Gadget accessory and development company Griffin Technology partnered with Hatch Show Print and Cool People Care to produce 250 custom iPhone cases to help raise money for those that fell victim to the massive flooding in Nashville.

[For those who aren't aware: Although their products are sold across the country, Griffin is actually based in Nashville]

The blue, yellow and white case design features…

Gannett-owned newspaper The Tennessean is ditching billboards with the slogan “Don’t Search, Find” after realizing it was no longer 1999.

Even though journalism 101 teaches never to assume anything, I’m going to go out on a limb and say everyone on staff either didn’t realize this slogan was still being used or they previously understood how horribly it fails to be an effective play on words but were unable to do anything about it.

The news organization has instead opted for a simple, clear message: “The Most Local News Online”.

Hands On Nashville, the group dedicated to organizing and keeping track everyone helping Nashville flood victims, took their site offline from 3 – 7 a.m. this morning to perform upgrades allowing them to handle the staggering number of volunteers who signed up in the past week.

Yes for once it seems Tennessee can be referred as “The Volunteer State” without any mention of collegiate football teams to the east or the fallen soldiers of the Civil War.

The Nashville Technology Council has e-mailed members in the community about the state of the city’s Internet infrastructure, which has been considerably taxed since the historic flooding occurred.

I don’t have to tell anyone how important the connectivity has been in getting everyone organized and on the same page when it comes to relief efforts. Check out the information below so you can plan accordingly if your network is down.

“As of 4:00 PM Tuesday, the following updates have been communicated to the Nashville Technology Council from its members in support of Nashville’s Infrastructure:

While everyone may be preoccupied with national news coverage concerning the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or the water main leaving millions without access to clean water in the Boston area, Nashville is underwater and doing everything they can to stay afloat.

Much of the recovery can’t actually begin until the water levels recede, but that isn’t stopping Nashville’s developer community from donating their skills to help lessen the impact of disaster on the community.

If there’s one thing Nashville has in abundance, it’s talented songwriters. But despite the many avenues technology has provided people to listen, share and buy music, the “for hire” creatives in the industry have never had a way to benefit.

With MusikPitch, the huge community of songwriters everywhere — be it aspiring or full fledged professional — has a platform for which to offer their services across the spectrum of potential clients. It very similar in scope to 99design, a site that allows clients to set their own price for graphic design work and then allows freelancers to compete for the fee with their own work.

Right now that crop of clients includes Nashville eatery The Local Taco, a documentary film maker, the California Competitive Youth Baseball Club and MusikPitch itself, who is looking for background music for their homepage videos.

So how does it work? It’s actually pretty simple.

JumpStart Foundry, the Nashville-based microfund that seeks to inject money into ambitious local startup companies to aid in the early stages of development, updated their website recently with information about what they’re looking for and how interested entrepreneurs can apply.

Each month JumpStart Foundry partners select 3 to 4 applicants to pitch their idea — with only one receiving funding. If chosen, the startup receives a $15,000 investment as well as guidance from three of the microfund’s partners in exchange for a collective 10 percent ownership in the Common Stock of the company.

So basically this is a great opportunity for inexperienced entrepreneurs who don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars to…

What you’ve seen of GeniusCog up until this point is the result of three weeks worth of conversation between Marcus Whitney and I about what we wanted it to be and an additional week of actual implementation. You may have noticed (or rather you may have not noticed) there hasn’t been a post written since the first of the month. Of course there’s a very touching explanation for why, but I know better than to bore people. If you’re reading this post, you want news about startups in the Southeast region of the United States.

The important thing is we’re back.

Between myself and hopefully a few others, we plan to shed some light on the companies who you don’t know about, who you wouldn’t think to care about and the ones who’s office you pass every day and don’t know it.

That being said, there are some things you ought to know about the production side of GeniusCog and where our loyalties lie…

FastPitch Nashville, the culmination of a three-part competition to showcase great entrepreneurial ideas won’t be held this year, according to the official web site, which states that the event (originally scheduled for March 30) has been canceled until next year.

Neither the web site nor the official Twitter account give an explanation for why the final event was canceled and the page also doesn’t list any information for contacting FastPitch organizers.

I realize openly asking for eager entrepreneurs to write us about their business is a recipe for inbox organizational disaster. But honestly, GeniusCog is a new news organization.

So, I’m inquiring to the folks out there who haven’t had the attention they may deserve.

However, there are a few points that may make us more likely (or unlikely) to cover your company…