The May Report: 5/13/2011: Just 7 hrs. left to submit your MIT-EF White Board Challenge proposal; Tap Me Games closes on additional funding from Rockfish Brand Ventures at an undisclosed amount; one of their competitors Kiip, Inc. just announced a $4MM round last month; This just in: SAVO Group to move and expand; ITA CityLIGHTS Award winners: Tap Me Games, Adam Caplan of Model Metrics, CEO; Michael Fineberg of SurePayroll, CTO; MentorMob (New Concept), Aircell (Rising Star), Groupon (Lighthouse), the CTA (Best Strategic Use of Technology); and Howard Tullman wins the CityLIGHTS Award; Tom Bennett on the Blagojevich Defense Team – 1919 White Sox or The Bad News Bears?; Adam Hartung on Sears; Facebook paid Burson-Marsteller to smear Google and much more…

The May Report May 13th, 2011

Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

Assistant editor: Melanie Adcock, iPHONE: 312-259-0610, melanie_adcock@msn.com

If you missed an article, go here: www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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You have less than seven hours, until midnight tonight, to get your submission in. It does not have to be a dissertation. Make it short and sweet and who knows, you might win some money. Deadline is midnight on Friday, May 13th

2011 WHITEBOARD CHALLENGE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Your Idea. Five Minutes. $5,000 in Cash Prizes.

Are you an entrepreneur or student with a product concept that just needs some recognition to take off?

Are you a scientist or researcher at a university or corporation with a world-changing technology?

Have you been inspired by a novel way to solve a big problem?

If you have a brilliant idea (or know someone who does) that is missing much-needed public recognition, plan to join us at the MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago 2011 Whiteboard Challenge on the evening of Thursday, May 26, 2011.
Each finalist will have five minutes, a whiteboard, a captive audience, and a chance to win $5,000 in cash prizes. This event is the highlight of the MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago spring event season-don’t miss your opportunity to be in the spotlight!

Everyone is eligible to submit their own innovative concept for consideration, and presenting finalists will be selected by a distinguished panel of judges.

This year, we’re pleased to hold the event at the beautiful IBM Innovation Center, 71 S. Wacker Drive, 6th Floor, Chicago.

Presenter applications are NOW OPEN! Deadline for submissions is May 13.

To Submit an entry, click to fill in the Whiteboard Challenge Submission form here:

www.surveymonkey.com/s/White_Board_Challenge

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– 2011 ITA CityLIGHTS Awards Winners and just so that you know, we did find the finalists for the CityLIGHTS Award who were Sandee Kastrul, Matt Moog and Howard Tullman
– TapMe Games wins Newcomer category at the ITA CityLIGHTS Awards and also closes additional funding — amount undisclosed — from Rockfish Brand Ventures, the venture arm of Rockfish Interactive
– Fred Hoch wants to add a new category for the ITA awards: “Comeback Entrepreneur of the Year”
– This just in: SAVO Group to move their office and expand
– The maladroit management of social media by the ITA, i.e. Twitter, as demonstrated by the Twitter stream and most folks did not know the hash tag, but Fred was all too anxious to polish the knob, again manifest by his kissing Andrew’s Mason — you’re going to have to do your own research on that one and while you’re at it, look up baby kangaroo still in the pouch in Australian slang dictionaries, but the point is that Groupon is NOT an ITA member and neither is Tap Me Games and Fred Hoch is about as much of a thought leader as Walt Winkelmann
– An inside look from VentureWire at high-tech start-ups and their investors
– Facebook paid PR firm to smear Google and that PR firm was Burson-Marsteller
– From the attendees at FFF: Confidence The Game, very similar to Jeopardy
– Ray Willis is an interesting guy with a BA in Asian Studies and Physics, an MA in philosophy and a Ph.D. in Political Science and Statistics
– Quinn and the Sears Holdings issue
– Adam Hartung: Sears? Stop the subsidies, sell the stock, invest in Groupon
– uic confidential – on Nancy Sullivan
– Saturday, May 28: API Hack Day Chicago Invite
– Our Love Affair with Technology and Its Hidden Dangers: National Mental Health Month, May 2011
– Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge // The May Report
– May 23rd: Mobile Retail – Engaging the Customers in your Store: Meetup: Mobile Retai – Engaging the Customers in your Store
– comScore Reports March 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share
– midVenturesLAUNCH Inside of TechWeek; 45+ New Speakers; Nominations Open for the TechWeek 100
– Chicago Innovation Awards
– Social Media for Business Training [May here. Wait, Melanie, don't tell me, this is the same event we are advertising]
– Tennessee Home Grown Businesses Fund
– Thursday, May 19: CDMUG May 2011 Meet Up
– I’m looking for a mobile dev for my team at Morningstar
– Anonymous comment on Facebook
– Thomas R. Bennett: Blagojevich Defense Team – 1919 White Sox or The Bad News Bears?
– Kansas Bioscience Authority: Not smooth sailing for all companies
ICM exec says grant ‘helped us move faster’ into cellulosic research

[Editor's note: May here. I have a long Briefly noted section that will go out tomorrow morning about 9am. It continues to cover the Funding Feeding Frenzy event and much more like the SELVN meeting on Walmart, the Chris Brogan roast which still has me stunned. I can't believe I was even there. And much more, Len Bland and many others.Plus there is a lot of mail.]
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Going Mobile – Web Content 2011 Conference – June 6 & 7
Gleacher Executive Conference Center – Downtown Chicago

www.webcontent2011.com/

15 mobile-focused sessions over 2 full days featuring speakers including:

Gian Fulgoni, comScore, Inc. – Today’s Mobile Mainstream
Robert Rose, Big Blue Moose – Context Aware Everything!
Colleen Jones, Content Science – This Mobile Moment
Erin Scime, HUGE – Content Strategist & Designer Talk Mobile

Plus BONUS WORKSHOP:

“Smart from the Start” – Content Strategy ½ Day Workshop by Brain Traffic

“In the world of online content, mobile is the new black! Join national content experts, marketers, strategists, developers and other industry thinkers June 6th and 7th in sunny Chicago at WebContent 2011 www.webcontent2011.com/ .” – CMSWire

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Social Media Training Workshop

Seats are filling up fast for upcoming “Social Media for Business” Training Workshop starting on May 25. Join us for this interactive online training with live video streaming training for 5 weeks that includes 8 Strategy sessions + 5 How-to sessions with a stellar group of expert trainers.

Some of top Social Media Authors and thought leaders training includes:
Dan Zarrella, Author of Facebook Marketing and Social Media Marketing book
Ramon De Leon, Dominos Pizza
Greg Jarboe, Author of YouTube & Video Marketing: An Hour a Day
Hollis Thomases, Author of Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day
Krista Neher, SXSW Speaker & Author Social Media Field Guide
Eric Enge, Author of The Art of SEO
Simon Salt, Author of Social Location Marketing
Fionn Downhill, Instructor & CEO, Elixir Interactive
Barbara Rozgonyi, Founder Social Media Club Chicago
Marshall Sponder, Author of Social Media Analytics
Bob Tripathi, Trainer & Industry Speaker
Nicole Duhoski, Social Media Manager
Early Bird Special of $299 through May 10th

Sign-up below:

instantetraining.go2cloud.org/SH6

After this workshop you will be able to…
Learn to create a successful Social Media Marketing Strategy for your business
Be able to put together an Online Reputation Management plan
Able to build community on Facebook in a very scientific manner
Have a clear communication strategy on Twitter
Be able to leverage Location based marketing tools like Foursquare and others
Become a power user LinkedIn expert
Learn to integrate Video marketing as part of your marketing strategy
Be able to understand the importance of Search Engine Optimization(SEO) for Social Media
Learn the future of Social Media Marketing for Marketing ROI
Hear case studies from leading experts and business owners
To sign up and learn more about this workshop please visit:

instantetraining.go2cloud.org/SH6

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The Scoop section:

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2011 ITA CityLIGHTS Awards Winners and just so that you know, we did find the finalists for the CityLIGHTS Award who were Sandee Kastrul, Matt Moog and Howard Tullman

2011 ITA CityLIGHTS Awards Winners

CityLIGHTS Award
Howard Tullman, Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy

CEO of the Year Award:
Adam Caplan. Model Metrics

Technologist of the Year Award:
Michael Fineberg, SurePayroll

Newcomer Award:
TapMe

New Concept Award:
MentorMob, Inc.

Rising Star Award:
Aircell

Lighthouse Award:
Groupon

Best Strategic Use of Technology Award:
Chicago Transit Authority
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TapMe Games wins Newcomer category at the ITA CityLIGHTS Awards and also closes additional funding — amount undisclosed — from Rockfish Brand Ventures, the venture arm of Rockfish Interactive

Subject: TapMe in WSJ Venture Wire
Date: 5/13/2011 12:08:08 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

TapMe in WSJ Venture Wire
Re-posted on Built in Chicago by Ed Lewis

Posted by Ed Lewis on May 12, 2011 at 11:30amView Ed Lewis’s blog
Tap Me Nabs $1.4M After Shift To Mobile Game Ads
Ty McMahan
| 12 May 2011

The idea has attracted a $1.4 million Series A investment by David Cohen’s Bullet Time Ventures, i2A Fund, Hyde Park Angels and Rockfish Brand Ventures, the venture arm of digital marketing firm Rockfish Interactive. Valuation wasn’t disclosed.

“We didn’t like the way advertising was handled in games,” Chief Executive Joshua Hernandez said. “We knew there was a better way, and we figured out how to take every piece of content across every game genre and wrap a sponsorship around it.”

The Chicago-based company wants their offering to be an intersection of gaming, social interaction and immersive brand integration, Hernandez said. Developers can tag elements with keywords, which can then be used by advertisers to buy on the platform. For instance, an energy drink company could buy the keyword “energy” and sponsor any activity within the game that involves the player earning more energy for a character.

The company can also add social functionality, such as asking a player to tweet a sponsored accomplishment in the game.

“The gamer gets the instant gratification of the in-game reward, and the brand gets to send them messages as they march toward a goal,” Hernandez said.

Tap Me is currently being used by nine games available on Apple’s iOS platform with 5 million combined downloads.

The investment is the first for Rockfish, which announced its venture arm in March.

“What I loved about these guys is being game developers themselves, they bring credibility and can work with some of the best players in mobile gaming,” Rockfish Chief Marketing Officer David Knox said. “They also have an advisory board and executives from the ad industry. They know how to make money with this thing. They have both sides of the marketplace.”

Knox said Rockfish plans to work directly with Tap Me to lend support in developing the user experience and to introduce the platform to potential advertisers.

“Advertisers are realizing the growing importance of mobile and know they need to shift spend to mobile,” Knox said. “This gives another option to do engagement combined with scale.”

Tap Me faces competition from Kiip Inc., which last month launched its own in-game rewards network and announced a $4 million funding round.
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Chicago-based mobile ads startup Tap.Me gets investment from Rockfish Brand Ventures
Start Up Gazette
by Krishan Lal on May 12th, 2011

bit.ly/mLRzXM

Buzz
In-game mobile advertisement startup Tap.Me closed a round of funding led by Rockfish Brand Ventures in partnership with Bullet Time Ventures, the i2A Fund, and Hyde Park Angels, reports Arkansas Business Online. The funding amount still remains undisclosed.

Tap.Me is an in-game advertisement platform that allows game developers to connect games with branded rewards and achievements from advertisers when user completes certain milestones while playing the game. The startup was founded by six professionals as game development studio two years ago. They later realized to revolutionize the in-game advertisement by building a platform that allowed brands to add value to games as an alternative to the invasive and interruptive forms of advertising.

The startup representative said that this investment will give the company access to capital and knowledge of digital space. This is the first investment of Rockfish Brand Ventures, the announcement said.

