Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Archives for September 2011

M8 Gang Podcast 139 – Capella U Mobile’s Kristofer Layon

By

Online learning continues to accelerate and Capella University is on the leading edge of it. Online increasingly means “mobile” and Capella recently brought on a unique, highly qualified and experienced guy, Kristofer Layon, to be their mobile product manager. We talk with Kris about what he’s doing at Capella, issues he’s wrestling with, and how he shrunk himself down to appear on a student’s iPad in 3D.  😉

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Graeme Thickins (Phil Wilson is off).
Music: “Give Blues a Chance” by “Mean Gene Kelton & the Diehards” via the podsafe Music Alley.

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:18 — 37.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:
* Both held at University of St Thomas – Minneapolis, Schulze Hall

Minnov8 Gang 138 – Fate…or Plus?

By

Lots of announcements this week with Facebook f8, Google+ opening up to everyone, and Forbes thinking our hometown technology retail success story, Best Buy, is in trouble.

Ben Theis, Google

Our guest this week is Ben Theis, Field Marketing Lead for Google in Minnesota (and part of a team of five). He talks about what he’s doing here, initiatives that Google has underway in Minnesota, and some very interesting factoids about the lack of online presence with small businesses.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off).
Music: “Full Circle” by Clintone via the podsafe Music Alley.

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:21 — 34.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:
* Both held at University of St Thomas – Minneapolis, Schulze Hall

U of MN Center for Spirituality & Healing’s Mobile App

By

The U of MN Center for Spirituality and Healing, a world-renowned resource, recently released an iPhone and iPad app called “Wellscapes” (iTunes link).

I’ve known of the Center for quite some time and been interested in what they describes as their mission to, “…enhance health and well-being by educating health professionals, empowering consumers, and fundamentally transforming the delivery of health care through the creation of interdisciplinary academic, research, clinical care, and outreach programs that advance integrative health and healing.”

Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD RN

No question that new models of integrative healthcare are accelerating and what the Center is exploring is proving to be the right path. But an iOS app?

In order to understand a little more about the Center and to understand more about why they delivered an app, I talked with Dr. Mary Jo Kreitzer, the founder and director of the Center and someone who brings more than 20 years of leadership and expertise to the field of integrative health and medicine.

I started off asking Dr. Kreitzer to give me some background on the Center and we took it from there…

Podcast (m8-audio): Download (Duration: 22:00 — 20.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast: Download (Duration: 22:00 — 12.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

English Books for Thai School – Can You Help?

By

A few weeks ago I received a contact from the Minnov8 site. The woman who wrote it (Lynn Brown) teaches at a school in Thailand in a program featuring English as a second language. They desperately need books in English for their tiny library and they have no funds for the books or for shipping.

Can you help with books?

I’ve never been to Thailand, but because my wife has put on workshops for Thailand’s Department of Export Promotion three different times, I’ve met many of her contacts from Thailand (and their kids) and they are incredibly delightful people. My bride has also told me so many stories about the country, its people, and how she loves them so much she’d move there, I was very receptive to Lynn’s request to help gather books for her students.

Map of Thailand showing Roi Et (click image for larger view)

The Thailand school Strisuksa (Stree-suk-sah) is located in a province called Roi Et. It is relatively far from Bangkok—which means they are internet-challenged as you’ll read about below—but they have a student group who will be visiting MN in October (arriving late in the week of October 3rd) and will be at Cambridge-Isanti High School in Cambridge, MN . Each student will be allowed 2 pieces of checked luggage. They hope to make the most of that luggage allowance by returning with books for their library.

If you have any ideas (or books!) that might help them gather up English books suitable for 7-9th graders and then upper secondary (10th-12th grade)—and let me know where we can pick them up—that would be terrific! Contact me, Steve Borsch, by email or by phone at 952.232.5040. I will compile a list of those who have helped and publish it here on Minnov8.

Below I go through more information about the school, student learning in English there, and what Minnov8 is doing to help.

…  [Read More…]

Why You Need to Secure Your Devices…NOW

By

If this story motivates you take action immediately, then this post was worth writing. I’ll explain why it is so critical (and easy, frankly) to backup, secure and ensure that your laptop, smartphone or tablet devices are locked down so you are protected. I’ll also tell you why it is easier than ever—and critical to police recovery efforts—to make certain your devices are able to be tracked.

Last Wednesday evening my daughter was in a good area of St. Paul, parked on a busy street, and hanging out with friends in a popular cafe nearby. Coming out to her car around 10:30pm, she discovered her driver side rear window was smashed in and her backpack—containing her 11″ Macbook Air, iPod nano, two of her college textbooks, her medications and much more—had been stolen.

Ironically, two St. Paul police officers were eating in that same cafe so she immediately filed a report. With thousands of these sorts of thefts each year, it’s probably understandable that TWO DAYS went by with no contact and zero action on the part of the St. Paul Police Department, even after my daughter called numerous times.

