Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Archives for January 2012

Minnov8 Gang 154 – iPad, iLearn

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Tablets, and specifically the iPad, are being adopted quickly in education.  A leading K-12 education publication, T.H.E. Journal, wrote this article about the top trends in education in 2012: “…education technology will see an increased focus on individualization–from personalized learning environments to digital textbooks designed to connect students to the resources that work best for them. And with a growing number of students using handheld devices to access these learning tools, trend watchers can expect to see big pushes for faster innovation to tie everything together.”

Dr. Lisa Snyder

So does this mean we give tablets to kids and education is magically transformed? Hardly. Fortunately we have one of the thought leaders in this space in our backyard. Her name is Dr. Lisa Snyder, she is the new Lakeville MN School Superintendent, and we were pleased to have her on the show to talk about their new iLearn initiative, whether or not it’s magic, how tablets and tech fit in to it, and her perspectives on the challenges adopting new ways of teaching and learning.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: Dave Hole & the song “Keep Your Motor Running” from the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:12:49 — 42.3MB)

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Minnov8 Gang 153 – SOPA is NOPA

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SOPA is not an Italian soap, as joked about on the Gang podcast. But we discuss the protests that caused the Stop Online Privacy Act (and its Senate sister act called PIPA or Protect IP Act) to be, as the Mafia always stated about someone who was killed and dumped in the river, “sleeping with the fishes” and we talk about what happened.

Besides all of the catching up we did our guest, Patrick E. Donohue from DealPen, is on to talk about their initiatives to work with startups on funding, knowledge and a host of other value propositions.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: Clear Blue 22 & the song “Through With You” from the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 59:32 — 34.7MB)

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Mobile Text Message “Cramming” Scam

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Sick with the flu all weekend I’d gone to bed early Sunday night (1/15/12) only to be awakened by two back-to-back text messages arriving on my iPhone. Having been in the internet/web industry since its beginning in the mid-1990s, I instantly recognized the potential for charges from this spammer so I sat up, grabbed my iPad, and started poking around to see if either the shortcode (the “318-50”) or the toll-free 866-861-1606 number was an active scam.

I was stunned to learn it is a scam. Not only that, based upon the sheer volume of complaints I found shows that this is rampant, apparently is seeing little-to-no preemptive action on the part of the wireless carriers, and many, many mobile users are being charged monthly fees. This fraud is commonly known as cramming.

I am writing this post for the express purpose of bringing this issue to your attention and that of Lori Swanson, our State Attorney General, in order to get some action and protect consumers. If *I* can get scammed (and I am VERY cautious, careful and savvy about online scams and still don’t know how my number was discovered). I can only guess how pervasive this is in Minnesota and that it appears the carriers are likely complicit in perpetuating these cramming scams due to conflicts of interest and their subsequent inaction.

THE SCAM
This is a mobile SMS (text message) scam which automatically subscribes the user to a monthly plan, in my case a $9.99 one as you can see from the screenshot to your right. What’s curious is that many people on several complaint forums I discovered recommended replying “STOP” to cancel since that would be an explicit opt-out. In my case I didn’t respond (never do to spam) and instead called AT&T Customer Service.

The charges were applied anyway which, I now know, is a common cramming practice. AT&T removed the charge and I explicitly requested they place a “subscription block” under my parental controls for all phones on my family plan. This part of the adventure burned up 45 minutes of my time.

During my short investigation last night for another 30 minutes, I came across these links to other people who have been victims of cramming from this same provider and have had similar charges:

…and so on and so on. But wait until you see how this cramming is potentially worth tens of millions of dollars per year for the scammers!

…  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 152 – Mr. Happy *Loves* 2012

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2012 started off with a bang with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the start of a new year also affords the Gang a chance to see just how far and fast a local emerging firm has come in the last year.

Joining the Gang on this podcast are two guests: First up is Justin Kaufenberg, CEO & Cofounder of TSTMedia, who provides us with a solid overview of his company and all of their properties (SportNGIN; EventNGIN; USPondHockey; and NGIN itself). Then we get a CES report from Mitchell Hislop (Site; LinkedIn; Twitter) who was on-the-ground for several days looking at CES developments from a hard core geek’s perspective.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: Ron Arnold & the song “Kiss Me” from the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:12:18 — 42.3MB)

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Student Led Technology Conference

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Inver Grove Heights Community Schools has an upcoming event that seems so delightful that I had to bring it to you. It’s likely you know of someone who would really enjoy being enlightened about technology by a bunch of students, or perhaps you’d like to attend too and see how these kids have learned to use all the technology this district uses (you can get a sense in this highlights video).

A guy from the Inver Grove Heights Community Schools Office of Communications, Johnny Germscheid, reached out to us here at Minnov8 to tell us about the event. Its focus is about technology, education and breaking down the communication barrier between children and adults. I’m guessing there will be a lot of learning occurring on both sides (student-as-teacher and adult-as-student).

Students in grades K-12 will be teaching adults how to use iPads, iPods, and other devices and software programs. Conference highlights include:

  • Produce and publish an eBook using rich multimedia content.
  • Create a digital scrapbook to capture family memories.
  • Design a webpage or blog to share your story on the web.
  • Find out how to set up and manage your own social networking profile.
  • Collaborate electronically to edit documents in a more efficient manner.
  • Compose original songs to add flavor to your movies.
  • Learn how to get the most out of that new iPad.

This is the second year Inver Grove Heights Community Schools has offered this Student Led Technology Conference. Turns out the Inver Grove Heights school district (ISD 199) was nationally recognized in Washington DC by the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) this winter for this innovative concept.

The conference is free and open to anyone in the metro, or our entire State for that matter. To check out details about the conference, which takes place on Saturday, February 25th from 8:30am until Noon, visit the event mini-site here.

UnitedHealth Group’s Booth at CES

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The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is in full swing and UnitedHealth Group (UHG), along with its UnitedHealthcare health benefits and Optum health services businesses, is at CES this year because, as they say on their dedicated “CES Health” innovation showcase website, “…we’re increasingly invested in how the intersection of health and technology is empowering people to take greater control of their everyday health. By giving people the tools to better understand their health and health care, we’re helping them live healthier, happier lives. In short, our innovations are all part of a digital ecosystem we’ve created for health. See these innovations on display in booth #2833 in the North Hall at CES.”

Nick Martin, vice president of innovation and R&D at UnitedHealth Group, gave a quick tour of the booth and some of the innovations within (listed here, by the way):

One thing has surprised both our tech peers in Minnesota as well as we here at Minnov8: Who knew UHG was so active delivering tech innovations? Some of these include: UHC.tv; OptumizeMe (an iPhone/Android app); and Optum’s NowClinic, a virtual Doctor visit/prescribing platform with a corresponding smartphone app.

Might be that these “innovations” are targeted directly at corporate customers and to their respective employees who are under a UHG health plan. It’s interesting that each of their branding, user interfaces and integrations seem to be in separate silos, with no overall direction discernable from their presentation online. Still, it’s good to see a Minnesota employer innovating in the internet and web space.

Minnov8 Gang 151 – Opinions Are Like Donkeys

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There’s an old saying about people who rant that, “opinions are like a**es…everyone’s got one” and the Gang is no exception, though we like to think our opinions are a bit more informed than the average schmo and that we’re more like somewhat smarter donkeys.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: Jake Lear & their song “Kiss Me” from the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:13 — 37.5MB)

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Discussed during the show:

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