sold, helped by Harrelson, who went on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Tonight Show” to promote the towels after becoming famous for his role on the TV series “Cheers.” No one challenged Franek’s 1988 trademark in court, an attorney involved in the case said, until Franek sued Wal-Mart and Target two years ago for selling their own round beach towels. The towels allow sunbathers to easily adjust to the position of the sun as it travels across the sky. “Franek wants to trademark the circle,” he writes, later adding, “We cannot permit him to keep the indefinite competitive advantage in producing beach towels this trademark creates.” Ezra Sutton, a New Jersey attorney who represented another company producing circular towels, said the ruling could be a landmark decision in trademark and patent law.

According to a story in The Wall Street Journal , hidden inside Ashley Hayes-Beaty’s computer, a tiny file helps gather personal details about her, all to be put up for sale for a tenth of a penny. The file consists of a single code— 4c812db292272995e5416a323e79bd37—that secretly identifies her as a 26-year-old female in Nashville, Tenn. The code knows that her favorite movies include “The Princess Bride,” “50 First Dates” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” It knows she enjoys the “Sex and the City” series. It knows she browses entertainment news and likes to take quizzes. “Well, I like to think I have some mystery left to me, but apparently not!” Hayes-Beaty said when told what that snippet of code reveals about her.

According to a story in The Wall Street Journal , hidden inside Ashley Hayes-Beaty’s computer, a tiny file helps gather personal details about her, all to be put up for sale for a tenth of a penny. The file consists of a single code— 4c812db292272995e5416a323e79bd37—that secretly identifies her as a 26-year-old female in Nashville, Tenn. The code knows that her favorite movies include “The Princess Bride,” “50 First Dates” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” It knows she enjoys the “Sex and the City” series. It knows she browses entertainment news and likes to take quizzes.

Ponder the difference between the comedian and the musician. Both create and perform works to entertain audiences, but they go about protecting that work in different ways. The notoriously litigious music industry often resorts to the legal system to protect itself from pirates and samplers. But comedians don’t. So why hasn’t the joke well gone dry?

The Nashville Business Journal is reporting that the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development is now accepting entries into their “What Makes You an Entrepreneur” video competition. Entries will be accepted through Oct. 31 through the Tennessee Open for Business website, http://tnopenforbusiness.org. Finalists will be selected from five categories: Main Street/downtown; home-based; agri-business; arts and entertainment and innovation. The statewide winner will receive a $500 prize and a marketing package worth approximately $2,000.

Jamie Ratner was looking for the perfect wedding dress. Determined to find a good deal she was not deterred when she saw all the hefty price tags stuck to each Vera Wang dress. That was until she managed to find one at 90% off reports Gazette.net . After her wedding, she sold the dress for a profit. For the past four years she has maintained a blog that would zero in on good deals for young families in the Bethesda area or online.

If you have used a digital camera or any gadget that requires batteries, occasionally you insert the batteries the wrong way preventing the device from working till you switch them around. GadgetVenue reports that Microsoft has invented a new technology called InstaLoad that allows a device to be powered regardless of which way you put the batteries in. The smart design uses contacts in the gadget that allow for either + or – to make contact with them. Depending which side of the battery hits the contact, the correct metal contact will be made inside the gadget and vice versa on the opposite end of the battery

For a few years in the 80’s Eleanor Joseph ran a very successful chocolate business. She had clients spanning from airlines to restaurants.