Launch Tennessee And The Blackstone Foundation Are Looking For The TENN Best Startups

Just yesterday we were talking about the 9 accelerator regions in Tennessee. Launch Tennessee is the public/private partnership that oversees those nine accelerator regions and helps promote Tennessee startups statewide. Earlier this month they announced a new initiative, cleverly called TENN, that’s looking to identify the ten top startups coming out of the Tennessee accelerators. The program will kick off August 27th with a statewide demo day.

The TENN is sponsored by the Blackstone Foundation, who we just reported yesterday announced their LaunchPad program was moving into their 5th state, Montana.

“Focusing on innovation and attracting and encouraging entrepreneurs are key economic development strategies in Tennessee,” Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement. “Launch Tennessee’s initiative to coordinate a statewide network of startup accelerators is an important part of our ongoing efforts and isn’t being done anywhere else in the country. The TENN program, which is one of the most exciting projects to come out of this effort, recognizes the best and brightest of Tennessee’s entrepreneurs. I look forward to the new ideas, partnerships and investments that will result from the program.”

Companies that have graduated from one of Tennessee’s nine regional business accelerators in the last year can apply to be one of The TENN by Aug. 2. A panel of regional and national venture capitalists and angel fund leaders will select The TENN to participate in the inaugural program. The application, a full listing of the panelists, and other program information may be accessed online.

Shortly after demo day, The TENN will leave for a statewide bus tour, where they will meet with leaders of Tennessee’s top corporations. Additionally, during the master accelerator program, The TENN companies will fly to California and the East Coast to network with venture capitalists and angel investors.

Other benefits of the TENN program include office space in the nearest regional accelerator or a subsidy for the company’s existing office space, events that connect the companies to industry-specific mentors, and high-level access to major corporations based in Tennessee.

Governor Haslam will announce The TENN at the statewide demo day, which will also include a keynote speech from John Greathouse, partner at Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Rincon Venture Partners and co-founder of RevUpNet.

“I am looking forward to participating in the upcoming TENN program, Tennessee’s statewide demo day in which the top companies from Tennessee’s accelerators join forces to network and compete,” Greathouse said in a statement. “The TENN program is an outstanding opportunity for startups that are past the initial incubator stage, but are seeking mentors, funding and other critical resources to help them achieve the next stage of success. My hope is that this unique platform spawns similar regional and statewide events targeted at assisting companies that have graduated from accelerators but have yet to reach critical mass.”

Just as it was last year, August will be a huge month for Tennessee startups. Chattanooga’s GigTank, Memphis’ ZeroTo510, and Nashville’s Jumpstart Foundry accelerators will all graduate.

You can find out more about Launch Tennessee here.

This huge startup event for startups everywhere else is also in Tennessee.

Boston’s HackFit Puts A Healthy Spin On The Startup Building Hackathon

We’ve been to several Startup Weekends, Angel Hacks, 48 Hour Launch events, and other hackathons. On the surface they attract a similar “type” of person: the guy or gal who sits around and codes around the clock eating pizza, drinking beer, and keeping their eyes open with 5 Hour Energy and RedBull. Justin Mendelson, the founder of a new hackathon in Boston called HackFit, is preparing to change that.

In addition to coding and building, HackFit attendees will also have ample time to sleep, a variety of workout classes, healthy foods, and of course sessions for coding developing and company building.

Mendelson has been an entrepreneur, product builder, mentor, and business developer throughout his career. He’s also a runner and an athlete, which is why he founded HackFit, a natural mesh of his two passions.

“I’ve participated in a lot of other startup weekends because of previous ideas that I had for fitness-related startups, and I learned that the best teammates were often the ones who were runners themselves. However, I felt like any time I attended one of those startup events, I’d aged a year when the event was over. I wanted to create an active, healthy startup event system since none currently exist,” Mendelson told bostonmagazine.com.

The inaugural HackFit event will be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 20-22nd. “Like a typical startup event schedule, people will first pitch ideas that pertain to the fitness tech space,” Mendelson says, explaining the weekend schedule. “But instead of people just coming up to you after your pitch and asking to join you, we’ll have a physical exercise ice breaker that will help people meet each other. Then people will form teams and go home for the night to sleep.”

