The State with the Best Education Wins!
	MATR Newsletter - Fri Jul 8, 2011

This MATR newsletter sponsored by: Add an event... Upcoming Events Introduction to Android Development, 07/11, Helena City Club Missoula Forum "Where's Missoula's Place On The World's Stage?", 7/11, Missoula, Montana MATR supporter: New Events City Club Missoula Forum "Where's Missoula's Place On The World's Stage?", 7/11, Missoula, Montana Server 2008 Course, 07/18, Billings Server 2008 Active Directory, 08/01, Billings MATR supporter: MATR Web services provided by: To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

Northwestern Energy Contributes Greatly to the Economic Success Of Your Community and State http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- Enter-Tech Alliance Speaker Series "An Afternoon With Private Equity Investors", 7/19, Billings, Montana http://matr.net/events ... =3729 --- Sen. Jon Tester Hosts Women's Small Business Opportunity Workshop, 7/22, Billings, Montana Sen. Jon Tester Hosts Women's Small Business Opportunity Workshop, 7/22, Billings, Montana

Montana Manufacturing Extension Center

• MMEC July e-Newsletter Now Available
  Become part of the manufacturing community by checking the manufacturing events and news links available on the inside pages of MMEC Forward Focus at guest link: http://members.questline.com/Guest.aspx?accountID=4540

Northwestern Energy

• Northwestern Energy Contributes Greatly to the Economic Success Of Your Community and State
  NorthWestern Energy employees want to see our region thrive because this is where we live. And, because our investments are made at home, when the region prospers, we do as well.

Workforce Development

• Building a More Inclusive Work Force - Montana-based Griffin-Hammis Associates
  One company that has experience customizing employment for a wider range of clients is Montana-based Griffin-Hammis Associates, which, among other services, develops profiles of people with disabilities and surveys the needs of a range of employers in the community to come up with good matches.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

• The California Supreme Court Decides Non-Residents Performing Work in California for California Based Employers Are Subject to California's Overtime Provisions
  In light of this decision, employers with non-resident workers performing daily or weekly work in California will need to ensure compliance with the overtime provisions as applicable.

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career opportunity - Web Application Programmer (Full-time) - NXGEN
  We are looking for a solid developer with skills on the front-end (jQuery/CSS) and experience on the middle-tier (Python/Java). Someone who enjoys the beauty of Montana and mountains is a big plus!

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• Senator Tester announces all-star panels for July 22 women's small business workshop
  Senator Jon Tester today announced participants for two panels at his upcoming Small Business Opportunity Workshop in Billings on Friday, July 22.

Montana Business

• Montana Entrepreneur Luke Mauritsen Comes Full Circle to Manufacture Visionary Scientific Instruments - Montana Instruments Corporation
  "Learn from the user, be a little bit visionary and build equipment that is really nice to use and solves key problems. Always create value."


• Algae Aquaculture Technology Inc. - Columbia Falls, Montana - Turning algae into energy: Biorefinery plant exploring new technology
  "What does a buffalo do when it eats grass? It poops fertilizer and it flatulates methane," Smith explained. "So the algae are our prairie and the bioreactor is our buffalo."


• Montana World Trade Center Hosts Business Development Mission to India - 8/20-27
  The goal of this mission is to further develop trade relationships between Montana and India to increase trade and export opportunities for Montana companies. Participants from State and Federal government will be accompanying the mission.

Montana Economic Development

• Jim Bowman leads Missoula economic development organization
  "Of course, if we're creating jobs, you create family and living opportunities. This is about creating wealth, the more wealth we can create in Missoula, the quality of life increases. We can have a more productive, safe and unique place to live and play."

Regional Economic Development

• 182 "Big Ideas" for Kansas City
  "One of the messages we consistently heard was an understanding of the importance of regional collaboration and the desire for decisive action," said Jim Heeter, president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber. "People in both Kansas and Missouri talked a lot about looking 'above' the state line and working together on those projects that make sense."

Bill Payne

• The Wisdom of Crowds of Angel Investors
  Members need to be as independently informed as possible on each deal, debate the pros and cons of each investment and then vote to make the best collective decision.

