Des Moines Toting their electronics from appointment to appointment, Mike Colwell and Charise Flynn grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of a protective container for all their devices that was, well, simple. "While there are thousands of sleeves and countless … read more

Des Moines Since vineme launched in March, one of the most frequent questions the creators of the timeline-based, social photo sharing platform have fielded has been about the ability for users to upload photos from other photo-sharing platforms. Users, consider your … read more

Des Moines As of Tuesday, Bitcoin exchange platform TradeHill is no longer accepting Dwolla, citing the occurrence of chargebacks as the reason for its decision. Since TradeHill's launch in early June, it had been accepting Dwolla as a way for its users to fund their accounts in order to purchase Bitcoins, a virtual, peer-to-peer currency, on its exchange. According … read more

Fat Brain Toys, you've just been chosen from among 11,000 companies as one of five winners of the Big Break for Small Business contest. What are you going to do next? Why, they're going to Facebook land, of course. Fat Brain, based in Elkhorn, Neb., was announced Monday as one of five winners of a trip to Facebook headquarters for a two-day social media makeover and $20,000 for a social media marketing budget as part of the Big Break contest sponsored by Facebook and American Express Open. Some 11,000 companies … read more

Omaha Thanks to a tip in the comments of our recent post on implementation of Google Transit in the Silicon Prairie, we've learned that Omaha, the city we reported had no plans to implement the service, will be launching it by the end of September. "On behalf of Metro Transit, I just wanted to confirm that yes, we are working on Google Transit, and … read more

According to data collected by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the second quarter saw $7.5 billion in venture capital deals nationwide, the highest single-quarter total … read more

Lincoln Rare Earth Solar co-founders Allen Kruse and Joseph Brewer met at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln while Brewer was getting his doctorate in inorganic chemistry and tutoring Kruse in his chemistry class. Brewer started telling Kruse about his solar technology invention and that he was thinking about starting a business. Kruse, a Navy veteran and businessman, has experience starting businesses, and it caught his attention. “After knowing each … read more

Omaha The expansion that the MindMixer team hinted was imminent when we checked in with them last month became official today, as U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, a Republican from Nebraska's second district, announced the launch of the website Lee Listens in collaboration with MindMixer. Terry is the first legislator to have an individual page powered by MindMixer, an Omaha-based company that creates and manages virtual town halls. Until now, MindMixer has worked with cities and special causes … read more