In addition to a schedule that includes ample time for fitness and team building, all of the startups created will be fitness and health related. Like most startup-building hackathons there will be a judging panel on Sunday. Participants will receive prizes from area sponsors including gym memberships.

To find out more about HackFit click here.

This startup event may not be so healthy but it’s gonna be a ton of fun and huge.

12-Year-Old Vegas Tech Rockstar Set To Speak At SXSW V2V

We’re hearing about more and more kidpreneurs and teenpreneurs. There was a 14-year-old who won Cincinnati’s most recent Startup Weekend. Another 14-year-old won Tampa’s most recent Startup Weekend as well.

Ethan Duggan may not be the winner of a recent Startup Weekend, but he is an app developer and startup founder. His app “LazyHusband” launched at SXSW this year in Austin, Texas.

Ethan is growing up in the Las Vegas startup community, VegasTech for those in the know. His father Rick Duggan, is the cofounder of vegasstartups.com. The elder Duggan is also “coach,” with the younger Duggan preferring the keyboard and the app store to the baseball diamond or the football field.

The young but witty tween, knows a thing or two about apps, launching, startups, founding, and entrepreneurship. He also knows about monetization. When asked about monetizing his app, he told Vegasstartups.com’s John Lynn “$0.99 per download…Coder’s gotta eat.”

Lynn reports that down in Austin during SXSW, the young Duggan scored over 10 interviews and several high profile posts including one by Brad Feld, and another from GigaOM that ended up on CNN Money. Not too shabby for a member of the VegasTech community that couldn’t even get into the legendary VegasTech party. No worries though. The elder Duggan and the VegasTech community made sure Ethan could join the party via FaceTime. (How 2013 is that?)

Now father and son are going to host a talk at SXSW V2V next month in Las Vegas. They’ll be talking about how Ethan overcame stereotypes of proper childhood activities. They’ll also talk about how Rick Duggan is his “coach,” the app Ethan has created, and how you’re Never Too Young.

You can still purchase passes for SXSW V2V here. and sign up for Duggan’s session here.

Nibletz will be on the ground in Vegas for SXSW V2V, with your help. We’ve got great sponsorship opportunities here where you can get your startup, or startup support organization in front of millions at the most high profile startup event of the summer.

Ethan Duggan image: vegasstartups.com

These 6 Companies Are In The South Dakota Technology Business Center Accelerator

Earlier today we talked about the incubators and accelerators in Tennessee and Ohio. As we often say, there are accelerator programs and startup initiatives everywhere (or everywhere else), even Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Sioux Falls startup incubator, the South Dakota Technology Business Center, started their 2013 accelerator program with six entrepreneurial teams that were competitively selected to participate.

The SDTBC’s accelerator program is a break from the traditional model. Rather than having teams quit their jobs, move to Sioux Falls, and participate in a 90 day or 120 day program, their program is a series of monthly workshop days focusing on business concepts and model, sales growth, and scaling their business.

The companies selected to participate in this year’s program are:

Braced With Style
Farmcast Group
Sidewalk Technologies
Nanofiber Separations LLC
Fointar
Prom-Tect SD

These companies are learning how to be successful from some of the region’s top experts in entrepreneurship, sales, finance, intellectual property, business law and more,” Pam Boehm, the center’s client services manager said in a statement. “We are excited to be working with these entrepreneurs and the more than 20 subject matter experts sharing their time and talents to further entrepreneurship in South Dakota.”

The companies are also competing throughout the program for portions of a $20,000 pool of funds and in-kind business services designed to take their startups to the next level. The $20,000 prize fund and services will be distributed throughout the course of the program.

The 2013 Accelerator is sponsored by Forward Sioux Falls and South Dakota EPSCoR. EPSCoR is the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research that is funded by the National Science Foundation.

You can find out more here.

Do you want to build a startup or a small business? Read this post.

Blackstone Launchpad Expands Entrepreneurship Program To Montana

On Friday Montana became the fifth Blackstone Launchpad region, joining Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Blackstone LaunchPad is modeled after a successful program developed at the University of Miami in 2008, which has generated 1,413 business proposals, 210 new jobs, and drawn nearly 2,600 participants. Each new regional program will be linked together, drawing ideas and best practices from the existing programs, and giving student entrepreneurs at the University of Montana and Montana State University access to a national community of over 200,000 of their peers expert advisers for their ventures.

