8 big ideas to watch in 2008
1.Easy Money - Richard Branson’s new firm, Virgin Money, will change the face of finance by replacing inflexible loans from big banks with a more personal, nimble approach to lending.
2.Putting the zoom in electric cars - For the first time since the early 20th century, America is seeing a flowering of entrepreneurship in the auto industry. At least 11 new electric car companies, each working on a wide range of technologies, have launched or plan to launch models. These upstarts are not modest. They believe they can do what major automakers have failed to do: bring an electric car to the mass market.
3.A greener charcoal - Walter has started a company called Bagazo to sell low-cost charcoal briquettes made from plant waste to his countrymen. Bagazo is Spanish for “bagasse,” or sugar cane waste, but corn cobs and banana leaves can also be used in Walter’s process. The waste material is carbonized, mixed with a binder, pressed into briquettes, and allowed to dry. The result burns far cleaner and longer than wood.
4.JetPack - Troy Widgery’s company, JetPack International, has spent the past two years developing a device that fulfills those Jetsons-era fantasies - and can keep you airborne for all of nine minutes.
5.Wi-Fly - Should you be doing a lot more business at 35,000 feet in 2008, you’ll have Jack Blumenstein to thank. The CEO of Denver-based AirCell has inked deals with American Airlines and Virgin America to bring wireless Internet access to their aircraft, starting in the first half of 2008.
6.Weedy wine - Not every farmer gives up precious soil space to plants that aren’t his crop. Still fewer bury cow horns beneath flower beds or treat vines with teas made from fermented Holstein manure. But Tunnell, 58, is not your average vintner. In early 2008 he will become one of the first in the U.S. to sell a wine that’s certified as made in an entirely biodynamic vineyard.
7.Real estate in ‘08 - Expect tremors to keep shaking the real estate market along multiple fault lines in 2008.
8.Dash Navigation – Dreaming of a magic box in your car that could tell you anything you wanted to know about your daily commute, Your magic box will be in stores starting July 2008 that could inform you where the cheapest gas is and how could you avoid traffic.
Source: CNN Money
