New National Invention Contest

AbsolutelyNew Launches National Invention Competition
Winner to receive $20,000 in product development & marketing expertise

AbsolutelyNew, Inc., the consumer goods company that partners with inventors to launch innovative products, has launched its first National Invention Competition with the not-for-profit United Inventors Association (UIA).

The competition gives current UIA members the opportunity to showcase their patent-protected ideas and become eligible to win professional product development and marketing-licensing services valued at $20,000.

Additional competition facts:

• Entries are 100% safeguarded—entrants will be protected under a strict agreement of confidentiality.
• A panel of AbsolutelyNew experts will judge all ideas based on their originality, market potential and manufacturability.
• Competition is open until May 31, 2009. The winner will be notified no later than June 15, 2009.

Entry forms, more details and official terms & conditions are available at www.AbsolutelyNew.com/uiacontest.

This marks AbsolutelyNew’s first sponsorship of a National Invention Competition.

Live Invention Seminar

WHO: Product Coach Matthew Yubas

WHEN: Saturday May 30, 2009

TIME: Afternoon

WHERE: Lubbock, Texas

WHAT: Invention seminar in Lubbock, May 30, 2009. The seminar shows how to license or sell product ideas to companies for royalties or lump sum payout. Seating is limited. To register, or for more information, please visit:

http://www.productcoach.com/sell-idea/sell-lice…

For more information, contact Matthew Yubas at (858) 233-9639, matt@productcoach.com

Reasoned Uplift

The Huffington Post carried a fine piece of reasoned uplift.
We're compiling an article about "recession is over, if you want it" (with apologies to John Lennon), and Lynda's blog post strikes that very theme.
President Obama twice referenced inventor-entrepreneurs in his inaugural address. He was right when he said "our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year," and that we owe our prosperity and freedom to "risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things."

The NYTimes gets innovation

Check out Don Kelly and a host of other thought leaders on innovation, entrepreneurship and inventing here.

Own a Piece of Inventors Digest

We’re willing to create a regular, dedicated “sponsored editorial” section of the magazine devoted to your business or cause ... plus design an accompanying ad for you.

The cost of this sponsored editorial program: competitive.
The return-on-investment: priceless.

• We clearly label the page(s) as sponsored by you. We generate the stories or work with your content.
• We run a full-page ad for the duration of the sponsorship adjacent to the special section or somewhere else in the magazine. This ad does not have to run concurrent with the special section.
• This content can be displayed on your Web site – we will waive reprint costs.
• Become one of our go-to sources for other stories in the magazine, as warranted.

Through a dedicated sponsored section that is clearly branded, a full-page ad, and seeding in other areas of the magazine, you can amplify and share your message with our global readership of innovators.

For details, call 704.405.0712 or e-mail info@inventorsdigest.com

Bud Font

Our March issue featuring Nathan Myhrvold on the cover is out. Extremely cool guy. He likes quantum physics, digging for dinosaur bones, photography, monetizing patents and cooking. We should have the story, and others from that issue, posted soon.

We just put our April issue to bed. It will highlight eco-friendly innovation. We've got another celeb on the cover. And the font we used evoked some pretty interesting reactions here. One guy said it looked like marijuana. You guys be the judge.

To Tweet or not to Tweet

I’m trying to figure out Twitter. It keeps coming up in conversations with colleagues, business associates, sources and in seminars. There’s a PR event this Wednesday here in Charlotte where a guru in PR is going to talk about leveraging Twitter for your business, among other things. I just don’t get how conveying mundane stuff in 140 characters of less is of any value to anyone.
That said, I set up a Twitter account awhile back: http://twitter.com/inventorsdigest
If anyone has any insight as to why anyone should Tweet, I’m all ears.