“Entrepreneurship is the single most effective way to spur economic growth and job creation,” said Blackstone’s President and COO, Tony James. “We must all play a role in nurturing talent, and through Blackstone LaunchPad, students will have access to an expanded universe of resources and years of institutional knowledge, helping them launch ventures that can take root locally and strengthen Montana’s economy.”

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s three-year, $2 million grant will establish a partnership between Montana State University, the University of Montana, and Headwaters RC&D to introduce entrepreneurship as a viable career option and provide university students with a network of venture coaches and entrepreneurial support to transform new ideas into sustainable companies. With a physical presence at Montana State University and the University of Montana, Blackstone LaunchPad has the potential to generate some 150 new ventures in Montana over the next five years.

“The Blackstone LaunchPad Program will allow students at Montana State University and the University of Montana to see real application of their ideas transformed into sustainable companies as they partner with local businesses. I look forward to the innovation and new ventures Montana will see in the coming years through Blackstone LaunchPad,” Montana Governor Steve Bullock said in a statement.

This should come as no surprise to some as Montana was ranked #1 according to the latest Kauffman Foundation Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, which was released last month. Because of Montana’s natural resources, it’s become a hub of sorts to startups and small businesses.

“Montana is a small business state – in fact nearly all of our workers are employed by businesses with fewer than 20 employees. That means Montana jobs rely on entrepreneurs, striking out on their own and building companies from the ground up. This new partnership will go a long way toward helping Montana entrepreneurs get new businesses off the ground so they can grow and create jobs.” Senator Max Bacus said in a statement.

You can find out more about Blackstone here.

Yes even startups from Montana come to this huge startup conference for startups everywhere else.

Image: Billings, MT

IndustryHuddle Gets Funding, Reaches 500 Users, & Throws A Party

One of my favorite things about covering startups “everywhere else” is that they’re really good at solving un-sexy problems. At the Southland Summit last month, Sarah Lacy said, “The Valley has done what the Valley is good at.” Which leaves a large field for innovation from everywhere else.

IndustryHuddle is doing just that. In June they announced a small funding round that would allow them to iterate their social trade network, adding features and improving the platform. Then, last week, they made another announcement via press release.

Cincinnati-based social trade network IndustryHuddle.com has reached a new milestone over a month before its first major overhaul. Century Fasteners & Machines Co., of Niles, IL, registered on July 12th, 2013 as the 500th company on the social trade network. As a result, they will receive a $500 advertising credit for use on the site or towards sponsorship of an industry huddle of their choosing.

The free network allows businesses to connect with suppliers and consumers within their industry. They currently offer 40 different industries, including bearings and power transmission, HVAC, carpet/tile/flooring, and janitorial supplies. Obviously, these aren’t typical Valley focal points.

Once a company signs up for the network, they can list themselves under any industry huddle they participate in. Then, they have access to sales leads, an online sales platform, and exclusive promotions offered within the huddles. IndustryHuddle also works with partners like Chevron/Texaco, Sprint, Staples, and Office Depot to offer member-only discounts.

The addition of the 500th member is a huge milestone for the company, especially since they still haven’t unveiled the latest improvements.

One thing IndustryHuddle has done right is those partnerships with big companies that offer discounts to members. Because small businesses have to watch every penny, this alone provided value, even before the network began to grow. Now, with each industry filling out, members have easy access to big and small players in their business, making it easy to both buy and sell products and services.

In the press release, Zachary Haines, President and CEO of IndustryHuddle said: With large companies like 3M on board as well as smaller operations like Century Fasteners, we’re proving that our services are accessible to all.

The company took a quick break to celebrate their 500th member with a pizza party. Then, they got back to work on the next iteration of their growing platform. IndustryHuddle 2.0 will be launched in late August and will feature individual profiles, new communication choices, and an overall better user experience.

Go congratulate IndustryHuddle on Twitter and check out IndustryHuddle.com.

