Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Archives for February 2011

Workface DEMOs New Platform

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If you’ve ever gone to a website to research, buy or otherwise engage online with a company, you know how frustrating it is to either have to call them on the phone or click “Live Chat” and wait around until someone becomes free to ‘talk’ with you. That’s all about to change.

Local entrepreneur Lief Larson‘s company Workface today announced it is demonstrating it’s new “Customer-initiated Engagement Platform” at the DEMO Spring 2011 conference. As they state in their press release, “The Workface® Platform lets businesses empower their professionals to digitally engage anonymously, directly, and in real-time with customer prospects on corporate andthird-party web sites, search engines, and mobile devices.”

While I’ve always been enamored by the BusinessCard2 aspect of Workface’ business, it wasn’t until I saw this MAJOR extension and platform wrapped around it that it made complete sense. For any company interested in engaging with the accelerating number of always-on and always-connected prospects or customers, you must find richer and more engaging ways to connect with folks…and this Workface platform is it.

Take a peek at the video below to learn more:

Contour Innovations Made GPS Magic in a Basement

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Two entrepreneur’s, Mike Lauenstein and Matt Johnson of Contour Innovations, have spent the last two years in stealth mode (building in Mike’s basement offices) inventing a patent pending technology that provides a unique sonar recorder Platform with a wide range of applications for recreational fishermen, research groups, fishing guides, and other geospatial technologies. When we grabbed coffee a few days ago so Mike and Matt could give me an overview, I tossed out ideas and thoughts that were possibilities that were obviously a Phase 2 or 3 for a startup…

…but to my surprise these guys have nailed every single one and then some.

The "CI Device"

The premise and “magic” is this: by building what they call a “CI Device” that connects between any existing depth finder and its transducer to “sniff” and record raw sonar files, they can match those files with their corresponding GPS locations. This data is then uploaded to their servers where it is processed and rendered in various online interactive media and coupled with weather data and other conditions. The processed lake data is accessible by the user’s account and displayed in lake shape files (on smartphones, computers, etc.).

The cool thing? If you’re a guide you can now map a lake, put in your preferred fishing holes and sell the “package” of data. A fisherman could then go to that lake and essentially be guided to great fishing holes by top guides.  …  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 112 – Even Monkeys are Mobile

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The “always on, always connected” culture is accelerating due to mobile devices and it seems like everyone has a mobile phone, laptop or tablet (which we know is not actually the case…yet). What does being always on and always connected mean for work, education, and socializing when we can find out anything or connect with anyone in an instant? When even monkeys are mobile, how mobile are you with your work, education and socializing?

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: David Bennett Cohen playing “Cookin’ with Cohen” via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:22 — 33.3MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang – Working on our Twangs

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The Gang will be on hiatus this week so there won’t be a podcast. Turns out we got a new gig for our hillbilly quartet so we’ll be stoppin’ off for some ribs and then heading out to the Slim Pickins Bar, Grill and Used Car Lot to meet our huge fan base. After that we’ll be hanging out at Phil’s house shining our boots and working on our “twangs” in order to get ready for next week’s show.

As always, thanks for listening!

Minnov8 Gang 111 – The Throng Can’t be Wrong

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We talk with Aaron Weber, co-founder of an already successful startup (W3i) and now a new, exciting personalized and social discovery engine called Inveni. We talk with Aaron about this new platform, his recent influx of venture capital (nearly $500K) discussed in this high profile article at Techcrunch, and what’s next.

We then shift our discussion to another area being impacted by the “wisdom of the crowd“, namely the newspaper and magazine industries. We talk about Rupert Murdoch’s new “The Daily” iPad app and whether it—following the old publishing model of a small group writing and deciding on content being published once as one, big chunk of content—is the future of newspapers and magazines or is it one where the crowd decides what are the most important stories and then drive them to the top?

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Brian Kelly is the artist & the song is “Smiling South” via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:00:38 — 35.3MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Minnov8 Gang 110 – ChitChat Chatter

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The “socialization” and connection of seemingly all we do online increasingly centers around our social graph. Our first guest, Rick Mahn, consults in the social media sphere and runs the #1 Social Media Breakfast club (nationally) right here in the Twin Cities. Rick has a unique perspective on how organizations are applying social media for customer engagement, support and, unfortunately, more and more as a marketing channel rather than a conversational medium.

Our second guest, Fallon Director of Innovation Marty Wetherall, not only has delivered critically acclaimed work at this premiere ad agency, he is CEO of FanChatter, a “chat box” technology that aggregates, organizes and amplifies real-time social conversation. Listen as we discuss how “everything seems to be social” and its implications with these two leaders.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Profetas is the artist & the song is “Baila” via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:40 — 38.2MB)

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Discussed during the show: