St. Cloud-based W3i is in the app distribution business — in a big, profitable way (33 successive quarters thereof).  But till now that business has been all about desktop apps, and Windows only. Well, mark down yesterday as the day they entered the world of mobile, with this bombshell: W3i Launches New Incented Mobile App Distribution Service for iOS App Developers.  A separate version of the release, for consumers, gets more to the benefit: Consumers Can Now Earn Rewards for Installing Apps.  Those rewards, my friends, would be cash — for consumers who register at a W3i site called Apperang.com.

Naturally, app fanboys and girls everywhere loved the news — after reading about it on some of the sites they frequent the most.  TechCrunch (MobileCrunch) ran this story: Apperang Pays You Cash to Download iPhone Apps… Ka-Ching! And VentureBeat (MobileBeat) ran concurrently — amazing how that happens — with their take: Get paid to install apps with W3i Mobile Solutions and Apperang.  Numerous other sites and blogs picked up on it immediately, and Twitter was going crazy on it (just search on hashtags #apperang and #w3i).  [Oh, sure, there was a story in the StarTrib last week, too, but that didn't light up much of anything... <rimshot>]

I asked the CEO of a local app development company for his reaction to this W3i news, from a business perspective:  ”The model and integration W3i has developed for desktop distribution has been a huge success in the past, so I wouldn’t bet against them on making their mobile version a success,” said Wade Beavers, CEO of DoApp Inc. “For developers wanting to get a core base of users fast, it makes sense to use this service. The key will be how long those users keep your app, because that’s where the return on investment is.”

I also asked one of Minnesota’s most experienced iPhone app developers for his reaction: “Will app publishers readily jump to use this type of service? Small developers, maybe,” said Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic. “But small developers may not have budget to support this type of promotion… Will it be enough to hit the tipping point for more organic sales because of a higher App Store ranking? Well, ultimately, it would depend on how much a company wants to spend to buy a ranking.”

But, actually, W3i signed on some pretty successful big developers for its private beta before the announcement yesterday (the service is now in public beta).  That list of launch advertisers — just those that let W3i use their names for PR purposes — includes these firms, with the name of their app in parentheses: Big Stack Studios (Sigma), Inert Soap (FingerZilla), Booyah (MyTown), Gist (Gist), Thinking Ape (Kingdoms at War), Flixster (Movies), Slacker Inc (Slacker Radio), xCube Labs (My Health Records – Health n Family), and infinidycorp (Zombies vs. Aliens).

I’m sure we’ll be hearing about a lot more, as W3i tells me they are crazy-busy now following up with other app companies who are inquiring.

(Disclosure: the author has had a consulting relationship with W3i for providing PR services.)

W3i Lights Up the ‘Net with Its Latest App News is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

We revisit Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) through Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s experiences talking about the new iPhone 4 and his reliance on the iPad and HTC EVO 4G on his trip. Many other related subjects are explored to their logical conclusions.

Show Hosts: Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson (Steve Borsch was away this week).

Music by AjT “Apple Chunk Guitar” from Music Alley.

Discussed during the podcast:

iPhone 4 live blogs: Engadget | gdgt

Julio’s impressions of iPhone 4 vs. HTC EVO 4G  on Your Tech Weblog

Simplenote app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Reeder app for iPhone and iPod Touch

Read It Later

Instapaper

Pulse News Reader app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Readability

Safari 5 Extensions blog

Xmarks extension for Firefox, Chrome and Safari

Apple TV Rumors at Engadget

Julio’s “Twitter Means Business” book website

Julio’s latest TWiT appearance

Events:

Social Media Breakfast, Twin Cities

fontconf

Unsummit 2010

MIMA “Crowd Source/User Generated Content with John Winsor” Event

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 82: Vicarious WWDC is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.

As Minnesotans continue to embrace the always-on and always-connected online world — and mobile startups here continue to clock millions of app downloads with their offerings — there is no question that our ability to richly communicate with one another, be more productive, work when and where we want to, and have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips (provided our mobile carrier connection is operational!) took a big leap forward today with Apple’s introduction of iPhone 4.

Taking the stage at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) Monday, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPhone, a product we unfortunately had already seen in some detail due to April’s leak at tech site Gizmodo, but still eagerly anticipated.

Priced at $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB (same as the previous generation 3GS now priced at $99) iPhone 4′s features are impressive: a 5 megapixel camera (which Jobs pointed out was technically far superior to other smartphone manufacturers with even more megapixels); a camera in the front for videoconferencing and one in the back for photos; the rear camera lit with an LED flash; and recording software for HD video capture; and a 960 x 420 display that’s roughly twice the resolution as the 3GS model, now rendered permanently inferior to this new model with its cutting edge features.

The operating system driving this new phone, dubbed “iOS4″ instead of “iPhone OS 4″ since it will also be available to run the iPad come Fall, adds multitasking, clustering apps in “folders” and more. These features are key to keeping up with competitors — like that of Google’s Android operating system running devices such as the recently shipped HTC Evo 4 — but many pundits and bloggers are dissecting Jobs’ keynote and some are wondering if this new hardware and software will be enough to stave off competitors (like Google) and keep the iPhone sales momentum going?

According to analyst firm Nielsen in their “iPhone vs. Android” report, “As of Q1 ‘10, Nielsen data shows that 23% of mobile consumers now have a smartphone, up from just 16% in Q2 ‘09. Between Q4 ’09 and Q1 ’10, Android and iPhone’s share of the smartphone market grew by 2% each. At the same time, smartphone leader Blackberry lost 2% share to fall to 35% of all smartphones while Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS also lost 2% to fall to 19%.”

While this data certainly indicates that Google is accelerating and iPhone sales continue to grow — though this data was compiled before today’s iPhone 4 release as well as Friday’s introduction at Sprint of the HTC Evo 4.

About the Sprint HTC Evo 4 release — a smartphone that runs Google’s Android operating system, Fortune magazine wrote Monday that, ”Friday sales of HTC EVO 4G marked the largest quantity of a single phone sold in one day ever for Sprint – the record was previously held by both Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre. In addition, the total number of HTC EVO 4G devices sold on launch day was three times the number of Samsung Instinct and Palm Pre devices sold over their first three days on the market combined.

So, take the two previous record holders, tally up both of their sales for their first three days. The EVO sold three times that total in just one day. Estimates were for 50,000 to 100,000 Pres at launch so that would put EVO somewhere between 300,000 and 600,000 units.”

