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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Jan 5, 2007 |
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An economic forecaster is like a cross-eyed javelin thrower: They don't win many accuracy contests, but they keep the crowd's attention. -- Anonymous
" PPL Montana seeks grant applications that support projects that improve the quality of education, enhance the environment and spur economic development throughout Montana"-- http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
Montana Ambassadors
- An Economic Development Toolbox
a practical guide to economic development that will help local governments analyze their economies and incorporate economic goals into comprehensive plans.
- Ways to increase information technology-enabled work in rural communities from the Center to Bridge the Digital Divide at Washington State University
We help underserved populations expand access to necessary telecommunications infrastructure and improve their quality of life using information technology.
- Empowering Citizens To Build Sustainable Communities
When communities face an onslaught of economic and social challenges, the very idea of bringing citizens together to form a common visions and a plan of action to breathe new life into a community may be a daunting one. However, with an intelligent approach, it is possible.
- Agurban Ten Trends for 2007 by Jack Schultz of the Boomtown Institute
7. Labor Shortage—Quickly developing into a major impediment in many rural towns. Some are starting to tap into their “brain banks” of former residents to solve.
- Health IT’s Workforce Crisis
The next decade represents a period of dramatic transformation for the U.S. health care system. But IT adoption efforts won’t succeed without a comprehensive plan to train the workforce that will be required to lead and support these implementations. We must begin now to mobilize the health care industry to develop retraining programs, to foster relationships with institutions of higher education to expand existing programs and develop new HIT programs, and to encourage our youth to become leaders in health IT.
Montana Education Excellence
- Montana Ambassador Winter 2006 Newsletter
I want to thank all the Ambassadors and Board of Directors for all their efforts this past year. I know volunteering your time and efforts for the betterment of the State of Montana can some times be very challenging. I also know it can be very rewarding when fruits of your labor start appearing throughout the State. Again I want to wish everyone a happy and safe 2007 and we will see you in Helena. Craig Herbert, President
Education
- MAPS (Media Arts in the Public Schools) students complete a TV/Radio campaign for the Montana Student Assistance Foundation. "Montana College Goal Sunday" is Feb. 11 - Statewide at 17 campuses
Modesty aside, the kids kicked butt.
- Free Energy- Efficient Building Seminars Offered at The University of Montana College of Technology
Three seminars this month at The University of Montana College of Technology will present information about ways to improve energy efficiency in new and existing homes and buildings.
Montana Business
- "From Cradle to Career" California's children less likely to succeed. State is 34th in nation in study of criteria that help identify chances to excel. Montana is ranked 27th
The researchers stacked up all the states and the District of Columbia against 13 measures of success, ranging from parents' employment and English fluency to children's test scores and graduation rates.
- How to go to M.I.T. for free
By the end of this year, the contents of all 1,800 courses taught at one of the world's most prestigious universities will be available online to anyone in the world, anywhere in the world. Learners won't have to register for the classes, and everyone is accepted.
Montana Economic Development
- Cultured Logs (Missoula, Montana) - watch The Natural Dream Home being built
The Natural Dream Home demonstrates how architects, builders, and homeowners can design, build, and live in a home that is not only beautiful but Built Green®, environmentally friendly, fire resistant, structurally superior, sustainable, resistant to bugs and mold, and much more...
- Proprietary NextGen Biodiesel System to be Used by Sustainable Systems of Missoula, Montana - GS AgriFuels Completes Investment in Biorefinery Operator
Paul Miller, Sustainable President and CEO added, "GS AgriFuels offered us a strategic partner with significant technical depth who understood our business model and growth potential. Over recent months we have had an opportunity to work with the AgriFuels team and have benefited from their knowledge of clean technology as it relates to biomass.
- Lipson's 'The Last Best Place' trademarks advance
David E. Lipson, the Las Vegas businessman who owns the swanky Resort at Paws Up in the Blackfoot Valley, has all but won exclusive rights to “The Last Best Place.”
Funding and Building your Business
- Site selection firm seeking a 30,000 square foot customer service call center “Project Nightingale"
The timeline for this project is an aggressive one; Project Nightingale would like to be visiting shortlist communities by the end of January 2007. As such, a quick response from your community is needed by January 11th! The company would like to be operational by April 2007.
- Economic Outlook Seminar Heads to Nine Montana Cities
“Rising Asia: Becoming Closer Neighbors” is the theme of the 32nd Annual First Interstate Bank Economic Outlook Seminar to be held during January, February and March in nine cities across Montana.
- Livingston, Montana Chosen for Main Street Revitalization
“The Main Street Program helps to preserve the unique character of Montana’s downtown areas,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. “It means something when you can take your grandchildren to the same barber shop, or candy store you went to as a kid. That’s community, that’s real Montana.”
- PPL Montana seeks grant applications that support projects that improve the quality of education, enhance the environment and spur economic development throughout Montana
PPL Montana is accepting applications from community organizations for a share of $100,000 in grants from its Community Fund. The grants help support projects that improve the quality of education, enhance the environment and spur economic development throughout Montana.
