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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Aug 12, 2005 |
"One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness." -- Josh Billings
Come Home Montana
Education
- Featured "Come Home Montana" Community~FAIRVIEW
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Career ~ System Programmer / Software Engineer
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Talent - Sales Management
- Philipsburg, Montana's change to a must-stop destination a sweet transformation
"It's just a charming community," she said. "And we have people in business here that say this is the one place they want to be on the face of the earth."
Montana Business
- Students charged with computer trespass - The Kutztown 13
The students, their families and outraged supporters say authorities are overreacting, punishing the kids not for any heinous behavior — no malicious acts are alleged — but rather because they outsmarted the district's technology workers.
- M.B.A. Students Bypassing Wall Street for a Summer in India
"Now India means the world's best software services, and increasingly, pharmaceuticals and auto parts."
- Cisco chief, John Chambers says Silicon Valley public schools are an embarrassment. . . . . . and names education and healthcare as the two largest issues facing US businesses
John Chambers, chief executive of Cisco agreed, saying it was embarrassing that the K through 12 public education system is broken in Silicon Valley.
Montana Economic Development
- Lack of child care in Manhattan, Montana underscores larger dilemma
"Quality day care is one of the essential ingredients to employment,"
- Arcomac of Missoula lands $9.5 million federal funding contract through the support of Sen. Conrad Burns
Arcomac uses proprietary technology to put protective coats on a broad range of tools and machine parts used in manufacturing and in vehicles, said vice president of operations Jeff Wisehart.
- A cut above - Skalkaho Montana machinist uses state-of-the-art water-jet cutter on metal and more - Double R Machine
"I can cut anything from wood to carbide, quickly and economically with very little waste,"
- Great Falls proposes pilot program to sell power to small users
"This is new territory," said PSC attorney Al Brogan. "The procedure will be defined by what we do here."
- Testing activity brings bustle to former air base, Boeing lands in Glasgow, Montana
The Boeing Co. is teaming with other aviation players, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, General Electric Transportation, the Goodrich Aerostructures division and All Nippon Airways, to do the testing in Glasgow, MT.
Funding and Building your Business
- Missoula Commissioners grant first permit to Brennan's Wave
Brennan's Wave will be a man-made, natural rock structure built in the Clark Fork River, west of the Higgins Avenue Bridge, and designed to create a whitewater play area for kayakers, canoeists and other paddle-boat enthusiasts.
Regional Business
- Dot-Coms Are So '90s; In Silicon Valley, Doing Good Is the New Thing
Venture capitalists are leading a push to remake Silicon Valley as a center for a new form of social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy, a place where you can make good money by doing good.
- The Numbers in Your Business Plan
An effective business plan has to include at least three important "pro forma" statements (pro forma in this context means projected).
- At Clean Plants, It's Waste Not
In the 1980s and '90s, "even the best companies were only diverting 60 percent or 65 percent of their waste from landfills," says Wayne Rifer, an associate at the nonprofit Zero Waste Alliance in Portland, Oregon. "In the last five years, we've seen a whole new way of thinking about the problem of waste."
- How Venture Boards Influence the Success or Failure of Technology Companies After the Term Sheet
This paper discusses the development of a start-up through the lens of the venture capitalist ("VC") and the board of directors, rather than the traditional lens of the CEO and management team.
- Navy considers venture capitalism to speed IT acquisitions
The Navy is studying the model the CIA has with its venture capital arm In-Q-Tel to see whether it would work with the service. That model could work, although the Navy might do well using several venture firms instead of one, according to one panelist.
- Boredom Numbs the Work World - Lack of Stimulation Infects Humble and High-Ranking Jobs Alike
"There is a reason why prison is considered punishment,"
- Ten Questions to Ask Your Utility That Will Save Your Company Money
“One of the basic ways for a manufacturer to interact with a utility is to just come and speak with the utility and not try to mask it with a consultant or an attorney,” he said. “Whoever they send needs to be adept at the customer’s requirements.
- Intel small-business contest offers tech grant
Companies with 100 or fewer employees can submit a vision statement explaining how $100,000 worth of technology could transform their business.
- How Companies Go Public
- Corporate Blogging and the CIO
Corporate blogging typically consists of two levels. Internal blogs are directed at employees and cannot be accessed beyond the corporate network. External blogs, however, take the company message beyond office workers, allowing customers and others to become readers.
Regional Economic Development
- Asarco Copper Company files for Chapter 11
In the midst of a strike and facing environmental-cleanup costs, copper producer Asarco filed bankruptcy on Wednesday to have the federal court help sort out its problems.
- Cabela's is everything about outdoors
Is it Utah's largest log cabin? A tourist attraction? Or a big box store with better landscaping and more personality? Or is it a combination museum-restaurant-aquarium-sporting goods store?
- Talks between Qwest, union head down to the wire
Qwest is negotiating separately with a union representing about 350 workers in Montana.
Utah Economic Development
- For Indian tribe, diversifying pays
"Tribes are starting to make it on their own,"
- The August edition of the SBA Solutions newsletter
- 2005 Cost of Doing Business Index - Montana 47th, Idaho 46th - (That means costs are low)
The states with the lowest costs of doing business are South Dakota, 50th, with costs 28 percent below the national average, North Dakota, 49th (23 percent lower), Iowa, 48th (19 percent), Montana, 47th (19 percent) and Idaho, 46th (16 percent).
