Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation
Minneapolis based space150, a full service digital creative agency, is hosting a Mobile Marketing Workshop on Monday, August 11th, at the Fine Line Cafe (map) in downtown Minneapolis.
With mobile poised to make the leap to a viable advertising medium, space150 feels that this is the perfect time to discuss new technologies, relevant trends and best practices.
The event is free, but space is limited so advance registration is required.
CentralStandardTech, a site tended by Minnesota geek Luke Francl (yes, that Luke from Minnebar and Minnedemo fame), is one I frequent to stay appraised of all things tech in our State and is in my #1 folder of feeds in my RSS reader.
From a great tech blogroll to a calendar of events and, especially, an aggregation of posts from those blogs, it’s a site you should frequent if you’re interested in technology in Minnesota and the people here with propellers on their beanies building great software and leveraging web and internet innovation trends.
Much to my delight today, I discovered a new forum by Jamie Thinglestad (former CTO of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network) called MinneLightroom. If you’re not an Adobe Lightroom fan like I am then this is of little interest to you, but there are a couple of things of note:
1) Adobe Lightroom is developed right here in Minnesota at the Adobe engineering office in Arden Hills
2) Jamie is using the WordPress ‘bbpress‘ forum software — one I’m interested in but find far too limiting currently — but he was able to get this forum up-n-running quickly for a narrow audience of Minnesota Lightroom fans. Granted, he’s pretty adept at WordPress (as evidenced by his session on optimizing it at the recent MinneBar), but deploying this forum has created a focal point in MN for interested Lightroom users and is there if you’re interested in joining.
I encourage you to head over to CentralStandardTech right now and just poke around. If you’re interested in Minnesota tech happenings and the people involved in it here, it’ll be your hub.
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.)
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…]
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…]
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-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…]
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?