Dusty Davidson and I had the opportunity to visit Turbine Flats in Lincoln this afternoon and they’ve got a good thing going. More to come soon on the visit, but we were both encouraged and motivated by what they’ve already accomplished and what we can do here to strengthen not only our city, but the state and region.

Here’s a few press links:

Turbine Flats in Lincoln Journal Star

Turbine Flats’ Second LJS Article

Some exciting things are happening with the KC and Des Moines communities.  Stay tuned as we’ll be announcing an upcoming midwestern Demo conference coming soon.

Think TechCrunch50 or DEMO but with a midwestern flair…

For those that aren’t familiar with Christo & Jeanne-Claude, The Gates in NY’s Central Park may ring a bell.

Omaha and The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts is excited to welcome them for a lecture at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 16th at KANEKO.

Tickets are limited and will be sold exclusively at the Bemis Center beginning Tuesday, September 2nd.

The price is $10 for Bemis Center members, $15 non-members
Bemis Center’s Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
at 12th & Leavenworth Street

This is another event you won’t want to miss and we’ll have post event coverage for our readers…

Chuck Sloup was featured in yesterday’s OWH and for those that missed it, we wanted to be sure to point out the tremendous work Chuck has been working on.

He is the co-founder and president of Facility Optimization Specialists, which has now developed a technology to reduce the energy it takes to both heat and cool larger buildings.

Facility Optimization Specialists is testing their work now at the HDR headquarters in Omaha on Indian Hills Drive.   The expectation is that their work will reduce energy consumption in the building by at least 10%.

The results of the pilot project at HDR will be available this fall, and Sloup’s company disseminate it’s technology early next year.

Great stuff from another local entrepreneur and we look forward to following up with Chuck in the next few months.

OWH Article on Chuck Sloup

Special thanks to Stefanie Monge of the OWH for her excellent coverage of BarCamp Omaha in today’s Money section.  You can view the story here:

BarCamp Omaha Covered by OWH

There’s a great movement brewing here in Omaha—as well as the Midwest—and we at Silicon Prairie News are excited to be a part of it!

For those that weren’t able to pick up the print edition, a few of the other photos that were included are:

Scott Blake & Dave Nelson Paddle Battling

Matt Secoske “interviewing” Dusty Davidson

Blaine Buxton Bringing the Thunder

and more…all BarCamp Omaha photos can be viewed here:

BarCamp Omaha photos on Flickr

The Live Lightly Tour hits Omaha next week with event planned for Wednesday & Thursday evening! The Tour is about Sara and Matt Janssen belief in living small and living sustainably, and they want to share their thoughts with the entire country. So they’ve given up the lease on their apartment, sold most of their belongings and moved their family (which includes 3-year-old daughter Bella) into and RV to travel the country.

Check out more of the information on next week’s stops…

The Janssens have been keeping a blog up at:
Janssen’s Blog

The best part of the story is that Omaha’s own John-Henry Muller designed their website and is one of the ways that we found out about this great local talent. You can find more of Mr. Muller’s work at:

What-Cheer.com

This Saturday Wyclef Jean will be playing at Slowdown as part of the ONE Vote 08 Tour!

The event is free and open to all ONE members. However, you must RSVP to attend. You must be 21 years of age or older to attend and tickets can be picked up at the will-call window on the day of the show. Space is limited and tickets are available on a first come, first served basis.

A message from the host: Fighting poverty can be hard work and ONE members haven’t let up all year, winning big victories and keeping the pressure on both Presidential candidates to make ending global poverty a top priority. — To say thank you for everything you’ve done, the ONE Vote 08 Bus tour is making a special stop in Omaha on its way from the Democratic National Convention in Denver to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis and they’re bringing a special guest, legendary musician Wyclef Jean. As a ONE member, you and a guest are invited to join Wyclef Jean and the ONE Vote 08 Bus Tour on Saturday, August 30 at noon at The Slowdown. RSVP here to be added to the guest list.

RSVP Here:

http://www.one.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=549&id=478-357-wbXI8Hx&t=2

Thanks to Brent Crampton for the heads up!

For those that may not have heard, Yahoo is in final talks to set up a data center in Omaha, most likely LaVista at the current Tender Heart Treasures Location which is currently for sale.

Business Week Article on Yahoo in Omaha

Tender Heart Treasures Building / Possibly Yahoo Location

More to come soon…we’re heading for some interesting times with Yahoo & Google both positioned in the greater Omaha area.

It’s fascinating to see Microsoft in Des Moines, Google in Council Bluffs now Yahoo in Omaha making significant announcements in the Midwest, (or as we like to refer to it as the Silicon Prairie). These major announcements will have enormous impacts on our region will most likely infuse a new breed of high technology businesses here.

Just released the clip we did with Alice Kim from Trocadero. It’s a solid 9 minute conversation with Alice whose doing some amazing things with her shop on Howard. She’s helping to put Omaha on the map with coverage in Travel & Leisure, NYTimes and more…

Enjoy and stop in and tell Alice you saw her on Silicon Prairie News!

Check it out…

Silicon Prairie News Interviews Ms. Alice Kim