Pretty impressive numbers and it shows that the iPhone — the now “old” 3GS or this new iPhone 4 shipping June 24th — has good competition from Google and the handset manufacturers who’ve opted to leverage the Android operating system. Though Google’s debut in the smartphone OS space is intriguing, counting out Microsoft, RIM (Blackberry), Nokia (and what HP might do with their recent acquisition of Palm) would be a mistake since each has strengths that will likely see each of them growing market share in the mobile arena.

Is iPhone 4 enough? That’s an open-ended question without a specific answer, but suffice to say that the dozens of heavy use iPhone users I know are all going to upgrade to iPhone 4 (as am I). Using the HTC Evo 4 last evening at a Best Buy store it was clear the operating system is nowhere near as elegant and responsive as the iPhones, though I’ll admit it had a better display, camera and was faster than the iPhone 3GS I had in my pocket.

Comparing the brand new HTC Evo 4 (currently state of the art in Android phones) with my “old” 3GS version isn’t a fair comparison. A better one would be comparing the HTC Evo 4 with this new iPhone 4. Doing so will demonstrate that Apple just made another quantum leap forward in a smartphone experience which is likely to continue to accelerate Apple’s sales of iPhones within the globally growing mobile category.

iPhone 4: Is it enough? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music by George Fletcher’s Bourbon Renewal with the The Tequila Mockingbirds and the tune is “Rumble Groove“. Brought to you by Music Alley

DISCUSSED DURING THE SHOW NOTES:
+ FiRe: local iPhone audio app made by Audiofile Engineering in Minneapolis and used for last week’s podcast
+ Blue’s Mikey microphone for iPhone/iPod (Note that FiRe is available with this mic)
+ Comcast FCC ruling
+ Julio’s book called “Twitter Means Business”
+ MinneWebCon
+ Apple iPhone OS 4
+ Dan Grigsby @ Mobile Orchard shutting down
+ Adobe backlash (e.g., ”Go screw yourself Apple“)
+ Quit Whining About The iPad Interface
+ Twitter Acquires Atebits, Maker of Tweetie
+ ComicTwit
+ Minneapolis CrowdPitch
+ BusinessCard2 @ AlwaysOn
+ Sh*t My Dad Says (started on Twitter, now with its own site, soon a TV show with William Shatner)

Minnov8 Gang 74: Innovation is Driving Passions is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Here we go, then — five experienced Minnesota mobile app developers tell me, straight up, what’s up with iPad as relates to them.  And, after that,  I include some great insights from a couple of them about iPhone OS 4 — coming this summer for the iPhone, and soon after for the iPad. (Bring it on, Uncle Stevie!)

Joe Sriver, Founder, DoApp Inc. Joe, will your company be developing iPad apps?

“Yes, we do have plans for the iPad, first for our real estate product, then our other products. No ‘made for iPad’ apps are in the store from DoApp on day one, though.  But I did preorder an iPad for the team.”  In a story our friend Julio Ojeda-Zapata wrote in the PioneerPress on April 2, we learned that DoApp was frantically at work on the iPad version of it’s “Home Kenex” app, which is for home buyers and real estate agents.  Maps can be positioned alongside lists or photos of homes to make navigation easier and more intuitive than the cramped iPhone screen allows, said the story, facilitating better house comparisons.  iPad becomes “a coffee table-type of thing, with people in their agents’ offices cruising for properties on the device,” said the story, quoting DoApp’s Wade Beavers.  GPS capability will be added in an upcoming version of the iPad, so home buyers or agents will be able to pull up listings in their vicinity and “drive effortlessly towards them using satellite navigation.”

Bill Heyman, Founder and Lead Developer, CodeMorphic. Bill, what apps are you doing for iPad?  Redoing any of your existing ones?

“No existing apps.  What we’re doing are new ones for various clients.  Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to say what they are.  I’m also working on a new game app I’m publishing myself, but I’m not ready to submit it yet. I’ll let you know when it’s getting close.”

I assume you now have an iPad in your possession? “Yes, I had one delivered to me while on vacation in Arizona this week.”

What are you finding in regard to how well your iPhone apps work on iPad? “They seem to work fine.
”

What about landscape mode?  Are you concerned that apps should work either way on iPad? “Apple has basically told developers that they MUST support rotation in their iPad apps.  Unfortunately, it can be a major PITA to support it well, but developers are going to have to bite the bullet now.
”

Any other comment? “I think iBooks is the killer feature of the iPad.  There’s been talk about the iPad developer gold rush, but no discussion about the author and independent content provider gold rush.  It’s going to happen — and I think it could be every bit as exciting as some of the apps.”

Matt Bauer, Founder, PedalBrain. Does the iPad fit in at all regarding your app? “Yes, it does — from a coaching or team director standpoint, to track athletes.”

I guess iPad isn’t too “mobile” as relates cycling, huh? “It will be a new application than what we have.  Likely a different app that we will charge for — probably like $20 or so.  I really see iPad apps being sold for quite a bit more than for the iPhone.  It won’t be till late summer we will think of doing an app.”

Your current app, of course, would work on the iPad, right? “App, yes — but hardware, no.  Apple hasn’t given the okay for iPad accessories from third parties yet.  Once they do, our hardware accessory will work.”

Terry Anderson, Founder, Handcast Media Labs. What’s up with you and iPad? “We also got our first iPad on Saturday.  We’re within a few days of having our next release of the SparkRadio app, which will work on either iPhone or iPad.  In the future, we will optimize a version for iPad that takes advantage of the increased screen real estate in a cool way, but that’s further out (maybe 45-60 days).  The visualizer screens on the iPad are stunning in full screen mode.”

Did I hear you dropped your price for SparkRadio on the iPhone from $5.99 to $1.99? “The price drop is temporary and is part of our experimenting with promotional tactics and pricing to see the effect on demand.

“Ultimately, we’re likely to end up with this scenario:  A free version called Spark Radio Lite that will be full featured, but will only stream 200 selected stations (maybe two weeks away)
…  A full version that will sell for between $5 and $6 (ultimately 30,000 stations) – so the price drop is temporary…  And note that both versions will support iPhone and iPad equally –  the software will detect the device and will load the appropriate interface… And we may come up with an enhanced iPad version, which could be sold as a separate product, but that’s down the road and still undecided.  Now that I see SparkRadio on the iPad, I can imagine a scenario where the iPad is docked in a stereo (many companies make them for iPhone and I assume we’ll see them shortly for iPad), and Spark is streaming audio and providing a pretty cool lightshow.  We think this will be a great way to expose the product and the graphics to a larger audience.  Very excited.”

Bekki Freeman, Developer, TinyMission. Please tell us about your firm’s experience, what kinds of apps you do, and what types of clients you work with.

