Boston Business Journal - August 18, 2000by Jill LernerJournal Staff

Massachusetts farmers currently can sell their produce and homemade products directly to consumers at more than 400 farm stands and 102 farmers' markets.

If they want to reach a larger customer base, however, many small manufacturers are out of luck under current state law.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health wants to change that.

Current state regulations governing food production prohibit wholesale distribution of products made in a family kitchen. That means growers who make "value-added" or processed products from their produce--such as applesauce or jams--can sell directly to a consumer, but cannot sell their product to a store. By extension, residential kitchen operators are less likely to receive large orders for their product.

Eric Peterson, together with his wife Karla have brought full service realty to the Twin Cities metro area with a flair. Combining Eric's history in art, web design, and Internet sales experience with Karla's 28+ years in the real estate industry, ComeHome2Minnesota Realty offers an incredible value to both the buyer and seller. ComeHome2Minnesota.com offers an immense resource of real estate advice, community information, regional links, as well as tools for the buyer, seller and the home owner. (their other company, ComeHome2Wisconsin.com offer's service in western Wisconsin)

Buyers can browse listings on a website uncluttered with advertising, and can sign up for home searches that will automatically email updates of new listings matching the buyer's criteria as they come on the market.

Sellers benefit from enormous exposure of their home on the MLS, the ComeHome2Minnesota website, and showcased listings on a vast array of real estate search portals like MSN, Google, and Realtor.com. ComeHome2Minnesota also provides video CD's and DVD's of video home tours from prospective buyers. And, ComeHome2Minnesota Realty is one of the first real estate companies to utilize a podcast, broadcasting listing information and video tours throughout the Internet, and shared between iPods.

A Pennsylvania entrepreneur has developed technology that gives you all the battery juice you need directly from the air.

By Melanie Haiken, Business 2.0 Magazine
March 30 2007: 7:08 AM EDT

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- How much money could you make from a technology that replaces electrical wires? A startup called Powercast, along with the more than 100 companies that have inked agreements with it, is about to start finding out. Powercast and its first major partner, electronics giant Philips, are set to launch their first device powered by electricity broadcast through the air.

It may sound futuristic, but Powercast's platform uses nothing more complex than a radio--and is cheap enough for just about any company to incorporate into a product. A transmitter plugs into the wall, and a dime-size receiver (the real innovation, costing about $5 to make) can be embedded into any low-voltage device. The receiver turns radio waves into DC electricity, recharging the device's battery at a distance of up to 3 feet.

Picture your cell phone charging up the second you sit down at your desk, and you start to get a sense of the opportunity. How big can it get? "The sky's the limit," says John Shearer, Powercast's founder and CEO. He estimates shipping "many millions of units" by the end of 2008.

For years, electricity experts said this kind of thing couldn't be done. "If you had asked me seven months ago if this was possible, I would have said, 'Are you dreaming? Have you been smoking something?'" says Govi Rao, vice president and general manager of solid-state lighting at Philips (Charts). "But to see it work is just amazing. It could revolutionize what we know about power."

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