Silicon Prairie News

Photo by Erik Røstad via Flickr

Three days late…

As Thinc Iowa nears (now just 12 days away), our staff resources have been moved around for event planning and execution and unfortunately for our readers, this means our content volume and deadlines take a hit. Expect fresh stories daily, but look to Prairie Moves to keep you in the loop on the activities of our region's entrepreneurs and startup companies when we don't have time to produce a full post.

And if you were wondering how Prairie Moves is gathered, the answer is pretty simple: Google Reader. I subscribe to a long list of blogs, Google alerts, Twitter feeds and more to stay on top of all things happening in the Silicon Prairie. If you think I might be missing one, please leave a comment below with a link or name of individual or company (or shoot me a note: editor@siliconprairienews.com).

What is Prairie Moves?

Published Tuesdays and Thursdays, 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 editor@siliconprairienews.com. And if you have suggestions on how we could improve these posts or any of our coverage, please contact danny@siliconprairienews.com.

Fundings

• Nebraska Global (Lincoln, Neb.), a software investment fund, has completed the capital raise portion of its Nebraska Global Investment Fund, bringing in an additional $17.7 million to boost total capital raised to date to $37.3 million – Press Release, SPN post, Lincoln Journal Star, The Next Web

Career Moves

• Dave Rowe (Omaha) joined Torsion Mobile (Des Moines) as a member of the development team - torsionmobile.com/about/

New Tech

• Phenomblue (Omaha) released a mobile game, I Smell Brains - ismellbrains.com and more.phenomblue.com
• Chris Puglisi released the beta version of Taplicious (Kansas City), a semi-automatic system that produces mobile websites - Taplicious website and Think Big Kansas City blog
• Phil Poje launched Tech Orchard (Kansas City), a company that purchases and finds new homes for used iPhones and iPads - Tech Orchard website and 1102 Grand blog

New Creative

• T8 Webware (Cedar Falls) launched a new site for First State Bank - bankfirststate.com

Product/Business Development

• Pipeline (Kansas City), an entrepreneurial program, expands into Nebraska - SPN post, Kansas City Business Journal and Pipeline on Vimeo

Mentions

• Matthew Wegener of ISoft Data Systems and the Turbine Flats Project (both of Lincoln, Neb.) - Nebraska Entrepreneur: "Business Model Innovations – Matthew Wegener, ISoft Data Systems and the Turbine Flats Project" (video)
• Slouch Couch (Omaha) - Startup Weekend blog: "Play Startup Weekend, the game!"
• Bloom.com, a site of Xuba (Omaha) - Daily Glow: "Bloom.com Seeks to End the "Beauty Graveyard"
• QuickCal (Omaha) - ApfelQuak: "QuickCal, the third"
• Bo Fishback of Zaarly (San Francisco-based, Kansas City office) - NBC Chicago: "Who to Watch at Chicago Ideas Week: Bo Fishback"
• Pongr (Boston-based, Des Moines office) - Ad Week: "Building a Better QR Code A handful of tech startups are developing alternatives ... but will people know they’re there?"
• Synbak (Marion, Iowa) - Net News Check: "Spokane TV sites use innovation to win"
• Blend Interactive (Sioux Falls) - Prairie Business: "Cover Story: Web strategy critical for business success"
• Deal Garden (Omaha) - Daily Deal Media: "Deal Garden – Smaller Midwest Markets Prove Successful"
• Paul Eurek of Xpanxion (Kearney, Neb.) - Nebraska Entrepreneur: "Business Model Innovations – Paul Eurek, Xpanxion" (video)
• Rush Tracking Systems (formerly based in Lenexa, Kan.) - Kansas City Business Journal: "Rush Tracking Systems gets new name after merger"

Blogged

• BitMethod (Des Moines): "What we told current Journalism majors about working at startups." and "Quick Tips on Brainstorming from Design+Tech"
• Phenomblue (Omaha): "Reviews Roll in for I Smell Brains"
• Don't Panic Labs: "What I Love About Nebraska Global and Don't Panic Labs"
• Red Nova Labs: "Mystery Ball Pre-Release Trailer" (video)
• Proxibid: "Who is Proxibid" (video)

Misc.

• Neil Roberts of BitMethod (Des Moines) announced a new event, Des Moines Code Co-op - bitmethod.com/blog
• Kansas City named one of Under 30 CEO's "Top 10 Cities for Young Entrepreneurs 2011"
• Brent Beshore of Columbia, Mo. guest blogged on Young Entrepreneur: "5 Advantages Of Small Town Entrepreneurail Living"
• Bo Fishback of Zaarly (San Francisco-based, Kansas City office) wrote a guest article for Huffington Post: "Recognizing The Next Big Thing"
• Patrick Fisher of Sojern (Omaha) accepted to 2011 Young Leaders Summit - classof35.com
• The city of Omaha was a feature story in the latest issue of Delta Sky Magazine: "Omaha: Gateway to Prosperity"
• Techweek 2012 (Chicago) issued a call for speakers - techweek.com