“Tiny Mission started as an iPhone app development company.  Because of the high demand for applications, and especially integration between web apps and mobile apps, we’ve expanded to other mobile platforms, including iPad, and are eager to integrate these with enterprise systems.  Two of our clients are On Impact Productions and Fraser.  We work with both small and medium-sized companies, writing apps to enable their corporate and customer visions.”

How many apps have you published, and in what categories, for iPhone and other platforms? “Tiny Mission has published one iPhone application for On Impact Productions, and is preparing to submit a second for them this month, in addition to a BlackBerry and Android application.  We are submitting two iPhone applications for Fraser this spring, and are part way through development on an enterprise application that will be centered around the iPad.”

What are your plans for iPad apps, and what do you see as being different or challenging compared to iPhone? “We are very excited for the iPad because of the endless possibilities for very feature-rich applications.  The iPhone has been great for enterprise, but it is just too small to do complex business tasks.  We plan to bring web apps, smart phones, and the iPad together to fully integrate our clients’ business applications.  Our vision is for our clients to answer all of their customers’ questions and needs without ever going to a desk.”

——-

So, enter the Apple sneak-peek media event yesterday. CEO Steve Jobs outlined what’s coming in the next version of the iPhone operating system, called OS 4.  He highlighted seven new features:
•    Multitasking
•    Folders to organize apps
•    A unified inbox
•    iBooks is coming to the iPhone
•    More features for the enterprise
•    A social network for gaming
•    Mobile advertising with iAds

I asked Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic, What’s your reaction to the iPhone OS 4 sneak-peek announcement yesterday? “Multitasking is a great feature, of course, but still keeps the iPhone OS in control — to prevent bad apps from monopolizing the feature. It’s probably not enough for real-time, time-critical apps for the iPhone, but it’s a step in the right direction. Apple’s drawn a line in the sand for how apps are developed — Adobe Flash, Corona, and other platforms appear to be screwed, as they’re currently architected.  Basically, Apple wants native apps to use native code (Objective-C, C++, C, JavaScript).  So, for these other development platforms to survive, they’re going to have to ultimately be code generators for code types that Apple approves. I suspect Apple is following up the release of the iPad with the new iPhone OS to maintain momentum and to blunt criticisms of the iPad (and iPhone) as new Android-based tablets and phones start to appear in the next few months.”

I also asked Bekki of TinyMission, What are your impressions of iPhone OS 4? “Obviously, multitasking is huge.  We’ll be able to offer our clients’ users so many more options for delivering functionality, such as location-based notifications. Local notifications will give many of our small business clients the ability to offer reminders and user-specific content without having to manage external servers and user databases.  We believe our clients will really benefit from the new enterprise features.  The agility and flexibility of wireless enterprise app distribution and the improved data encryption are very exciting.  By breaking down barriers to enterprise deployment, Apple is opening up a whole new market segment with opportunities for companies like Tiny Mission to expand into.”

Finally, I wanted to ask Joe Sriver of DoApp about the *other* announcement that came out at Apple’s media event yesterday — that being their “iAd” platform — in light of DoApp having its own such platform, called “Adagogo.”  Joe, what’s your reaction to Apple’s “iAd” announcement?

“iAd sounds like a good product.  I haven’t delved too deeply into it.  It’s another network that we will look at adding to our Mobile Local News platform.   I guess I don’t see it as a big competitor to Adagogo, since Adagogo is built into our products by default.   It will become more of a competitor if we release an Adagogo API for developers to add Adagogo ads into their apps.  Obviously, it’s a potentially big threat for Google and Admob — or both together if that deal ever goes through.  Google has the resources to compete, so I’m not going too worried about them!”  Nice touch, Joe — spoken as a loyal former employee of Google…

Minnesota iPhone App Developers Talk iPad and OS 4 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

In the movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Humphrey Bogart’s character Dobbs, and two other gringos, embark in to Mexico to find gold in the Sierra Madres, an area in great flux and riddled with banditos, but policed by the Federales. In one of the signature lines in the movie the banditos, trying to convince Dobbs and his cronies that they’re Federales, say, “Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!“ (usually misquoted as “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!“). There are several moral and philosophical questions in the movie and Dobbs dies, the banditos are killed by the Federales, the gold is lost and thus the analogy might as clear as mud: chasing opportunities won’t be easy but they’re out there; barriers and obstacles (and bandits) stand in your way; but we thought exploring opportunistic thoughts in this podcast was worthwhile.

Special Guest: For part of the podcast, Meg Canada joins us to talk about libraries, the iPad and more. Meg is a senior librarian for Web Services and Training at Hennepin County Library and currently coordinates public training and  social media efforts for the library. She volunteers helping with the Unsummit, recently presented at MinneWebCon, and is a regular contributor to Social Media Breakfast.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Opening & closing music is “Santa Maria” by Will Kriski from Music Alley, purveyor of podsafe tunes.

Discussed during the show:

+ Past Events: CloudCampMSP (see Minnov8′s coverage here); IgniteMPLS; Social Media Breakfast;

+ Upcoming Events: Mobile March; MIMA; DEMO; SxSWi; MinneWebCon

+ Mobile: MixMobi; WordPress mobile plugins (Mobile Edition; WPTouch); Square (mobile commerce)

+ Devices: Apple iPad; Microsoft Courier; Dell Slate

+ Other: Google pagerank to require speedier websites?; Hacker News.

Minnov8 Gang 69: “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!” is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

I grabbed it the day it came out and have used it multiple times since, in a variety of situations — at home, on a road trip, even in a foreign country (Iowa) — and I must say I’m impressed.  Right now, I’m listening to a great station that’s all Grateful Dead all the time, which I discovered via the app. It’s called RadioIO Dead, and “Big Boss Man” has been my favorite track so far.  I’m on wifi in my motel room at the moment, and the sound is perfect — and I’m not even using an external speaker.  On the way down here to Des Moines, I used the app via my iPhone on AT&T’s 3G network (note: I was in the passenger seat!) to tune in multiple stations, including WSL in Chicago, and the sound was way better than any station I could tune in on the car radio.

Spark Radio not only gives you tons of station choices and social media features designed to make radio listening more interactive, but it also features visually stunning animations. Far out, huh? Its robust, visual radio tuner uses the guide from a company called RadioTime.com to give you access to more than 10,000 terrestrial and Internet-only radio stations worldwide.  Handcast says it’s adding new stations to Spark Radio daily, and will support more than 30,000 stations by April.  You can listen to precisely what you want to at any given time — music, talk radio, sports events, public radio, or special programming from around the world.  Its elegant interface lets you search for stations or programs by keyword, location, or the station URL, and you can browse programming by genre or location. (I’m still looking for two of my fav genres: rockabilly and surf.)  A GPS component lets you find local stations in any given city based on current GPS coordinates.

