Four Southern Utah entrepreneurs detailed their technology-related
products Tuesday in St. George after receiving grants from a
state-funded economic development organization.

The Utah Science Technology and Research initiative, or USTAR,
coordinated the luncheon in an effort to highlight recent recipients of
its technology commercialization grants to local legislators and other
members of the community at The Village Bank’s downtown location, said
Jill Elliss, the Southern Utah technology outreach director for USTAR.

USTAR’s technology outreach program was designed to foster growth among
companies by offering guidance and support through locations at Dixie
State College and Southern Utah University in addition to other centers
throughout the state.

“Our ultimate goal is to help new high-tech companies and bring new
products to the market that translate to new high-paying jobs,” said
Michael O’Malley, communications director for USTAR.

Bret Berger, the owner of Moki Systems, a St. George-based software
development company, said his technology business received nearly
$40,000 from a USTAR grant last year. He said the grant helped the
company develop a prototype for its online agricultural water system
monitoring technology. He said the funds also allowed Moki Systems to
hire two Dixie State students who assisted the company in developing its
software,

While the additional funding is helpful, Berger said the guidance and
connections offered by USTAR have proven equally valuable.

“They have kind of provided a spark that pushed us along,” he said,
adding that USTAR connected the company with students at Dixie State.

Berger said he hopes to see Moki Systems provide new jobs for members of
the community as the company develops its new product.

Prior to Tuesday’s presentations, DSC President Stephen Nadauld said
USTAR offers valuable work experience to students while assisting local
entrepreneurs and companies.

“We have a huge role to play in community economic development,” he said
of the college.

Jamie Lords, president of SmackDab Technologies, a company developing a
laser-based layout system designed for use within the construction
sector, said his company also relies upon USTAR and local college students.

SmackDab received about $30,000 from a USTAR grant in March, he said,
providing funds for the company to develop its prototype and pay
students for their work on the project.

“It brought us to life,” he said of the grant following his presentation
Tuesday, adding that the company likely avoided selling a potion of its
ownership by acquiring the additional funding.

Kolob resident Doug Catton said he also benefitted from USTAR’s
technology grant program by receiving about $30,000 to improve his
prototype for a unique walker designed to offer additional layers of
protection for elderly consumers.

Catton said his walker includes a lever that lowers a seat behind the
user, eliminating the need for a person to turn around before sitting on
the device.

With assistance from engineering students at Southern Utah University,
Catton said he hopes his product is market-ready within 12 to 18 months.

Matthew Excell, the chief technology officer of TrueScale Technologies
in St. George, presented his company’s online media storage product
during the luncheon.

He said TrueScale’s technology would allow users to rapidly upload music
and video files to an online storage system and access the files through
their computers, televisions and smartphones.

“We expect it to be hopefully widely available in the fourth quarter,”
he said of the product.

Approximately 90 percent of USTAR’s grant program was funded by federal
stimulus dollars, O’Malley said. With no stimulus dollars remaining for
future grants, he said the program is “on hold” and is not likely to
resume unless USTAR obtains another source of funding.

“We are looking at other options on how to fund it,” he said.

Article originally published by The Spectrum.

Refresh your browser screen to get the latest values!

This page contains real-time flow data for two sites on the Virgin River and the mouth of the Santa Clara River, all near St. George, Utah. Discharge is hydrologist-speak for flow in the river. It is measured in cfs or Cubic Feet per Second. One cfs is equal to about 7 gallons per second.

Dec 16-22 Virgin River Flows in St. George at I-15

The above (not real-time) graph, courtesy of USGS, shows flows for Dec 16-22 for the USGS gaging station on the Virgin River near Interstate 15 in St. George, Utah. Note the peak flow on Tuesday the 21st of about 18,000 cfs. In perspective this is:

• 1/63 the average flow of the Yangtze
• 1/25 the average flow of the Mississippi
• 1/10 the average flow of the Nile

In the content below click on the links labeled “Discharge” or “Gage height” to pull up a graphing tool that will allow you to navigate the water data back and forth in time. Data from each of these stations comes from the USGS, the federal agency that also owns and operates the stations that measure this data.

Real-time data from these stations is transmitted one time each hour via a satellite radio link. The hourly data transmission contains flow values averaged at 15 minute intervals.

During extreme water events like this week, the gaging station equipment or site may sustain damage or undergo changes that make the automated measurements inaccurate. The site on the Santa Clara and the Virgin River site above the gorge seem to have intermittently reported data yesterday (Tues Dec 21) and today (Wed Dec 22).

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This USGS gaging station is right above the confluence of the Santa Clara and the Virgin Rivers, 0.8 miles upstream from mouth. This is near Interstate 15 in Saint George, Utah.

I think gage is next to bridge on Dixe Drive

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This gage is located just upstream from the I-15 freeway bridge and just below the confluence with the Santa Clara River.

Virgin River gaging station next to the I-15 freeway bridge

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This sensor is downriver from St. George about 8 miles. It’s located where the Virgin River enters “The Gorge”.

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Short video of the Santa Clara at the confluence with the Virgin. This was taken on 21-December-2010 (Tuesday) at about 11AM. Flows were near their estimated peak of 4,000-5,000cfs. Camera pans from upstream shot of foot bridge to downstream shot of the confluence with the Virgin.

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Video clip of the Virgin just below the confluence with the Santa Clara and below the Interstate 15 bridge. Note the huge standing wave. Video was taken on Tuesday 21-Dec-2010 at about 11AM. Across the river is a paved bike path/walking trail which had sections eroded away in the 24 hours after this video was shot. Flows in the Virgin were near the estimated event maximum of 18,000cfs

Google Places is a fantastic and underutilized tool for insuring that your customers can find you. Places is an expanded profile for your small business in the Google Maps search results. Google allows business owners to self-edit information displayed in Places such as:

• Categories that describe your business
• Description of your business
• Your website URL
• Contact information… address, phone, email, etc.
• Hours of operation
• Types of payment accepted (Visa, MasterCard, etc.)

By simply making sure that all of the information in your Google Places webpage is populated and correct you will bring your Google listing ahead of much of your competition.

Look for your Google Place listing by searching Google Maps for your business:

Search the listings to find your business. You may edit the listing by clicking on the “Edit this place” link. You will need a Google Account. The first time you attempt to edit your Google Places information you will be asked to authenticate yourself via either a phone call or through a postcard mailed to the business address.

The Sevier River Water Users Association (SRWUA) in Central Utah are pioneers in the use of the Real-Time Web. For the past 10 years SRWUA has been delivering real-time water flow data to the public via the website www.SevierRiver.org.

More that 100 remote, solar-powered, stations record water flow and capacity data from canals, rivers and reservoirs. This data is collected and disseminated by the the MetriDyne tool, created by Moki Systems.

A schematic view of a portion of the system is useful as an overview for operations:

A tabular view of the same data:

Drilling down on an individual station shows a time series graph with options for tabular display or data export: