Category: connecticut

“One Million Dollars”, A CT based Tech Start Up Fund

 

Connecticut entrepreneurs, start yoru engines.

 

CT launches $1M fund for tech startups

01/26/12

Following through on a previous $250 million commitment to nurture home-grown technology and jobs, Connecticut's technology investing arm has established a $1 million fund for high-tech startups.

Connecticut Innovations Inc. said this fund is a 10-week pilot to identify entrepreneurs with promising technology ideas or products, ply them with initial capital, and team them with mentors and other professional resources.

At the end, participating teams must ready pitch to investors and launch a company.

The pilot program supporting the TechStart-funded teams will be directed by CTech@Science Park at Yale in New Haven begins in March.

The application deadline is Feb. 22.

CI said the TechStart Fund is the first of several new initiatives slated to be launched under CI's recently announced plan to deploy $250 million over the next five years.

"We've had great success in supporting student-led ventures in recent years and hope to encourage more students, as well as other entrepreneurs, to test the waters with new business concepts through TechStart," CI President Peter Longo said in a statement Thursday.

 

Data Breaches Are Serious Business

Lately it seems that just about every major business with a database online has suffered a data breach. This is bad news for the health of the Internet, but not something that government is in a position to solve. Yet:

 

HARTFORD – Concerned about a recent hacking attack that may have affected more than 24 million customers, Attorney General George Jepsen, with support from nine other states, has asked Zappos.com, Inc. about its efforts to protect private customer information and its response to the breach.

The Attorney General wrote to the chief executive officer of the on-line retailer’s Nevada headquarters Friday seeking information about how the breach occurred, how affected customers were identified and notified and any corrective plans developed in response.

“This incident raises serious concerns about the possibility of fraud and targeted e-mail ‘phishing’ or other scams, as well as questions about the effectiveness of the company’s measures to protect the confidentiality and security of private information that it receives from consumers,” Attorney General Jepsen wrote.

 

Published reports said the hacking affected parts of the company’s internal network and systems, compromising a wide array of personal customer information, including names, billing and shipping addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and encrypted passwords.

Jepsen wrote on behalf of Connecticut and Attorneys General in nine other states: Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania among them. Two states have laws prohibiting disclosure of investigations.

It's too bad that government is still filled with the tech clueless, because asking what a company does after the fact, does nothing. The important question is what they are doing to protect data, which would put them in the arcane world of hashed passwords, usernames, and seperation of login and transaction data, just to start. 

Government doesn't understand tech, a problem when they introduce legislation, but a bigger problem in that they don't even begin to understand how to protect people.

Zappos.com is a great company and invests deeply in its customer experience and data infrastructure. The line of questions listed above just shows how out of touch Jepsen's department of lawyers is. 

Doubling Down on Connecticut Innovations

Because Connecticut Innovations, that quasi public agency self-charged with leading um, innovation in Connecticut has done such a great job creating tech jobs, Governor Malloy and the DECD are throwing more money at them. From the Hartford Business Journal:

 

Connecticut Innovations Inc. announced the ambitious business-development program Wednesday, one it says aims to build jobs.

The $125 million in new funding from the state was included in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's jobs bill, which was signed into law in October, CI said.


CI says its plan is to match this state funding for each of the next five years with its existing cash and funding from its investment returns.


"CI's capabilities are essential to the success of the technology sector in Connecticut," Malloy said in a statement announcing the initiative. "Adding to their tool kit and providing more funding will allow the organization to accelerate its success in creating jobs and growing Connecticut's economy." 


Included in the plan is:




• $4 million per year for CI's pre-seed program, which offers loans to support the formation of new Connecticut technology companies. 

• $22 million per year for seed stage and Series A investments, which help entrepreneurs grow existing businesses, and for follow-on investments in CI portfolio companies.

• $6.5 million per year for a newly developed loan program, which provides growth and working capital for technology companies. 