Stopped.At Launches In Super-Super-Beta

As the Entrepreneur-In-Residence of the new Upstart Accelerator in Memphis, Mara Lewis has spent the last week telling women to just do it. Women have to fight perfectionism, and if they try to make a product perfect before it launches, it’ll never launch.

“You iterate. You put it out there. It can’t be pretty. If you wait until it’s perfect, you’ve waited too long.”

Lewis’s co-founders back in California were shocked when she took her own advice and made the announcement about their own product: Launch it. Put it live.

And that will forever be the story of stopped.at’s launch into the world. But, of course, it really isn’t the beginning. The beginning happened two years ago when Lewis and her team pivoted their old “Foursquare for the Web” site and began formulating stopped.at.

In the last two years, they have perfected an algorithm similar to Pandora. A user signs up for stopped.at, drags the bookmarklet to their browser, and goes about their business. As they use the web, they “check in” on each site via the bookmarklet. Over time, stopped.at’s algorithm will begin to read the traits of the websites a user visits. Then, it suggests new sites, apps, or services the user might be interested in.

Stopped.at has all the features we love about social sites. You can connect it with your Facebook or Twitter account and you can follow friends. There’s also a rewards system. For each task you do, you earn rewards, which you can then redeem for prizes.

They also have “folders,” similar to boards on Pinterest. Using the folders it’s easy to create collections of the websites, apps, and services you use every day. Then your friends can browse your folders and discover their next must-have app or website. This feature is the one stopped.at’s team is most interested in testing during beta. They want to know if and how people will use them and if they are a good value for the site.

Right now stopped.at is only available on the web. “One regret is,” Lewis admitted with a sigh, “at the time, I wish we had done mobile-first. But, we know it, and we recognize it, and it’s top of our priority list.” Since more than half of American adults use their smartphones to browse the Internet, stopped.at will probably see a lot of growth when they launch on mobile.

The team hopes to launch out of its “super-super-beta” at the end of August, and the goal is to have 50,000 monthly users by October.

Lewis has been at the entrepreneurial game for a long time. This is her third company, and this version of stopped.at has been in production for 2 years. Kyle ran into Lewis during SXSW this year, where she pitched in the Dolphin Tank.

Those of us in the tech world could find stopped.at to be the perfect engine to discovering the best apps and websites out there. Join the public beta and let the team know what you think.

Wisconsin Governor Signs Investment Capital Bill For Startups

Wisconsin startups just had another victory on Thursday as Governor Scott Walker signed an investment capital bill.

The bill, which drew bipartisan support in the state legislature, provides $25 million dollars to startup companies in Wisconsin. Unlike other states, though, this bill was specifically for tech startups vs biotechnology and life sciences. In most states it’s harder for general tech companies to draw this kind of support from the government.

In the case of the Wisconsin bill, startups in agricultural technology, information technology, engineered products, advanced manufacturing, medical devices, and imaging are all eligible for the new funding.

While biotechnology and life sciences companies can create jobs over a much longer period of time, Wisconsin is looking for companies that can create jobs quicker.

“The $25 million allocated for this program in the state budget will help grow private sector jobs by investing in start-up companies,” Walker said in a statement. “One hundred percent of the funds from this program will go to Wisconsin-based businesses, and there are a number of measures in place to ensure accountability and transparency for the hard-working taxpayers.”

Fox11online.com reports that the $25 million dollars in tax payer money will be matched with $50 million in private donations.

“I hope that once success is shown, it will lead to additional measures to increase the amount of capital for new businesses and more Wisconsin jobs,” Walker said in a statement.

Employee #1 Monica Selby Gets It Done

Monica Selby, Nibletz, Managing Editor, startups, employee 1

Monica Selby (r) our Managing Editor and employee #1

You may have noticed that my grammar, spelling, and story flow have improved over the last two months.

First, thank you.

Second, that’s not by accident.

As an entrepreneur with two successful exits under my belt, I’ve always been a bit headstrong. I’ve also, for the most part, been a one man show. On my previous blog, we had writers, but no one above that or between me and the writers.

However, as Nibletz continued to grow I realized two things: I couldn’t do it all by myself, and people actually wanted to help me.

Most of you know Nick Tippmann joined me on the founding team late last year.