“Their collaboration with our team has given us insight into the mobile space that, partnered with our development experience, will make Tap.Me the next evolution in mobile advertising,” said Joshua Hernandez, CEO of Tap.Me in a press release by Rockfish.
Rockfish Brand Ventures is a venture capital fund started by a Rogers digital marketing and development firm Rockfish Interactive, a funded initiative focusing digital innovation in consumer internet, mobile and retail markets.
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Tap.me Josh in NUvention Web
Todd Warren’s Blog

www.toddwarreninc.com/blog/2011/05/04/tap-me-josh-in-nuvention-web/

Posted on May 4, 2011 by todd
On May 3rd in our NUvention web class we discussed preparing for product launch, and aligning customer and product development activities. I did a brief presentation to help the class prepare for their in class presentation for their check-in for their 3rd development iteration, including a brief discussion of doing a good demo. The highlight of the session however, was a presentation by Josh Hernandez, CEO of Tap.me.

Tap.me is a contextual, in-game mobile advertising platform. I became aware of tap.me because one of our teams focused on mobile introduced me earlier in the year, I had also coincidentally met Josh at the Defrag 2010 conference in the fall. I had breakfast with Josh soon after, and I was immediately smitten with Josh and his company. Josh is the quitensential 21st century Chicago startup CEO-passionate, energetic, gritty, and determined. He also exhibits the traits of the kind of CEO I want to invest in. He is always working to build his network and enlist your advice and support. His hiring and team leadership is superb; he knows what he doesn’t know and openly looks to hire the very best to build a superior company.

Tap.me is his 4th startup. It started as a game development company, and after the successful release of the game bitFLIP for the iPhone. He realized that paid app revenue, even for a successful game like his, wasn’t going to be able to pay the bills-even in the locked down, great distribution iPhone app store, piracy was a better distribution vehicle than money in the app store; generating user engagement but no real money. Additionally, Josh and his team were frustrated by the avenues available to game developers for in app advertising. As a game designer, Josh hated how things like banners muddled the user experience; and turned his team to define a better way.

The team entered an extensive planning process envisioning the ultimate platform they would want as game developers. Josh talked about the difference between “planning” and following a rigid “plan”. He talked about how their 35 page business plan and detailed Gannt chart was outdated as soon as it was exposed to the sunlight of the market. That said, this planning phase was invaluable to the company in mapping out a long term vision for the product they use to guide their overall development.

One of the things that distinguishes tap.me from other mobile ad startups, is the founding team is a committed bunch of game developers and gamers intent on making sure game end users have a great experience. Josh talked about how after their pivot from game studio to mobile advertising platform, the team re-thought their roles. Their chief evangelist working with the game studios on incorporation of their technology was the former sound designer in the game studio. He knows the issues game developers face-he is one! They knew the game development cycle and how a platform should integrate. They built an initial concept based on their plan and shopped it at GDC 2009. In true customer development fashion, they learned a lot and pivoted to a better concept. They found a few pilot game developers and worked with them on how best to incorporate the technology. Additionally, Josh realized that while he had ad agency experience, he needed more expertise on the ad side-knowing what you don’t know is pure CEO wisdom. He went after the best guy and got him, Chris Carlson, his current COO, formerly VP of central sales for Myspace and a long list of accomplishments in online advertising.

Josh talked about how the team modified a standard agile methodology for product development that they had used when they were writing games to fit the needs of their development community-one focused on a month cycle with two weeks of development, a preliminary release to their game development partners, and a final release based on their feedback. After refining the concept in an intense period at Excelerate Labs in the class of 2010, and iterating with early customers on the game and advertising side, they prepared for their initial launch at GDC 2011. Josh also discussed the importance of building a broad advisory board in your customer constituency; and the need to continual sell to the people whose advice you need to get your product underway. At GDC they were able to get nearly 100 quality game developer engagements. At this point, Josh also talked about expanding with manageable scale. He knew he had a product that resonated with game developers; he knew the key to success with advertisers was to get that scale; but he was sensitive to being overwhelmed. He talked about how the team is working through the backlog to insure customers on both sides have a great experience. This combination of strong culture, great team, super product and customer focus is was ultimately caused me to make a personal investment in tap.me.

Josh talked about how launch changes everything. Everything moves faster. Josh reiterated that the team culture and internal process become important as the company engine begins to rev to the speed of sound from a 60 mph clip—decision and communication need to happen at an accelerated pace. He’s now preparing for their broader launch, and still working his network to get the best talent on the bus.

A great, energizing session for our class. Thanks again Josh!

About
Todd Warren is currently an advisor atDivergent Ventures and with several early stage technology startups. Todd also teaches as an adjunct professor in computer science at Northwestern University in the McCormick School of Engineering. He teaches software product design and web entrepreneurship as the chair of a course called NUventon Web. He consults on technology, software development strategy, and innovation through Pcubed, a project management consulting firm. Todd also serves on Pcubed’s board.

Todd is a founding trustee of Ashesi University, where he serves as the vice chair. He also serves on Northwestern University’s board of trustees.
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Subject: Tap Me Games Won Best Newcomer award
Date: 5/12/2011 9:59:22 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Joshua Z Hernandez
Thanks again to everyone for the birthday wishes. It has been an amazing day. Started with our company in the Wall Street Journal and ended with an award for the best newcomer in the startup scene in Chicago. Bit now time to rest and wake up at 2am to our beautiful teething daughter.
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Fred Hoch wants to add a new category for the ITA awards: “Comeback Entrepreneur of the Year”

Awarding Failure
Wirtten by Fred Hoch
Published on the blog Fred’s Head

fredhoch.com/post/5335659507

On April 18th, the finalists for the 2011 CityLIGHTS awards were nominated. We have tremendous companies in our membership roster: some have been around for a while and some are just getting started. Today I wanted shine the light on our “failure” in launching a new category, the “Comeback Entrepreneur of the Year”.
We had asked the community to come up with a category this year, and the new category that arose was the “Comeback Entrepreneur of the Year”. This category would allow us to take the time to recognize the entrepreneur that has gone through trials and tribulations and celebrate the fact that he or she came back from rough times. The thing is that while there is exuberance to talk about this, there were actually very few people who wanted to present themselves as a “Comeback Entrepreneur of the Year”. It’s kind of funny in the sense that, while we all want a good story, no one is really willing to put themselves out there. Thinking this way is a bit difficult for us in the IT community. In many other communities or countries, people are willing to talk about their failures; indeed, they wear their failures as a stripe on their shoulder. Rituals that mark a time of failure on our paths to success remind us about a time when things didn’t go as expected but we learned something and took away lessons that helped us achieve success in the future. Unfortunately, here in the Midwest, or at least here in Illinois, it doesn’t happen as much. I think that as a community and as a society we need to begin to recognize that sometimes there is much more value in learning from failure, than from success itself.
The idea behind the comeback entrepreneur came about because we tend to recognize success but we don’t often recognize what actually went into that success. The path to success is not always a clean and clear path. Its takes time, effort, trials and sometimes the outcome is not the best and at times things look like they are going to fail. So the “Comeback Entrepreneur” award was going to highlight those resilient moments and lessons learned throughout the process.
An ideal candidate for this award would have been someone who has built a company that may have gone through rough times and went bankrupt or otherwise failed, and got up and built another one with success due to lessons learned. Another example is an entrepreneur whose company was flying high, then hit rough times and went down but slowly came back up. The lessons here are much more valuable than an easy ride.
The irony here is that we failed at the attempt to make this category happen. The “Comeback Entrepreneur” is not happening. We only received two nominations in this category, where in the other categories we had averaged 20 nominations each. A lesson learned here for us is to seed the opportunity of awarding your “failures” a bit differently. What most prompted me to write this blog is to create some awareness in different communities about the benefits that come with recognizing the value of our failures as they have helped us get to where we are today.
As a result of highlighting failure, we have the gift of advising the younger generation or any other upcoming entrepreneurs, based on experiences and lessons learned. By opening doors to further innovation, we are allowing others to try something new, and preventing others from making the same mistakes.
Failure in business is like falling when learning to ride a bike, we all fall; some harder than others. But the lessons we learned in falling are transferable and prepare us to aid others for the inevitable falls that we all experience. Success doesn’t always look as we envision it, but lessons learned in failure are a success in itself.
So who do you give an “A” for “Failure”?
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This just in: SAVO Group to move their office and expand

Subject: SAVO Group makes plans to move their office and expand
Date: 5/13/2011 4:03:08 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron, I was sent a copy of this article by someone who found it interesting. According to several anonymous sources I have the big question people are asking about SAVO is will the new CEO replace more of SAVO’s senior management? Note: They are just asking and wondering, but they are not confirming or saying. No one really knows for sure. Stay tuned. We’ll try to present any facts as they develop and welcome any comments anyone sends about this. Looks like they will change their office space as well and work on expanding. I’m glad to hear this. From the sounds of this article the new CEO has experience with working with companies before they go public. I wonder if that’s SAVO’s plan? Very interesting.

In the last 6 weeks three employees who were with SAVO for two years or longer have left the company: Dave Teplinsky is now an Enterprise Account Executive at LinkedIn, Colleen Copple is now a Manager at SimthBucklin, and Phil Corbett is now a Senior Marketing Manager at Rise Interactive. I worked with all of three of these people and they are really good at what they do, bright and incredibly hard working. Best of luck to them.

-Melanie Adcock

SAVO: The Company That Works! Now Hiring

bit.ly/loRN2t

Career Coach on 04.08.11 at 11:06 AM | no comments |

Chicago-based company, SAVO offers an “on demand” software solution for sales professionals used to help them sell. With an impressive roster of clients including: IBM, Morningstar, American Express, Staples, GE, & Northern Trust, this privately-held 11-year old company with 121 employees is in a major growth cycle. With a solid revenue base, they are ramping up the company at warp speed, though they are very selective of whom they hire.

SAVO’s solution is quite different than other sales related solutions on the market because it makes it simple for sales people to prepare for great meetings with their prospects and clients. They do this by automatically gathering information about their own company’s products and services giving them better tools to sell, rather than traditional customer relationship management CRM solutions that gather information for the management but provide little help in the sales process. This is what most of the other companies like Oracle and Salesforce.com, do.

With the job market still struggling to regain some momentum, it is a thrill to find a firm that is aggressively hiring. I spoke with SAVO’s CEO, Mark O’Connell; a transplant from Boston who took over the helm from the founder last October, about the company. He appears to be making significant changes to the structure and plans for the company’s growth model.

Mark O’Connell is an experienced leader in late stage start-up companies. He has had terrific success at building later stage start-up companies prior to them going public. He has a finance background, yet has worked in a variety of positions in his career, including product management, sales management, marketing and strategic planning, all in the technology field. This gentleman knows how to run a business and SAVO will benefit from his leadership!

So what is SAVO doing? They are currently located in the West Loop and will be expanding their office space from 19,000 to 50,000 square feet when they move to new space later this year. The company is moving into the global market with plans to hire personnel in Europe as well as on the west and east coast here in the US, with the headquarters remaining in Chicago. They are actively recruiting, hoping to hire 100-plus additional employees by year end. They have already placed offers out to 35 people in the first three months of 2011 in all areas from entry level to senior positions in sales, marketing, HR, technology and finance.

I asked Mr. OConnell what his advice would be for job seekers in today’s competitive job environment and what he looked for in a candidate. He said that he believes that an undergraduate degree in accounting or finance and engineering are the area’s that would be the most useful as our economy moves forward. He suggested that the finance knowledge could be picked up by getting an MBA, but doesn’t require his employees to have an advanced degree.

Other tips he offered were to “stay healthy, keep your energy high and to work hard”. He also said, “Don’t be afraid to move around either within a company or outside of a company.” When hiring recent college students, he looks for those that were involved in a multitude of activities when they attended college. The interview process is quite intense, yet they move it along. It involves a phone interview, face-face interview with a few hiring managers and then an all day-interview with other members of the company, where the short list of prospective employees will have to give a presentation to a selected SAVO team.

They are methodical in their approach to hiring, yet it appears that they are really looking for the “right” people who will succeed in their company. They value human capital and want to insure their success. They want a collection of personalities and backgrounds and believe it will make the company stronger. SAVO even has a mentor coach model and pairs every new employee with an individual (besides their direct manager) to help them assimilate into the company as quickly as possible.

For more information on how to apply for a position at this exciting firm, go to their web-site at www.savogroup.com.

Top stories in today’s VentureWire:

Art by Mike Lucas
After entertaining requests from some 20 VCs seeking to invest, BranchOut Inc. has selected Redpoint Ventures to lead its $18 million Series B round. Valuation was between $80 million and $85 million for the company, which functions as a LinkedIn for Facebook users. Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Floodgate Fund also participated. Tim Chang, partner at Norwest, said the firm invested more than its pro rata share. “We’re very bullish.”

The team at Tap Me Inc. originally planned to develop their own mobile games, but after seeing a need to help developers better monetize their work, they decided to create a new mobile in-game advertising platform. The company, which has raised a $1.4 million Series A, wants its offering to be an intersection of gaming, social interaction and immersive brand integration.

Also, solar manufacturer Sunpreme Co. is raising up to $60 million in a new round of financing to build out manufacturing facilities and R&D facilities around the world, primarily in Asia and Latin America…SpringLeaf Therapeutics Inc. said it has raised a $15 million Series B round to promote a technology that may make life easier for people who take biological drugs…and Michael Sweeney, a pioneer in the field of cardiac devices who became a venture capitalist, plans to retire this spring from InterWest Partners, where he has been a member of the life sciences team for a decade.

(VentureWire is a daily newsletter with comprehensive analysis of all the investments, deals and personnel moves involving start-ups and their venture backers. For a two-week trial, click here.)

www.dowjones.com/privatemarkets/venturewire.asp

Subject: Facebook paid PR firm to smear Google | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Date: 5/12/2011 11:09:23 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: bconnolly@furthermore.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/12/facebook-pr-firm-google

Facebook paid PR firm to smear GoogleLeaked emails reveal Burson-Marsteller attempted to get USA Today and other titles to write about Google’s privacy policies

Google targets Microsoft with Chromebook laptop

Anonymous: peering behind the mask

Share2121 Comments (85)
Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 May 2011 15.47 BST Article history
Leaked emails reveal Facebook paid a PR firm to plant anti-Google stories. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Facebook has been caught secretly paying a top public relations firm to plant negative stories about Google in the US media.

Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest PR firms, attempted to get USA Today, the Washington Post and other high profile US news outlets to write scaremongering stories about Google’s privacy policies.

The explosive revelation – which will seriously damage relations between the two technology giants, already bitter rivals – came to light in leaked emails late on Wednesday. Facebook later confirmed to the Daily Beast that it had hired Burson-Marsteller.

Paul Cordasco, a spokesman for Burson-Marsteller, told the Guardian on Thursday that the assignment was “not at all standard operating procedure” and was against the company’s policies. He added: “The assignment on those terms should have been declined.”

Cordasco confirmed to the Guardian that “the assignment” was now terminated and that Burson-Marsteller was no longer working with the social network. Facebook declined to comment when contacted by the Guardian.

Suspicions in Silicon Valley were aroused earlier this week when two high-profile media figures – former CNBC tech reporter Jim Goldman, and John Mercurio, a former political reporter – began pitching anti-Google stories on behalf of their new employer, Burson-Marsteller. The pair consistently refused to disclose the identity of their client.

Goldman and Mercurio approached USA Today and other outlets offering to ghost write op-ed columns and other stories that raised privacy concerns about Google Social Circle, a social network feature based on Gmail.

In their pitch to journalists, the pair claimed Social Circle was “designed to scrape private data and build deeply personal dossiers on millions of users – in a direct and flagrant violation of [Google's] agreement with the FTC [Federal Trade Commission]“.

Facebook’s cover was blown when Burson-Marsteller offered to help write an op-ed for Chris Soghoian, a prominent internet security blogger. Soghoian challenged the company’s assertion that Social Circle was a privacy threat and accused them of “making a mountain out of a molehill”.

Soghoian was stonewalled by Burson-Marsteller when he asked them who their client was. He later published an email exchange between himself and Mercurio.

Cordasco said on Thursday: “Now that Facebook has come forward, we can confirm that we undertook an assignment for that client.

“The client requested that its name be withheld on the grounds that it was merely asking to bring publicly available information to light and such information could then be independently and easily replicated by any media. Any information brought to media attention raised fair questions, was in the public domain, and was in any event for the media to verify through independent sources.

“Whatever the rationale, this was not at all standard operating procedure and is against our policies, and the assignment on those terms should have been declined. When talking to the media, we need to adhere to strict standards of transparency about clients, and this incident underscores the absolute importance of that principle.”

Burson-Marsteller is no stranger to anti-Google stories. In 2007, Microsoft admitted that it had an “ongoing relationship” with the firm, which had been lobbying a number of top UK businesses to raise the issue of Google’s dominance in search.

The company confirmed to the Observer at the time that it worked with Microsoft to launch a new organisation – the Initiative for Competitive Online Marketplaces – that made a series of announcements relating to Google.

In this case, too, Burson-Marsteller did not disclose which company it was working for until challenged.

Google declined to comment.
_________________________________
From the attendees at FFF: Confidence The Game, very similar to Jeopardy

Subject: Confidence The Game
Date: 5/13/2011 9:35:26 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tim.hart23@gmail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron:

I appologize for the delay, I have been swamped. Below is a link to my trivia game show app which was recently released on iTunes App Store. Also below is a link to the review of the game by 148apps. This is just version 1 of the game as I am in the early stages of building this brand and this concept. Also attached is the press release.

bit.ly/h3qxWj

www.148apps.com/reviews/confidence-game-review/

Thanks
Tim Hart
c 847.924.5864
tim.hart23@gmail.com
__________________________________
Ray Willis is an interesting guy with a BA in Asian Studies and Physics, an MA in philosophy and a Ph.D. in Political Science and Statistics

Subject: Re: Ray, Ph.D., Rutgers Poli. Sci. and Stat.; M.S at ?? in what; BS in what, where?
Date: 5/13/2011 7:42:02 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: rwillis@isoytech.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

Ron,
What are you doing? MA was in philosophy at Grad. Faculty of New School for Social Research and BA was at UC Boulder in Asian Studies with minor in Physics.
Ray

Sent from Ray Willis’ iPhone
847-651-2251
Trout Valley, IL 60013

On May 13, 2011, at 3:32 AM, RONALDMAY@aol.com wrote:
__________________________________
Quinn and the Sears Holdings issue

Subject: Gov. Pat Quinn: State will pay for Sears to stay in Illinois
Date: 5/10/2011 7:48:53 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Gov. Pat Quinn: State will pay for Sears to stay in Illinois

bit.ly/jvVwkF

Today at 9:37 a.m.
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterPrintEmail
Sears Holdings Corp. has joined a growing list of companies threatening to move their headquarters out of Illinois, setting off a flurry of activity from government officials, including Gov. Pat Quinn, eager to keep thousands of corporate jobs in the state.

The retail giant, which has called the Chicago area home since 1887, is in early talks with officials from several states to relocate its Hoffman Estates headquarters. The states include New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia, according to a source familiar with the talks. The chief motivation for the move is to cut costs, the source said.

Quinn responded to Sears’ news Monday by saying the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is working to keep the company in Illinois.

“I’m sure that we will work out something that will work for the company, but most importantly, work for the common good, for the workers, for the jobs,” Quinn said.

Read more at Chicago Breaking News.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Quinn says he’ll work to keep Sears in Illinois
Date: 5/10/2011 7:44:21 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Quinn says he’ll work to keep Sears in Illinois
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

bit.ly/kxT9Bu

For more government coverage, visit the Daily Chronicle Government Center
CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn says he’ll deal with Sears Holdings Corp. as the company studies whether to keep its headquarters in Illinois.

And Quinn on Monday said he’s confident he can work out an agreement that will be good for Sears and Illinois.

The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported Monday that Hoffman Estates-based Sears is talking with other states about relocating. Tax incentives beneficial to Sears expire next year.

Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite says it’s still early in the process. The company commissioned a study that estimates job losses of 15,000 if Sears moved. The study says annual tax revenues to Illinois would drop by nearly $131 million.

Last week, Motorola Mobility announced it will stay in Illinois after the state promised $100 million in tax breaks over the next decade.

For more government coverage, visit the Daily Chronicle Government Center
______________________________
Adam Hartung: Sears? Stop the subsidies, sell the stock, invest in Groupon

Adam Hartung: Sears? Stop the subsidies, sell the stock, invest in Groupon

blogs.forbes.com/adamhartung/2011/05/11/sears-stop-the-subsidies-sell-the-stock-invest-in-groupon/

From Forbes.com

Growth – Dealing with Market Shifts

Adam Hartung

Sears? Stop the subsidies, sell the stock, invest in Groupon

May 11 2011

Troubled Sears wants state and local tax subsidies

Sears is threatening to move its headquarters out of Illinois. It’s been in Chicago since the 1880s. Now the company Chairman is threatening to move the headquarters to another state, in order to find lower operating costs and lower taxes.

Predictably “Officials Scrambling to Keep Sears in Illinois” is the Chicago Tribune headline. That is stupid. Let Sears go. Giving Sears subsidies would be tantamount to putting a 95 year old alcoholic, smoking paraplegic at the top of the heart/lung transplant list! When it comes to subsidies, triage is the most important thing to keep in mind. And honestly, Sears ain’t worth trying to save (even if subsidies could potentially do it!)

“Fast Eddie Lampert” was the hedge fund manager who created Sears Holdings by using his takeover of bankrupt KMart to acquire the former Sears in 2003. Although he was a financier and arbitrager, Mr. Lampert claimed he was a retailing genius. He promised to turn around the ailing Sears.

In his corner he had the “Mad Money” screaming investment advocate, Jim Cramer, endorsing him and the company because…… the two were once in college together. Mr. Cramer promised investors would do well, because he was sure Mr. Lampert was smart. Even if he didn’t have a plan for fixing the company.

Sears Holdings is in the whirlpool of failure, at the tail end of its lifecycle, with no future

Sears had once been a retailing goliath, the originator of home shopping with the famous Sears catalogue, and a pioneer in financing purchases. At one time you could obtain all your insurance, banking and brokerage needs at a Sears, while buying clothes, tools and appliances. An innovator, Sears for many years was part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But by 2004 the world had shifted, Home Depot displaced Sears on the DJIA, and the company’s profits and revenues sagged as competitors picked apart the product lines and locations.

Simultaneously KMart had been financially destroyed by the faster moving and more aggressive Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s costs were lower, and its prices lower. Even though KMart had pioneered discount retailing, it could not compete with the fast growing, supply chain innovating Wal-Mart. Nor on-line competitors with no brick-and-mortar overhead. When its bonds were worth pennies, Mr. Lampert bought them and took over the money-losing company.

By combining two losers, Mr. Lampert promised he would make a winner. How, nobody knew. There was no plan to change either chain. Just a claim that both were “great brands” that had within them other “great brands” like Martha Stewart (started before she was convicted and sent to jail), Craftsman, Kenmore and Die-Hard (better known as a movie title by people under 40.) And there was a lot of real estate. Somehow, all those assets simply had to be worth more than the market value. At least that’s what Mr. Lampert said, and people were ready to believe. And if they had doubts, they should listen to Jim Cramer rant to buy the stock during his daily Howard Beale impersonation.

Only they all were wrong. Assets do become obsolete, and doing more of the same better, faster, cheaper is not a path to success when markets shift.

Retailing had shifted. Smarter competitors were everywhere. Wal-Mart, Target, Dollar General, Home Depot, Best Buy, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Harbor Freight Tools, Amazon.com and a plethora of other competitors had changed the retail market forever. Likewise, manufacturers in apparel, appliances and tools had brought forward better products at better prices. And financing was now readily available from credit card companies.

Surely the real estate would be worth a fortune everyone thought. After all, there was so much of it. There could never be too much retail space. And real estate never went down in value. At least, that’s what Sears proponents said.

But they were wrong. Real estate was at historic highs compared to income, and ability to pay. Real estate was about to crater. And hardest hit in the commercial market was retail space, as the “great recession” depressed home values, killed personal credit lines, and wiped out disposable income. Additionally, consumers increasingly were buying on-line instead of trudging off to stores, fueling growth at Amazon and its peers rather than Sears – which had no on-line presence.

A great past is meaningless when investing. Market shifts change the winners, and turn old winners into losers.

Those who were optimistic for Sears were looking backward. What had once been valuable they felt surely must be valuable again. But those looking forward could see that market shifts had rendered both KMart and Sears obsolete. They were uncompetitive in an increasingly more competitive marketplace. As competitors kept working harder, doing more, changing the marketplace Sears was not really in the game.