• $7 million per year for the aggressive recruitment of emerging technology companies nationally and internationally. CI plans to work with the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and other state agencies to design a relocation incentive package, similar to the governor's "First Five" initiative. 

• $4 million per year to help Connecticut companies capture more of the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funds each year, as well as increase industry partnerships and the state's technology talent pipeline. 

•  $4.8 million per year to establish technology business accelerator hubs, which will provide support services to startups, and to create a corporate technology transfer initiative.

 

Here’s How to Get a Gold Star from the Federal Government

Here’s How to Get a Gold Star from the Federal Government

The State Department of Motor Vehicles has begun a federally mandated program to improve security.

It’s called SelectCT ID and it aims to reverify licenses renewed over the next six years.

In order to get a gold star placed on a license — which will allow holders to bypass some security at airports and federal buildings starting in 2017 — residents will have to bring as many as six forms of identification to DMV, including:

  • Either a Social Security card or a recent (less than 5-year-old) W2 form.
  • A U.S. birth certificate or a passport or a certificate of citizenship.
  • Two documents that show a Connecticut address, including a bank statement, bill or pay stub.

With proper identification, motorists will get a new license with a gold star in the right hand corner.

Residents can choose to opt out and just renew their license.

Without the gold star, travelers will likely face greater scrutiny at airports and when entering federal buildings.

DMV is rolling out the new program now because Connecticut is on a six-year license renewal cycle and everyone needs to have a new license before 2017, when the federal regulations go into effect.

IMG_2093

New Look, New Year

You may have noticed some changes around here. YourCT.com is changing its look and tweaking its coverage of all things Connecticut. Over the next few days new features will be rolling out that should make the site more accessible to more people, and of course platforms. Stay tuned.

Retirement Red Zone Seminar

What could be better, a football reference and a plan to to get off the daily grind. No, wait. That can’t be it. This is a seminar for people considering retirement and how to actually get there and avoid the pitfalls. Norwalk’s Booth Financial is sponsoring the event featuring Eric Fauth, VP at Prudential Financial and hosted by Stephen Bentkover at the lovely Gionvanni’s Water’s Edge in Darien. A fine place for a nice steak, and since this is a dinner seminar I’m sure steak is on the menu. Or at least the nuggets of financial wisdom are the meat and potatoes of the seminar. The seminar is at 6:30 on September 21st. And who says you can’t get a free lunch. To get this dinner through, you have to register, see that’s the string.

For more info and the inside scoop on how to attend call Stephen Bentkover at (203) 855-1522.

Rock me like a Hurricane

Well enough people have been saying “Danger Will Robinson” to fill the airwaves and the tubes with dire warnings and stuff to stimulate the milk, candles and bread industry. Ever wonder why we have this collective urge to shop before impending weather disasters? I’ve always been baffled. It’s not like you can’t just turn on the tap and get drinking water and scrounge through the cupboards for a few saltiness to tide you over the hour or so when mother nature truly has wrathed her worst. But I digress.

Below is the link to the Governor’s everything you need to know about the hurricane.

http://www.governor.ct.gov/malloy/cwp/view.asp?a=11&q=485102

More importantly if you live in an area prone to flooding, take a look at your storm drains and clear out trash and debris so the water has someplace to go. Broken twigs and tree branches are what beavers use to build dams. So why let urban storm drains in your neighborhood create problems? You and your neighbors will reap the drier benefits. Don’t forget your own gutters. And tie down patio and deck furniture.

Be safe.

Earthquake!

At Norwalk’s Calf Pasture the beach during East Coast Earthquake 2011. Best reporting on the event was on Twitter. @theHourNews had the local angle covered. But the big story was the overloaded wireless circuits in NYC. The secondary story, Twitter ruled the news cycle with every reporter tweeting live and the #earthquake thread filling fast and furious. This is the MySpace moment for Facebook.

