Minnesota Keeps Feeding the iPhone Habit
July 21st, 2008 by Phil Wilson
DoApp has had a busy week. Their MyLite and MyTo-Do applications are currently available and moving up the rankings via the iPhone Apps Store and Magic 8 Ball and Whoopee Cushion are waiting in the wings. Current stats include MyLite ranking #8 overall on Top Free Apps, and #1 in Top Free Apps in the Utilities category along with MyTo-Dos showing at #81 overall on Top Free Apps, and #8 in Top Free Apps in the same category
Launched as PagePow, DoApp was founded in 2007 by former early Google employee Joe Sriver. The company positions itself as “a new kind of internet applications company.” They aspire to the rather lofty sounding mission of enabling “a glorious new world of distributed content and commerce.” Okay, so flashing lights and whoopee cushions don’t exactly sound “glorious”. However, in our interview Sriver assures me that there is more afoot at DoApp than finding your keys in the dark, telling the future, or goofing on your friends. The current applications for the iPhone are about establishing the firm and “gaining experience in the process.”
He goes on to say, “The iPhone applications are just one aspect of DoApp, making up part of a growing portfolio of work.” More serious applications in the commerce, utility (including MyTo-dos), and entertainment segments are planned.” We have a staff of eight and we are working furiously to keep pace with the ideas we are generating.” Those ideas include mobile and web based applications. In fact PagePow was originally launched as a widget builder. There is still a presence in that market with plenty of interest, much of it on an international level, but “the attention around iPhone applications has really replaced the buzz on widgets.” according to Sriver. Clearly, though it may be hard to believe, not everyone has an iPhone and there are still plenty of opportunities to supply applications for other platforms. This reality does not appear to be lost on DoApp.
As for iPhone applications, “Nobody really knows the criteria by which Apple decides which applications to release to the App Store, so we can’t really provide a timeline for what’s next there.” says Sriver. As the company expands beyond its current staff it will be less reliant on Apple because it will be delivering applications for other platforms. For now though, being ranked #1 in a category on the hottest application distributor site is not a bad way to bring recognition to a growing firm. Perhaps its own Magic 8 Ball app would say that it “appears likely” that this Minneapolis based firm will parlay that attention into serious application success.
(In the interest of full disclosure it should be norted that Minnov8 contributor Graeme Thickins is also the DoApp Marketing VP.)
Minnesota Public Radio Goes to Camp
July 16th, 2008 by Phil Wilson
A unique collaboration to benefit public radio, MPR and maybe all of media for that matter took place at the studios of the Minnesota Public Radio on Saturday July 12th.
The PublicRadioCamp was organized by Dan Grigsby and those behind Minnebar and Minnedemo here in the Twin Cities along with MPR. The “camp” was positioned as “a new community event” and the purpose was to examine “the tons of really interesting content, data, audio, meta-data and feeds.” and to spend the time “collaboratively remixing and mashing up these goodies.”
The designers, bloggers, journalists, internet types, and plenty of MPR representatives (about one for every non-MPR attendee), assembled in the deluxe UBS Forum. The space had been lined with work areas complete with large whiteboards indicating there wouldn’t be much observing and plenty of brainstorming. Within minutes the group divided into what resulted in four groups; Data Access, User Generated Content, News Visualization, and Nuevo Radio. My time was spent in the Nuevo Radio group, a name I gave it as a spicier take on radio. Besides nouveau seems so snooty. The results of it and the other collaborations are briefly reviewed below. Read more…
The Man, the Artist, the Designer, the Podcaster…the Show
July 15th, 2008 by Phil Wilson
There are tremendous firms, organizations, groups, and entrepreneurs responsible for some amazing innovations. There is also one Minnesota resident behind the look, feel and sound of some of those innovations.
That person or “show” is Woodbury’s John Benson, aka Johnee Bee. Johnee runs his own firm; The Johnee Bee Show, specializing in flash design and illustration. His work can be seen all over the web. In fact, Johnee donated the banner art we use on Minnov8. Not only can you see his work, you can hear it as well. I caught up with Johnnee for what was a high energy, sound effect and character voice riddled, fast-paced discussion.
Johnee moved to Minnesota in 2004 — but why? “A woman…why else?” he says with a smile. His wife Cynthia was offered a position at 3M so, along with their Weimaraner dog, Sprocket, they came to the Midwest. To get a good idea of what this show is all about, let’s step back and get the full scoop on the colorful history of Johnee Bee. Not to conjure up images of that guy you knew (or were) in high school, but here’s how he became the ultimate AV guy. Read more…
TinyURL: Making long URL’s short
July 9th, 2008 by Steve Borsch
Did you know that a tiny service used 1.5 billion times per month was created in Minnesota? TinyURL is a service I’ve used often (especially when using Twitter) and this creation by Blaine, MN developer, Kevin Gilbertson, is quite popular.
