Silicon Prairie News

Photo by Brittany Mascio

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

• Ian Zimmerman, 2011 Simpson College graduate, joined the team at Dwolla as a Customer Relations Support – via twitter.com/dwolla
• Jessica Walla and Megan Moore were hired as Experience Designer and QA Specialist, respectively and Sam Wilken joined as a design intern at Phenomblue (Omaha) – via facebook.com/phenomblue
• Herb Harden has moved from Director of Interactive Marketing and Development to User Experience Specialist at Nebraska Book Company – via email
• Brandon Ruschill joined the team at Eliason Media (Des Moines) – via twitter.com/jameseliason
• Scott Olsen joined Entrepreneurial Technologies (Des Moines) as a developer – via email
• Macy Koch, 2011 Simpson College graduate started at Syncbak – via twitter.com/macykoch

New Work 

• Explore the Attic (Ankeny, Iowa) released its group deal site in private beta 
• The New BLK, Rdqlus Creative and Danny Treinen (Omaha) created a video spot for Proxibid (Omaha) – via twitter.com/thenewblk
• Omaha Pedicab launched omahapedicab.com, designed by Erin Standley – via twitter.com/timothykephart
• Far Reach Technologies (Cedar Falls, IA) built the Android and Windows 7 app for Sturgis Falls – via sturgisfalls.org/mobile
• Blue Compass Interactive (Des Moines) launched redesign of new mobile site – via bluecompass.com
• Flying Hippo Web Technologies (Des Moines) helped with the redesign of Iowa Institute for Coops, iowainstitute.coop – via twitter.com/flyinghippoweb
• Archrival (Lincoln) created Neebo College 101 Facebook app for the Nebraska Book Company – via facebook.com/archrival
• ICORA, a Nebraska Global (Lincoln) company, launched its first product Mako XRM – via facebook.com/nebraskaglobal
• The Principal Charity Classic (Des Moines) partnered with Global Reach (Ames, Iowa) and LessingFlynn (Des Moines) to create m.principalcharityclassic.com, a mobile site that raises money for local organizations through the Birdies for Charity fundraising program.

Media Mentions

• Dwolla (Des Moines) mentioned by The Next Web: "How will NFC get its piece of the $4 quadrillion payments pie?" and eHow: "Alternatives to AlertPay"
• KCITP's Zaarly Launch Party (Kansas City) covered by Think Big Kansas City: "We Have Liftoff: Zaarly Launches in Kansas City"
• Zaarly (Kansas City) mentioned in Mashable: "Online Marketplaces Move to Location-Based Apps" 
• SmartyPig (Des Moines) recognized by Entrepreneur: "100 Brilliant Companies"
• Aratana Therapeutics (Kansas City) mentioned in Entrepreneur magazine: "Venture Capital in Reverse: The Business Idea First, Then the Entrepreneur"
• What Cheer (Omaha) featured on The Weekly Grind – via theweeklygrindradio.com

Misc.

• Lynn Hicks of the Des Moines Register commented on Iowa-native Ashton Kutcher's investment stategy: "Ashton Kutcher becomes Silicon Valley star"
• Nick and Brooke Hudson (Omaha) profiled by Metro Magazine: "creative collaboration" 
• Zaarly (Kansas City) has added Squared Eye (Greenville, South Carolina) to its team – via squaredeye.com
• Beer and Code (Omaha) made an announcement for help redesigning its website – via beerandcode.org