- Missoula Area Economic Development Corporation (MAEDC) Newsletter
MAEDC has aims to bolster membership as well as membership benefits, including the integration of the new MAEDC web site. Goals to refinance the MonTEC debt and improve the services available to tenants are in the making, as well as a strong effort to improve the profiles MAEDC compiles to greater inform our members.
Utah Business
- Google Answer to Filling Jobs Is an Algorithm
Google has always wanted to hire people with straight-A report cards and double 800s on their SATs. Now, like an Ivy League school, it is starting to look for more well-rounded candidates, like those who have published books or started their own clubs.
- Consider structure of business before forming a corporation
Shifting from a sole proprietorship to a corporation is a good step toward reducing your personal liability in the event of lawsuits or other business setbacks.
- Good connection. Phone system makes business communication hassle-free
"You can bring your phone anywhere and it will work the same," Edwards said. "You can use it from home, or even the Bahamas, and the people you are calling will think you're right in the office and can call you right back at that number -- our dispatchers love it."
- Managers Have Too Much Information, Do Too Little Sharing, Says Study
"Business users need to figure out what they need and figure out whether they can find it," he says. However "silos and barriers prevent the sharing, communication and collaboration," he says.
Government Technology
- IM Flash to bring new jobs, $1.1B in payroll to Utah
IM Flash, a joint Utah County venture by Micron and Intel to meet an electronics market hungry for flash memory products, plans a late March launch.
Idaho Business
- Costly Montana tax computer shut down
"There were lots of mistakes that were made, and it was a very, very expensive lesson."
- Constituent relationship management in government is in its early stages, yet CIOs can still gain some valuable insight.
While large cities have aggressively adopted the popular customer tracking software, very few counties, mid-sized municipalities and smaller cities have implemented CRM, according to Spencer Stern, a lead partner at Market Strategies Group, a consulting firm.
Washington State Business
- Idaho Office of Science & Technology January 2007
"We Create Jobs, Strengthen Communities and Market Idaho."
- California firm, Home Director Inc., buys Boise technology company, Dedicated Devices,
"Upon completion of the acquisition, our products will immediately extend the breadth of the Home Director product line, and, together, we believe, we will be able to offer new homebuyers even greater functionality and more personalized choices for home entertainment,"
Wyoming Business
- Irony: Jobster cuts 60 jobs. Firm eliminates 41% of work force as it shifts focus
Seattle-based Jobster will eliminate 60 jobs -- 41 percent of its work force -- as it shifts attention away from consulting services to focus more on its online offerings.
Government
- Wyoming Gov, Dave Freudenthal, sets ambitious agenda
"We must not be reckless or overly optimistic," Freudenthal said. "Nor should we allow the fear of the last economic downtown to freeze us in place and time."
- Wyoming is searching for workers
A strong Wyoming economy combined with a shortage of skilled workers resulted in work force shortages in many industries, particularly the energy industry, food service, transportation and the support and administrative industries.
- Shaping up future Wyoming business leaders
Around 65 high school students got a taste of what it's like to be the boss Thursday, presenting and defending business plans for products ranging from lip balm to video games.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- The Montana Board of Investments, Helena, hires five managers
The Montana Board of Investments, Helena, hired five managers to run active domestic equity portfolios, pending contract negotiations, confirmed Carroll South, executive director.
Careers
- 10 Top Tech Towns
Using highly scientific methodology as well as algorithms snuck out of NASA and Google, we analyzed cities across the US to find the top 10 places to get your geek on.
Energy
- Video Resumes Are Taking Off
Job seekers who may be long on enthusiasm but short on experience can use this technique to get an edge on the competition.
- Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn
People with more than twenty connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five.
Connectivity & Communications
- Not a Tiger, but Maybe a Chicken in Your Tank
As Cost of Soybean Oil Rises, Biofuel Entrepreneurs Look to Cheap Animal Fat
- Plugging Into the Sun
Spurred by recent legislation that provides financial incentives — and by rising energy costs and, perhaps, by a lingering distrust of power companies in the aftermath of the California electricity crisis at the start of the decade — homeowners across the state have come to see solar power as a way to conserve money as well as natural resources.
Transportation
- The Internet Accelerates While U.S. Trails Behind
The second wave of the Internet Revolution is upon us, but is America ready?
- Studios OK technology for movie downloads
Hollywood studios have approved a new technology and licensing arrangement that should remove a major obstacle consumers now face with burning movies they buy digitally over the Internet onto a DVD that will play everywhere.
- The Boob Tube Goes Broadband
In the living room of the near future, your TV, PC, and the Internet will be as one.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Bicycle Activist Works To Overcome L.A.'s Car Culture
Monica Howe sees herself as the voice of a two-wheeled future, dedicated to the notion that an urban bicycle culture will make this a better place to live.
- Hybrid technology to speed laptop start-up
Five leading hardware makers have come together to push for a new storage component that incorporates NAND flash memory onto a computer's hard drive.
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