Link-a-palooza for 11/12/10

·         Having trouble giving awesome presentations?  Take a few lessons from the master, Steve Jobs.

·         Chris Dixon offers up a straightforward, easy-to-follow grocery list on how to get take your tech idea from napkin to launch

·         First it was Pepsi dolling out big bucks with their feel-good Refresh Project, now IBM would like to give your town some money too – in their Smarter Cities Challenge. 

·         Entrepreneur.com is all about the list, they’ve got one for everything – to that end is their top 100 low-cost franchises.  It’s basically full of business and home cleaners, but of special note is #94 on the list – DoodyCalls- of the lucrative “pet waste removal” industry.  There must be an easier way to make a buck.

·         Great article by Iowa Dept of Economic Development Director Bret Mills on the importance of innovation and what the state of Iowa is doing to bring it to the forefront.  Look for big things to come from the Iowa Innovation Council.   

·         The Death Star has announced free online shipping for the holidays.  I’ve seen it reported that, by itself,  Wal-Mart has been responsible for shaving a point or 2 off of inflation.  Stuff like this sure doesn’t refute that at all. 

·         The state of Iowa has gotten high marks in the past year or so for being a great place to do business – most of the time its due to our low cost of doing business, the low cost of labor, and the availability of skilled labor here in Iowa.  But this one comes from the other side of the coin, pointing out that Iowa has a pretty heavy tax burden for business - typically a factor that stifles business growth and recruitment efforts. 

·         More on Iowa’s new innovation strategy and the Iowa Innovation Council