Well two months ago, we got our “employee #1.” This is a huge milestone and a celebration of any startup’s growth. For us though, we didn’t just got an employee #1. We got a bad ass startup chick, like a boss.

Monica Selby has been writing since the 2nd grade. She was the girl that was always writing stories and organizing writing clubs in middle school with her friends. Even while she was in the “real” work force, writing was always a passion for her, and 3-4 years ago she started looking at writing as a serious career path again.

I met Monica at the Upstart 48 Hour Launch in Memphis, where she had pitched her own startup. Unfortunately her startup wasn’t picked, but rather than go home, she spent the entire weekend helping Danielle Inez and Pink Robin Avenue. Inez won the 48 hour launch competition. Monica continued to stick with it, and with Inez, helping her with her Everywhere Else: The Startup Conference booth.

Monica stayed involved with LaunchMemphis (now Start Co), the organization and startup community in Memphis. She had first become aware of LaunchMemphis through her family friend (and our investor*) Patrick Woods. Monica originally thought Patrick was crazy when he asked her if she ever had business ideas of her own. As I prepared this story, Monica told me how she got involved:

Years ago Patrick encouraged me to let him know if I ever had a business idea. At the time, I had 3 kids under 5, so the last thing I was thinking about was starting a business. But, I got involved with some education stuff here in Memphis and had an idea for a education accelerator for teachers. So, Patrick put me in touch with Eric [Mathews, co-president of LaunchMemphis]. I very quickly learned that idea wouldn’t work in this particular educational climate, but I was hooked into the startup scene here in Memphis.

Monica’s title at Nibletz Media Inc is “Managing Editor.” But, like at any startup, that means she wears a ton of hats. She keeps our team organized; she makes sure Nick and I don’t kill each other; she works to grow her personal networks to help create new content and new content categories. Monica is also an integral part of planning next year’s Everywhere Else: The Startup Conference in Memphis and something else really big being announced next week.

On Monica’s personal blog she writes about issues important to her and her audience, including entrepreneurship, women in entrepreneurship, working women, and of course the coveted work-life balance. With 3 boys–a 7-year-old and 2 5-year-olds–that issue definitely hits home. Monica’s husband Austin is a high school teacher and cross country/track coach, which makes “normal” afternoons nonexistent in the Selby house.

Even with all this going on in her life, Monica is dedicated to Nibletz and the Nibletz mission, spending late nights and weekend hours working on ideas, compiling stories, and making new friends in the startup world. Monica has some exciting ideas she’ll be debuting soon, including a contributor network and several regular series. Make sure to check out her first investor spotlight with Carla Valdes.

So, we at Nibletz are excited to have Monica on board. Reach out and say hi through email (monica@nibletz.com) or on Twitter.

Meet Monica and the Nibletz team in person at this huge startup event.

Virginia Tech Turns Frat House Into Entrepreneur House For Next School Year

When Virginia Tech kicked Sigma Phi Epsilon out of their house and off their property last year, they weren’t sure what they were going to do with the mansion that housed the miscreant fraternity. Sure they could look at other fraternities or use it as housing for faculty and staff. However what the university decided to do was, well, innovative.

The Washington Post reports that Virginia Tech is looking for 35 male and female freshman with an entrepreneurial spirit. They are looking to start an innovative living and learning community that will force collisions between the creative and the entrepreneurial as they venture into college.

Nathan Latka, an entrepreneur who founded his startup Heyo out of the Virginia Tech dorms is involved in the new program. His dorm room startup is now a multi-million dollar social media company with clients like Lily Pulitzer and 16 employees. Latka told the Post that he sees the irony in million dollar startups coming from the same table where “party themes used to be hatched.”

The house “has got all the amenities built in,” Latka said. “It allows random ideation to happen at any moment. It increases the chances that two freshmen who would have never known each other from two disciplines to really collide and engage and ideate.”

This is a great start for the prestigious university that was struck by the worst school shooting tragedy in college history just six years ago.

Obviously technology is a big part of Virginia Tech already and connecting the techies with the creative and business savvy entrepreneurs can only be a recipe for success. Hayden Lee the president of Virginia Tech’s Entrepreneurs Club is worried that this may not be enough. Lee is hopeful that the house will include a designated hacking space, high tech gadgets, and flexible programming.

