GRAND RAPIDS ? As I was typing out the issue number on this eNewsletter, it hit me ? Vol. 10, No. 1. Means MITechNews.Com ? the first web portal site in Michigan to offer news about Michigan technology and entrepreneurs ? is celebrating its 10th birthday.
It?s hard to believe when I left the Detroit Free Press in September 1999 ? where I worked as the technology beat business writer ? it would lead in January 2012 to more than a decade of publishing news by and for my fellow Michigan technology entrepreneurs. And 2012 promises to be the most exciting year yet.
For those that didn?t catch the news last month, I?ve cut a deal with my long time friend, Brian Edwards, who lead the group that bought MIBiz.Com, to produce the technology section for this paper and digital publication. Brian continues to be a believer in a ?newspaper,? that is a print product, despite the trends towards digital publishing. So MIBiz (the twice monthly business tabloid) gets distributed to tens of thousands of businesses in Western Michigan – from the Indiana border to Big Rapids, from Muskegon to Lansing ? about a quarter of the Lower Peninsula. Means MITechNews.Com will gain a lot of new readers, and, more importantly, better stories about this vital part of the state.
We?re also about ready to FINALLY launch our new Cloud TV channels. We?re working with a new video platform company out of Farmington Hills in the first quarter to beta test this technology, which will let us produce panel discussions in the Cloud. Panelists only need a web cam and DSL or faster connection to participate. The technology also lets hundreds, even thousands of people, interact with the panel live and online. Once the live show ends, we post the video to the Cloud for on-demand viewing. Our first channels will focus on Entrepreneurs, Sustainable Energy, and Cyber Security. If you?d be interested in participating in the beta tests for this new technology, email me at the address below. Include Beta Test in the subject line.
This move to video will mean we?ll do a major redesign of MITechNews.Com and our push marketing products, like the two eNewsletters we now publish, Weekly and Entrepreneur?s Corner. So any feedback from my readers on what they?d like in MITechNews.Com ? more photos, more videos, more whatever, would be appreciated. Again you can email me your ideas at the address below. Please include Redesign in the subject line.
Mike Brennan is Editor and Publisher of MITechNews.Com. To send him your thoughts, story ideas, feedback, [email protected]
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