NCET

Marc Tiar has an old-fashioned suggestion for Web-savvy businesspeople trolling the Internet for the information they need for a budget or marketing plan: Try the public library, too.
 

Along with traditional business reference publications, the Washoe County Library System has invested heavily in recent years in on-line databases, says Tiar, a technology serv­ices librarian at the downtown Reno branch.  He pulls up, for instance, the Reference USA Database with its detailed information on about 12 million U.S. businesses. With a few key­strokes, Tiar brings up a listing of Reno-area businesses by industry — including the contact names and phone numbers prized by sales rep­resentatives.

The database — free to anyone who has a library card — is accessible only from the downtown library location. Most of the other database services in the library’s collection, however, are available to users from their office computer. Those on-line services range from CQ Researcher, with its in-depth report on hot issues in the news, to Today’s Science, which details developments in technology, science, health and medicine.

Businesspeople with research questions also can enlist the help of skilled reference librarians through the library system’s Web site (washoe.lib.nv.us)… other patrons search for copies of com­monly used business forms or research the steps for preparation of a business plan. And still others use the business reference material to develop marketing plans. Some, for instance, rely on publications that detail demo­graphic information by ZIP Codes.

“The electronic age has kept a lot of people in their office rather than coming in,” Tiar says. “This is under-used. People don’t think of this as a place for doing business research.”

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You arrive in class with ten minutes to spare. Unfortunately, you didn’t  watch the daily news, but you remember downloading an episode of UNLVoom last night.  You turn on your iPod and watch the latest campus news from the palm of your hand.

The Apple iPod is everywhere, and now it’s becoming part of higher education.  Aside from music, people can download their favorite radio and video podcasts.  The “pod” in podcasts refers to “portable-on-demand.”  A user can download a podcast from the Internet and view it at his or her convenience: in the cafeteria at lunch, before school in the Student Union, even during the hockey game’s half time; anytime, anywhere.

UNLV Journalism and Media Studies Professor Cathy Hanson implemented a new aspect to her podcasting class: video podcasting, or as some techies may call it, “vodcasting.” The UNLV vodcasting show, UNLVoom, allows video broadcast students to create a news show incorporating portable-on-demand (pod) sound and video technology. Read more:

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International Game Technology (IGT) will be among the first to develop products using Microsoft’s new computer-in-a-table Surface technology. The Reno-based maker of slot machines says it doesn’t have specific plans how it will incorporate the technology into casino products.

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The boomer technology trend is an emergent one, but with room to grow. After all, the Pew Center refers to the coming “Silver Tsunami” of boomers and recent retirees familiar with technology and the Internet. This crop of people will carry the habits with them into their golden years. That spells growth potential in technology services and home medical monitoring. 

Seniors are often willing to hire people to install and maintain the hardware they use.  Services that make house-calls and regularly scheduled maintenance visits will be very welcome and well-used by boomers, she predicts. 

 As people age, medical care becomes a more important concern. Internet technology can take the place of spouses or nurses in monitoring conditions, timing and separating medications, and to summon aid when needed.

 As technology and the Internet continue to define how we live our lives and connect with each other, the Baby Boomer generation will likely play a huge role in how technology develops to meet their needs. As that happens, the current technological generation gap is believed to close and technology will have emerged to meet the needs of all age groups, not just the younger generations looking for the next big thing. Read more:

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Tech Laboratories, Inc., a biofuels company supplying the nation’s growing need for energy independence, announced today that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Biodiesel Solutions, Inc. (BSI). BSI manufactures the BiodieselMaster®, a factory-built biodiesel processing plant that is appropriately scaled for a variety of customers, including small communities, farms, farm co-ops and trucking fleets.

The landmark acquisition furthers Tech Laboratories’ stated mission to augment core operations and assets through opportunistic acquisitions of green technologies and products.

The BiodieselMaster is a community-scale biodiesel processing unit that is designed to produce 350,000 gallons of biodiesel per year. The design provides a biodiesel production system that is continuous, flexible, efficient, affordable, and fully-automated. The automated control system minimizes labor costs and facilitates remote diagnostics. Because the BiodieselMaster is small and self-contained, it is easy to set up with minimal infrastructure.

Rudi Wiedemann, Chief Executive Officer of Biodiesel Solutions, noted, “This will not only provide the needed working capital to grow the company, but a strategic partner for complementary products and services in the renewable energy industry. All the management here will stay in place, and we’re initiating a big recruiting push for engineers and professionals. The move helps anchor us right here in Reno to grow this business big, strong and fast. I am also personally going to be playing a larger, more strategic role in developing a renewable energy business strategy with the Tech Labs management team which is something I wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity of doing.”

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