Latka believes that the house will attract 300 applications, draw $3 million dollars in investment, and create 30 jobs.

Does your startup have culture, should it?

CrunchBase Announces New Startup Calendar To Compete With Startup Digest

CrunchBase is the industry directory for all things startup and investor. In fact we think every startup should have a CrunchBase profile, and we often promote it as one of the three free things every startup should do. CrunchBase serves as a database to track information like who’s involved in your startup, what milestones you’ve hit, and other company news. It’s just as important to have a CrunchBase profile as it is to have an Angel List profile.

On Tuesday CrunchBase announced a new product offering. The startup calendar is a new weekly email calendar that will provide subscribers with information on startup events from across the country. It’s similar to Startup Digest, but Startup Digest has a weekly email blast for each area, curated by a local startup community leader and brought to you by the folks at UpGlobal/Startup Weekend.

CrunchBase plans on one weekly email and anyone can submit an event for consideration. They have these few requirements:

You should contact them at least a week in advance of your event
Your event should feature a minimum of 5 startups
You must provide themwith a list of and information about the startups participating in the event

If you want to submit your startup event to the Startup Calendar you can email events@crunchbase.com

Here’s a huge event for startups everywhere else.

The 7 Best Places to Startup (Infographic)

Here at Nibletz, we’ve long known the benefits of starting up “everywhere else.” Silicon Valley gets so much press–and they have certainly been at the top for a long time–but we know that the hottest new companies of this century will come from outside the Valley.

And now we have an infographic to back us up!

GoodApril is (ironically) a San Franciso-based tax-planning company and a startup themselves. In conjunction with Entrepreneur, they ranked the 7 hottest startup scenes in America on 5 measures:

median tech-employee earnings
max personal income tax
property tax
cost of housing
cost of office space

There are some people who argue that these factors don’t affect the decisions of people you actually want. But, we’ve met plenty of great entrepreneurs over the years who definitely understand the benefits of low cost of living. And they know that employees can work from anywhere.

So, you’re looking to move you’re startup. Where should you go?

According to the GoodApril rankings, Austin, TX is the best place to build a new company. San Francisco? Well, by these metrics, the Valley is actually the worst place to start your new company, despite the concentration of talent and VC money. In a blog post on GoodApril’s website, co-founder Mitch Fox tells this story:

I recently met an entrepreneur who’s had enough of the Bay Area’s living costs and taxes, and is moving to Austin. He launched his startup in San Francisco several years ago. Now he says, “The business case to move is just too compelling. Austin has everything we need at a much lower cost.” He’s had an office in Texas for three years. Now he’s going all-in. “This tax increase was a tipping point for me, but it’s not just about taxes. My employees can buy a large, three bedroom house in Austin for less than a one bedroom condo in Noe Valley.”

Several states don’t have income tax, including Florida, Texas, Washington, and Nevada. A lack of income tax makes life easier for employees as well as companies. And for many families with children, the pace of life outside the Valley is a better fit.

It may take awhile for any one of these scenes to overtake the Valley, but the more entrepreneurs see the benefits of “everywhere else” the quicker it will happen.

Check out the infographic from GoodApril and Entrepreneur for all the details.

7 best places to startup, startups, entrepreneurs, inforgraphic

Source: Entrepreneur.com

Google’s Maker Camp Brings The Maker Movement to Teens Everywhere

Summer camp is an iconic American tradition. Even if you’ve never actually been to summer camp, you know the images: lakes, ropes courses, capture the flag, and campfires.

Oh, and arts and crafts, of course.

For the second year in a row, Google is bringing the summer camp arts and crafts experience online with Maker Camp.

Don’t be fooled, though. This is the 21st century, and we’re talking about Google. You won’t see any macaroni birdhouses. Instead, Google has partnered with MAKE Magazine to bring a lineup of intense hands-on projects over a period of 30 days. Each morning, a new project is posted on the camp’s Google+ page, complete with materials needed and instructions. Each afternoon features a Google+ Hangout with a “maker” as well as tips and tricks on cool projects. The week caps off with Field Trip Friday, a video series going behind the scenes of some pretty cool spots. For example, the first week took visitors to Oracle Team USA’s basecamp, where they build the boats that race in the America’s Cup.