I took the opportunity to dial up the founder of Handcast Media Labs, Terry Anderson, whom I’d met in 2008, to ask if he’d be up for an interview. That follows.

Minnov8: Terry, I know you’re no newcomer to interactive and Internet marketing here in Minnesota. Give us a synopsis of your background.

Terry Anderson: Well, I’ve been involved in technology for almost 30 years now.  I founded e.Media group in 1995 and we were one of the early interactive agencies in the Twin Cities, with a lineup of really great national clients.  That was incredibly fun.  I sold that agency in 2004 (it’s now known as Idea Park) and have been involved in entrepreneurial ventures since.  I got energized by the iPhone platform in 2008 and have been working in that sphere since then.

Minnov8: How did you come to start Tiny Wonder Studios, and then Handcast?  And tell us about the rest of your team.

Terry Anderson: Tiny Wonder is a division of Popular Front, an incredible interactive agency here in the Twin Cities.  I’m involved as a consultant and helped form the new entity and create Pixi, their first iPhone app.  I’ve been close friends with Laurence Bricker of Popular Front since we were young. Laurence is a true visionary in the interactive world and it was great to collaborate with him once again.  HandCast Media Labs is my own startup, specializing in iPhone applications.  I needed a place to pursue my own ideas, so started HandCast in the spring of 2009. We’re trying to push the limits of technology and creativity.  There are a number of people involved, but the nucleus includes Greg Sharp, a visionary and longtime partner of mine, and Jesse Hemmingway, who is simply the best developer I’ve ever worked with.  It’s an incredible group and we’ve been collectively pushing the boundaries for a long time now.

Minnov8: I grabbed that first app from Tiny Wonder, the Pixi drawing app (see screenshot), right when it came out.  Refresh my memory — when did that hit the App Store?  And how has it done since then?

Terry Anderson: Pixi was developed as an experiment and hit the iTunes store about a year ago. (It’s available for $1.99 at this link on the App Store.)  We wanted to learn the intricacies of iPhone development and start figuring out what it would take to successfully market an app on iTunes.  It’s a beautiful and highly creative application.  It continues to sell moderate amounts on the store, but we never really put enough marketing energy behind Pixi.  We get comments all the time that Pixi is the best app on the store and we know we have a significant audience if we can reach them.  Look for a Pixi re-launch in the upcoming months.  We have some very exciting things planned.  One thing we’ve learned is that iPhone apps need a formal marketing plan, just like any other consumer product.  There are simply so many applications available on iTunes that you need to find a way to become visisble.  We’re excited about the future of Pixi.

Minnov8: Did you develop any other apps after Pixi, either for the iPhone or other mobile platforms?

Terry Anderson: Before we began work on Spark Radio, we began a prototype of what I’ll describe as a geo-spatial game.  That project has been put on a back-burner for now.  I believe if we can make it work, it could be a mega-hit.  But the scope is very substantial and we decided to focus on titles we could get completed in a reasonable period of time.  Stay tuned.

Minnov8: So, let’s talk now about the Spark Radio app. What made you decide to do a radio app? What did you think you could bring to this category that others weren’t doing already?  Aren’t there tons of streaming radio apps?

Terry Anderson: When we launched Pixi, we were overwhelmed with the number of people who asked if the Pixi animations could possibly interact with music from the iPhone or iPod.  It turns out that Apple has made that impossible.  We began looking at other ways to make that happen and came up with the idea of streaming radio, where we have control over the audio stream.  We knew that including graphic visualizers would give us a point of difference from the competition.  We also got very excited about the idea of global radio, and decided to include some social features to support that idea.  I think it’s fascinating that someone in South Korea can listen to a hip-hop station out of Paris.  We’re in love with that idea.  The decision to do a radio app was fairly pragmatic.  My research showed that this was a very lively niche within iTunes and that people were looking for quality.  While there were a number of products out there already, we felt that nobody had really developed a robust product with an elegant user interface.  We knew that if we made the experience more fun for listeners, we could succeed.  We launched two days ago and are already #32 on the iTunes list of best sellers, so I think we called that one correctly.  We’re very proud of the product and have some great enhancements coming.

Minnov8: How long did take you to develop Spark?  And do you have plans to do versions of it for any other platforms?

Terry Anderson: It took us eight months to develop Spark Radio.  That was complicated by the fact that our lead developer broke his collarbone somewhere in the middle of the project!  He took a bad fall on his bike one night and it was impossible to have someone take over his part of the project.  So, say seven months if you eliminate the injury.  That was a tense time, but it all turned out well.  We have always planned to do an Android version of Spark Radio.  We’re very excited about Android and hope to support it in parallel with iPhone.  We have some concerns about the graphics performance on Android, but we’ll figure that out as we go.

Minnov8: Being a longtime promotion guy, you have a pretty cool giveaway going on now for the Spark Radio app.  Tell us about that.

Terry Anderson:   I hate to call it a promotion.  We’re simply giving away 500 iTunes gift certificates ($10) to friends as a celebration of our launch, so they can download Spark Radio for free.  If your readers want to participate, they can email us their name & email address and we’ll send them the gift certificate.  It’s a way for us to show appreciation for all the great friends who have supported us over the years.  They can send their info to sparkgift (at) handcastmedia (dot) com.

[Blogger's note to the FTC: no freebie coupon here -- I bought my own app!]

Minnov8: So, Terry, what’s next for Tiny Wonder and Handcast?  What growth plans do you have for your ventures?

Terry Anderson: As I mentioned, we have great plans for Pixi, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it on the bestseller list by summer.  The success of Spark Radio has been overwhelming, but we’ll keep working until we get to the top of our category.  HandCast will be developing a new title soon and we’re also pitching some ideas that are too large for us to execute on our own.  Given the success of Spark Radio, we’re being contacted for some very interesting contract work as well.  It’s all good.

———–

Thanks, Terry.  A company that develops apps “designed to entertain the senses” can’t be all bad.  And I like how Handcast further describes its vision as “empowering users to explore their own creativity by meeting their entertainment-on-the go needs.”

You can learn more at the Handcast Media Labs web site, and you can follow Spark Radio on Twitter and on Facebook.

Minnesota Startup Launches ‘Spark Radio’ iPhone App is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

And that was just the schmoozing part! 