The merger only made the likelihood of failure greater, because it made the scale of change even greater. Two locked-in success formulas, both out of date, needed dramatic overhauls if Sears Holdings was to succeed. But the focus for Mr. Lampert was strictly on cost cutting.

The results since 2003 have been abysmal. Sales per store, a key retail benchmark, have declined every quarter since Mr. Lampert took over. Mr. Lampert led the charge for cost reductions, and his management team became machete-wielding slashers. Jobs were cut from overhead and at stores, product lines were cut, and stores were closed every quarter in an effort to preserve dwindling cash flow.

As revenue declined, Mr. Lampert focused on earnings. He famously said in an annual meeting that his smaller company, had the same earnings as previously, and it was analogous to a plane descending from 30,000 feet to 15,000 feet. Investors should feel good about the situation – I guess because the plane had not yet crashed. But with every quarter Sears became smaller, and smaller. Mr. Lampert was not saving his way to prosperity. To the contrary, he was using up precious resources without converting Sears into a viable competitor – using the cash to defend & extend past practices rather than change.

Recently Crains Chicago Business headlined that even the (in)famous chairman was admitting his past failure “Sears Chief Lampert: We Ought to be Doing a Lot Better.” But, unfortunately, there is still no plan to make Sears a relevant competitor. The focus remains on selling mowers and washers as recently described in “New Sears’ CEO Optimism Contrasts with Sinking Stock Price.” The market has shifted, but Sears leadership remains dogmatic.

Sears is no longer competitively relevant, or viable.

Sears once built, and owned, America’s tallest structure. But long ago Sears left the Sears Tower; it’s now named the Willis Tower. Sears headquarters are in suburban Hoffman Estates, and are half empty. Due to cuts and efforts to get more out of less, such as the turnover of apparel merchandisers when transferring that function to California, the jobs keep going away. A focus on cost cutting rather than growth does that. Makes you smaller, and less viable.

After years of trying to defend the traditional Sears/Kmart businesses, well….. who cares? Do you even know where the closest Sears or Kmart store is to your home? Do you know what they sell? Do you know the comparative prices? Do you know what products they carry? Do you know if they have any unique products, or value proposition? Do you know anyone who works at Sears? Or shops there? If the store nearest you closed, would you miss it amidst the Home Depot, Kohl’s or Best Buy competitors? Have you ever tried to buy from Sears on-line? If all Sears stores closed – every single location – would you care?

And now Illinois is considering giving this company subsidies to retain the headquarters?

Invest in things that grow – whether its your cash flow, your pension, or your tax dollars

Here’s an alternative idea. Using whatever logic the state leaders can develop, using whatever dream scenario and whatever desperation economics they have in mind to save a handful of jobs, figure out what the Sears subsidy might be. Then invest it in Groupon. Groupon is currently the most famous technology start-up in Illinois. Over the next 10 years the Groupon investment just might create a few thousand jobs, and return a nice bit of loot to the state treasury. The Sears money will be gone, and Sears is going to disappear anyway. Really, if you want to give a subsidy, if you want to “double down,” why not bet on a winner?

The investment doesn’t have to be Groupon. The point is that state residents will be much better off if the money goes into a business that is growing. The money needs to invest in the direction of long term trends, not in outdated, obsolete historic assets. Beg Amazon, Google or Apple to open a center in Illinois – give them a building for free if you want to create some jobs. At least those will be jobs that won’t quickly disappear to competitors. Or invest the money in venture funds that can invest in new biotech or other companies that might become the next Groupon. Heck, invest in senior design projects from engineering students at the University of Illinois in Chicago or Urbana/Champaign. Invest in something that has a chance of growing!

Sentimentality isn’t bad. We all deserve the right to “remember the good old days.” But don’t invest your retirement fund, or state tax receipts, in sentimentality. That’s how you end up like Detroit. States too often think only “how can I preserve this business in my community” without realizing that competitors are far more important to the future than any subsidy. If tax dollars are to be spent on business subsidies they should be invested in things that will grow – or at least have a chance to do so. So you can be more like silicon valley.

Smart investors put their money in businesses that take advantage of market shifts, and leverage big trends to grow. They ignore sentimentality. So Illinois, and investors, need to let go of Sears. You’ll feel a lot better when you start focusing on future growth.
_____________________________________
uic confidential – on Nancy Sullivan

uic confidential – do NOT REVEAL EMAIL

E-mail withheld to me

show details Apr 29

from E-mail withheld upon request
themayreport.com
date Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 10:29 AM
subject uic confidential – do NOT REVEAL EMAIL

hide details Apr 29

*********DO NOT REVEAL EMAIL ID WHEN PUBLISHING ******************************

Hi Ron,

UIC OTM story seems to getting very interesting- almost surreal. We have harassment of senior personnel such as Connie, Colin and Jay. We have the potential kickback issue with the Dave Carley angle. We have naked favoritism with Jeremy Brown Noser ( the real name seems Jeremy Hollis) and hiring of old friends like Kathy Liu. To top it all we have good reasons to believe Dr. Sullivan ( I mean Nancy, she would not be such a sorry pathetic insecure thing if she had a JD or a PhD) is inflating figures. It appears Ms. Nancy Insecure has wantonly abused powers. All this could make into a nice movie!

One wonders why all the people at OTM who have suffered so much never voiced their concerns to the HR? I mean the university must be having exit interview policies. Can you please help the readers by looking into that issue. Who is the HR? Are you interviewing the HR? What Ghosh aware of the personnel issues or was he instrumental in suppressing them. Can you please tell the readers more details about your conversations with Ghosh?

I mean it looks funky that he left leaving a legacy of problems with the new VPTED. It seems Ghosh was demoted. Can we get this confirmed?

Also your newsletters say that Nancy worked for Tom Thornton and that they both spent $1000+ on some dinner!

So did Nancy take her lessons in sleeze from Tom or did Tom take lessons from her? In any case, when will there be an investigation of Nancy the way there is forensic audit of Tom Thornton?

*********DO NOT REVEAL EMAIL ID WHEN PUBLISHING *****************
________________________________
Saturday, May 28: API Hack Day Chicago Invite

Subject: API Hack Day Chicago Invite – May 28
Date: 5/13/2011 11:24:03 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

1. API Hack Day Chicago Invite – May 28 – From: Shanley Kane
1.
Subject: API Hack Day Chicago Invite – May 28

From: Shanley Kane

Date: May 12, 2011 2:37 PM

Reply to sender Reply to Meetup

Hey everyone –
Thought you all might be interested in a hacker event coming up- it will be right after PHP Tek if any of you were planning on going to that! API Hack Day is a free, one-day event focused on building cool projects with APIs – we started out in San Francisco but are trying to bring it to other local communities. All languages and hacker newbies welcome too!!!

DETAILS:Saturday, May 28 Morningstar Offices Chicago, 22 W Washington St RSVP at apihackdaychicago.eventbrite.com/

There will be some cool demos from Apigee, Mashery, SendGrid and Twilio too but mainly good space, good wifi and good people. Feel free to email me if you have any questions! (shanley -at- apigee.com) Hope to meet some of you out!

CheersShanley
–
@Apigeehttp://apigee.com
Twitter: Shanley
Skype: shanleykane
Cell: 312-479-2320

You are receiving this message because you have selected to receive a daily digest for your Chicago Tech Meetup mailing list. You can visit your Meetup Group here: www.meetup.com/Chicago-Tech-Meetup/
____________________________________
Our Love Affair with Technology and Its Hidden Dangers: National Mental Health Month, May 2011

Our Love Affair with Technology and Its Hidden Dangers: National Mental Health Month, May 2011

Melanie Adcock to me, ronaldmay

show details 12:09 PM (31 minutes ago)

from Melanie Adcock melanie_adcock@msn.com
to ron@themayreport.com,
ronaldmay@aol.com
date Fri, May 13, 2011 at 12:09 PM
subject Our Love Affair with Technology and Its Hidden Dangers: National Mental Health Month, May 2011
mailed-by msn.com

hide details 12:09 PM (31 minutes ago)

Our Love Affair with Technology and Its Hidden Dangers: National Mental Health Month, May 2011
Date: Tue. May 17, 2011

Time: 6:00 pm

Location:
Harold Washington Library Center
Authors Room
400 S. State Street
60605

About this event:

The Chicago Public Library observes National Mental Health Month, May 2011.

Technology is transforming lives at breakneck speed. Like any powerful force, technology must be reasonably managed and controlled-or it will manage and control us. When technology becomes an obsession our lives, relationships, health and well being are at risk. Learn the dangers of and controls for this increasing problem. Presented by Bob Kauffman, Co-Founder and President at Critical Thinking for Success.

Additional resources on Mental Health Awareness can be found on the Chicago Public Library website.

Programs offered in cooperation with the Mental Health Association of Greater Chicago. Visit mentalhealthchicago.org.

The Chicago Authors Room is located on the 7th floor.
_________________________________
Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge // The May Report

Subject: FW: Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge // The May Report
Date: 5/10/2011 7:18:07 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

————————————-
From: hheinz@nerdery.com
Subject: Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge // The May Report
Date: Mon, 9 May 2011 18:16:41 -0500
CC: rreinhar@nerdery.com
To: melanie_adcock@msn.com

Hi Melanie. It was a pleasure chatting with you about The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge. I’m so glad Raymond could connect us and I really appreciate your time. We’d love if the post below could make it on The May Report. Thanks again!

***************************************
NERDERY OVERNIGHT WEBSITE CHALLENGE COMING TO CHICAGO

Nonprofts and volunteer web pros (nerds) registering for 24-hour event Aug. 20-21. Charitable nerds have already donated $1.5 million in web services to 57 nonprofits.

Who: The Nerdery seeks like-minded web professionals to join in giving their time and talent to help nonprofits create websites they couldn’t otherwise afford at The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge (chi2011.overnightwebsitechallenge.com).

Who Else: Eligible nonprofits (501c3-registered organizations in Illinois) can apply by June 30 by articulating how nerds could help them do what they do – only better – online.

Why: Considering the collective good nonprofits do, losing sleep to help them is a wise investment – they pay it forward many times over by better serving our communities.

When: August 20-21, 2011; 9 a.m. Saturday – 9 a.m. Sunday

Where: Resolution Digital Studios (RDS), 2226 West Walnut Street, Chicago

How: Volunteer teams self-organize with at least eight and as many as 10 people – team captains recruit peers covering these skill sets: front-end development, back-end development, project management, strategy, UX, graphic design, copywriting and QA. Nonprofits apply by articulating their vision of how nerds could further their mission through better use of interactive technology. Fans of nonprofits post online testimonials on why the organization they support – or benefit from – should get a new website for the price of a good night’s sleep.

When else: June 30 – Nonprofit registration deadline; July 15 – Volunteer registration deadline; July 18 – Teams set; July 25 – Announce chosen nonprofits.

Who’s The Nerdery?: The Nerdery (www.nerdery.com) has offices in Chicago and Minneapolis where about 200 self-proclaimed nerds/web professionals partner with creative minds and big thinkers to envision and execute their interactive projects, including websites, mobile apps and social media. During the first four years of the Twin Cities’ annual Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, volunteers have freely given more than $1.5 million in professional web development services to 57 nonprofits. Ranked #1 on Biz Journal’s 2010 Best Places to Work list, The Nerdery considers this a good start as they bring their nerdy deeds to Chicago.

Who Else: Sponsors include: Groupon, Steadfast Networks, RDS, Chipotle, Peace Coffee, Ergotron. The Nerdery welcomes likeminded companies as event sponsors and in-kind supporters; to help feed and caffeinate this nonprofit nerdathon, email info@overnightwebsitechallenge.com or call 877-OMG-NERD.

