Austin Barnes
Recent Articles by Austin Barnes
While the party has grown larger each year, Greg Kratofil said, the goal of the ARtechBBQ remains the same: to highlight Kansas City’s tech community at what he calls the closest thing the city has to Mardi Gras. The hotly-anticipated, one-night-only event returns 6 p.m. to midnight Nov. 1 at the Kansas Speedway during the…
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Selling the family-owned US Toy business — a brand that became a household name over its 70-year run — allows its third-generation ownership to shift their full attention to a sister company that serves the early childhood industry with STEM resources, classroom furniture, playground equipment, and more, said Seth Freiden. Constructive Playthings, led today by…
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A new strategic partnership for Love Lifesciences is expected to leverage its core product — a safe, self-administered injection medication delivery system — to new groups of like-minded, innovation-first companies, said Nick Love. The Overland Park biotech startup on Wednesday announced the deal with the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding (APC), a leading trade organization, to…
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Expanding Silvia Herrera’s business from a food truck in Gardner to one of Kansas City’s most active and eclectic food hubs brings the Buenos Aires-born entrepreneur — and her grandmother’s 50-year-old handcrafted empanada recipe — to an even wider, more diverse audience, she said. “Our empanadas are more than just food,” Herrera said. “They represent…
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The recent closures of Soiree, The Krave, and Privee — Black-owned restaurants that each became a staple of Kansas City’s evolving food scene — leave a clear void that can’t be ignored, said Ryan Sorrell. An initiative to help save local culinary should-be hotspots in similar danger wraps this week, but the work to promote and…
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People across the globe are caught in an internet malaise, said Paul Allen, and tech visionaries’ response should be to renew humans’ dependence on faith and family and friendship and local community. One of their most critical tools, he said: decidedly non-human solutions from the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence. Allen — founder of…
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Thomas Rex’s new proof-of-concept film project envisions a near-future world where society is on the verge of totalitarian control, he said, describing a cautionary tale about being unknowingly controlled by a culture of escapism through pleasure and pharmaceuticals. “In Plain Sight” serves as a prelude to Aldous Huxley’s novel “Brave New World,” an acclaimed but…
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Quick service. Customization. Simple menu. Meals made-to-order in front of the customer. Chipotle was built on this service model. Now Peter Nguyen wants to bring it to his new Vietnamese restaurant, and even use that system to start a franchise of his own. In August, Nguyen purchased the former Bun Mee Phan restaurant at 4011…
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A coworking space and a church — united around the idea of building community — formed a unique partnership earlier this year in Kansas City’s northland, said Bob Martin. The CO-OP at Shoal Creek — which Martin and Heather Heckroot opened in January — has taken up residence at Shoal Creek Community Church in Pleasant…
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A relaunched Kansas City-area fund is expected to help residents struggling because of a lack of simple tech resources: devices that might often be taken for granted among their neighbors for whom the internet — and the opportunities that come with it — is already easily accessible. Eleven nonprofits in the region recently were awarded a…
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