I was first alerted that this was a Minnesota creation by St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Julio Ojeda-Zapata (column, blog) when he put out a ‘tweet’ on Twitter about the service’s Minnesota connection. Of course, I poked around to find out more and was just delighted on what I discovered.
Then sitting down to breakfast this morning with the StarTribune, I saw this article entitled, “TinyURL developer basking in website’s success” which covers the man behind TinyURL and a bit about the service. The article lays out how Gilbertson could make ~$1 million per month but chooses not to have annoying popup ads (thank you Kevin!). He makes enough per month that he apparently doesn’t need to work outside of making TinyURL better and is able to focus on his passion for unicycling (peek at the Strib article for more).
Julio’s writing, the Strib’s coverage and ours is fantastic for a new and successful Minnesota startup, but not everyone agrees that services like TinyURL are ones we should rely upon. Read more…
WCCO Launches Ad Network & You’re Invited to a “Bloginar”
July 9th, 2008 by Steve Borsch
WCCO-TV today announced the launch of the WCCO-TV Minneapolis/St. Paul Network, “a first-of-its-kind partnership between a major media company’s owned television station and local blogs and social media sites” delivered through embeddable news widgets.
According to their press release, this network (and why they’re pitching we bloggers and social media types) is, “Site owners participating in the WCCO-TV Minneapolis/St. Paul Network receive a portion of the advertising revenue generated by WCCO-TV, which is responsible for selling the advertising space within the widgets. There are three widget formats available, each with IAB standard ad units, and partners can select from six topical news feeds to provide the most relevant content for the publisher’s site.”
The jury is still out on whether or not local ad networks will drive viewer/readership toward local TV news outlets, but I’ve got to acknowledge the foresight in doing something to engage local new media creators, and they’re giving you, a blogger, site owner or community news organization, an opportunity to schmooze with WCCO folks at a “bloginar” next week.
While a potentially laudable effort to engage us, I suspect it’s not enough and could be so much more. Read more…
The Railroad and Minnesota Broadband
July 2nd, 2008 by Steve Borsch
In 1868, the railroad bypassed Forestville, MN and the town died. The decline came slowly and over time my distant relatives, Thomas and Mary Meighen, saw the town dwindle, people move away, and they were left in an empty town with their farm and a general store attached to their home. Farm workers, paid in ‘chits’ to spend in that store, kept it open until 1908 when business in it came to a screeching halt as Thomas abruptly closed up shop — the last business in Forestville — with all the merchandise inside.
My Dad and his cousins tell stories of being kids on weekend holiday in the 1930’s, taken out to the farm to look around and rubbing the store windows so they could peek inside at all the old clothing, canned goods and assorted sundries, all left intact when Thomas locked the store and he and Mary moved to nearby Preston. Many of our other relatives moved there since Preston thrived when the railroad was built and passed through it instead of smaller Forestville to the south.
The Minnesota Historical Society later purchased their property (and what was left of the town) and turned it into a State Park, complete with interpretive storytellers in period costumes. It’s definitely worth a summer visit some weekend.
The lesson here is how important transportation was for physical goods in the late 1800’s during a time of shifting from a predominantly agrarian economy to one that was primarily industrial. The location of a railroad line dictated the fate of a town (though post-Civil War economic doldrums didn’t help). You may remember (or have heard stories about) how imperative it was for businesses to be “located on a siding” so railroad cars could load and unload easily, but what’s less obvious is the economic explosion that always accompanied the laying of track and the development which occurred alongside it, and how being bypassed by the railroad could doom a town or region.
If you buy in to the premise that we’re living in a time of the greatest shift in communication and connection in history driven by the internet — and that the transport of digital bits is as important (if not more so) than the movement of physical goods over the past 100 years or so — it almost goes without saying that location is not only less important today, in many ways it’s irrelevant unless you don’t have access to the internet and fast access at that.
What happens to your town if it’s bypassed by high-speed broadband like Forestville was by the railroad in 1868?
Thirty Semifinalists Named in ‘Minnesota Cup’ Business Plan Competition
June 29th, 2008 by Graeme Thickins
I attended and Twittered a bit at a reception Wednesday evening, June 25, at the grand, old James J. Hill Library in downtown St. Paul. (You remember old J.J., don’t you, the Bill Gates of his era?) It was an event to honor the startups who made it to the next round of the Minnesota Cup, an annual, statewide competition that seeks out aspiring entrepreneurs and their breakthrough ideas. The 30 lucky semifinalists were selected from a record of 840 entries in this fourth and largest year of the competition, and will vie for prizes that include $50,000 in cash for the first-place winner. An interesting tidbit I picked up at the reception: about 10% of the 840 entrants were Web 2.0 related.