See/Believe: nrdry.com/3L

***************************************

Hillary Heinz
Campaign Coordinator
The Nerdery
(952) 428.7191 // office
(952) 948.1611 // fax

nerdery.com/Hh

_____________________________________
May 23rd: Mobile Retai – Engaging the Customers in your Store: Meetup: Mobile Retail – Engaging the Customers in your Store

Subject: FW: [momo-chicago] New Meetup: Mobile Retai – Engaging the Customers in your Store
Date: 5/11/2011 4:35:49 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Announcing a new Meetup for momo-chicago!

www.meetup.com/momo-chicago/events/17554005/

What: Mobile Retai – Engaging the Customers in your Store
When: Monday, May 23, 2011 6:00 PM

Where: Morningstar
22 West Washington Street 7th Floor
Chicago, IL 60602

Why: Nick Fotis works with the largest brands in the country at Arc Worldwide. On May 23rd, he’ll provide us with insights into how retailers and product manufacturers plan to engage you through your mobile device when you’re in a store.

We’ll discuss what technologies are in play now, and what emerging technologies have the possibility of adoption by these brands.

How do they plan to get you to spend more? And, how do they plan to deliver value so you’ll engage with them as well.
_______________________________
comScore Reports March 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

Subject: FW: comScore Reports March 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share
Date: 5/11/2011 1:34:43 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

comScore Reports March 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share
Google and Apple Gain Ground in Smartphone Market

RESTON, VA, May 6, 2011 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending March 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.5 percent market share. Google Android led among smartphone platforms with 34.7 percent market share.

OEM Market Share

For the three month average period ending in March, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers. LG ranked second with 20.9 percent share, followed by Motorola (15.8 percent) and RIM (8.4 percent). Apple continued to gain share following the launch of the Verizon iPhone, up 1.1 percentage points to reach 7.9 percent of subscribers.

Top Mobile OEMs
3 Month Avg. Ending Mar. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2010
Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
Dec-10 Mar-11 Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
Samsung 24.8% 24.5% -0.3
LG 20.9% 20.9% 0.0
Motorola 16.7% 15.8% -0.9
RIM 8.5% 8.4% -0.1
Apple 6.8% 7.9% 1.1
Smartphone Platform Market Share

72.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in March 2011, up 15 percent from the preceding three-month period. Google Android grew 6.0 percentage points to 34.7 percent market share, while RIM ranked second with 27.1 percent. Apple grew 0.5 points to 25.5 percent share, followed by Microsoft (7.5 percent) and Palm (2.8 percent).

Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Avg. Ending Mar. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2010
Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Dec-10 Mar-11 Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
Google 28.7% 34.7% 6.0
RIM 31.6% 27.1% -4.5
Apple 25.0% 25.5% 0.5
Microsoft 8.4% 7.5% -0.9
Palm 3.7% 2.8% -0.9
Mobile Content Usage

In March, 68.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Browsers were used by 38.6 percent of subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 37.3 percent (up 2.9 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.6 percentage points, representing 27.3 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games comprised 25.7 percent of the mobile audience, while listening to music represented 17.9 percent.

Mobile Content Usage
3 Month Avg. Ending Mar. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Dec. 2010
Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLens
Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
Dec-10 Mar-11 Point Change
Total Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A
Sent text message to another phone 68.0% 68.6% 0.6
Used browser 36.4% 38.6% 2.2
Used downloaded apps 34.4% 37.3% 2.9
Accessed social networking site or blog 24.7% 27.3% 2.6
Played Games 23.2% 25.7% 2.5
Listened to music on mobile phone 15.7% 17.9% 2.2
About MobiLens
MobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of mobile subscribers age 13 and above. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent’s primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent’s secondary device.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Contact:
Stephanie Lyn Flosi
Senior Marketing Communications Analyst
comScore, Inc.
+1 312 777 8801
press@comscore.com
_________________________________
midVenturesLAUNCH Inside of TechWeek; 45+ New Speakers; Nominations Open for the TechWeek 100

Subject: FW: NEW: midVenturesLAUNCH Inside of TechWeek; 45+ New Speakers; Nominations Open for the TechWeek 100
Date: 5/11/2011 7:39:34 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

TechWeek Conference adds midVenturesLAUNCH 2011 on July 25

Great news for startup enthusiasts! TechWeek has added the entire programming of the successful midVenturesLAUNCH, the largest startup conference & competition in the Midwest, into the TechWeek Conference & Expo!

Beginning with a hackathon on July 23-24, and culminating on Monday, July 25, with our COMPETE track with 35 startups and $100,000 in prizes, LAUNCH track product presentations, mVDEMO area startups, and panels and keynotes from venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs, midVenturesLAUNCH promises to add tons of exciting content to TechWeek.

An Overview of midVenturesLAUNCH Tracks:

COMPETE: 35 early-stage tech startups (less than 3 years old; less than $3M in funding) apply to win cash and prizes by pitching venture capitalists and competing for a chance to pitch on-stage in front of the TechWeek conference! COMPETE startups receive an expo table on Monday, July 25. The top 10 COMPETE companies present on stage. Apply for free to be one of the top 35 COMPETE startups. (Applications open until June 26 — accepted on a rolling basis.)

LAUNCH: Companies demo their newest products or feature releases from 2011. LAUNCH track companies receive 5 minutes of stage time and an expo table on Monday, July 25. Apply for a LAUNCH spot now. (Applications open until June 26 — accepted on a rolling basis.)

mVDEMO: Where early-stage tech startups (less than 3 years old; less than $3M in funding) secure a spot to be voted on by the crowd to receive the People’s Choice Award and a chance to present in front of the entire audience on stage. mVDEMO area startups receive a 24″ bar-height table. Secure your mVDEMO spot today.

Registration for the TechWeek Conference & Expo on July 22-25, 2011, at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago is open. Your conference pass includes admission to midVenturesLAUNCH on July 25. Register by May 15 for special introductory pricing!

45+ Speakers added to the
TechWeek Conference & Expo

We’ve added over 45 new speakers to the TechWeek Conference, including:

Adam Siegel, Inkling Markets
Bernhard Kappe, Pathfinder Development
Brandon Kessler, CEO, ChallengePost
Brian Fitzpatrick, Google
Caleb Elston, Founder & CEO, Yobongo
Chris Duesing, TheExchangery
Eduardo Fernandez, MigrationBox
Ethan Austin, GiveForward
Gian Fulgani, Executive Chairman, comScore
Gurbaksh Chahal, CEO, RadiumOne
Jeremy Hanks, CEO, Doba
Jim Buttimer, Glassdoor
Kaspar Hulthin, Podio
Matt Cooper, Vice President of Operations, oDesk
Matt Maloney, CEO, Grubhub
Mike Evans, COO, Grubhub
Nick Ducoff, Infochimps
Nikhil Sethi, Adapt.ly
Tom Sosnoff, co-founder, thinkorswim
Sarah Evans, Sevens Strategy
Vivek Sodera, co-founder, RapLeaf

See the current TechWeek Conference schedule. More speakers are announced weekly!

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Announcing the TechWeek 100

TechWeek is now accepting nominations for the TechWeek 100, the top 100 most influential, visionary, or disruptive technology leaders in and around Chicago and the Midwest.

The purpose of the TechWeek 100 is to give credit to those individuals who are impacting the business and technology landscape on a global scale, from managing fast-growing technology companies to inventing new computer programming languages.

The TechWeek 100 is not a rankings but rather a list of 100 technology leaders chosen through a review of nominations by the TechWeek advisors and the TechWeek team.

The TechWeek 100 will be announced just prior to TechWeek, July 22-29, in Chicago. Honorees will be invited to the TechWeek Conference & Expo as special guests, honored at the TechWeek VIP party and included in TechWeek 100 media, both online and in print.
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Subject: FW: Chicago Innovation Awards
Date: 5/11/2011 7:40:29 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

A message to all members of Built in Chicago
This is a quick note to encourage you to nominate your company for the Chicago Innovation Awards.

As you will notice from our home page, Built In Chicago is supporting and promoting several important efforts and groups to help the entire digital ecosystem grow. Excelreate Labs and TechWeek are two newer efforts and the Chicago Innovation Awards is another long standing and high profile platform that recognizes and fosters innovation in Chicago.

The Chicago Innovation Awards recognize the most innovative new produces and services brought to market in the Chicago region. The nomination process is easy, it is free, and you are invited to nominate your own firms’ products and services. It is important as digital companies we do a good job of telling our story and highlighting to the larger Chicago business community and the national press all of the great innovation going on in digital media, mobile, eCommerce and SaaS companies.

I know many of you are incredibly busy, but I would argue that it is well worth you time to nominate your company. Core to the Built in Chicago mission is to connect, educate and promote the digital community. This is a great opportunity to promote your innovations. Many years ago when I was CEO of CoolSavings we won and ended up on Chicago Tonight along with Wilson Sporting Goods talking about our respective breakthroughs. It was a good PR opportunity and a great validator of the technology.

They awards process is free to all applicants. This is a great a civic event that has grown steadily each year since their founding ten years ago. The Chicago Innovation Award process includes a reception for all nominees at the House of Blues and a special day of executive education at the Kellogg School for 75 nominees. The winners are recognized during an event at the Goodman Theatre, profiled in major media, invited to ring the opening NASDAQ bell in New York City and more.

I personally encourage you to participate.

Thanks

Matt Moog

www.builtinchicago.org/profile/mattmoog

Visit Built in Chicago at: www.builtinchicago.org/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
_______________________________
Social Media for Business Training [May here. Wait, Melanie, don't tell me, this is the same event we are advertising]

Subject: FW: Social Media for Business Training
Date: 5/11/2011 5:05:37 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Nicole Duhoski has sent you a message.

Subject: Social Media for Business Training

Hi Friends,

I am excited to personally invite you to join me for ‘Social Media for Business’, ow.ly/4yAgk a 5-week online workshop by Instant e Training. I am honored to be among a star-studded speaker line-up and will be guiding attendees through various social media platforms in our how-to sessions.

This workshop is for business owners, marketers, attorneys, consultants, freelancers, bloggers, job seekers, and anyone responsible for managing a personal or professional online reputation.

Detailed Workshop Agenda:

Session 1 – May 25 Social Media Strategy in 8 Steps
Session 2 – June 1 Managing Online Reputation
Session 3 – June 3 Facebook Power Marketing
Session 4 – June 8 Twitter Strategies for Success
Session 5 – June 10 Mastering YouTube
Session 6 – June 15 LinkedIn Power Strategies
Session 7 – June 18 Social Location Based Marketing for Business
Session 8 – June 22 SEO & Social Media

The first 100 attendees will receive a copy of Simon Salt’s book ‘Social Location Marketing.’ Sign up today! www.instantetraining.com/online-marketing-workshop/social-media-training

‘Like Us’ on Facebook, facebook.com/ietraining for a chance to win a free ticket!

Best,
Nicole Duhoski
@nduhoski
@instantetraining
______________________________________
Tennessee Home Grown Businesses Fund

Subject: Tennessee Home Grown Businesses Fund
Date: 5/11/2011 5:47:54 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: ckolodziej1@comcast.net
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

Governor emphasizes developing homegrown businesses

By Anita Wadhwani | The Tennessean
Saying it was “time to raise our game,” Gov. Bill Haslam unveiled a $50 million initiative on Thursday to promote entrepreneurship and spur private investment in Tennessee startup companies as part of a broader “knowledge-based jobs” creation plan.

The new plan includes $30 million to create investment funds that target early-stage or seed companies, along with an unspecified level of funding set aside for current or new business incubators across the state. Incubators are designed to help owners develop their ideas and give young businesses a low-cost place to start operating.

The initiative also calls for developing specific economic development plans by region.

“In a global economy, a focus on innovation along with raising our achievement in education, is the best approach to moving our state’s economy forward,” said Haslam, speaking at a technology-based economic development gathering of 400 entrepreneurs and investors organized by the state-funded Tennessee Technology Development Corporation.

Thursday’s announcement unveiled the latest component of Haslam’s Jobs4TN plan, the first major economic initiative for the governor, who campaigned on his experiences as a businessman.

In what the administration sees as a departure from his predecessor, former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, Haslam, a Republican, has emphasized developing homegrown businesses rather than enticing companies to move from somewhere else to Tennessee.

Some 86 percent of new jobs in Tennessee are created by businesses that already exist inside the state, while only 1.2 percent are created by relocations, Haslam said at the 2011 Tennessee Next Conference, which will continue Friday at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown hotel.

