A Room With a View

We realize not all BizMojo Idaho readers have had the opportunity to check into the new Marriott Residence Inn, which only opened this weekend. So, to satisfy your curiosity, here is a picture of downtown Idaho Falls from the fifth floor, taken Saturday by Photographer Melissa Bristol.

INL project named finalist for Idaho Innovation Award

The INL's Wireless Spectrum Communications team (l to r): Jose A. Loera, Daryl L. Wasden, David K. Couch, Hussein Moradi, Carl A. Kutsche, Idaho National Laboratory; and Behrouz Farhang, University of Utah.

The Wireless Spectrum Communications project at the Idaho National Laboratory has been named a finalist in the seventh annual Idaho Innovation Awards.

To put it simply, INL researchers are working an algorithm that makes more efficient use of the radio frequencies that serve all the world's cellphones, tablets and routers. With more than 6 billion cellphones in the world, there's only so much room on the spectrum, which is why we lose our signals or wait for what seems an eternity for our downloads.


In the Idaho Innovation Award competition,WSComm was named a finalist in the Early-Stage Innovation of the Year category. Earlier this summer, it was named a winner of the R&D 100 Award. (Link: http://www.rdmag.com/Awards/Rd-100-Awards/2012/08/Breaking-The-Wireless-Jam/)

Award winners and finalists will be recognized Oct. 2 at a presentation during the Idaho Technology Council’s third annual Hall of Fame Celebration, at the Boise Centre on the Grove. Registration is available online at www.idahotechcouncil.org through Sept. 25.

'Up 'n' Atom'' breakfast scheduled for Sept. 18

The Partnership for Science and Technology has scheduled an "Up 'n' Atom" breakfast membership meeting for Sept. 18 at 7:30 a.m. at the Hotel on the Falls (formerly the Red Lion on River Parkway).

This meeting is intended to provide information to members in preparation for the upcoming Leadership in Nuclear Energy (LINE) Commission meeting, which is Sept. 21 in Idaho Falls.

Executive Director Lane Allgood and Board President Jackie Flowers will talk about the recommendations they made to the LINE Commission at its Aug. 24 meeting. A discussion period will follow the presentation.

The LINE Commission meeting is scheduled for September 21 in Idaho Falls and will include an opportunity for public comment. This will be the last time to provide comments before the commission begins drafting its final report to the Governor. And we want to ensure a strong PST turnout at the commission meeting and during the public comment period.

The LINE Commission was created by Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter and is charged with making recommendations on what the state can do to support and enhance the long-term viability of the Idaho National Laboratory and the broader nuclear industry in the state. The meeting in Idaho Falls will be the last opportunity for the public to comment before the commission writes a report and presents it to Otter.

Reservations to the breakfast are being taken through Sept. 14 and can be made by e-mailing Allgood at lallgood@P-S-T.org

No Idaho Falls Albertsons stores slated for closing

The Albertsons store in the Ammon Town Square.

The three Albertsons stores in the Idaho Falls area are not among 27 of the retail grocery outlets being closed by parent company Supervalu Inc.

Supervalu spokesman Mike Siemienas told the Twin Falls Times News that 19 of the Albertsons to be shuttered are in Southern California. The other eight are in Oregon and Washington, he said.

Supervalu announced Wednesday it will close about 60 “underperforming or non-strategic” stores to save $35 million in the next year and an estimated $80-$90 million over the next three years. Most closures will occur by Dec. 1, although a few stores will remain open until February 2013, according to a company news release.

Several Save-A-Lot stores along with four ACME stores and one previously announced Jewel-Osco location are being closed in addition to the Albertsons outlets.

Besides the stores named for closure Wednesday, eight more Supervalu stores also are slated for closure. However, the company cannot release details about those outlets at this time due to ongoing contractual discussions, Siemienas said.

Supervalu Inc. has annual sales of approximately $35 billion, the news release said. The network includes 4,400 stores.

BizMojo Idaho marks first birthday

Today marks the first anniversary of my first post on this blog. Without a doubt there has been a learning curve, but overall I can say I'm very pleased with how it's gone and the acceptance BizMojo Idaho has gotten.

Since Blogger offers stats, here are a few numbers:

Total pageviews: 60,546

Best Month
August 2012: 9,018 page views

Most Read Posts
Best Carl's Jr. plans to open in Idaho Falls (12/9/11): 1,135
Second Idaho Falls Carl's Jr. opening (2/16/12): 787
Fourth of July preview story (6/20/12): 485
Story on the late Galen Bush, efforts to help his family (1/17/12): 386
Scoop on Celt Pub (4/25/12): 361

Most of the traffic on this page comes from Google, which I'm sure is why the Carl's Jr. stories have gotten the largest number of pageviews.

Then there is Facebook, on which I share everything I post here. When I started out, I was picking and choosing blog entries to share. In December, I decided I would share everything, because people on Facebook decide what's important by sharing it themselves. I saw a sharp increase in readership after that.

A year ago I had little idea of what I was doing with this other than resurrecting the old weekly column I used to write for the paper and adapting it to a continuous on-line format. I've scored some scoops (always gratifying) and goofed a few times (never a happy occasion). I've got some ideas about what I want to do in the coming year, but for now I've got a few trees to shake.

All the best!

Nuclear instrumentation expert to speak Sept. 11 at CAES

Jean-Francois Villard

Jean-Francois Villard of CEA Cadarache's Nuclear Energy Division will be the featured speaker at a dinner Sept. 11, the focus of which will be instrumentation development for the future Jules Horowitz Reactor.

The CEA Cadarache facility is a scientific research centre in the south of France that specializes in nuclear energy research. Since 2010, Villard has been in charge of instrumentation, sensors and dosimetry, leading the development of measurement systems for research reactors

The dinner meeting will be at the CAES Gallery, 995 University Blvd. beginning with a social hours at 6:30 p.m., with beer and wine available for purchase. The dinner and program, catered by 3's Company, will begin at 7 p.m. Cost is $20 per person and $10 for full-time students. 

The meeting is sponsored by the Idaho National Laboratory Instrumentation, Control and Intelligent Systems Distinctive Signature Program in conjunction with the Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility, Idaho Section of the American Nuclear Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

To attend the dinner and program, send your reservation to IdahoSectionANS@yahoo.com or call 526-7785 by noon on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Bonneville County home sales up in first seven months of 2012

A review of the numbers for the first seven months of this year show the local real estate market holding steady with last year on all fronts but one: the Snake River Multiple Listing Service indicates that from Jan.1 to the end of July this year, the number of units sold rose by 101 to the ominous number of 666.

That number is pretty much in the same range as where home sales have been in the past four years, however. It will still be some time before we see anything like 2007.

2007-- 1,043
2008 -- 764
2009 -- 605
2010 -- 626
2011-- 565
2012 -- 666