Scott Litman, cofounder of the event, told me the competition this year was the toughest ever, and that many plans that might have made the cut in previous years didn’t. He also told me that, unfortunately, many entrants may have had great business concepts, but they were not understandable — the submissions were either poorly written, or riddled with so many acronyms and buzzwords that the judges flat-out did not know what the heck the submitter was talking about. (So, take heart, rejectees. You may be great at selling your ideas verbally — now work on the written word.)
Here’s how the Minnesota Cup site states its mission: “We’re looking for the next great entrepreneurial success story in our state. This competition is for all entrepreneurs, whether your breakthrough idea is high tech or no tech, whether you are just putting your ideas into a business plan or if you’ve been out building your venture.” Well, I wonder if it’s possible that any who entered, and especially the chosen semifinalists, could really be “no tech” in this day and age? That would be hard to imagine. And, in looking over the list, there’s nary a one that would seem not to rely on technology in their businesses. (Although some without a website certainly have the aura of no-tech at this point, perhaps awaiting prize money to build? And what’s with all the student semifinalists being listed with no websites?) As for the lack of a requirement that the business be new, i.e., that older startups can also apply, I know at least two on the list are four to five years old and still chasing $50k. Ah, hope springs eternal. Here’s the full list: Read more…
Minnov8 Gang Podcast - Episode 2
June 28th, 2008 by Steve Borsch
Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Phil Wilson
Our second podcast where we discuss:
- Qwest laying fiber in Eden Prairie
- Jon Gordon of public radio’s Future Tense is coming to Minnesota, asked via Twitter for independent coffee shops with Wifi, and Minnov8’s Garrick Van Buren put up this invite-only Google map so the community could input them for Jon’s upcoming visit
- Discussed Minnesota Cup; Techcrunch’s Elevator Pitches site; PunditWatch at hubdub; Internet Broadcasting (and the editing of Tim Russert’s Wikipedia page and subsequent firing of an employee over those edits) and this coming Monday’s article on them by the Pioneer Press which will be here; Mashable’s post on Twitter; FriendFeed; Loren Feldman’s teasing of Shel Israel with the “Shel puppet”.
Our intention with this podcast is to talk about relevant innovations occurring in Minnesota and/or those that directly impact our State….and like good geeks we’ll undoubtedly go off on tech tangents periodically.
We’ll be recording one each week (releasing on Saturdays or Sundays) but will be a bit sporadic throughout this summer and recording them in earnest this Fall, with periodic guests appearing on the show. Look for Episode 3 the weekend of July 26th (due to vacations).
Thanks for listening!
BlueShirtNation: Success from Risking Failure
June 27th, 2008 by Steve Borsch
Connecting thousands of high turnover, twenty-something retail employees into some sort of cohesive and connected online network would seem worthy of senior executive leadership, strategy formation, funding, project managers and endless meetings to ensure that it was aligning with the goals and objectives set forth at the outset. None of that happened with one of the most visible employee social networks yet deployed, BlueShirtNation.com, which is Best Buy’s blue, polo-shirted retail employee online network for internal use only.
Instead Gary Koelling, now Senior Manager of Social Technology at Best Buy, was in the advertising department with his colleague, Steve Bendt (also now a Senior Manager of Social Technology). These two went ahead and built just such a network and did it on the cheap and outside the confines of the organization. As you’ll soon learn, they did so with great success, but this is a cautionary tale.
The BlueShirtNation adventure began because these two didn’t think their advertising was as effective as possible and they were wrestling with new methods to reach people in 2006 — especially how to reach those in the Millenials demographic — and had been doing so by going out to the stores and talking to retail employees. As they explored ways in which to connect people and have them be involved with input into messaging and advertising, they’d been playing around with podcasting and some other ideas but hadn’t hit on the right solution.
They knew that employees wouldn’t fill out surveys online or other online feedback mechanisms so Koelling, who had been using the open source content management system Drupal, cobbled together something with that platform in order to test out an idea: building some sort of destination site that employees could use to connect with one another, share content and information, and other typical uses of a social network, giving these ad guys and their department better visibility into what these customer-facing folks were thinking and experiencing in the stores daily. Read more…
Minnov8 Gang Podcast - Episode 1
June 22nd, 2008 by Steve BorschHosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Garrick Van Buren, Phil Wilson
Our first podcast where we:
- Give a one minute overview of who the heck we are
- Discuss Minnesota Cup; Slantly; Cullect
- Chat about a variety of tech topics.
Our intention with this podcast is to talk about relevant innovations occurring in Minnesota and/or those that directly impact our State.
We’ll be recording one each week (releasing on Sundays) but will be a bit sporadic throughout this summer and recording them in earnest this Fall, with periodic guests appearing on the show.
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The "Minnov8 Gang" Podcast
