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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Jan 29, 2008 |
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"Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one." -- Bill Gates
Thanks to the nerds and the reasons that we all love it here, Montana is a great place for entrepreneurs and the Angel investors who want to see them succeed: "iCloseBy.com of Missoula, Montana announces iFob(tm) - The World's First Real-Space Wi-Fi Social Networking Software." http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- "4 Montana river guides use skills and talents to develop state of the art mobile communication systems and classrooms for the Army and many others. Nomad Technologies Inc." http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html ----On another note, I'm getting more calls about this topic from new agencies like CNET: "Real ID disaster in the making " http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html If you'd like to contribute to an article, please send me your comments and I'll pass them along. [email protected] ...and congratulations to the great legacy at Loyola: "Hitting a milestone - Loyola Sacred Heart High School speech and debate team wins 25th consecutive state championship" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
2008 Montana Legislature
Boomtown Institute
- Montana Legislature shutting out media is plain wrongheaded
Talk about killing the messenger. You would have thought we reporters caused the embarrassment that was the 2007 legislative session.
- 'Pure folly': Legislators blast proposal to ban media
“I don’t agree with any restrictions on the media in covering the Legislature,” Montana State Senator Roy Brown said. “It think it’s pure folly. There shouldn’t be any restrictions. It should be wide open.”
Come Home Idaho
- The Agurban from Boomtown Institute - What We Know About the Millennials - Part III Why They Are As They Are
Growing up, Millennials were bombarded with a unique set of consistent and compelling messages- many of them so imbedded in the culture that adults, let alone children, were barely even aware of them.
Come Home Montana
- Featured Idaho Talent - Finance and Business Development Professional
I am currently seeking a new position in the Intermountain West that values my experience to date in early stage businesses (start-ups to $30M in revenue) and early-stage venture finance.
Come Home Wyoming
- University of Montana Journalism dean, Peggy Kuhr comes full circle in return to home state
Kuhr always hoped another opportunity would arise in the Treasure State. "A little part of me always stayed in the state," she said.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Systems Administrator - Simms Fishing Products
Would you like a career where you leave the office as a hero?
- Montana Career Opportunities - Software Tester, GIS Analyst, Marketing Specialist, Visual Learning Systems, Inc.
Since its inception, the U.S. Department of Defense has ranked VLS among the world's top three providers of mapping tools to support the war on terrorism.
- Retiree magazine rates Kalispell, Montana as a ‘Terrific Low-Tax Town’
Kalispell Chamber of Commerce President Joe Unterreiner said that a listing such as the one in Where to Retire always is a public relations bonus and also gives those publicizing the area a new way of looking at things.
Missoula Children's Theatre
- Wyoming Career Opportunity - Business Development Specialist - Forward Cody Wyoming
The Business Development Specialist will coordinate the delivery of a business assistance program designed to maintain and strengthen the economy of Cody and Park County Wyoming.
Montana Ambassadors
- World Premier - "The Little Red Truck" Sixty Kids and One Week That Will Change Their Lives Forever, 2/16, Missoula, Montana
When a little red truck rolls into town, sixty local children take on an impossible task... to stage a full-scale musical in just six days. This week will change them forever.
Funding and Building your Business
- Award Winners to be Presented by Gov. Schweitzer at Montana Ambassadors Annual Conference, 2/7, Butte, Montana
Governor Brian Schweitzer will be on hand to present awards to the Montana Ambassador Educators of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Ambassadors of the Year, Legislators of the Year, Business of the Year, and Montana Ambassadors Plenipotentiary.
Business Plan Forums
- No gobbledygook; Sam Zell's company handbook is in plain English
How much should a company's culture reflect its chief executive, especially one who prides himself on being blunt and innovative — and, some might say, abrasive?
- Seven things employees want most to be happy at work
Experts say job satisfaction begins with respect and appreciation, not salary and perks.
- New Site, Hubdub Has Users Wager on News Stories
Here's how it will work. After signing up, you'll receive 1,000 "Hubdub dollars," play money that works only on the site. You can look at stories about, say, whether Gregg Williams will be named the next head coach of the Washington Redskins or who will win the Florida Republican primary.
- Is the Tipping Point Toast?
Marketers spend a billion dollars a year targeting influentials. Duncan Watts says they're wasting their money.
- Ten Smartest C.E.O. Moves of 2007
Every so often the guys in the C-suite get something right. Here are 10 of the year's most exceptionally wise choices by corporate chiefs.
- How to get the most out of your team
While there are many factors that affect team performance, these are some that guide my work with teams.
- Entrepreneurs - Greetings from TechStars! Applications for Summer, 2008 are now being accepted at TechStars.org.