This year, each week has a theme. This week’s theme is “Create the Future” and features projects like a light up hoodie and learning to solder. The field trip on Friday will be to NASA, which promises to be pretty cool.

If you’re thinking some of this stuff would be hard to pull of at home, you’re right. In many areas there are “campsites” with counselors facilitating the program. Most of the projects are fairly simple, though, so if you’re in an area without a campsite, it’s still possible for teens to do them on their own. But, teens like to socialize, so they can also hop on the Google+ page to chat with other kids doing the same projects.

“Maker Camp hopes to foster the DIY (do-it-yourself) spirit in young people. We want each camper to see how much there is that you can do and how much there is to explore all around you. Once you begin doing things, you’ll meet others who share your interests, and you can collaborate to work on projects together. We call that DIT (do-it-together),” publisher of MAKE Magazine Dale Dougherty said in a blog post.

Last week I jumped on the Maker Camp website with my 3 boys. Now, at 7 & 5 they are definitely under the age range Google is targeting, and I am certainly not one of those handy moms skilled in any kind of crafts. But, we attempted the “balloon blimp” project anyway. (And by “we,” of course, I mean “I.” Unless you count chattering and jumping on the bed as the boys helping.)

The project was simple enough and the instructions pretty clear. We did need to plan ahead to get a certain kind of balloon and a certain kind of straw, though, which would be hard for a younger teen at home while parents worked. Ultimately, we didn’t really succeed in our project, but that was because my own kids were too impatient to let me try different solutions to make it work.

For the industrious teen, though, the projects at Maker Camp are easy enough to do alone, but challenging enough to require some problem-solving skills. The experience would be enhanced, of course, if they can do it with a group of some kind. Because everything’s more fun in a group.

This whole endeavor is a stroke of genius on Google’s part. They are contributing to the DIY nature of the next generation, which gives them great press. But, this year the program is also intimately wrapped up in the Google+ platform. Last year, more than 1 million campers tuned in, and this year they are hoping for even more. That’s a lot of interaction on the world’s 2nd most popular social network site.

Maker Camp is only 6 days in, so there’s still time for teens to jump in. Check it out on the website or at Google+.

20 Over 20: One Of The Coolest Hackathons We’ve Heard About

Starting now and culminating with a four day hackathon beginning at noon on Thursday, September 19th, the 20 Over 20 hackathon is looking to solve problems that have been lingering, unsolved for the last twenty years.

The hackathon was jointly created by Dialexa (www.dialexa.com) and Dallas Venture Partners (http://dallasventurepartners.com/). Co-CEO and founder of Dialexa, Mark Haidar told Nibletz: “With all the technology we’ve seen in the internet age over the last 20, years there are still problems out there that can be solved.”

That’s what they intend to do during the hackathon. Dialexa is already solving big problems ranging from surveillance at a Nigerian naval base to GPS tracking to building 3D tooth models from 2D scans. All problems that Haidar’s company has solved with technology.

Do you have a problem that’s been nagging at you that could be solved with technology? You can submit that problem now, here. On the evening of Wednesday September 18th, the 20 Over 20 team will select the 20 Over 20 Problems. From there, the preselected teams will have 18 hours to decide which of the problems they want to solve. If you submitted a problem and your problem is selected, you’ll receive a $20 gift card.

If you choose to participate on one of the teams, you’ll be competing for a $10,000 cash prize, winner takes all. The teams will work from noon on September 19th through 4pm on September 22. Each team will have 20 minutes to present their solution and 10 minutes for Q&A. The winning team will be incorporated free of charge by law firm Strasburger and Price. The prize money will be a $10,000 common stock equity investment for 2% to DVP.

Teams will be judged on four criteria:

How well does the idea solve the problem that was identified?
What level of disruption of innovation does the idea bring to the problem’s market?
Current operational functionality.
Technical feasibility of product roadmap

Stay tuned to Nibletz for more information on 20 Over 20. You can submit a problem and register a team here at the20over20.com