News

KC startup founder pivots into pickleball haters’ biggest complaint, eliminating court noise

By Tommy Felts / January 25, 2025

SLN/CR is serving the sweet sound of silence to neighbors of outdoor pickleball courts, said Eliot Arnold, a serial entrepreneur-turned avid pickleball player who’s taking a swing at the source of critics’ irritation. His Kansas City-based startup — pronounced “silencer” — offers a fabric-based noise mitigation system that uses nanotechnology to absorb nuisance noise, said…

Read More >

Kansas student’s mobility tech for visually impaired users wins Congressional App Challenge

By Tommy Felts / January 25, 2025

An Overland Park eighth grader’s app idea — using object detection and text-to-speech technology to help visually impaired individuals navigate their surroundings — earned him a visit to the principal’s office, then an opportunity to showcase his innovation in Washington, D.C. “I actually came across a video online, and it was about this blind woman…

Read More >

Chatterbox speaks the language of reluctant learners: games featuring global cast of AI tutors

By Tommy Felts / January 23, 2025

Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro.  WICHITA — A Kansas-built language-learning app takes a gamified approach to fluency — inspired by travel and the simple joys of players feel when competing in traditional board games, said…

Read More >

Hella Good lunar launch party celebrates KC’s rising Asian culture, bringing ancestors to the night market

By Tommy Felts / January 23, 2025

Béty Lê Shackelford hopes Hella Good Deeds — the nonprofit sister organization of the popular Vietnamese coffee shop Cafe Cà Phê — makes members of Kansas City’s Asian community feel held and hugged, she said. “Hella Good Deeds is here; we love you; and we’re really open to collaboration,” explained the founder and executive director…

Read More >

Husband-wife culinary duo among 8 KC bars, restaurants named James Beard semifinalists

By Tommy Felts / January 23, 2025

Editor’s note: The following story was published by KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR member station, and a fellow member of the KC Media Collective. Click here to read the original story or here to sign up for KCUR’s email newsletter. Many of Kansas City’s best-regarded culinary luminaries are represented in the nominations, including The Town Company and Chewology; But the list…

Read More >