There were lots of live demos going on in the theater adjoining, if you could squeeze yourself in there:

1. ArtsApp – like Monster.com for artists to submit multimedia (Dejen Tesfagiorgis)
2. ReliaCloud – a cloud computing platform that allows people to build scalable computing infrastructure on demand (Jason Baker, VISI)
3. Pedal Brain – advanced cycle computer based on the iPhone platform combined with web-based data analysis (Matt Bauer)
4. MinuteBids – an online bidding platform that makes it easy for property managers/owners to request and get bids for their property maintenance needs from top rated service providers (Jon Coudron)
5. Pedair – a many-to-many market place for people who love bikes (Andrew Korf)
6. MobileRealtyApps.com – Custom branded MLS home search apps for realtors on iPhone and Android (Aaron Kardell)
7. MileMarker - helps organizations capture ideas and prioritize them, making it easier to understand what to work on first (Bill Galfano)
8. Live Information Manager for Business – connects employees of an organization to their data and each other from anywhere in the world, all from within a single workspace (Roger Peters)
9. Mobile Roots – customized iPhone applications for campaigns (Lynn Smith)
10. WebSlide – provides you and your clients with a private, secure, easy-to-use system for uploading, sharing, and collaborating on designs without ever leaving your browser (Paul Armstrong)

Kudos to Luke Francl, Ben Edwards, and their team of volunteers for pulling off another great Minnedemo!  And a shout-out and huge thanks to the sponsors this time:

• TECHdotMN
• ipHouse
• W3i
• Livefront
• Split Rock Partners
• New Counsel

MN Tech Rocks – Last Night Was Proof is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Here’s an excerpt:

“After a big public announcement of the sort Apple had this week for the iPad, CEO Steve Jobs often takes time in the day or two afterwards to have a Town Hall at One Infinite Loop, making himself available for questions from employees bold enough to stand up and take one right between the eyes.

This time, the big topics included Google and Adobe — no surprises there… And the absence of Adobe Flash support on the iPhone for three years and counting, and now on the iPad, is either celebrated by users as a poke in the eye of one of the web’s most dextrous tools, or the most over-rated and overused crutch for decent design.

Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press.

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.

About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.”

I decided to ask three local observers with a special perspective on Apple for their reaction. Two of them are former Apple employees, the other a 26-year user of both Apple and Adobe technologies.

First, I asked Curtis Juliber, a 16-year Apple business development exec, about what it was like on the inside, and also his take on the latest flap.

“I’ve been in employee meetings in Cupertino. Yes, Steve can be very forthright on a variety of topics. People did get up and ask questions. Usually, they were pretty well thought-out in advance — because, if Steve thought something was bullsh*t, he didn’t hesitate to say so.

“Apple has been pushing HTML5 for several years now. I remember hearing it discussed at WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) several years ago. But the market has been slow to adopt it. Whether or not Flash will be killed by the time it *is* adopted is still up in the air, in my opinion. The longer a technology is in the marketplace the harder it is to go away.”

What about Google getting into the phone business?

“I do see Google wanting to be in this market in a big way. Phone ads, and whatever patents they may own on the work they did, will generate great revenue streams.”

Next up, I just had to ask my Minnov8 colleague, Steve Borsch, about his take on the latest developments. Steve was a sales exec for Apple for several years in the 1990s.

“I was never actually in an Apple employee meeting with Jobs. [Steve was based here in the Midwest for Apple.]  My only personal contact was at a Macworld, where we had a partner who’d created a Mac-based digital sign that we thought we had management approval to have in the booth.  He walked in, saw the huge digital sign right on the end where the crowd walked in, and said to his underlings, ‘Get that out of here, NOW!’ We were all taken aback at the time, but on further reflection realized that, once again, he was right. The sign detracted from the message of the booth and was inappropriate.”

I asked Steve for his quick reaction about the Flash issue touched on in the WIRED post.

“At our company, we have several machine ‘footprints’ of Adobe stuff, and we invest several thousand dollars per year on their software. I find PDF, InDesign, and other apps mission-critical and invaluable for our business.  While Flash is ubiquitous, it is a resource hog, is mostly proprietary, and I would rather vote for an open web standard — that is, HTML 5 — versus continuing down the path with Flash.

“Case in point with it is the difficulty — and lack of tools from Adobe — to create Flash-based *anything*! I’ve been puzzled for years why they haven’t come out with tools that enable normal humans — meaning designers, not coders — to create and deliver Flash output.  And, no — Flex isn’t it, and the output in InDesign is a joke.”

(For some additional perspective on the Apple/Flash/Adobe situation, check out these recent posts:  Daring Fireball: Apple/Adobe/Flash and Scobleizer: Can Flash Be Saved?)

Finally, I asked Randy Geise for his perspective — and he offered up a lot. Randy is an accomplished graphic designer who began using Apple and Adobe technologies in 1984. He tells the story of calling for Postcsript support in those early days, and having the founder of Adobe himself (John Warnock) get on the phone with him.

“Flash has always been a big resource hog — worse on Mac — but Adobe didn’t really worry about it, as we’d been in a GHz race in the PC industry.  Everything was getting faster, so why worry about putting resources into making Flash (or any Adobe products) more efficient, when the horsepower kept going up?  And all that browser-crashing going on is mainly on the Mac, and what kind of share does it have?  Adobe sat on their laurels – as Jobs has said – got lazy.

“Then two things happened: the Mac share started climbing, and all that crashing — and the fact that Adobe wasn’t using any of the great native, core OSX tech in their Mac apps — pissed Jobs off. Then the mobile web took off with the iPhone — the first phone with a really capable browser — and Adobe didn’t have an efficient version of Flash to go with it.  They still don’t.  Mobile is huge, the iPhone is huge.  The iPad will be huge.  HTML5 is finally coming onboard.  You have the H.264 standard for video.  Everything is changing, there’s less need for Flash (or will be), and Adobe has missed the boat.  They blew it, they were arrogant and lazy.  They used to be able to claim a 99% plugin penetration — the plugin was everywhere.  One could feel fairly confident using some Flash on a site — it would play. Now, you can’t be confident, and the penetration rate of Flash is going down with every iPhone, iPodTouch, and soon iPad sold. A crack has developed, and it’s growing.

“Some say Google will save Flash when they put it on Android.  It won’t — the ubiquity is gone. It’s not safe to use Flash, it’s not everywhere.

“For all those Flash games out there, some say Adobe is about to introduce a version that allows you to develop in Flash and compile it to native apps on various mobile platforms, and that this will save the Flash developers.  May help some for certain things, but it doesn’t really create a true native app using native controls/features.  It’s kind of like Java — write once, debug everywhere, and still a slow runtime.  And the Flash games will still have to compete with all those native games already on the iPhone and other platforms. Good luck.

“Adobe and Flash aren’t going to go ‘poof’ overnight, but I think the writing is on the wall: the Flash era is over.”

I asked Randy if he thought there was any possibility that Apple or Google would support Flash.

