Silicon Prairie News

Photo by Pete Ford via Flickr

Published every Tuesday, Prairie Moves keeps our readers informed about career moves, media coverage, product development, and more from the companies and individuals we cover on Silicon Prairie News.

If you or your company would like to submit one of the items below for our next Prairie Moves post, please email info@siliconprairienews.com. And if you have suggestions on how we could improve these posts or any of our coverage, please contact danny@siliconprairienews.com.

Career Moves

• Kate Richling joined Phenomblue as Marketing Director – via email
• Adam Trabold joined GoodTwin Design (Omaha) as an intern – via twitter.com/goodtwindesign
• Brandon O'Halloran joined The New Black (Omaha) as an intern– via twitter.com/thenewblk
• Lyndi Essink joined Reliant Studios (Lincoln) as Production Coordinator – via email

New Work

• Shoplr (Ames, IA) launched into private beta – via shoplrapp.com/ingsoon
• Omaha World-Herald (Omaha) launched Curbwise, curbwise.com

Product Development

• Dwolla (Des Moines) has updated features for avatar support – via dwolla.org/blog
• Dwolla (Des Moines) is now an available plugin for Shopp – via dwolla.org/blog
• SmartyPig (Des Moines) created new goal sharing features and Facebook integration to its service – via blog.smartypig.com
• Planet Water (Omaha) redesigned its website – via planet-water.org

Media Mentions

• Xuba's (Omaha) first social commerce site Bloom.com featured in an interview with KMTV's The Morning Blend
• Zaarly (Kansas City) app release covered by Omaha World-Herald: "Tech talk: Omaha, meet Zaarly;" TechCrunch: "Zaarly Launches Realtime, Local Marketplace To The Public;" Read Write Web: "Hot Mobile Local Commerce App Zaarly Goes Live;" GeekWire: "Zaarly looks to take on Craigslist, with help from LeVar Burton and Ashton Kutcher;" Mashable: "Put Your Neighbors To Work With Zaarly, A Local Market for Odd Jobs;" USA Today: "Zaarly helps you buy and sell locally, right now;" Ink KC: "How to earn $70 on your lunch break" and PSFK: "Move Over Craigslist: Zaarly Launches Real-Time Marketplace"
• Dwolla (Des Moines) mentioned in Entrepreneur: "How to Cut Transaction Costs on Customer Purchases," featured on The Des Moines Register: "Dwolla's payment system wows techies;" and on the Des Moines Register blog: "Dwolla wins award in S.F., moves closer to “holy grail” of direct access to bank accounts"
• Nick Bowden of MindMixer (Omaha) interviewed by NET Radio: Omaha debates budget in a virtual town hall
• Zaarly (Kansas City), Dwolla (Des Moines) and MindMixer (Omaha) focus of article on Inc.com: "The Three Startups You Must Know From Big Omaha"
• SmartyPig (Des Moines) mentioned by Entrepreneur: "How Yipit Is Upending the Daily Discount Model" and CBS Money Watch: "Google Advisor: Will New Tool Save You Money?"
• Proxibid (Omaha) mentioned in the Wall Street Journal: "The Final Madoff Auction May Be the Worst" and CNBC: "Rare Hemingway Collection Crosses the Block Live, Online on Proxibid"
• FullForesome (Kansas City) featured in GolfWeek: "Entrepreneur fills a need - and his foursome"
• Gabe Kangas of Hollrback (Omaha) quoted in Huffpost Denver: "Boulder Likes Its Entrepreneurial Density"
• Firespring (Lincoln) recognized in Inc.com: "2011 Top Small Company Workplaces"
• Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s Big O! Excellence awards announced by Omaha World-Herald: "And the winners are …"
• Think Big KC is being live-blogged by Aga Artka: "Live from Think BIG Conference"
• Dwolla (Des Moines) and Zaarly (Kansas City) mentioned in The Des Moines Register: "The Buzz: 5 things on our radar, May 25"

Misc.

• Hollrback (Omaha) set to demo at SF New Tech
• Hudl (Lincoln) added three SEC schools to its client list and set to hold clinic with the Denver Broncos – via hudl.com/blog/sec and hudl.com/blog/broncos, respectively
• The Des Moines Register covered: "ISU research park expansion plans' intent: Boost innovation"
• BitMethod (Des Moines) blogged about the redesign of Eat Sleep: Behind The Scenes: Redesigning Eat Sleep - Part 1 and Part 2
• The Fly Over Effect (Des Moines) released two shows: Nick Gernert, Platform Services Director Voce Communications and UX, Guerilla Research and More w/ HappyCog’s Russ Unger
• Google fiber commented on by KC BizBeat: "Kansas City knew it wasn’t out of the Google limelight"