Silicon Prairie News

Tools of the Trade
1873_c31206e10b_small March 8, 2011 by John T. Meyer

Launch day — the moment your startup, blog, business, or new idea had circled on its calendar. The process of getting to that day can be arduous, and perhaps what you launch isn't really the finished product or service you want to display. There has to be an easier way, right? Say hello to LaunchRock. LaunchRock is a slick web app that allows… read more

1613_5cefaaf7af_small January 7, 2011 by John T. Meyer

We've all been there before, it's Friday night and you're trying to coordinate with all your friends what the plan is for this weekend. Through various phone calls and text threads things quickly become confusing and no one knows what is going on. What if everyone could join the same team and be on the same phone call or text thread? Seems pretty simple, right? Well, thanks to Fast Society, they finally found out an easy way… read more

1611_22c78f7702_small December 28, 2010 by John T. Meyer

Today, we have a lot of relationships to manage. You may have 1,000-plus friends on Facebook or a couple thousand followers on Twitter. Now maybe you're just way more popular than I am and are used to managing so many relationships, but for me it's not an easy task. Thankfully, creative entrepreneurs are trying to find new ways to solve this problem and Hashable is a definite step in the right… read more

1563_1b8934fdbc_small December 14, 2010 by John T. Meyer

Often the tools that are simple and easy are the ones that make my life better. I'm not always concerned with the amount of features or the stellar design, but instead a clean, easy-to-use application that does the job. Domainr fits that bill. Domainr is a fast search tool that, as they put it, "helps you explore… read more

1400_7f2ddf058a_small November 3, 2010 by John T. Meyer

Whoever told you that email is dead is wrong. Email addresses are still where the gold (or money, unless you're Scrooge McDuck) lies. Thanks to tools like Flowtown, you can now use all those emails you've been collecting and turn them into real marketing power. Flowtown is a social media marketing tool that takes your customer list of… read more

1350_51bb838000_small October 14, 2010 by John T. Meyer

With the proliferation of social networks and online profiles it's hard to organize your online identity. Every site wants you to use their site as your home base and it's hard to know what links to share and place on your profile. Well, it's time to take control of your identity thanks to sites like About.me and Flavors.me. Both sites offer incredibly slick and… read more

1073_9ae3dee7bb_small July 14, 2010 by John T. Meyer

When giving a presentation, lecture, or keynote the last thing you want to be is boring, or even just mediocre. Instead, you want to be the presentation everyone remembers, the presentation that causes people to take notes and come find you after you're done. Thankfully, we have Prezi so we can deliver the second kind of presentation. read more

1038_c3af64ae9d_small June 30, 2010 by John T. Meyer

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. Video must be worth at least 10,000 words. If you're like me you'll choose pictures and videos as your medium of choice over words any day. Thankfully, we have tools like Jing. Jing, a project from… read more

The polls are open!

Through August 22, help us decide the winners of our inaugural Silicon Prairie Awards, which will recognize 12 companies and individuals. You can vote once per day per category.
Winners will be announced live on stage at
our August 30 event.

Vote!