The equipment problem is of a different nature for American youth baseball players who wear a cup and athletic supporter during games. Laurie Cronenbold, the mother of three sons in California, regularly heard her boys complain about their painful jockstraps.

"It started when they were 6, maybe younger," Ms. Cronenbold told The Times. "They'd run off the field and complain to all the moms, 'The cup is so uncomfortable.'"

For the next few years, she set out to find a better solution. She disassembled dozens of athletic supporters to figure out why they did not fit well and built her own jocks from materials she found around her house.

Finally she came up with a snap-on protective cup that a player can remove easily as soon he gets off the field. She named it Cup Check.

"Moms solve problems," Ms. Cronenbold told The Times. "I just took this solution a little further than most."

When Hurricane Sandy knocked out the power in many areas in the northeastern United States recently, a small Brooklyn company already had a solution in place. BioLite sells a $130 camp stove that also has a power source for charging electronics.

For publicity, BioLite decided to bring the stoves, which are sold in 70 countries and give people a cleaner way to cook over an open fire, into the streets of New York to make hot drinks and let people use the USB port to charge their cellphones. BioLite got plenty of attention, especially from the police, who told them to put out the fire.

"It was going really well until the cops showed up," Erica Rosen, BioLite's marketing director, told The Times. "I can sympathize with them - we're in a disaster emergency, and here come a group of people with literally a table that's on fire."

The New York Times

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