But because my daughter smartly installed tracking software on her Macbook Air, as soon as the suspected thief got online with her laptop it began “phoning home” EVERY 8 MINUTES.

As a consequence, we had webcam photos of the suspect, screenshots of his activities (e.g., Facebook, Wells Fargo banking, and his general surfing) along with a log of the dynamically issued IP address of his DSL connection.

After she told me Friday afternoon (after her third inquiry to St. Paul Police) that she’d been informed that, “…an investigator hasn’t been assigned to the case yet so why don’t you call back on Monday“, I became very upset. As such I started working on this issue when my workday was done on Friday about 4:30pm which, unbeknownst to me, would consume the next five hours and several additional hours the next day.

The results were amazing, disconcerting, but ultimately fulfilling. …  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 137 – Major Mojo Baby!

By

MOJO Minnesota is an innovation advocacy force comprised of like-minded business leaders working to fuel entrepreneurship and reignite Minnesota’s culture of innovation. These folks describe themselves as, “…business advisors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and attorneys passionate about creating jobs and economic growth through the power of Minnesota based technology companies” and we were pleased to have two of them on this week’s podcast: Ernest Grumbles, a “strategic IP” attorney and advisor to startups and entrepreneurs at Adams Monahan, LLP and Mary Meehan, renowned futurist and trend forecaster with her firm, Panoramix Global.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: “The Favourite” by Dig via the podsafe Music Alley.

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:04 — 38.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

2011 Tekne Award Finalists Announced

By

At a swanky little affair at the offices of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) announced the finalists for the 2011 Tekne Awards. In their 12th year the Teknes “honor companies, innovations and individuals that positively impact Minnesota’s technology-based economy.” While many of Minnesota’s largest tech companies are represented, there is a healthy dose of young companies who get to bask in the warmth of this MHTA honor.

Winners will be chosen at an equally swanky ceremony on November 3rd at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Join the crowd as they choose from the following finalists:

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AWARD

  • CyberOptics Corporation (Golden Valley)
  • IKONICS Corporation (Duluth)
  • Nova-Tech Engineering (Willmar)

…  [Read More…]

DEMO: Me & My Money

By

Our buddy, Graeme Thickins, is once again live-blogging from DEMO Fall. He seems to cover everything and is the best liveblogger I’ve ever followed, mainly because he is so diligent about placing links within his liveblog as well as within his tweets so it’s easy to go see what and whom he’s talking about in his info.

One he made certain to focus on is a new Minnesota-based offering that includes a guy who also gave us a heads-up on their DEMO debut: serial entrepreneur, Alex Huff, who is with this new Minneapolis headquartered startup as Chief Technology Officer. Me&MyMoney launched this week at DEMO and it promises to let you live the life you want and have money left over.

As many of us know when it comes to launching a startup, timing is everything. Borne in a time of incredible global economic flux and uncertainty, Me&MyMoney is certain to get attention, especially when the U.S. Census Bureau releases data like this that, “…in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year.”

Alongside that historical data is an ongoing bleak jobs outlook, fears of a double-dip recession and deep concerns about the future of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. As such, there is NO question that the masses are ready for a tool they can use to get a handle on where they are financially, where they’re headed, how to get out (and stay out) of debt, and to ensure they have money around in their old age (even more important now that we’re all living longer as well). Me&MyMoney couldn’t ask for more perfect timing, but there’s no question getting the word out and building buzz will be the key to adoption and gaining traction with the millions of potential users for their web application.

In their press release they succinctly lay out their value proposition which is, “Me&MyMoney is not another budgeting tool – it is a transformational approach to forecast where your money and your life are going. It uses diverse data sources, proprietary algorithms, and an easy-to-use web application to give members real, instant insight into their money. Those insights will allow them to create, understand, and execute a projection of their money throughout their lifetime.”

Read the full release after the jump (click “more…”) and then check ’em out…

…  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 136 – Pedal to the Metal

By

This past summer amazed the Gang in how there has been a constant and continuing stream of new announcements, mergers and acquisitions, and major battles in the mobile space. We discuss this and much more in this week’s podcast.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off this week)
Music: “Kitchen Sink Boogie” by Big George Jackson Blues Band via Music Alley.

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 33:30 — 19.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

Interview of startup QONQR (MN Cup Runner-Up, High Tech Division)

By

QONQR started as the winner of the first Twin Cities Startup Weekend in September 2010, a competition in which teams have 48 hours to build a prototype and pitch their business. Since then, QONQR has been accepted into the Demo Track of MidVenturesLAUNCH in Chicago and was a finalist in the Entertainment Category of the 2011 SXSW Accelerator, competing against Hall of Fame Game Designer, Lord British!

QONQR is the first in a line of geosocial games from the Minnesota-based company of the same name. The six QONQR team-members have been working together for years. In addition to being friends, and passionate gamers, they are experienced designers, deelopers, and entrepreneurs.

I interview Justin Peck and Andy Pickett from QONQR, the Minnesota Cup competition High Tech Division Runner-Up, at the final awards event on September 8th: