I have to admit that when someone submits a story and I trust them...I sometimes don't read the whole article before I publish it. So until I read Dean Barker's Gadgetopia, I didn't realize his company, Blend Interactive, was featured in eZ's SHARE! magazine. The irony is that if I had read an article posted at my own site by one of eZ System's own people...Dean's post wouldn't have been new news to me. Sigh, I have been just too busy...
You may not have heard of Blend Interactive, but they do sport a decent portfolio of sites they have developed and designed. Probably the most likely well known work from the company is the home site for the instant messaging client, Pidgin. The SHARE! magazine features Blend Interactive, in part, because it is one of the most enthusiastic users of the eZ Publish CMS in the United States. eZ Publish's roots is in Norway and the software is more popular in Europe. But, as the eZ article implies, there is a push to generate more users in the United States.
Why would I mention anything about Dean's company? It just so happens that Dean, Blend Interactive, and I reside in sleepy but surprisingly technologically advanced Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sioux Falls has been a booming town ever since Money magazine ranked it in 1992 as the Best Place to Live. Yes, our weather may be less desired by many, but the business and family climate in Sioux Falls is one of the best I've seen.
Dean Barker and I have commented in the past that we seem to get just as much attention outside of Sioux Falls than we do here locally. Electric Pulp's Aaron Mentele commented sometime ago on his own blog this trend also. Small design and technology companies in Sioux Falls are serving some very large companies elsewhere. In turn, these small companies are becoming bigger themselves. Here in Sioux Falls, we've got the stuff.