This initiative, which Haslam has dubbed “INCITE” for innovation, commercialization, investment, technology and entrepreneurship, will be managed by the Department of Economic and Community Development. Some $10 million of the initiative’s funds have already been accounted for in Haslam’s proposed state budget for the Memphis Research Consortium.

The governor would need to seek lawmakers’ approval for another $2 million to $5 million, making the total state investment between $12 million and $15 million as part of the plan, according to Mark Drury, assistant commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

Haslam is seeking most of the remaining funds through the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative.

Local entrepreneurs say Tennessee has long lagged behind other states in making investment funds available for entrepreneurs.

“This concept of helping startups in this way is relatively new to Tennessee,” said Michael Burcham, president and CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, an incubator that selects fledgling companies to mentor here.

“There are other states and cities that have been doing this three, four or five years that have had a lot of success, but we’re late to the table.”

Partnerships to gain

Some $30 million – or the lion’s share of the new intiative – will go to capital investment funds that are designed to “complement” Tennessee’s existing public-private partnership programs, such as TNInvestco.

Groups selected by the state as TNInvestco funds leverage state tax breaks to raise private dollars that they, in turn, invest in entrepreneurial efforts of individual companies. TNInvestco critics say there has been no public disclosure about how the limited number of investment funds were selected or how those, in turn, pick the startup companies into which they pump investment dollars.

Details on the design of the new capital investment program are still being worked out, but private investment companies will be involved. The state will not be the lead investor, Drury said Thursday evening.
___________________________________
Thursday, May 19: CDMUG May 2011 Meet Up

Subject: FW: [drupal-1] CDMUG May 2011 Meet Up: Thursday May 19th @ 6:00 pm
Date: 5/11/2011 4:53:59 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Thursday May 19th @ 6:00 pm
RSVP @ drupal.meetup.com/1

Duo will start opening doors at 6:00pm for attendees to arrive, socialize, and hang out before meetups. We are hoping to officially start presentation by 7:00pm. Comment your RSVP with name and bring photo ID to gain authorized access to Duo’s office downtown.

Presentations:

What I learned on my way to Drupal 7 by Joel Finkel
Drupal as a framework for iOS mobile development by Rachel Jaro
Joel Finkel started writing computer code in 1348, when he created a database to track population collapse during the Black Plague. His first iPhone app was designed to help Ulysses S Grant procure whiskey in a timely manner. In the 1930, he created an fine-tasting social- networking site for 5-year-olds called Pastebook. Operating as a confused alter kocker, Mr. Finkel now freelances under his company’s name: Systems by Design of Illinois. He has been using Drupal since 1962 and thinks that every day is April 1st.

Rachel Jaro is a Solutions Architect for Promet. Rachel has been with Promet for 5 years and her experience helps her lead a talented team of developers and provide creative solutions to clients needs. Rachel has worked on open source and Drupal web development. Some of Rachel ‘s project highlights include large scale data migration to Drupal, community deployment in Drupal for sba.gov and Drupal and mobile application integration. Rachel loves working with Promet because of the wonderful people that she is surrounded by. In her free time she tries to convince her friends that she can be the next American Idol.

Estimated Agenda:
6:00 – Doors Open
6:30 – Meetup Starts, Arrival, and Socialize
7:00 – Presentation: Joel Finkel – What I learned on way to Drupal 7
7:45 – Break with Questions and Answers
8:00 – Presentation: Rachel Jaro – Drupal as a framework for iOS
8:45 – Questions, Answers, Closing/Wrap Up
9:00 – Beer @Dick’s Last Resort (315 N Dearborn St)

The Chicago Drupal Meet Up Group is proud to present at least two featured presentations about the hottest Drupal topics each month. We have room for 75 people and all skill levels are welcomed. If you are brand new to Drupal we recommend attending one of our free monthly training workshops.

Joel Finkel will be presenting….What I learned on my way to Drupal 7….I will demonstrate a new, very simple website that I am working on for a local photographer. Looking under the hood, I will demonstrate the following:

Understand the business rules
Why 12 columns and 64 regions is not always a good thing
Starting with your own theme can be a challenge, but not a hard one
HOOK_node_presave() is your friend
Integrating Javascript and D7 is fun, fun, fun
How to roll your own image gallery

Rachel Jaro will be presenting….Drupal as a framework for iOS mobile development….Mobile development is the rage. How can drupal play a role? We’ll discuss SDK options for mobile development, HTML5′s role and how we used Drupal as a framework for the mobile apps to check home for enterprise mobile web application development.

An introduction to the mdot, hybrid and native apps
How your site can be part of the mobile world
Using services module and json
We’ll discuss mobile development that goes beyond games and displaying your content on a mobile device. We’ll provide examples of real time two way communication, geo tracking a fleet of devices using openlayers and google apis. Intended audience: This presentation will speak to a wide audience, from developers looking to learn about tool sets and methods to decision makers who want to see how to take the iPad from a media consumption device to a powerful workforce communication tool.

Questions answered by this session:

What is mobile development?
What are the available development tools for mobile development?
How to use services and openlayers to create an integrated mobile and web application?
What are possible challenges with using Google maps API and openlayers?

Almost every CDMUG presentation is recorded and now available online @ cdmug.org/videos

If you are not able to physically attend, join us virtually in our #cdmug IRC chat room on freenode. Members hang out in the chat room on a daily basis even when meetups are not happening. If you are unfamiliar with IRC view drupal.org/irc feel free to utilize our web based chat client @ cdmug.org/chat

All meetups will be in traditional CDMUG fashion. No dress code, relaxed attitudes, open ideas, laptop encouraged, remember business cards, and we will probably go for a beer afterward.

Contact us if you are interested in presenting, have ideas for the group, have any type of feedback – cdmug.org/contact or follow us on twitter @ twitter.com/cdmug

–
This message was sent by Matthew Lechleider (matthew@lechleider.com) from Chicago Drupal Meet Up Group.
_____________________________________
I’m looking for a mobile dev for my team at Morningstar

Subject: FW: Mobile Dev
Date: 5/11/2011 1:33:28 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Date: Fri, 6 May 2011 09:10:38 -0500
Subject: Mobile Dev
From: vivek.vaid@gmail.com
To: momochicago@googlegroups.com

I’m looking for a mobile dev for my team at Morningstar. Please reach out to me directly if you have questions or are interested – please do not email the group. I am looking for a solid software craftsman first, mobile experience is a plus.

corporate.morningstar.com/us/asp/subject.aspx?xmlfile=190.xml&filter=HR1803

Thanks,
Vivek

–
_______________________
Web: www.momochicago.org
MoMo on Twitter: twitter.com/MoMoChicago
MoMo on LinkedIn: linkd.in/momochi
MoMo on Facebook: bit.ly/10574H

Manage your subscription: www.meetup.com/momo-chicago/
________________________________
Anonymous comment on Facebook

Subject: Not for Attribution to Me Please
Date: 5/5/2011 1:08:49 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: Name withheld upon request
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

Withhold Name:

Ron, a small Facebook nuance you may want to remember. When you or your team cut-and-paste or receive copies of EVENTS originally posted on Facebook, you’ll want to be careful about the headline that reads “Created By…” In Facebook parlance that header (“Created by…”) means ONLY that the Facebook event announcement you are copying (i.e., the notice/invitation itself) was created by the person(s) listed âˆ’ NOT that the organization or event itself was necessarily created by the person(s) posting the notice/invitation. Unintentionally you’ll risk incorrectly reporting that the event or organization was created by the person(s) posting the invite, when in fact they may be the publicity team, the program committee, or a helpful friend or two. Especially with organizations that have been around for a number of years, some with kindly volunteers handling promotion, you would not assume or report that the Facebook Event Page creators necessarily created/founded the event or organization. As an example, The Economic Club of Chicago might have a “Created by…” headline on a Facebook event page, but we know that header does not mean the “Created by” person posting the event was around in 1927 when Lucius Teter started the organization.

Name Withheld
_________________________________
Thomas R. Bennett: Blagojevich Defense Team – 1919 White Sox or The Bad News Bears?

Subject: Blagojevich Defense Team – 1919 White Sox or The Bad News Bears?
Date: 5/12/2011 10:54:59 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
CC: tomrbennett@yahoo.com

Ron:

Below is our recent report related to coverage of USA v. Milorad Blagojevich as well as continued efforts toward constructing a biography of U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

www.nuclearchicago.com/2011/05/nuclear-chicago-blagojevich-defense-team-1919-white-sox-or-the-bad-news-bears%C2%A0/

Stay tuned.

Sláinte,

Tom

—–
Thomas R. Bennett
Thomas Bennett Limited
Bennett Real Estate Partners
Mobile Money 360°: The Next Generation Commerce Pipeline
NUCLEAR | CHICAGO: Exposing The Real Chicago
312.636.3662

NUCLEAR | CHICAGO: Blagojevich Defense Team – 1919 White Sox or The Bad News Bears?

By Thomas R. Bennett
Special Reporter / Citizen Journalist covering the
USA v. Milorad Blagojevich retrial for The May Report and Publisher,

NUCLEAR|CHICAGO.

Publisher’s Note: Below Report is based upon NUCLEAR | CHICAGO coverage that began on Monday, May 2, 2011 thru the conclusion of the afternoon session on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. NUCLEAR | CHICAGO was not present at the USA Retrial on Wednesday, May 11, 2011.

May 12, 2011 (1:05p CT)

CHICAGO – As an update to my continuing effort to construct a biography of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald as well as provide special reporting related to the retrial of Milorad Blagojevich, I am writing this morning to officially report upon and inform The May Report and NuclearChicago readership of the following:

Speculative Scenario A). Is Team Blagojevich sandbagging or laying-upon its sword to benefit both the Obama and Emanuel Administrations (i.e., The-Fix-is-In )? or

Speculative Scenario B). Does Team Blagojevich feel that its picked the “perfect” Jury to simply peddle a softly-dark comedy – Blago & The Bad News Bears?

Under either of the above-scenario’s…..U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald (and we the Taxpayers) may be auditioning for a coveted-spot on NBC’s The Biggest Loser.

This past Monday morning, I had a couple business development meetings to attend to related to NuclearChicago (working on B-I-G T-I-M-E story related to the R.J. Vanecko-David Koschman-Anita Alvarez matter) and a couple other business initiatives I’ve been sponsoring. Fortunately, NuclearChicago reporter – Mister Woblés – was able to cover the U.S.A. v. Milorad Blagojevich morning session which included the “kick-off” of Cross-Examination of Blagojevich Chief of Staff John Harris.

According Mister Woblés (PRONOUNCED: Wo-Blaze), there were 99-objections levied by the Prosecution/AUSA in the Monday morning cross-examination of John Harris! Mister Woblés also went on to report that Blago Defense Attorney Aaron Goldstein immediately attempted to box-in John Harris related to John Harris lying 30-minutes into an FBI interview on December 9, 2008. Evidently, John Harris was not charged for same crime.

Mister Woblés informed me of the select Monday morning session highlights as I hustled over to 219 South Dearborn for the afternoon session. Upon being informed of same scoop – I immediately contacted Ron May to inform Ron of the Special Bulletin as there were no more than a handful of objections during the entire first week of the retrial.

Upon passing-thru U.S. Marshal security at 219 South Dearborn, I made my way toward the elevators when I bumped into Blago Defense Attorneys – Aaron Goldstein and Elliot Riebman. I immediately expressed my genuine shock to Goldstein related to the 99-objections that Mister Woblés reported upon. To this end, I asked Goldstein to confirm the number of objections. Mr. Goldstein indicated there were a substantial number of objections, and he also expressed disappointment that Judge Zagel (and Prosecution/AUSA) is preventing the Blago Defense Team from establishing an adequate defense. Goldstein also appeared somewhat fatigued (and beaten) from the morning session.

Who can blame him? I mean…99 objections over an approximately 90-minute morning cross-examination session. The number of objections over such a condensed period of time might very well be a Guinness Book World Record!

I immediately transitioned our conversation to The Leak provided to the Chicago Tribune’s John Chase (Please refer to The May Report, April 18, 2011 Issue –

tinyurl.com/3ugnkbv

I asked Goldstein if Team Blagojevich intends to “press-the-issue” related to The Leak as well as the status of the 17-page Motions in Limine that U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald filed on April 19, 2011. Mr. Goldstein expressed sincere disappointment regarding The Leak as evidently U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald was successful in preventing The Leak from being introduced into the Retrial via same April 19, 2011 Motions in Limine being granted by Judge Zagel. Goldstein went on to inform me that he appreciates my Passion and the diligence being performed related to investigating and reporting upon The Leak as well as our continuing blanket coverage of the U.S.A. v. Milorad Blagojevich Retrial.

I asked Goldstein if the Motions in Limine as well as other elements of retrial were laying-the-groundwork for an appeal should Blagojevich be convicted, and Goldstein informed me that mounting a successful appeal will be very, very difficult. Upon concluding our impromptu conversation in the 1st Floor Lobby, I headed-up to the 25th floor to secure a spot for the afternoon session.

With respect to Speculative Scenario A – Is Team Blagojevich sandbagging or laying-upon its sword to benefit both the Obama and Emanuel Administrations (i.e., The-Fix-is-In )? The following instances are possibly supporting this Speculative Scenario:

1). There is a widely-held perception amongst the viewing gallery and members of the media that Blagojevich Defense Attorney Aaron Goldstein (and other Blagojevich junior attorneys) are grossly under-qualified and inexperienced to be quarterbacking such a high-profile case. To Mr. Goldstein’s defense, I’d argue that everyone is entitled to a ‘rite-of-passage-christening’ at some point in their respective career, however, I’m hearing nothing but scrutiny from spectators in the courtroom gallery including, but not limited to: (i.) Media Legal Analyst – John Lag – who covered the Summer 2010 trial; (ii.) a member of the gallery claiming to be Judge Zagel’s tennis partner. On the other hand, Sheldon Sorosky – who is Blago lead counsel – is clearly a seasoned and accomplished defense attorney, Mr. Sorosky is seldom involved in objections, and as of the conclusion of Tuesday afternoon’s court session, Mr. Sorosky has yet to participate in a cross-examination during the Retrial (although, I was just informed that Mr. Sorosky conducted a 23-minute cross-examination on Rajinder Bedi on Wednesday morning). However, Mr. Sorosky does often contribute to arguments and motions when the jury leaves the courtroom.

As a brief aside, Judge Zagel’s tennis partner shared some very relevant perspectives related to Judge Zagel. Specifically, I mentioned to Judge Zagel’s tennis partner that I was very impressed with Judge Zagel’s overall laid-back temperment and disposition during the Blagojevich retrial. Same tennis partner indicated that Judge Zagel is inherently a very laid, easy going person – that Judge Zagel’s judicial presence is very much in line with his behavior outside the confines of the courtroom.

2) Both media legal analyst John Lag and Judge Zagel’s tennis partner have commented upon Aaron Goldstein’s lack-of-standing in the Federal Courts. One critique often mentioned is related to the lack-of-professionalism (and respect to Judge Zagel) that is demonstrated when the Blago Defense Team makes its objections.

Specifically, the Blago Defense Team rarely, if ever, physically stands-up when making objections. By way of comparison, the U.S. Attorney ALWAYS stands-up when making their objections. Evidently, this is an important element – among other elements – toward establishing proper standing and respect in Federal Court. Further, failure to stand-up when making objections can also reflect poorly upon the Defendant (Blago) to the Jury.

3). Upon making objections that are often “overruled”, the Blago Defense Team rarely ever continues to press Judge Zagel or present an argument to lobby Judge Zagel toward overruling objections made by the Prosecution/AUSA. Case in point – during Monday afternoon’s cross-examination of John Harris – Aaron Goldstein asked John Harris a question related to Harris’ establishing cooperation with the Federal Government within 48-hours of his December 2008 arrest. Upon this line of questioning being objected to by the Prosecution/AUSA, Judge Zagel sustained the Prosecution’s objection. Immediately upon same objection being sustained, Aaron Goldstein proceeded to ask John Harris if the basis for his quick cooperation with the Federal Government was exclusively due to John Harris’ possible concerns related to the “cost-of-defending-himself”. The AUSA was visibly pissed-off with this line-of-questioning and immediately objected. Same objection was immediately sustained.

While I’m not an attorney, if I was a juror I’d most definitely be interested in hearing if the basis for John Harris’ relatively quick cooperation with the Federal Government was indeed due to John Harris’ concerns related to the “cost-of-defending-himself”. Simply put, if John Harris felt that he could not finance or fund a defense – and, in turn, this same concern was a prevailing factor or catalyst in Harris’ cooperation with the Federal Government – I would think same logic is germane toward establishing and/or questioning the overall credibility of John Harris as a witness for the Federal Government.

On this note, I was flabbergasted when Aaron Goldstein did not attempt to object and/or present an argument to Judge Zagel as to why same line of questioning is relevant to his cross-examination of John Harris. In fact, Media Legal Analyst John Lag mentioned to me that my surprise was indeed warranted. According to John Lag, Aaron Goldstein had an obligation on behalf of his client to at least attempt to pursue same line of questioning related to establishing the “cost-of-defending-himself” prevailing factor as even if Judge Zagel continued to sustain – same attempts by Aaron Goldstein could have ‘played-well’ with the Jury related to John Harris’ credibility as a Government Witness.

4). To date, I have already witnessed a series of very telling moments during the retrial that often go unreported by our local mainstream media. Another telling moment that often goes unreported in our local media is just how strategic, cerebral and calculating Governor Blagojevich comes across during the replay of the wiretaps. Same political calculus and cunning often get marginalized by the more sensational “F-Bomb laced recordings” played in open court. As an aside, the “F-Bomb laced recordings” are, at times, piss-in-your-pants hilarious.

Specifically, Blagojevich mentions (via wiretaps) on several occasions just how toxic and politically-nuclear his mere presence is to the then pending Obama Administration visa vi Blagojevich’s relationship with Obama confidante – Atoin “Tony” Rezko.

Aside from often complaining on the wiretaps about how the Mainstream Press often displaces “everything Rezko” on Blagojevich while providing Obama’s Rezko involvement with a Hall Pass, Blagojevich clearly incorporates this same Rezko toxicity factor into tactics Blagojevich used in developing his Quid Pro Quo strategy with the Obama Administration (and emissaries) as, per the wiretaps, Blagojevich clearly communicates a legitimate option of inserting himself as the bona fide replacement for Obama’s U.S. Senate seat. Further, it is my understanding that statutorily – Blagojevich had a legitimate legal basis for self-appointment to same U.S. Senate Seat.

I presume that Blagojevich has already discovered that in lieu of “dealing” with Blagojevich’s horse-trading concepts and demands (i.e., Valerie Jarrett, 501c4 Health Care Concept, Blago Self-Appointment, et al) – Team Obama decided to move forward (and appoint Valerie Jarrett to a White House position), irrespective of Blagojevich’s Quid Pro Quo concepts involving Valerie Jarrett.

Upon Valerie Jarrett removing-her-name from the U.S. Senate Replacement Process, the probability of a Blagojevich self-appointment to Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat was exponentially enhanced – Big Time!

On this note, if Blagojevich understood his politically radioactive nature in Washington D.C. as a self-appointed U.S. Senator, then clearly others presumably perceived the same political threat to Obama – specifically, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.

5). I will expand upon the relevance of the Blagojevich self-appointment (and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s presumable understanding of relevance based upon his actions) in a later report as same relevance has gone under-reported via mainstream media, however, it is important for readership to understand that the “exponentially enhanced probability” of a Blagojevich self-appointment was politically-nuclear and toxic to The Obama Administration. Moreover, its becomes very clear via the wiretaps that Rod Blagojevich attempted to leverage (or blackmail) the Obama Administration with same politically-nuclear-Rezko-toxicity under the prevailing logic that the Obama Administration wants to surgically remove itself from All-Things-Rezko.

In this sense, rather than Rod Blagojevich be “rewarded” for shielding the Obama Administraton from All-Things-Rezko-toxicity, U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald appears to be further positioning himself and running interference for the Obama Administration to perhaps procure a “bennie” by shielding Obama Administration from same Rezko-political-toxicity logic (or blackmail). Again, please keep in mind that same interference has been taking place since 2006 when U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald demanded that the Chicago Tribune not publish a report that identified the identity of Federal Informant John Thomas or related Federal Investigation.

And folks…the All-Things-Rezko-political-toxicity is clearly a high-stakes political game of leverage and political toxicity that both Blagojevich and U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald are playing – make no mistake about it!

Why else hasn’t Antoin “Tony” Rezko been sentenced? After all, it has been nearly three years since Rezko’s June 4, 2008 conviction. (voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/06/rezko-convicted-of-influence-p.html)

Further, what is the basis for the delay in Rezko’s sentencing? What is the scope of Rezko’s involvement and/or cooperation with U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald and Federal Authorities?

The fact that Rezko and the following cooperating Federal Government witnesses have not yet been sentenced:

–
Joe Cari – June 2005 Guilty Plea, to date, sentencing has been delayed (citizenwells.wordpress.com/category/joseph-cari)

John Harris – July 2009 Guilty Plea – to date, sentencing has been delayed (www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/08/blagojevichs-former-chief_n_227718.html)
–

inherently creates highly-germane issues and environs that create ‘major conflicts and concerns’ in both the U.S. Attorney’s ability to dispense equitable justice, and in issues related to The White House’s ability to establish continuity related to policy development and implementation. Simply put, until All-Things-Rezko are concluded at 219 South Dearborn – an Obama Administration is, in theory, “politically-bricked” and “boxed-in” by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald as its already been reported upon that Fitzgerald’s Federal Informant – John Thomas – has logged-in visits by Blagojevich and Obama to Rezko’s offices (bigjournalism.com/acary/2010/05/19/tony-rezko-barack-obama-the-fbi-mole-and-the-chicago-msm/).

To further demonstrate the highly-charged political nature of the above circumstances, ask yourself this – in the event U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald is, in fact, positioning himself for a “major bennie” (i.e., FBI Director) or “another consideration” visa vi his handling (or running political interference) in the Blagojevich Retrial – what happens if a previously-agreed upon understanding between Obama Administration and Fitzgerald becomes moot based upon an outcome that fully-exonerates Blagojevich (or another Hung Jury)?

Keep in mind that anything short of a conviction, substantial dilutes U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald’s credibility, and standing as well as leverage.

In the event of a Blagojevich hung jury or exoneration, how does U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald ‘play-his-cards’ as, to date, Fitzgerald maintains a ‘very-strong-hand’ visa vi the sentencing hangovers (and possibilities/implicit threats of future indictments) that Fitzgerald is inherently holding-over the heads of the following parties:

* Daley Family (Richard M. Daley, Patrick Daley, Robert Vanecko, R.J. Vanecko, et al).

* Other Obama supporters and, possibly, Obama himself (Allison Davis, Dr. Eric Whitaker, Marty Nesbitt, et al).

* Rezko investigation collateral damage (Blagojevich, Joe Cari, John Harris, et al).

To this end, the most powerful man in America appears to be U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald – an unaccountable and unelected Federal Bureaucrat since becoming an Assistant United States Attorney in New York City in 1988.

Imagine that – the most powerful man in America has been on the public payroll since Ronald Reagan was president. Nor has anyone ever elected U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald to his current position.

And, any attempt to dilute U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald’s power or standing within the Bush Administration’s Justice Department was allegedly swiftly offset by the “goods” that Fitzgerald discovered during his investigation of senior-level staff during the Valerie Plame investigation. (Has Patrick Fitzgerald Obtained A Silver Bullet Against Alberto Gonzales? www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/006744.php)

Again, I will expand upon both the relevance of the Blagojevich self-appointment as well as the incredibly unprecedented power that U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald currently holds. In fact, some would say that our Country has not witnessed a more powerful, unelected federal bureaucrat since J. Edgar Hoover was allegedly parading around Washington D.C. in ladies undergarments.

