By Staff Writer – Boonsri Dickinson (@boonspoon)

Last week, President Obama promised small business owners $30 billion plus tax credits in his State of the Union address.  More small businesses, means more jobs. Right?

Any glimmer of hope small businesses felt might be short-lived. Some people doubt it will actually work. Directing the bail-out money to the most desperate people is easier said than done. For instance, The Financial Times reports that the small business credit crunch may stop job creation before it starts. And The Huffington Post say Obama’s plan won’t change anything and is “doomed to fail.”

Where did the optimism run off to? Too big to fail rings an unsettling bell. The big banks got our money and got even bigger. And the bankers still continue to get outrageous bonuses. They are allowed to take huge risks with our money. But many small business owners don’t even get a chance to take their calculated risks. Their business grows from a solid idea, rather than perpetuating the vicious cycle of greed that persists on Wall Street.

The problem is not the lending issue of banks. There’s just nobody who had money to buy the company’s products in the first place. As a result of less spending, the banks are stingier about the loans they hand out to small businesses.

If you are a small business owner in need of a loan, there are other ways to get the money you need. But it comes at an added price. Try Hartsko Financial Services, a company that issues hassle-free loans to small businesses. One small business owner compared getting a loan to “getting someone out of Guantanamo Bay.” While that may seem extreme, desperate situations call for desperate measures. When it takes up to a year to get a loan, it might be worth the extra cost. Time is money.

No Money, More Problems is a post from: TechStartups.com

It’s Friday and I’m ready to stop typing. When writing is your job, sometimes you just have to. Taking a break always helps. So on this cold, snowy afternoon, I looked at my Twitter for instant scoop and put together the first 10 tweets that caught my attention. There was a lot of Las Vegas buzz, since every tech writer in America seems to be at CES. But that’s not the only thing happening. Here are some tweets you should read before you go home:

1. @ladygaga

time to drink a bottle of wine and sketch for the new tour. st.louis was brilliant. there’s eyeliner on my knee, and blood on my elbow.shady

2. @feliciaday

It was an honor to be included in the picture, but I can’t disagree w/these pts re: the Vanity Fair article http://bit.ly/5qw1au /via @kiala

3. @iJustine

AT&T HAS BEEN SO BAD THESE PAST FEW DAYS THAT I WANT TO GET RID OF MY iPHONE!!!!! CAN HARDLY SEND TEXTS & EVERY CALL DROPS!! #ces #attfail

4. @victorhernandez

16 degrees outside, snow around Atlanta… Half expected the big red letters out front to be sporting a snuggie! (@ CNN Center)

5. @bcaufield

Sex Robots prove CES doesn’t have a monopoly on new technology in Vegas this week #CES http://bit.ly/7Zr024

6. @jayrosen_nyu

BTW, what I actually said to MSNBC was: “Twitter now is a more effective system than any single news organization at serving breaking news.”

7. @jodikantor

The Obama Jacket billboard in Times Square is much weirder in person.

8. @haydenblack

Underpants Bomber pleads not guilty to trying to blow up US plane. Claims he just had worst case of blue balls EVER.

9. @JaredCohen

A key issue discussed at dinner w/Secretary Clinton: power of tech to help us map and cohere so we can convene, connect, & avoid duplication

10. @shitmydadsays

“Universe is 14 billion years old. Seems silly to celebrate one year. Be like having a fucking parade every time i take a piss.”

I am SO glad to be done with this list because Twitter kept telling me it was over capacity. This must be a popular time for people to send out tweets.

Tweets To Read is a post from: TechStartups.com

Yesterday at the White House Jobs Forum, President Obama called out to Angie Selden, CEO of Arise, because her company has helped create thousands of customer service jobs.

By developing a network of jobs that operate out of American homes, the company is helping to reverse the trend of hiring customer service reps overseas.

Through Arise, customer service reps work out of their homes. Bye bye brick-and-mortar call centers and say hello to customer service served up the American way: In the future, customer service reps will answer your emails from their iPhones and Xboxes.

Today, customer service reps use their secured personal computers and answer live chats and emails at home. “There’s no reason why that customer service rep can’t be mobile,” says Jim Walker, the CTO of Arise. Call centers are not cube centric anymore and this allows people to have more flexibility in their lives.

Mothers and other people who want to work at home can become Arise Certified Professional. Sounds sketchy, but these ACPs have to go through a background check, take tests and be certified on certain platforms. The ACPs can choose any client in the Arise network — if you like hospitality or travel, you may want to pick a cruise line to answer questions for.

“Homeshoring gives companies the chance to hire customer representatives that know the specific product and the culture,” says Walker. Of course, working from home has its benefits too: You save money on gas and you probably spend many days in your pajamas (so no dry cleaning bills). “You can work when you are most productive,” says Walker.

“Social networks are becoming support centers of the future. People go to blogs and discussion boards to get customer service from our clients,” says Walker. Don’t worry though, you won’t be hearing a garbage truck in the background just yet. Walker isn’t talking about sending phone calls to the customer service reps’ cell phones, only text communication through email and chat rooms. If the thought of answering emails and resolving issues in chat rooms appeals to you, you’re in luck: Arise is looking to hire 3,000 people.

Image: flickr/ ShaneRobinson

Yesterday, Obama and I Asked Arise To Bring Jobs Back Home is a post from: TechStartups.com

Today, President Obama announced a campaign called Educate to Innovate. The program will try to get kids interested in science, engineering, technology, and math.

Private companies, the federal government, foundations, and professional societies have invested $260 million into this effort, hoping their time and money might rebuild the spirit of innovation in America. Still, Obama is looking to recruit more people. Qualified individuals include: Big Bird, engineers, programmers, and scientists.

For example, Sesame Street will have episodes that touch on the scientific method. The Discovery Channel has set aside commercial-free programming on the Science Channel. Next year, Monday to Saturday, its programs will cater to after-school TV watchers. Time Warner Cable is setting up a website, called connectamillionminds.com, to track local science activities.

In his speech, Obama brought up an old, but disturbing statistic: In America, 15 year-old students rank 21st in science and 25th in math. He argues scientists and engineers need to be elevated as role models, the same way athletes and entertainers are. Obama wants to show kids how “cool science can be.” That’s why he’s going to have an annual science fair at the White House.

Critics argue that this campaign doesn’t do enough to improve science education, which is the underlying problem. Hopefully, the new science programs will be enough to do the trick.

It certainly wasn’t the hours of Full House and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air I watched growing up that got me interested in science. It was the little experiences that mattered. My dad exposed me to engineering. He took me though a tunnel underneath the ground, instead of walking me across the street. I took the path less traveled just to go to the pool!

Image: flickr/ The National Academy of Sciences

White House Wants Elmo, Engineers, and Scientists to Inspire Kids to Study Science is a post from: TechStartups.com