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Another new business idea

Be a door-to-door scanner. 

This really doesn't need much investment.  For starters, the idea is free, courtesy of Mark Cuban. "If I had no money, I would start a business going door to door with a laptop and a scanner and scanning peoples' pictures for a buck a pic," he says. 

Scanner costs maybe $129. Laptop another $380.  Lots less than the cost of a John Deere mower.

Make a deal with the drugstore in the shopping center to be a drop-off place.  Do some fliers, post a few 3x5 cards at the supermarket. What olther "computer services" could you do door-to-door?  Suggest 'em here.

Mark has other ideas, too.

Lurking on OpenTable

So, I guess we shouldn't be surprised someone would do this.

Danny Meyer, president of New York's Union Square Hospitality Group, has all the tools.  Cellphone, Blackberry, and the online reservations program, OpenTable.  But he doesn't use it to get a place for dinner.  He snoops.

Meyer told Fortune magazine OpenTable "allows me to see who is eating at any of our restaurants."  He keeps track of "regulars" as well as the rich and famous. But, he demurs, "I am not a huge celebrity hound myself."

Businesses to invest in

For a while, I've been thinking about listing some businesses I'd like to start. But I don't have the time to develop them.  So, my list could conceivably be "Five Businesses I'd Invest in With Somebody Else." 

Brazilian Beach Broadband is a candidate.

Do you have a start-up idea?  Post about it here.

Jeff's quick guide to TV on the Net

Jeff Pulver was using the Internet for phone calls back when they called it "Internet Telephony."  Now he's also into video - deeply.

In a blog post, he has catalogued and linked to almost 80 cable and broadcast TV programming resources for broadband, from "A&E Video" to "Women’s Entertainment Channel."

    "During the past twelve months, as the momentum for Broadband TV has snowballed, an increasing number of media companies have decided to take their content and make it available for viewing on the Internet.  It turns out that there really has been a paradigm shift in the way in which "TV", not just "video", is being delivered."

Pulver is producing a conference on Net video in Boston in September.

Will Richmond says newspapers are going to the video, too. "Our detailed review of the web sites of the top 40 U.S. newspapers ... revealed that ALL but one now offer some type of broadband video."