Meanwhile best tweet reports include @reachAngi with reports on a spontaneous rendition of Carole King’s “I feel the earth move under my feet” as the New Haven Open stadium evacuated. Another highlight from @psaffo “Massive post-quake looting underway in Manhattan! (Wall St traders allowed back into their offices.)”

UPDATE: Mashable says-

The 5.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Virginia and rolled through much of the east coast Tuesday caused more inconvenience than damage. Case in point: though no cellphone towers were knocked out, high call volume meant massive service interruptions for users of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.

But one cellphone-based service managed to work as normal,according to Bloomberg: RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger.

BBM, which can run on either a phone’s data connection or local Wi-fi, and uses unique wireless protocols, has gained a reputation for reliability and security. In the Chilean earthquake of 2010, and in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 in New York, it was the only service left standing.

 

 

 

Peeps Show Opening/Pop-Up Gallery-August 24. 6:30-10pm. SONO

NORWALK–  Twelve Firing Circuit Artists will be exhibiting at the mARTket Pop-Up Gallery

136 Washington St., South Norwalk, Ct. (home of the old Sweet Rexies/next to Donavan’s).
Opening Reception: Wednesday August 24, 2011 from 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

Gallery Hours:
Thursday and Friday – 4 pm – 10 pm
Saturday – 3 pm – 10 pm
Sunday – 12 noon – 6 pm
or by appointment (contact any artist below)

Special Events:
“DRAW WITH THE ARTIST”
demo and instruction by Lori Lohstoeter.  Thursday from 7-10pm (description below)
“IT TAKES A VILLAGE”
collaborative clay installation project with Denise Minnerly.  Friday from 7-9pm (description below)

“DRAW WITH THE ARTIST” WITH LORI LOHSTOETER
ALL AGES/ALL LEVELS – BYO-SUPPLIES AND FOLDING CHAIR
Watch how an artist sets up an interesting still life using every day objects.
Watch how an artist builds an image starting with line and adding value for creating dimension.
Enjoy talking with an artist about drawing.
Enjoy a free drawing lessons filled with tips and shared techniques.
Lori is an experienced art instructor. She teaches drawing at Norwalk Community College as well as creative computer programs with private students: artorg911.com your creative computer help line.  For complete information on Lori, go to her website: loriloh.com

“IT TAKES A VILLAGE” WITH DENISE MINNERLY
ALL AGES/ALL LEVELS
Come and participate in a collaborative installation project.  Each participant will mold their own ball of clay into a small house to be included in a future gallery installation.  Artist Denise Minnerly will guide you through the process of creating your version of a home with her intuitive imagination and vision.  For complete information on Denise, go to her website: deniseminnerly.com

EXHIBITING FIRING CIRCUITS ARTISTS AND SITE LINKS:
Heather Braxton heatherbraxton.com, Mario Cipri/845-490-4402, Mari Gyorgyey (facebook/mari georgyey and her art), Elisa Keogh elisakeogh.com Karen Larocque kdlart@optonline.net, Susan Leggitt susanleggitt.com, Regina Sender Levin reginaslevin@gmail.com, Lori Lohstoeter loriloh.com, Denise Minnerly deniseminnerly.com, Derek Uhlman uhlman.com, Karen Vogel karenvogelstudio.com, and Carla Wales carlawalesart.com

SPACE DONATED BY Tom Rich, managing Partner of T.R. SoNo Partners, an FD Rich Company affiliate.

EVENT SPONSORED BY Norwalk 2.0 whose mission is to engage residents, businesses and community organizations to work together and create an authentic, creative, economically diverse and sustainable future.
For information check out the website at www.norwalk2.org.

New technology experiment

So here’s a new news site that lets me aggregate feeds from all over to create a daily paper. Kind of reminds me of the fax service I used to get back in the day, I think when the abacus ruled the world. Anyways. check it out. I’ve added a widget to the column over there –>> and let’s see how this grand experiment all works out.

 

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...