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Nebraska music festival launches streaming initiative Lincoln Calling TV
Lincoln Calling — a long-running music and arts festival in Nebraska’s capital city — is launching a new subscription-based livestreaming initiative that aims to recreate the live music experience on screen. The project, Lincoln Calling TV, is the product of a partnership between the festival and Basement Creators Network (BCN), a Lincoln production company that…
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Retail Aware shows no signs of slowing growth despite pandemic
Keith Fix, co-founder and CEO of Retail Aware, learned to code during a brief stay with his mother at a homeless shelter. The 10-year-old aspiring entrepreneur’s parents had recently separated, and young Fix needed money for clothes and the after school programs he wanted to attend. A family friend needed a website built. Fix convinced…
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Midwest art and music turn to technology to keep making fans—and money
As it has with nearly every aspect of life over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we experience art. With many galleries and performance venues closed or limiting in-person attendance, art organizations and artists across the Midwest are increasingly turning to technology to showcase their work safely and maintain relationships with…
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UNeTech levels the playing field for high-risk, high-reward tech startups
The “valley of death” is a term used in the startup community to refer to the dreaded gap between the discovery of promising new technologies and the bringing to market of commercially viable new products based on those technologies. It is the badlands where risky and possibly disruptive tech goes to die. Put more formally,…
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HTI Labs fights human trafficking through research, technology, policy
An Omaha-based company using a data-driven approach to combat human trafficking recently raised funding to expand its crucially needed work to support law enforcement, victims and survivors of the practice. HTI Labs, a social enterprise corporation combating human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault through data-driven research and tech, has grown far larger than CEO…
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Is it over yet? A look back at 2020
We have yet to meet anyone who wishes this year would last longer. From COVID-19 to civil unrest to political and economic turmoil, 2020 brought us a number of challenges and tragedies beyond the scope of this article. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that December is almost over. So while it might seem premature…
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Virtual awards ceremony a first for Omaha’s tech community
Last night, members of Omaha’s tech and startup communities attended the first-ever virtual version of the AIM Tech Awards, a celebration of local innovators and changemakers in the technology sector. A prerecorded ceremony streamed on a virtual stage, accompanied by a live chat constantly scrolling with affirmations, congratulations and commentary from attendees. Traditionally held in…
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“Like driving an aircraft carrier”: developing skilled workers in Nebraska a major challenge
The state of Nebraska needs skilled workers. Badly. University of Nebraska Provost Susan Fritz last year acknowledged that that state faces demand for 15,000 new workers in engineering and computer science alone by 2026. Speaking generally of the gap between supply and demand of skilled labor in early 2019, former NU president Hank Bounds called…
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Companies find ways to fight hunger using technology in the Midwest
As food insecurity rates have nearly doubled in Nebraska since March, local food banks and community nonprofits have expanded their tech resources, and a new field of innovation is emerging to serve their needs. Since the onset of COVID-19 restrictions began in March, Nebraska’s yearly unemployment rate has risen from 3.1 to 5.2 percent, bringing…
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Infotec 2020 virtual conference connects tech talent and companies this Friday
In an era of remote work and major uncertainty, it’s time for the Silicon Prairie tech community to reconnect. But how? Attend Infotec 2020, for one. The AIM Institute’s longtime annual business technology conference is known for its ability to cultivate a sense of community between tech talent and companies with IT needs. “It’s a…
A week-long celebration of the startup and entrepreneurial community in Nebraska with events in Omaha, Lincoln, Ashland and Council Bluffs Learn more »