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.

Career Moves

• Miranda Bouck joined Grain & Mortar (Omaha) as a graphic designer
• Scott Thompson, formerly with Nebraska Technology Solutions, joined Healthcare Data Solutions (Irvine, Calif.-based, Lincoln office) as Vice President of Technology Solutions – Press Release

New Tech

• Handmark (Kansas City, Mo.) released Powow: Text Messaging, billed as taking “texting to a level never seen on an Android device” – Android Market and Android Police

Product/Business Development

• Think Big Partners (Kansas City, Mo.) and the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce announced they’ve teamed up with H&R Block (Kansas City) to host an innovation and entrepreneurship conference in Kansas City in June – Press Release, SPN
• AgLocal (Overland Park, Kan.) was accepted in the NewME Accelerator (San Francisco), a startup accelerator for businesses led by under-represented minorities in the technology industry – NewME Accelerator blog and TechCrunch
• ActiveGrade (Iowa City, Iowa) announced its advisory board made up of seven teachers – Press Release
• Shoplr (Ames, Iowa) released a new version of its iOS app – shoplrapp.com and Apple App Store
• MindMixer (Omaha) launched a site for the City of Des Moines – Revitalize Des Moines
• ShareWhere (Des Moines) rolled out rewards, an iOS app and a merchant center – sharewhere.com, ShareWhere blog and Apple App Store
• Locusic (Des Moines) rolled out its sharing on Facebook feature – Locusic blog
• Social Money Systems (West Des Moines) opened an office in India – SPN, Des Moines Register and American Banker

Mentions

• Hatchlings (Panora, Iowa) – Des Moines Reigster: “Global egg hunt based in Panora takes next step“
• iApps24 (West Des Moines) – Des Moines Register: “West Des Moines’ iApps24 designs apps for many mobile platforms“
• Sporting Innovations (Kansas City) – Fast Company: “Livestrong Sporting Park Creates Games Within The Game For Sports Fans“
• Dwolla (Des Moines) – My Bank Tracker: “$5 Million in Their Pockets, Dwolla Hikes Up Its Trousers“, FinExtra: “Forget the NFC argument – look at payments behavior” and ABC Good Morning America: “Is Mobile Banking Secure?”
• ShareWhere (Des Moines) – Des Moines Reigster: “Social organization site connects with charity“
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Drone Journalism Lab (Lincoln) – Voice of America: “Drones: Not Just for Military Use“
• Songdish (Forest City, Iowa) – Huffington Post: “San Francisco MusicTech Summit Attempts To Save Rock And Roll“
• Startup Spouses (Kansas City) – Bootstrappers Breakfast: “Startup Spouses Offers Support Group in Kansas City“
• Omaha World-Herald: “Heineman touts entrepreneurs’ role in economy“
• Jeff Slobotski of Silicon Prairie News – Business 2 Community: “15 Social Media Platforms to Invest in This Year“

Gig Bits

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• Ars Technica: “Is Google planning to offer IP video to Kansas City?“
• Kansas City Business Journal: “LightEdge Solutions, drawn by Google, signs lease in Kansas City area“

Awards & Recognition

• Dwolla (Des Moines) and Zaarly (San Francisco-based, Kansas City office) named to Fast Company’s “Innovative Companies” list in its finance and web/internet categories, respectively – Fast Company

Blogged

• Saturday Mfg (Des Moines): “4 reasons why Karen is our new intern“
• Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (Kansas City): “Make It Happen” (Video)
• Kickanotch (Kansas City): “Kickanotch does mobile for media the right way!” (Video)
• Torsion Mobile (Des Moines): “Mojaba: Mobile Website Builder for Creative Professionals” (Video)
• Brent Beshore (Columbia, Mo.) in the Columbia Tribune: “4 radical ideas to help increase opportunities“
• Startup Missouri: “StartUpMO” (Video)

Misc.

• The Des Moines Register rolled out its Iowa Innovation spotlight – Marco Santana on Twitter
• An Omaha Coworking Meetup group was created in Omaha – Meetup
• It was discoved that the “Zaarly RV” at South by Southwest Interactive 2011 was captured on Google Maps – Eric Jorgenson on Twitter
• Hatchlings had nearly 5 million eggs collected in its Beta 2 version – Brad Dwyer on Twitter

Image credits: Photo by Victor Engmark via Flickr