“Neither will. They’re both moving a breakneck speed and don’t want to have to slow down and wait for an update to Flash. They’d be hamstrung by any third party. And Adobe doesn’t have a good track record for quickly getting new stuff out — no 64-bit versions for either Windows or OSX, for example. Both Google and Apple are into efficient code. Adobe hasn’t been.  OSX-SnowLeopard for example was all about rewriting for efficiency.  Neither company wants or needs the bloat that is Adobe.  Both Google and Apple need the web to run on open standards.  We’ve just barely gotten out of the era where IE was holding us back on all things new.  Google and Apple are not going to let Adobe/Flash become the new IE.

“Since Android is open, and Google doesn’t really control what apps gets installed, Adobe could make Flash available but installed by the user. That depends, however, on if the Android web browser allows plugins.  And there’s the wild card of Google partners adding it — so it could be somewhat the ‘wild west’ on the Android side.  But Flash won’t be ubiquitous, so one won’t be able to count on it. And that is the death sentence.”

(Randy added that, for those who want to read more, there was a lot of Flash discussion going on today in the comments on this Robert Scoble post: Google Will Save Flash, a Developer Who Uses It Says.)

So, will Apple win?  Is Adobe and its Flash flagship doomed?  And, furthermore….is Google evil?

Minnesota Apple Watchers React to Steve Jobs’ Rant is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

As you probably already know, Julio writes a Tech Test Drive column about gadgets, apps and social media (among other things). He is the author of Twitter Means Business, one of the first books about Twitter. He is also a sometime co-host of the Minnov8 Gang podcast (and will join us this Saturday to discuss this Apple event in more detail) and focuses his commentary on tech trends. See his Posterous geekstream. Contact him by e-mail or follow him on Twitter.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Duane Andrews and the tune is “Mr. Butler”.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ Like to see the iPad Nano?
+ Mary Meeker’s Web 2.0 Summit presentation (PDF) & we referred to slide #38
+ Video of Walt Mossberg at the iPad launch, a portion of which he’s talking with Steve Jobs
+ Bill Heyman of Minnesota-based Codemorphic (mobile app developers) post on the iPad
+ Steve Borsch’s article on MinnPost about the iPad & his Apple A4 chip post and another post on Apple opening up VoIP
+ Leo Laporte head of TWiT and tech journalist Natali Del Conte
+ Stanza was acquired in 2009 by Amazon & The Wall Street Journal’s take on Apple vs. Amazon
+ Hitler’s response to the iPad

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 65: Talking the Apple iPad is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

The acceleration in mobile internet use — and the devices exploding in number to access it — is enabling the masses to understand what you’re doing as an organization, comment to one another on your activities but (and perhaps most disturbingly to those of you with previously publicly unavailable or difficult to obtain data) it is enabling customers to examine your products, your company’s record on the environment, your labor practices (onshore and offshore) and much more.

How can your customers do that?

GoodGuide is a startling example of a free application for the iPhone which allows a consumer to simply scan the barcode of a product in-store and immediately see detailed ratings for health, environment and social responsibility for more than 50,000 products and companies.

GoodGuide aggregates and analyzes data on both product and company performance. They employ a range of scientific methods – health hazard assessment, environmental impact assessment, and social impact assessment – to identify major impacts to human health, the environment, and society. Each of these categories is then further analyzed within specific issue areas, such as climate change policies, labor concerns, and product toxicity. Currently, GoodGuide’s database has over 600 base criteria by which they evaluate products and companies.

“So what?”, you might ask. By making information about consumer products transparent, GoodGuide’s goal is to help people shop smarter and motivate companies to offer even better products and with services and applications like theirs, savvy and caring customers with these sorts of mobile devices will accelerate a move toward safe and responsible products delivered by companies that optimize all aspects of things customers care about in today’s world.

Just by happenstance, I began using GoodGuide a few weeks ago and was walking around scanning products at a local Target store. I scanned a can of Campbell’s Chunky Chili and discovered an overall rating of 4.3 (out of a possible 10) with a 3.9 for environmental and 4.7 for social as scores. Seeing that this was quite low — and not knowing much about what criteria they used for scoring — I pulled up my web browser on my iPhone and poked through their website to read about their ratings.

I didn’t like what I saw. There was information about the product (some now have the Nutrition info available) and a “Behind the Rating” area that gives a green checkmark for good (Campbell’s has minimal or no community-related controversies so received one) and red X’s for failures (e.g., Campbell’s said, “The company that makes this product receives an average rating on environmental management compliance” and “The company that makes this product has a below average score in the use of resources”).

If you saw that and had an option to buy a similar product from a company with all green checkmarks, wouldn’t you? Even in this economy, consumers are still voting for products that are “green”, healthy, and from companies that exhibit care for our world.

Signing up for a free GoodGuide membership (or logging in with your Facebook credentials) enables you to:

• Create lists of your favorite products
• Access your lists via their iPhone app
• Optionally receive email updates about breaking news and new products
• Share what you find with your friends.

GoodGuide is quite clear about their ratings methodology and I could spend the next few paragraphs poking holes in it and telling you all the reasons why their databases are incomplete, ratings suspect and more. But that would be missing the one, key and fundamental point: this category of empowering applications will continue to explode and if your customers care about the environment, animal testing, whether products are healthy, and whether your company’s stewardship of your impact on the environment is minimal, people will know in ways never before possible and be able to share that with their friends.

Perhaps you should increase your awareness of this sort of power shift — one that is accelerating in 2010 — and adjust your strategies accordingly before the masses rate your products and company and choose to buy from one of your competitors who rates higher.

Your Customers are Watching You is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Straight 8′s and the tune is, “Ann Bowman”

Discussed during the show:

• StarTribune article on Minnesota venture capital
• Don Ball’s post An Embarrassment of Hidden Talent about impressions from the recent MIMA holiday party
• Zipnosis
• Morgan Stanley Mobile Internet Market report, recapped nicely in this post by ReadWriteWeb (Bonus: this Forbes article on the “no brainer” investment potential in mobile
• Visi’s ReliaCloud and the comparison
• Others mentioned during the cloud computing discussion: Enstratus; Jumpbox; and Subversion used by Tim Elliott with his various installations
• Mobile discussion included MotherApp; 100,000 iPhone apps post by Steve; WebDesignerDepot post on 40 Awesome iPhone Application Websites; publisher O’Reilly & Associates Best iPhone Apps website.

Minnov8 Gang 61: Mobile & the Groovy Kids is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

The evening was chocked full of demos of apps and projects that leaves little doubt that mobile development in the Twin Cities is more than warm, if not downright HOT! I would like to have seen more apps that reach more phones and platforms than just iPhone and Android, but the evening didn’t disappoint in highlighting some useful or potentially useful tools.