Government Technology
- Tight labor market strains Utah's small businesses - Salt Lake is magnet for small biz
"We are now No. 4 in the country in terms of job growth,"
- EDCU wins recruiting job - Adviser's former firm was only bidder for contract
Setting conflict of interest concerns aside, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has decided to hire a business recruiting company formerly run by his top economic adviser.
Incubators and R&D
- Safeguarding Communities Through Modern Communication Systems, Strategy Paper From the Center for Digital Government
"The paper provides a common reference point for practitioners, technologists, public executives and elected officials on the subject,"
- Six States ( Montana, Washington, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, and Kansas) Recognized for Multiple State Agency Coordination In Care for the Disabled - $11.7 million five-year Federal grant to Montana to help prevent substance abuse and promote mental
"This policy academy is an exciting opportunity for governors to learn about successful strategies that will help ensure that all Americans, including those with disabilities, have the opportunity to live closer to their families and friends, live more independently, find better jobs and participate more fully in their communities," said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center. "Across the country, governors are exploring ways to ensure young people with disabilities do not face unnecessary and unfair barriers to success in school, workplace and the community."
University TechTransfer
- Research Parks Help Attract Expanding Companies
Favorable leases, partnerships with universities help companies develop their technologies into products.
- Boise State University gets record $24.2 million in fiscal '05 for research, projects
"Universities are measured in part by their ability to obtain research grants and programs," Boise State President Bob Kustra said. "The influx of research dollars further enhances our growing stature as a metropolitan research university."
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Honey bees sniff-out landmines at the University of Montana
"Bees can be trained in one or two days to seek out buried explosives because of their high odor sensitivity in the low parts per trillion range."
Small Diameter Timber Utilization
- MSU-GF offers a new certificate program in Creative Arts Enterprise this September
“We want to respond to the needs of students who wish to develop sustainable careers from their creative endeavors,” said Dr. Mary Sheehy Moe, Dean of MSU-GF. “We are creating a program that is student-centered, that utilizes the resources of the real-world workplace in the community, that provides guidance and practice, all the while nurturing the individual’s creativity.”
Careers
- Use of X-rays to advance wood-decay knowledge leads to honor for Forest Products Lab biologist
The discoveries are considered important because nearly 10 percent of the 300 million tons of trees harvested annually in the United States are used to replace wood products damaged by decay.
Energy
- Projecting Self-Confidence, Not Arrogance, in Interviews
There are things interviewees can do to leave the right impression, recruiters say. Here are five tips to help ensure that your air of self-confidence won't cross the line into arrogance.
- Getting an offer: the right stuff to succeed in job interview
Here are some tips to help you read and control the atmosphere of the job interview.
Connectivity & Communications
- States compete on 'clean coal'
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has launched a campaign to land a coal-to-diesel project in the Big Sky State, and some economic leaders here suggest Wyoming should compete for such projects with more intensity.
- Dishing out big energy - Phoenix company to build most powerful solar plant
"When fully built out, we will provide more power than all the other U.S. solar projects combined," said Bob Liden, Stirling's executive vice president and general manager.
Transportation
- Cities ponder offering wireless coverage for free
LIFE, LIBERTY, the pursuit of happiness and free WiFi. Is this our new standard of American freedoms?
- TV Alternative: Internet transforms computers into multimedia centers
"The attitude used to be that the Internet is the place to go for information," said Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California. "It's changing to the notion that the Internet is the place you go to watch things."
- Survey: Blog Readership Skyrocketing
Given their popularity, the study suggests that blogs can now be thought of as part of the mainstream media.
- West Virginia Amber Alert System To Now Include Cell Phone Text Messages
On Monday, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin announced the West Virginia State Police has entered into a partnership agreement with 12 national wireless service providers to distribute AMBER alerts by text messaging cell phones, becoming the second state in the nation to expand the reach of the AMBER alert system in this manner.
- The Paradox of Podcasting - Even "W" gets it!
"As technology advances, the White House recognizes the importance of providing content in new ways to reach new audiences to communicate the president's vision,"
- Saving the World With Cell Phones
They are working to develop cheap wireless sensors that, once fitted inside cell phones, could sniff out anything from biological weapons to traffic patterns.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Stuck in Traffic? IT Can Ease the Commute
Take a busy intersection with 50,000 cars and then shave delays for each car by just five seconds. Multiply that throughout a metropolitan area, and there will be huge savings in time, gas and, ultimately, driver frustration.
- Old age in the technology age - New devices to monitor health and well-being at home a growing new sector
"We have the potential to aim our innovation engine at the age wave challenge and change the way we do health care from a crisis-driven, assembly- line, hospital approach to a personal-driven approach, with people taking care of themselves with help from family, friends and technologies," said Eric Dishman, director of health research and innovation for Intel.
- Windows Vista Beta 1: A Guided Tour
"How is this supposed to work?" It's a guessing game you figure out through hours of working with the code.
- Service Targets Web Ads To Specific Geographic Areas
"It's an advertising opportunity that local businesses have failed to adopt," John Enright, vice president of marketing for Affinity, said. "(But) it can generate real results for small businesses on a regular basis."
- Pig cell implants in Huntington's trial - "Now it seems that a cure could be well on the way."
Huntington's disease, which affects one in 100,000 people, has a prognosis so terrifying that many people with the gene in their family decline to be tested, preferring to live in ignorance of their fate.
- Enterprise to offer Star Trek 'Communicators'
"I think it is obviously a natural," said Gary Berman, who grew up New York and says he is an avid "Star Trek" fan. "It is interesting that tech is catching up with what we have seen in the '60s."
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