With respect to Speculative Scenario B – Does Team Blagojevich feel that its picked the “perfect” Jury to simply peddle a softly-dark comedy – Blago & The Bad News Bears? The following instances are possibly supporting this Speculative Scenario:

1). The overall composition of the Jury (i.e., 15 women and 3 males) appears to heavily favor enhancement of the environs that might possibly help establish a sympathetic, lone-wolf juror(s) scenario that ultimately ‘holds-out’ for Blagojevich (i.e., hung jury). Given the recent, not so subtle signaling of select jurors (i.e., occasional laughing or smirking during wiretaps) as well as very discreet signaling (i.e., favorable body language during important moments of testimony), I would not be surprised if there is a prevailing sentiment that this trial was “won” during jury selection.

2). A possible Pile-on Perception has been created in recent days via the Prosecutor/AUSA’s many objections (i.e., 200+ objections by Prosecution on Monday – super majority were sustained). Despite Judge Zagel excellent judicial disposition (i.e., cool and calm), as well as Judge Zagel’s thoughtful explanations to Jurors related to the many objections – it still appears that Team Blagojevich is effectively engendering sympathy (as well as laughs) amongst select members of the viewing gallery and, quite possibly, with select Jurors.

Some may refer to the Team Blagojevich’s response to the Federal Government’s Pile-On as a Winning Ugly strategy, however, I’m going to refer to same strategic Team Blagojevich Response as The Bad News Bears strategy (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bad_news_bears_1976_movie_poster.jpg).

While seasoned and experienced Sheldon Sorosky plays an effective Walter Matthau/elder statesman – the rest of Team Blagojevich looks every part of the rag-tag Bad News Bears:

1). Aaron Goldstein – (notguiltyinchicago.com/about) – Lane Tech Alum, Rogers Park native and a self-admitted nerd while studying law at The University of Iowa – perhaps the biggest party school in the BigTen. Evidently, Aaron Goldstein was Sheldon Sorosky’s pick to quarterback the Blagojevich’s defense as Goldstein was already intimately familiar with the copious amounts of evidence (i.e., wiretaps) that would have taken a ‘brand new’ quarterback an insurmountable amount of time (and economic resources) to study-the-proverbial-system before even taking a snap. Goldstein also sat-in on Summer 2010 trial in its entirety so presumably the “value” that Goldstein brings to team Blagojevich is established in familiarity as opposed to Top Tier Legal Talent (i.e., Sam Adam Duo, and other more prominent and experienced litigators).

2). Lauren “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” Kaeseberg – (www.laurenkaeseberg.com) – (www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP94PlEtsEQ) According to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=677996099), Ms. Kaeseberg has been a licensed attorney since May 2008 – hardly an experienced litigator. Nonetheless, I have been impressed with Ms. Kaeseberg “presence” at the Defendant’s table – she at least looks the part, and performed marginally well during her cross-examination of FBI Special Agent Dan Cain – the first witness of the retrial.

3). Elliot Riebman – According to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=545878649), Mr. Riebman became a licensed attorney in December 2008 – again, hardly an experienced litigator. Further, while Lauren “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” Kaeseberg clearly looks-the-part of an attorney in a high-profile Federal Case – Mr. Riebman looks like a cross between the frumpled, eccentric of Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo and Alan Ruck’s Cameron Frye role in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (www.imdb.com/media/rm2509734144/ch0005863). To be perfectly blunt, Mr. Riebman’s inexperience and timidity were blantently obvious during his Tuesday afternoon cross-examination of IRS Agent Shari Schindler.

With respect to Blago’s Bad News Bears, they may be feeling as though they have “picked” the “perfect” Jury. In the event Team Blago likes the composition of the Jury (and I have not solicited perspective to confirm either way), it appears that this basis, might be reinforcing Team Blago’s prefernce toward peddling the soft comedy – Blago & The Bad News Bears. Simply put, Team Blago is doing one heckuva job (whether intentional or unintentional) at garnering ocassional laughs from the Jury. While I have yet to report upon the relevance of Jury selection, the 18-jurors (15-female, 3-male) appear to be comprised of a handful of female jurors that appear to be ‘signaling’ an emotional empathy for both Rod & Patti as briefly described-above.

On this note, can Blago’s Bad News Bears engender enough sympathy from the Federal Government’s Pile-On to secure one hold-out Juror to force another Hung Jury?

Or….are Blago and his Bad News Bears playing more toward the tune of Mr. Comiskey’s infamous 1919 White Sox Club?

At this point in the trial, all signals and signs are trending toward an enhanced probability of a Hung Jury.

The bottom line – the moment “someone” decided to LEAK the Uber-Confidential Federal Wiretap of a sitting, and elected Governor to the Chicago Tribune, is the moment the Office of U.S. Attorney was inserted into the business of playing ‘politics’ instead of dispensing Justice.

It also appears that Rod Blagojevich is ‘eating-Fitzgerald’s-lunch’ as I don’t know how on God’s Green Earth that Rod Blagojevich can be depicted as a sympathetic figure. As a fellow gallery attendee from River Forest pointed-out during a sidebar on Tuesday afternoon – this entire trial is an ‘eye-opening-experience’ for Illinoisans and Americans.

Lastly, as I was making my way up to the 25th floor to preview this morning’s session of USA v. Milorad Blagojevich, I shared very memorable elevator ride with a mother and son from the Ukraine that we’re en route to attending their ceremony to become American Citizens – coincidently on the 25th floor.

I found the irony to be absolutely incredible. On the same floor of the USA v. Blagojevich Retrial, our country is welcoming another group of immigrant Americans whom had to study for, and pass a test based upon their knowledge of the United States Constitution – as I did in Mrs. Dart’s 8th grade class and, once again, at Marist High School.

Again, the irony is incredible and thick. Both the Ukranian mother and son were visibly excited in becoming full-fledged Americans of the United States of America – as they should be! Perhaps, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald should consider retaking a pass-fail exam on the relevance of the United States Constitution?

The United States Constitution is about WE THE PEOPLE….not the selfish, political agendas of Milorad Blagojevich or U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald.

This retrial is, indeed, an eye-opener for our country as we’re witnessing major violations in our Public Trust and our uber-sacred United States Constitution from both the Defendant as well as the U.S. Attorney.

God Bless America.

–

Thomas R. Bennett is a Citizen Journalist and Reporter for The May Report and Publisher of NUCLEAR|CHICAGO.
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Kansas Bioscience Authority: Not smooth sailing for all companies
ICM exec says grant ‘helped us move faster’ into cellulosic research

Kansas Bioscience Authority: Not smooth sailing for all companies
ICM exec says grant ‘helped us move faster’ into cellulosic research
Premium content from Wichita Business Journal – by Chris Moon
Date: Friday, May 13, 2011, 5:00am CDT

Chris Moon/WBJ

Adam and Richard Crowder are working on a new device to treat canker sores.

Dr. Richard Crowder has his sights set on taking the pain out of canker sores.

The Wichita orthodontist for more than a year has been working on a device using laser technology that he says can alleviate pain from canker sores in a matter of hours and, possibly, speed the healing process. Crowder says he’s sunk $50,000 into the project, has a patent pending on his device – called the “Sore Loser” – and is working to get it cleared by the FDA.

Crowder had hoped to get a little financial and technical help from the Kansas Bioscience Authority, created in 2004 to spur the life sciences industry in Kansas.

That didn’t happen.

Crowder and his son, Adam, tell a story of skepticism and misinformation on the part of the KBA. They eventually walked away without formally asking for money.

“Maybe they felt we were the kind of business they didn’t want to get into because we’re small,” Richard Crowder says.

It is part of the divergent story that has emerged out of the embattled KBA, which has come under criminal and legislative investigations this year.

On one hand, the Crowders argue they were overlooked. On the other hand, dozens of companies would say the opposite.

ICM, the Colwich-based ethanol plant manufacturer, has received two grants from the KBA totalling $1.5 million.

Greg Krissek, ICM’s governmental affairs director, says the KBA application process was straight-forward, and one of its projects – research into cellulosic ethanol – resulted in an additional $25 million grant from the federal government. The KBA funding, Krissek says, “helped us move faster in this arena.”

David Vranicar, interim CEO of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, says the group does all it can to help Kansas firms, regardless of their size.

“I think we are more than willing to help companies work their way through our process,” he says.

‘Laughed at’
Part of the criticism against the KBA has been allegations it isn’t concerned about funds flowing to companies outside Kansas. Crowder’s experience brings up a new front – that the KBA isn’t doing enough to engage small start-ups.

“They basically were laughed at,” says Crowder’s attorney, Foulston Siefkin LLP’s Cydney Boler. “This deters small and emerging businesses, to be honest, that a Kansas-type of program like the KBA should be trying to foster.”

Richard Crowder has operated Smiles Orthodontics in Wichita for 34 years.

Over the years, laser technology has emerged allowing dentists to treat canker sores in their offices. The annoying sores usually take two weeks to heal, but Crowder says laser treatment can remove the pain within hours.

So he formed a new company, Elipsis LLC, to take the same laser technology from dentist offices and convert it for use in a low-power device, resembling a digital thermometer, that allows consumers to treat their canker sores at home. The product would be priced at less than $100.

That’s a small price to pay, Crowder says, considering the expense of the over-the-counter canker sore ointments. And, says Crowder, “If you get canker sores often enough, they’re debilitating.”

He describes the market as “phenomenal.” Crowder says his research shows there are 100 million to 130 million cases of canker sores per year.

The product, of course, will require FDA clearance, a process that may require costly clinical trials. Crowder says he approached the Kansas Bioscience Authority earlier this year hoping to discover what financial assistance might be available.

Since 2006, the KBA has allocated $246 million in grants and investments in the bioscience industry.

Richard and Adam Crowder met with KBA officials in January. They later received comments by KBA officials that their proposed device “has already been invented” and questions about whether they did a patent search to find any similar products already on the market. The KBA noted two products it had found that it considered similar to Crowder’s.

But Crowder says neither of those products is similar, and one has been banned by the FDA from doing business in the United States. He also says a patent search was conducted on his idea.

Sensing skepticism, Crowder dropped his efforts to get KBA assistance.

Boler, the Foulston Siefkin attorney who represents bioscience companies in Kansas, says the KBA puts too many roadblocks in front of emerging businesses that don’t have full-time staffs to work on grant applications. Oftentimes, Boler says, companies are started by doctors or researchers who have other full-time jobs already.

But Vranicar, the KBA’s interim CEO, says the group specializes in helping businesses of all sizes obtain FDA approval for their projects – or whatever other business help they need, from connecting with capital sources to finding device manufacturers.

Vranicar dismissed Crowder’s criticism. He wouldn’t go into detail about concerns the KBA had with Crowder’s product, other than to say its staff asked a lot of questions.

“We felt like we didn’t get complete answers or needed more information certainly,” he says.

That’s when the Crowders disappeared.

“It just sort of died because they quit pursuing it,” Vranicar says.

No problem at ICM
The story is vastly different at ICM.

About three years ago, Congress passed an energy bill laying out a path for increasing the use of cellulosic ethanol.

ICM was pursuing research into cellulosic ethanol using varieties of feedstocks at its main research and development facility in Colwich, says Krissek, of ICM.

So ICM in 2008 was awarded a $1 million KBA grant to continue its research. The idea was to create a new business line in cellulosic ethanol plants – using corn fiber, switchgrass, energy sorghum and corn stover – that would complement ICM’s corn-based ethanol plant designs.

Krissek says the company later parlayed its successful research into a $25 million federal grant financing the construction of a cellulosic pilot plant in St. Joseph, Mo.

Meanwhile, ICM in 2009 also was awarded a $500,000 KBA grant to construct a biomass gasifier at the Harvey County landfill. The goal is to develop a gasifier that could convert a variety of feedstocks into synthetic natural gas, which then would be used to power ethanol plants.

While ICM’s biomass gasifier has fallen out of demand because of relatively low natural gas prices, “the KBA grant was very helpful to get us to the point of commercializing this project,” Krissek says.

Krissek, a former employee in the Kansas Department of Agriculture, says he originally was introduced to the KBA through his government contacts. But, “in all fairness, they reached out at that time.”

Tony Simpson, director of commercialization for the KBA, says the organization sees promise in both of ICM’s projects. The KBA is helping remove some of the risk.

“That’s exactly the product the KBA is looking for,” he says.
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END OF REPORT

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