Following Breon Nagy’s demo of the latest Android device, the Motorola Droid (which I finally got to play with…nice phone, slide out keyboard ain’t great.), from the evening’s sponsor Verizon. Here’s the run down of demos...

MixMobi-Lisa Foote and developer Kelly Heikkila presented this DIY mobile couponing application. You can see a complete Minnov8 walk-through in our earlier post about MixMobi.

Sudden Deals-Julian Reytel walked the group through this SMS based discount service. Based on geographical location a user can be alerted about special discounts from participating businesses. It’s currently limited to restaurant and bar businesses. I would suggest there is much more potential opportunity awaiting Sudden Deals beyond these two verticals. Perhaps malls, shopping areas or even shopping circulars offer a more diverse number of consumers.

3D Light Racer-Robert Green the group’s gamer extraordinaire and owner of Battery Powered Games (fun t-shirt as well) showed off just one of his latest game apps. Think Tron for you Android device. I heard many hushed comments behind me about how addictive this game is.

iGarage Sale-Aaron Kardell shared an iPhone app that will make the garage sale junkie, no pun intended, thrill with delight. This app will “quickly locate garage sales of interest near you on an  iPhone or iPod Touch.”  It’s heavily reliant on Craigslist for data at this time but will include more sources soon. Though this app is actually making him money (I get downright giddy when one of our local developers or start-ups is seeing revenue.) I think there is a great opportunity to partner with weekly shoppers and offers a host of possibilities beyond it’s already very useful feature set.

hLog -Gangadhar Sulkunte, owner of 4th Main Software showed off this app that tracks your health stats,  exercise regimens, sleep patterns, medicines, etc. It can offer this data in charts to be referenced by you while  exercising, during a doctors visit, or whenever you want to track patterns formed by the input provided. This one still seems in it’s infancy though 4th Main notes that it’s going open source with this app. They clearly have yet to answer how to handle the data beyond the personal experience. Running the gauntlet of HIPAA regulations is an ever changing and daunting process, one that doesn’t seem to have been addressed by the developer. During the presentation I got the distinct feeling the developer doesn’t have a true appreciation for the complexity of regulations governing the sharing of private health information across public channels.

(Update 12/7/09: Gangadhar Sulkunte of 4th Main Software took the time to call me to discuss my impression that he didn’t “have a true appreciation for the complexity of the sharing of private health data.” After our conversation, though I can’t say what the result will be, I can say he does indeed take the sharing of private health data very seriously.)

Pitchr-Michael Valentiner and his partner presented this application for presenting images and presentations remotely via your Android device. The app allows you to display these images from the mobile device to the desktop PC and works with Microsoft PowerPoint and OpenOffice Impress. (Perfect for those moguls who want to run a meeting from their beach-side cabana.)

ActionChess Martin Grider’s game presents the combination of two games, or as they say on their site; Chess meet Tetris. This combination of games offers multiple levels to challenge your gamesmanship. (I have visions of chess players in smoking jackets drinking Red Bull instead of wine…) The iPhone game is available in multiple versions and at different price points via the app store.

There are still more demos to come and Mobile Twin Cities would love to see yo at the next meeting. I’ll repeat Justin’s invitation by saying you don’t need to be a programmer. Anyone who’s interested in mobile is invite to attend Mobile Twin Cities. They meet on the third Tuesday of the month.

A Demo-licious Evening at Mobile Twin Cities is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ The Pushbutton Web, a concept article by Anil Dash about a ”publish once, distribute everywhere” model:

• Steve Borsch talked about this at his SMBMSP #16 preso at Deluxe)
• Services: Posterous, PixelPipe
• WordPress plugins & themes like tWPter — along with hemes appearing like P2 that turns your WordPress blog into a Twitter-like tool
• Announcement by Typepad that they’re enabling microblogging
• PubSubHubBub at Google
• Google Insights, Trends & Alerts

+ Upcoming Microsoft retail stores and that they’re hiring for them. Also, the Gizmodo ‘leak’ of a presentation/plan done for Microsoft on the store concept

+ Google Voice, Apple & AT&T controversy with the Federal Communications Commission asking for clarification on Apple disallowing Google Voice in the iPhone App Store. Apple’s, Google’s and AT&T’s respective responses.

+ MIMA Summit; and the Social Media Breakfast (SMBMSP) next week at the State Fair.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast #48: Pushbuttons & Voice is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ Social Media Breakfast-Minneapolis/St. Paul (SMBMSP) last week

+ Best Buy’s new Twitter initiative

+ MagentoCommerce

+ Upcoming WordPress meetup/unconference on Thursday, July 30th at 6:30pm

+ GDGT.com

+ Vendor Relationship Management

+ Posterous

Minnov8 Gang 41: What if George had an iPhone? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off today).

Discussed during the show notes:

• Apple’s new iPhone 3Gs:  Selling previous iPhone’s online so as to upgrade; Crunchgear on tethering; Anandtech article
• Social Media Breakfast MSP this Friday
• TOSBack, a ‘Terms of Service’ tracker, which is a website that monitors changes in TOS
• Cory Doctorow’s book Craphound, read as a free audiobook and downloadable here and his website/blog here (with all of his books listed since once you start reading/listening to them, you’ll keep going).

Minnov8 Gang 40: Jobs, iPhone, Pre & Cory is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

• Public Radio Tuner (#2 in iTunes store, 2M+ downloads, iTunes link)

• General Mills Betty Crocker Cookbook (iTunes link)

• Cisco/Linksys Media Hub Control

• Blausen Medical (high resolution medical imagery/videos, iTunes link)

• Smarter Agent Real Estate*

• Bacardi*

*Shipping this week.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Discussed during the show notes:

• Apple’s new iPhone 3Gs
• iPhone Developer Center
• Worldwide Developer’s Conference 2009 (WWDC) (Keynote stream here)
• Palm Pre (Palm Developer Network) and Google Android and Android Developer site
• Examples of iPhone venture funding: Smule lands $3.9M; Booyah gets $4.9M from Kleiner Perkins iFund; game publisher Ngmoco raises second round of $10M (first was $5M from Kleiner Perkins & Maple Investments)
• Skype and their new, open source SILK codec (developer site here).

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 39: A Conversation with Codemorphic is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Competition in the mobile phone space is heating up and the smartphone — a mobile phone with computer-like functionality — coupled with ever faster wireless network speeds are changing the way we access news, information, connections with our friends and family, and so much more.

