Million-dollar ideas that worked From slinky to java log, big-
money ideas Michael Thompson, Contributing writer Many Americans
are fascinated with the concept of the "million-dollar idea."
They dream that one day they will become self-made millionaires
with the help of a special idea developed in their basements or
garages. Many of the big million-dollar (or billion-dollar)
ideas of this generation are related to technology, from Apple
and Microsoft to Google, from MySpace and YouTube to Facebook.
Still, this doesn't rule out simple hands-on ingenuity for
becoming a self-made millionaire. Here's a small sampling of
million-dollar ideas, past and present. Great Depression Basic:
Spic and Span The problem with economic hard times is that even
if an inventor comes up with a million-dollar idea, who's going
to buy it? A foursome in Saginaw, Mich., addressed this dilemma
during the beginning of the Great Depression in 1930. They
realized that no matter how dire poverty may become, families
still needed to clean th