Funding and Building your Business

• Real Entrepreneurs Exit If Their Startup Goes Public
  You should never even start down this path unless you can really use a large infusion of $150 million in cash or more, and have $3 million in the bank and up to 18 months to dedicate to the effort.


• An online collaboration tool for creative professionals
  There is no shortage of online collaboration tools available for dispersed teams today, but none of them quite meets the needs of the agencies, design teams and freelancers working together on creative projects.


• Mission Statements
  As a new entrepreneur, the values you and your company implement matter not just to you but to your future customers.


• Convertible Debt vs. Equity: Which Is Right for Your Startup?
  For the most part, startups favor convertible notes and angels prefer equity, but which one is the right choice for your startup?


• The Fastest Way to Build a Million-Dollar Business
  As you plan your million-dollar business, first consider the number of customers you think would be ideal.


• Five Rules to Prevent Startup Project Scope Creep
  The best product is one that is highly focused, and has the absolute minimum number of features to do the job.


• Kids Likely to Predict Future of Technology
  "Across a variety of creative exercises, kids from all over the world have proven, time and again, that they think in extraordinarily sophisticated ways about how tech could enhance their learning, play, and interactions with the people and things around them - and the ways that technology might help us solve the big global problems we all face," said Steve Mushkin, founder and president of Latitude.


• Software Patents are Becoming a Tax on Innovation
  Yes, the software patent process is a mess.

Montana Education Excellence

• The University of Montana Field Notes Magazine - Crown of the Continent Initiative
  Its address may be Missoula, but The University of Montana's home is in every community across Big Sky Country.


• Three from Montana State University receive Fulbright Fellowships
  This is the largest number of Fulbright grants that MSU has received for several years.

Wyoming Business

• Wyoming Technology Business Center serves as economic building block
  "We want to help businesses grow larger and faster than they would otherwise," said John Benson, executive director of the Wyoming Technology Business Center http://www.uwyo.edu/WTBC/ . "(The) $3 billion to $5 billion businesses are building blocks for an economy. In any economy they're really important; in Wyoming they're critical."

Education

• Bozeman, Montana joins call to halt No Child Left Behind sanctions
  Bozeman's school leaders are backing a nationwide call to derail No Child Left Behind before America's schools hit a "train wreck."

Community

• Eleven New Grant announcements
  

Connectivity & Communications

• Is Google's Hangouts Its Killer App?
  Last night a chatroom changed my life.


• Facebook introduces Video Call
  Video Calling -- limited to two-party conversations and unavailable on mobile devices at least for now -- pits Facebook squarely against other free video apps like Hangout, the Google (GOOG)+ feature, and Apple's (AAPL) FaceTime.


• Apps, iPads help workers with disabilities
  More such devices will make their way into the workplace to assist people with physical challenges in the next five years. Disability and aging go hand in hand: As Baby Boomers work past age 65, companies will increasingly face this issue.


• Jive Software brings social networking to businesses
  Jive actually has its roots in, of all places, Iowa. That's where two young coders in 2001 hit on the idea of using blogs and online forums to help companies better communicate with their customers.

Energy and Climate Change

• Cheap solar energy closer to becoming a reality
  Since 2008, costs for photovoltaic panels have been falling by 15 percent to 20 percent a year, Bull said. Not long ago, a rooftop array for a typical house cost $30,000. Now it's settling toward $10,000 (before tax credits and incentive payments).


• Itron, Avista testing to demonstrate smart grid reliability
  The collaboration is the first large-scale effort by Avista and Itron to test ways to improve and control the costs of delivering reliable energy to customers.

Cool Stuff That's Coming

• Stanford Researchers Make Recyclable Laptop
  "It was the most difficult device we could choose to make recyclable because it contains basically every 'bad apple' -- every hazardous material and component that requires special handling to recycle than any other device has."


• Flying car cleared for highway use
  It all sounds very excitingly sci-fi, and in a way it is -- the car really does fly.

VIRUS ALERTS

• Vint Cerf: Very Concerned About Hacking Incidents
  In an interview with WSJ's Kevin Delaney he says he's very concerned about recent disclosures of hacking incidents at major companies.

---

To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page