A quick story illustrates one amusing (though not to my wife) use of my iPhone when I first got it. We were at a dinner party when the conversation came around to a particular song, but no one could recall who sang it. As the conversation continued I quickly used the web browser to Google the song name and roughly 30 seconds later blurted out, “Woody Guthrie!”

“Yes!,” everyone cried out simultaneously. “How did you know that,” one woman asked and I whipped out my iPhone to show how I’d quickly and almost instantly found the answer and we then had an interesting conversation about how the world was shifting toward one where we all could have instant access just like that.

A few years ago smartphones were few in number and came from manufacturer’s like Palm (e.g., Treo) and Nokia — and devices powered by Windows Mobile — were robust but somewhat limited in functionality and required an (arguably) geeky nature to use fully. The Blackberry device by Research in Motion (RIM) was a more limited one as far as applications go, but its external keyboard (to many the most important feature) and easy access to email (which was “pushed” to the device automatically) made it the perfect communication appliance for daily business use.

When Apple demonstrated and delivered the game-changing iPhone in June of 2007, its surprising ease of use and simple way to manipulate applications (e.g., pinching and zooming in on a photo or webpage) made a device like this easily accessible to the masses. Because of quick sales of the iPhone and a developer kit to build applications, Apple quickly saw a huge array of applications delivered on the device (more than 25,000 to date). Because of the simplicity of the device and the base of applications already available, sales accelerated to the now installed base of 21.2 million units and the announcement Monday, June 8th of a third generation model (and the second generation lower price point of $99) has caused most observers to see those numbers doubling within a year or so. 

Though the device is seen by many as perfect, many others decried the screen and software based keyboard and wished for an external one. Others wanted devices more “open” as in open source software and thus this infant smartphone marketplace has significant growth within it.

Last week came the new Palm Pre, a smartphone that is the first to most closely emulate the key ease of use and simple application manipulation first delivered on the iPhone. Google’s Android — a software platform rather than an integrated device — is also geared toward smartphones and many of its features rival the iPhone’s (and now the Pre’s).

Now that the devices have moved quickly toward a place where average users (vs. geeks only) can set up, use and even maximize usage of these smartphones, a fast network to use them on is key as well. The third and fourth generation wireless mobile phone networks are, in fact, already here (though lacking in ubiquitous coverage) and the devices plus fast networks means that we all are walking around with computers in our pockets or purses that are, in effect, extending our minds.

This article I’d read came as a surprise when I learned that one of Apple’s fastest growing iPhone market segments were comprised of people that didn’t own a personal computer or couldn’t afford a broadband connection. But the iPhone IS a computer and provides email, web browsing, video watching, Twitter use and all of the other things people feel they must have to be a part of our connected society, and thus allowed them to be a participant.

I’ve been in conversations with educators about technology and social media — and about the current paradigm of cramming kids’ brains with facts — and my asking why we need to teach rote facts about the countries that surround, say, the Baltic Sea when it can be instantly looked up? Are there ways to focus on how to search, ways to seek and verify authentic material, and move toward an educational model that would assume an always on, always connected student population?

In our working world, enlightened companies are realizing that providing a solid and good experience to employees with access to information and work processes (and email, of course) allows the employee to access and deal with a task, communication or even idea when they have a moment or when inspiration strikes, rather than hope that all that can be stored up and dealt with when they’re in the office.

Tapping into the streams of consciousness of people one follows on Twitter, reading blog posts and staying abreast of news and other information, means that all of us are more aware of the meaningful inputs of others whom we find value.

Then there is just the simple utility of having movie showtimes, a dictionary, time zones, airfare lookups, stock tickers, and even games, means that smartphones extend our minds so that we’re no longer tethered to a desk for computer and internet use in the same way that the mobile phone for voice made us free from a phone line.

Whip It Out: Your Smartphone Extends Your Mind is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Their first application, known as LUNCHBOX, is in the process of being rolled off their platform.  LUNCHBOX offers the ability to view, rate and share menu items… all with the tap of a finger (among other features and benefits that are still confidential).  The application is designed to bridge the gap between restaurants and mobile consumers.  LUNCHBOX will inherit mobile ordering capabilities, thus eliminating the need for smartphone users to stand in line at a restaurant.

The Mxapp team visited my offices back several weeks ago and previously I’d worked with Geoff Dutton, one of the Mxapp partners. It comes as no surprise that these guys are poised to take a bite out of consumer migration to smartphones.  Rather than just slap some nifty app together, they have thoughtfully designed their launch for concurrent release on iPhone®, BlackBerry®, and Android®.  In addition, they have been out pounding the pavement — talking with both consumers and restaurateurs– to more intimately understand the needs of users.

Like so many innovators full of conviction but starving for resources, the Mxapp team is seeking to overcome constraints with a daily diet of courage.  Their marketing budget is relegated to word-of-mouth. So, if you want to know what’s good to eat in the neighborhood, open up your LUNCHBOX and find out.  Mxapp is hoping you’ll join their beta program today.

Just Eat It! is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

We were absolutely delighted this week to have three very special guests who joined the Gang for a discussion about ‘net and web innovation in Minnesota:

- Katharine Grayson: Staff Writer for the Twin Cities Business Journal. Katharine covers the internet and web technology beat for the paper, but she’s also expanded into other technologies (e.g., MSP solar array funding, biotech) giving her unique perspectives.

- Julio Ojeda-Zapata: Reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, blogger, and author (his new book, “Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company” will be on bookshelves soon). Julio can be reached at jojeda@pioneerpress.com. Get more of his perspective on personal tech at twincities.com/techtestdrive and yourtechweblog.com. You can also follow him at twitter.com/jojeda.

- Jon Gordon: Future Tense, a show which you’ve undoubtedly heard broadcast during Minnesota Public Radio’s Morning Edition program. The show is both produced and hosted by Jon Gordon, a Minnesota Public Radio reporter based in Silicon Valley. Follow Jon at twitter.com/jongordon.

Show Notes:

+ Julio’s post on Minnesota Public Radio’s new, free iPhone app (get it here) done by Codemorphic

+ Discussion on broadband where Minnesota’s Ultra High Speed Broadband task force came up (latest minutes are here in this PDF) and Jon mentioned a show he’d done (here) and his interview with a cybersecurity firm called Packet Clearing House.

+ As you listen, you may notice at times the audio is a bit “hot” and I apologize for that — there’s a bit more distortion than normal and I couldn’t minimize it enough in post-production. We tried a new, high quality ‘bridge’ recording platform (HiDefConferencing) — instead of using a single Gang-member hosted Skype conference call — and while it allowed our guests to easily call in with a combination of Skype, landlines or mobile phones, it was more challenging to control levels. I’ll have it figured out by next time.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 7 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.