Market testing is something that all inventors should do, no matter what path to market they are going to take. The extent and detail of market testing you will do depends on what stage of product development you are in. Before you even start spending a lot of time and energy on product development, you will want to do some initial market testing and in this article we will talk about how to make this process simple and easy.

In this last of a series of five articles, patent expert Al Davis goes over what to include in your patent applications to make sure you don't miss a thing. This is the perfect way to finish up his series on do-it-yourself patents and you won't want to miss it.

Getting a small business up and running is a daunting proposition. The Risk-Free Entrepreneur teaches readers how to create a million or even multi-million dollar business without committing any significant resources. How? By coming up with an idea for a viable product or service-while other companies supply the marketing, manufacturing, money, and staff. The Risk-Free Entrepreneur shows readers how to spot trends, find the right partners, and structure the deal. This book is for the entrepreneur who wants to own a million-dollar business-without a million hassles.

Stanford engineer Alan Adler is no stranger to inventing. In fact, his Aerobie Flying Disc (a Frisbee-like disc with a hole in the center) broke the world record for farthest human-thrown object in 2003. Deciding to move away from sporting toys, Adler looked for a way to quickly and easily brew a cup of coffee.

Last week, I wrote about packaging and the environment. Since then I have been flooded with a host of interesting new packaging and product introductions. Surprisingly much of the packaging innovation is coming from outside the U.S. than from our own national companies.

It seems that there is much more going on in environment legislation about packaging in other countries. In fact, at the World Packaging Organization meeting in Beijing last week it was announced that China is working to develop "green packaging" as part of its efforts to build an environment-friendly society. I also have had the opportunity to read some very interesting facts including this tidbit: the world consumes 25 billion pizza boxes annually. So, if your pizza box is "green" you can save the world.