You can get your web/software/IT startup off the ground and running fast with TechStars this summer. You get seed capital, a summer of amazing mentorship from the best in the business, access to an incredible network, and the chance to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists at the end of the summer.
- Site lets companies pay recruits to interview. NotchUp.com
Startup goes after workers that employers might want to steal
Education
- High Tech Companies Pitch for Funding at Upcoming 24th Annual Investors Choice Venture Capital Conference
The selected IT, life sciences and clean tech companies have or are near sales and/or previous investment, a strong management team, proprietary technology and have a credible expectation of doing $30-$100 million USD a year in sales in three to seven years.
Connectivity & Communications
- Five wonderful sites that turn homework into a Web party
I walked into my school’s tech lab the other day just in time to overhear someone shouting: “Computers exist to make my life harder!”
- Logging on to learn in Wyoming to increase standarized test scores
Teachers at the Douglas and Lusk schools say teens are embracing the computer-based delivery, are improving in their regular classes and are even logging in outside of school hours.
- Answer: The 2-Year College Experience. Question: What is the Most Innovative Education Institution in the U.S.?
Community colleges might be the best resource that America needs to retrain the existing workforce as baby boomers retire.
- Author Reinvents Science Textbooks as Lively, Fun Narratives
"These books humanize science."
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Cell phone for blind can read documents aloud
The Nokia cell phone is loaded with software that turns text on photographed documents into speech.
- Firefox rises from ashes of abandoned Netscape
This born-again browser, which is today called Firefox, has captured about 16 percent of the U.S. browser market, stealing back its share from Microsoft's once-impregnable Internet Explorer.
- 1 million iPhones unlocked?
If 30 percent of the 10 million iPhones that Chief Executive Steve Jobs plans to sell this year are unlocked, Apple's earnings may be lower by about 37 cents a share in each of the next two years, Sacconaghi said.
Regional Business
- Mapping the Most Complex Structure in the Universe: Your Brain
By mapping every synapse in the brain, researchers hope to create a "connectome" -- a diagram that would elucidate the brain's activity at a level of detail far outstripping today's most advanced brain-monitoring tools like MRI.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Real estate Web sites see growth despite housing slide
Now, although most of the real estate industry wishes it could fast-forward through 2008, these online startups are surviving nicely.
- Dude ranches in the West confront challenges
The draw of Wyoming and other wild and scenic places remains strong for vacation travelers, but rising gas prices and a weakening economy may mean visitors spend less once they reach their destinations.
Montana Business
- State needs to do more for angel investors
Heineman also told the angel investors that the governor is proposing elimination of the capital gains tax on as much as $10 million in gains if it is reinvested in Wisconsin companies. That would mean an additional tax break of 2.75%, enough to make a positive statement about the state's regard for investors, but probably not to drive an investment in a risky start-up company.
Montana Economic Development
- 4 Montana river guides use skills and talents to develop state of the art mobile communication systems and classrooms for the Army and many others. Nomad Technologies Inc.
“We are absolutely stunned by what Nomad was able to produce ... These trailers are better than the brick-and-mortar classrooms we have back at Fort Knox. We just might have to move the entire course out into the parking lot.” Maj. Chris Cavin, Commander -Army's Master Gunner Course Fort Knox
- Precision Lift lands $20 million contract
The Army made a good choice by investing in Precision Lift," said U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. "This means new jobs and a big boost to the economy, and it's going to be a real shot in the arm for the Great Falls area."
- Missoula based Alter Enterprises provides live bear feed: Real-time video in the den sheds light on bruin behavior
"This kind of technology is the classroom of the future."
- Montana home-based child care ranks low
A national report gives Montana low marks on the state of home-based child care businesses, but a state official says the report is unfair and inaccurate.
- Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Montana jail in trouble before it opens doors
"Everybody is in the same boat across the country," Stiffarm said. "We're spending a lot of money to train officers across the world, but what's happening in our own backyard?"
- iCloseBy.com of Missoula, Montana announces iFob(tm) - The World's First Real-Space Wi-Fi Social Networking Software.
We hope that iFob will be the icebreaker to many real conversations.
- Silver State Helicopters school takes flight from Butte
Griffith said Silver State shut down its Mining City fight academy “literally overnight.” “They just picked up their helicopters and went.”
Regional Economic Development
- Expert: Montana economy in flux - training, education improve wages. "The State with the Best Education Wins!"
"Higher education is taking an aggressive run at the intersection of business, labor, industry and education to develop a competitive work force, starting with recent public and private partnerships that have reduced work-force shortages." Commissioner of Higher Education, Sheila Stearns
- Montana higher ed commissioner, Sheila Stearns says better education needed for stronger work force
“We have some problems,” she said.
- Is the Great Falls International Airport Authority's pending contract with a private marketing and recruiting firm showing independence or sowing confusion?
