There’s a fascinating article in the NY Times today on a
massive spike in funds raised by venture capital firms – a 78% increase in the
3rd quarter over the second quarter results. Folks in the VC game
see this as bad news, as the industry in over-funded and they literally need to compete for good deals to fund.
I’ve met with many VCs in Silicon Valley and the general position a year ago
was that there was 10 times more VC funding available than there were good
deals to fund – and that was well before huge ramp-ups of the past few quarters,
which have probably pushed this multiple near 20X… VCs literally can’t invest
their pledged funds fast enough, and that is a problem for them. It is safe to
say any good entrepreneurial venture is now very fundable and in fact in a
position to shop for best VC deals around the country.

Most people probably don't realize Cleveland is the origin of wind power generation - renowned Cleveland innovator Charles Brush invented and built the first wind power generator behind his mansion on Euclid Avenue in 1888.

Next week, Cleveland again becomes a leader in the wind industry by posting the Wind Power Conference, November 9 & 10 at the Sheraton Cleveland City Centre Hotel.

Read more about the conference and wind industry opportunities for our region at a special REALNEO provided just for that Community Of Interest Link (COIL) - linked from here!

I just received an update from the President of NEORUG - Northeast Ohio Regional User Group of Hewlett-Packard computers - on an exciting session featured at their upcoming Training Symposium and Vendor Show - Thursday Nov. 4 from 7:30 AM until around 6 PM.

This article couldn't be more accurate about entrepreneurship issues in Northeast Ohio - although this is about the Lehigh Valley (around Allentown, PA). We're not alone in our problems, and we can learn from the analyses and strategies of others in similar circumstances.

While not obviously ED related, it is worth considering the following
study linking high fat diets - especially those high in trans-fats - to
learning problems. My conclusion - stay far away from trans-fats, and
keep NEO kids trans-fat free, for the sake of a better learning
workforce for the future... and there is clearly opportunity for any
region and foods related business to lead and prosper from excelling in the healthy food sectors...

UK government departments moved a step closer to using open-source
operating systems such as Linux after a study found that they are
"viable" products.

The software can "generate significant savings", the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in its report.

This article offers good perspective on applied nanotechnology in healthcare, which was the subject of a recent conference in NEO...

<> Interesting article in the NYTimes on the advertising and public relations take on blogs.

EB
logs have had an astonishing season this year, enough to freckle the
faces of bloggers who do not, as a rule, get much time outdoors.

I received the following Executive Briefing from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer comparing an enterprise business strategy centered on Microsoft products versus migrating to Open Source (Linux platform, in particular).

NewsBytes
Sxip
Networks and Bryght have completed an authentication module for Drupal,
Open Source content management software. Drupal's tremendous popularity
with online communities makes it a natural fit with Sxip, the first
distributed personal digital identity network.

I found REALNEO last night via George Nemeth's BrewedFreshDaily blog, and it looks like an incredible platform for connecting entrepreneurs and regional residents with interests in nano, art, energy, the film industry, and job creation generally; I hope that I'll be able to build interest in REALNEO among my entrepreneurial students...

REALNEO objectives are shared by communities around the world, and we are all looking for comparable information technology solutions, so we are teaming up with global community and information technology innovators and leaders to develop the optimal solution for everyone in the world.

Nanotechnology comes of age...

...last Monday, when the United States Patent and Trademark Office
announced a new registration category just for nanotechnology
inventions.

See NY Times Article linked here

Regional leadership has shown conceptual support  to figure out how Northeast Ohio artists may use optimal information technology to enhance their abilities to survive and thrive - live doing what they love. for this desire, and money is being invested to help artists grow an industry around their activities, but the results are not yet optimal.

Cleveland artists and arts organizer Susie Frazier Mueller published an Op/Ed in the 10/24/04 Cleveland Plain Dealer on the importance of artists as entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio, which makes important points to consder for deveoping the local economy.

I found a very detailed and positive review of Drupal, which you may want to read to better understand the application, its roll in our social network, and why we chose Drupal over all other options - public and private

Today, I received a notification about a federal EPA grant program that would be available and valuable in NEO (APPLICATIONS DUE NOV. 15) - and also notification of an alternative fuel related fund available from Toyota. Anyone interested in these COILs should investigate

Fascinating to see a blog posted by the powerful George Soros - this designed to keep President Bush from being reelected - shows the lenghts to which this technology is being used by the world's most renowned people

It is definitely worth trying out Skype - a free application to access their VoIP service and reach over a million other Skype users for free telephone calling over the Internet - anywhere in the world - free, fast, easy, and excellent call quality - Skype site and download here

I've posted about this on my Bryght blog, but also wanted to mention it here.

The Open Source Development and Documentation Project (OSDDP for short) is doing some interesting work in combining open source methodologies and tools to connect students in Purdue's Professional Writing program with the open source community.

Of interest will be their introductory press release:

In a new initiative to foster what Dr. David Blakesley calls "networked
learning," Purdue University students interact with new people and new
technologies to provide valuable open source
documentation. Students in a variety of English courses in the
Professional Writing major will study open source software, talk to its
designers and users, use the software themselves, then write and test
user documentation, help organizations promote their software in the
wider community, and even develop action plans for deploying such
software in new business and academic ventures.

Big Brother is watching, so NEOans may as well leverage our medical industry strengths to lead this field. Read the AP newsclip below and consider how this technology application offers opportunity here - networking, information technology, biotechnology, medical information systems, etc. .. no rocket science required

From Brown University's ongoing analysis of city eGov, we read:

The researchers examined the electronic-government efforts of the
nation’s 70 largest city governments. Rounding out the top five were San Diego, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. At the bottom of the rankings were Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Greenville, S.C., Syracuse and West Palm Beach.

Excellent foundation - time to learn both the basics and how to make this the world class social network content management environment... that's what this is all about

I did a quick search today for some North East Ohio links. Found two interesting websites:

• NEO Software Associate
• buyNEO

The weblinks module is turned on, but we need to discuss some categories for it. We can start working on COIL categories/topics.