New Brain Game a Hit With Japan's Elderly

In this photo released by Uchida Hospital, nurses look on an unidentified patient playing a brain-training game with a Nintendo DS at the hospital which runs a "memory loss clinic" for patients suffering dementia in Kyoto, Japan, on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005.  (AP)

Like many retirees, Isamu Shishido sometimes forgets names and even his own telephone number. But now the 67-year-old says he's found a product that could sharpen his thinking: a new brain-training game from Nintendo Co.

The ailing maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games has scored a hit by courting Japan's burgeoning gray market with "Brain Training for Adults" — a number and puzzles game that Nintendo says can stimulate the brain.

"I don't want to end up some crazy old man," Shishido explained at a crowded Tokyo electronics store after trying the game on display. "I want to play a little everyday before going to bed."

Diary of a Startup

Talking to Karen Jashinsky is like getting a shot of enthusiasm in the arm. This 28-year-old MBA student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles is immersed in the very early stages of launching a gym and hangout spot for teens. Fueled by passion and hard work, Jashinsky feels optimistic about the coming year-and so do we. In fact, we decided to take a front seat and follow her as she brings her startup dreams to brick-and-mortar reality. We'll be checking in periodically, so don't miss our updates in future issues.

Time to play, money to spend

Webkinz and Club Penguin struck gold by attracting millions of kids to their online worlds and keeping them there. What makes their sites so sticky?

(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Eleven-year-old Liana Crandall, a fifth-grader in St. Louis, is a typical overscheduled kid. When she isn't playing soccer or basketball after school, she's swimming or singing in the choir. But she always makes time for one special thing.

"I get all my homework done during recess because then I can go home and play Webkinz," she says. "I play at least an hour a day, two hours tops."

5 ways to start a company (without quitting your day job)

(Business 2.0 Magazine) - If you're reading this, there's a good chance that you've always wanted to launch your own startup. According to our research, roughly half of all Business 2.0 readers dream of founding their own companies.

Odds are, however, that you're still working for someone else. Maybe it's because you're afraid to give up that steady paycheck. Perhaps you're simply terrified by the thought of placing yourself at the mercy of greedy investors, cutthroat competitors, and a potentially indifferent marketplace. Whatever the reason, it's clear that there's a lot of unrequited entrepreneurial longing out there.

So we set out to see if we could help. We wondered, what if cubicle-bound employees could use their current gigs to launch new ventures? Of course, starting a company while employed by another one can be tricky -- especially if you've signed agreements promising not to compete with your employer or not to hire away colleagues. Indeed, in many cases anything you invent while collecting a paycheck can be considered the boss's property. James Geshwiler, managing director of CommonAngels, a Boston investment group, warns that from a legal perspective, cubicle entrepreneurs often "tread on very sensitive ground."