"I know Jacobs Carter Burgess is a good firm and will do a great job in helping the Airport Authority in marketing and recruiting," Doney said Wednesday. "But it's difficult to have two separate economic development efforts in such a small region. I hope we'll be able to coordinate our efforts. It would be embarrassing to the region if we both were knocking on the same prospect's door without knowing it."
- Hub City Newsletter January 2008 from Glendive, Montana
Hub City Pioneers, Inc., a committee of the DCEDC, seeks to build an economic hub in Glendive, Montana, as explored in the November 2006 Feasibility Report by Jon A. Rudbach, Vice President for Research, University of Montana.
- SBA Launches Its Rural Lender Advantage Initiative to Foster Economic Growth in Montana
“Rural small businesses are the growth engines of their communities,” said Preston. “We are very proud to introduce Rural Lender Advantage as a financial tool to spur that growth.”
- Niche companies fuel Bozeman, Montana boom
Bozeman is gaining a reputation as a young, vibrant community.
- Call goes out for public input on city brand for Billings, Montana
"Defining a brand will communicate our distinction in a regional and national marketplace," said Merrick, who is senior property manager at Rimrock Mall. "The benefits will extend to business recruitment, work force development, tourism growth and community spirit."
Government Technology
- National Grants to Train Workers in Energy, Construction and Skilled Trades
ETA plans to award initiatives that address industry-specific workforce challenges within the context of regional economic development strategies and prepare workers for good jobs with career pathways. Individual awards will range from $500,000 to $1 million.
Idaho Business
- Real ID disaster in the making
Not only is this leaving the door wide open for federal government access to very specific personal information, it is streamlining that process.
Washington State Business
- Idaho developers hope to lure boomers in 'amenity migration'
"We are in desperate need of jobs and in desperate need of economic development," Eynon said. "You just can't make a living anymore. Our children are growing up and having to leave."
- Coldwater Creek expanding Coeur d'Alene, Idaho facility call center
"Our focus is centered around product and customer service," he said. "Those are our marching orders right now."
- Iowa company ends plans to build nuclear power plant in Idaho - numbers don't make sense.
The decision was based on the economics of building a nuclear plant and not on whether the site near Payette was suitable.
- Micron's Appleton to relinquish corner office
According to a Monday note issued by Lazard Capital Market's Daniel Amir, longtime Micron CEO Steve Appleton is planning to step down.
Wyoming Business
- University of Washington launches sustainability program with national leaders in architecture
Pending approval by the Board of Regents, Kieran and James Timberlake, partners at KieranTimberlake and fellows of the American Institute of Architects, will hold a University of Washington professorship in sustainability - one of the first such professorships in the U.S.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Gov: University of Wyoming academic freedom suffers
“The tradition has been that if you don't like their book, we call for the faculty member to be fired.” Gov. Freudenthal
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Top 60 Little-Known Technology Web Sites
Caution.... If you start reading these, you will lose a week or two...
- The Secret Life of Cell Phones
Ever wonder what happens when we toss old cell phones in the trash? "There is enough gold in 200 cell phones to make a gold ring."
Careers
- University of Montana Alumni Can Share Career Success with Students
The University of Montana invites UM alumni to speak to students about their experiences at the University and how those experiences helped them move into successful careers after graduation.
Montana Education Excellence
- Good tech, business skills give you hiring advantage
As companies work to protect their networks and in-house technology, the demand for IT professionals continues to grow.
- Is there a way to recession-proof your job? Sharpening your skills key to keeping a job
''As soon as a skill becomes generic, that's when you see jobs go overseas. You've got to make sure you're exposed to new concepts and new things within the job itself.''
Community
- Runner to Race Kids Across Montana
Paul Staso is asking all who hear about his latest endeavor, P.A.C.E. Trek 2008, to share the journey with as many public, private and homeschool teachers as possible - as well as any other youth leaders/directors of programs that may benefit.
- Hitting a milestone - Loyola Sacred Heart High School speech and debate team wins 25th consecutive state championship
“As near as we can tell, we're fifth in U.S. history for longest consecutive championships, in any event,” coach Matt Stergios said Monday.
Leadership Montana
- The future of Missoula's Downtown is being assessed. Your input is requested
“The more vibrant the downtown is, the better we all are."
City Club Missoula
- Leadership Montana Now Accepting Applications for Fifth Class…
“Leadership Montana provides the tools and awareness of the critical issues that leaders can apply to lead the state to a more prosperous future. The expectation is that the graduates of Leadership Montana will be a nucleus that will develop a vision for a Montana of which we can all be proud.” Tom Scott, chairman of First Interstate BancSystem
- How Downtown Parks Can Drive the Economy.
Great cities have great downtown parks.
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