Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Rebecca Schatz, Who Inspired Thousands Of Youth To Take On Engineering Challenges, Passes

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rebecca_schatzI’ve had the true pleasure of working with Rebecca Schatz as she continued to inspire and encouraged kids and young women to get into the tech space. The news of her passing, succumbing to cancer on July 13th , was truly a blow.

Rebecca, a software engineer and network manager, founded The Works, a hands-on museum/discovery center that makes technology, science and engineering interesting, understandable and fun for young people in 1987. She went on to found Code Saavy in 2012. That organization spawned programs including CoderDojo Twin Cities, Northside Code Club, Get With the Program (for educators), Code Camps for Kids and TechnovationMN, of which I’m proud to be a board member. Each and every one of them is a source of inspiration for those that might not be exposed to the tech world including kids and young women.

Rebecca was passionate about getting more women into the innovative, exciting, and growing world of technology. I can personally attest to her drive and desire to drive others. She was never content with “what is”, preferring the “what could be.” I would even venture to say “what should be,” especially as it pertains to more women in tech.

Her passion was incredibly infectious. Jean Weiss, Executive Director of Code Saavy noted, “She knew that change is the work of many and she inspired everyone to stretch, grow and develop themselves.” She went on to say, “Rebecca left an inspiring, sustainable, and lasting legacy to encourage kids and teens to explore their curiosity, learn coding and creative problem solving, and for the volunteers, family members, and mentors who make it happen.”

Selfishly, I will miss the chance to work alongside of her to realize her vision. However, that vision will continue to inspire so many…and I know that, in spirit, Rebecca will be alongside of us.

TechnovationMN Makes Furst Class Appearance at World Competition

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We’ve kept close track of how the the Minnesota teams from TechnovationMN have fared as they progressed through the global Technovation Challenge competition. We’re happy to say that team Furst Class Techies walked away with the Audience Choice Award and an Honorable Mention in the Middle School Division at the World Pitch Technovation competition in San Francisco.

Andrea Richard, Rylee Melius, and Lydia Mindermann’s app, Mayo FreeTime, was developed to help patients at Mayo Clinic find things to do between appointments, helping them and their families reduce stress, anxiety, boredom, sadness, or loneliness. The team was guided by Coach Sharie Furst, Kasson-Mantorville Middle School STEM teacher and Mentor Kris Kendall, Software Engineer at IBM Rochester.

Team members commented, “Winning the Audience Choice Award was empowering, energizing, and we were really proud. The whole World Pitch experience was awesome!”

This competition brings finalists together from the Global Technovation Challenge, a technology entrepreneurship competition for girls. World Pitch recognized 10 finalist teams from India, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, and the United States.

Additionally, Jean Weiss, Executive Board Member of Technovation[MN] was also recognized by Technovation for her outstanding dedication and leadership as a Technovation Regional Ambassador. (As a board member of TechnovationMN I can say, without hesitation, there is no one more deserving than Jean to be recognized in this way).

Cheers to all involved with TechnovationMN, especially the young women who represent a bright future for technology.

(Programming note-Shawn Stavseth, Executive Director and Co-founder of TechnovationMN will join us for the Minnov8 Gang Podcast available on 7/27/15)

Celebrating The Future Of Women Developers In Minneapolis

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Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

Much has been made of the lack of women working in the technology industry, we talk about it a lot on the podcast, especially when it comes to programmers and developers. Facts and figures abound to support the thesis.  Save yourself some reading… walk into any software development shop and it will it you square in the head. Yeah, not a lot of women in front of those screens or in that morning standup.

For whatever reason you want to cite for this lack of X chromosomes (education, environment, etc.), we have a lot of work ahead to get more young women interested in technology as a career…and I’m happy to say we aren’t shying away from the task.

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

Last Sunday I had the great privilege to be on hand for Appapalooza in Minneapolis, the culmination of the regional  Technovation Challenge. I am also a board member of TechnovationMN, a group dedicated to inspiring young women to create mobile applications that benefit our community.

The event saw the presentations of 22 middle school and six high school teams. These teams of two to seven girls showcased everything from medical alert apps to networking apps for students studying abroad. They not only coded the apps, they researched the competitive landscape, drafted a business plan and outlined how to bring them to market.

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

Photo: Matt Gray for Technovation[MN]

I wish you could have felt the energy in the room as these young women presented and watched others present. The room erupted more than once as local women in technology spoke to inspire the audience of teams, mentors, teachers, friends and parents.

The awards ceremony was crazy as four teams including  were selected for the next level in the Technovation challenge. It was electric. Check out the list of regional finalists.

 

Hacking the Day Away in the Twin Cities

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LogoThe first ever IoT Hackday on Saturday October 18th proved to be a winner for more than just one team. Though team Subconscious Behavior Alert walked away as the crowd favorite, and scored a box of goodies any IoT hacker would love, the Twin Cities was really the biggest winner. It saw a relatively new community, the Internet of Things community, make it’s public debut.

The inaugural event, brought to life by Justin Grammens and Varun Bhartia, gathered teams together at Minnetronix for a day dedicated to connecting “things” to the internet. Those things included Christmas lights, bikes, blinds, pet feeders and trackers, a unique use for a play kitchen and more. Many on these teams have toiled away hacking devices at home and in various user groups around the city for the past few years. This day was different. This day was all about the IoT community…and what a crowd was there. Sure there were the 20-30 year old guys that anyone might imagine being at a tech event. But, there were also older adults, seniors, women and kids! All of them armed with laptops, sensors, wires, soldering irons and plenty of ideas.

After a day of hanging together and working on their projects, Saturday night saw the showcase of their hard work… the public demo. Most, if not all, of the projects demoed without a hitch in front of the 50 or so guests who came out to see the fruits of their labor. While not always the prettiest, with their wires and sensors hanging off boards and gathered in cardboard boxes, Christmas lights were lit, stuffed dogs were fed, bikes received onboard directions and clocks spun on play kitchens, all via the internet.

Founders      hackerspace      Kristina      kids

I was especially taken with the kids who had spent the day working on coding flexible light strips and boxes to display arrays of light and color that would make them the hit of any party. They said they had a great time and seemed more than happy to hangout with adults on a Saturday.

With the success of firms like SmartThings, Exosite and Spark rooted here, the Twin Cities has the potential to be a true IoT hotbed. The first ever IoT Hackday proved beyond any doubt that there is the energy and enthusiasm to keep stoking it.

Rockin’ Appapalooza.

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IMAG0401As I walked into the room at TechnovationMN‘s Appapalooza I was hit by Jason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty to Me”. Wait, my mistake….it was the intro to the group “Talk Nerdy To Me,” a team of young women from Great River School presenting their application to the crowd. They were one of many teams of girls participating in the weekend event that served as the culmination of the Technovation Challenge. As noted in Graeme’s recent post, for the past 12 weeks, teams have been working on mobile applications that satisfy real problems in the community. The afternoon highlighted apps that provide help with organizing for school, preventing sexual assault and natural alternatives to current health and beauty products. All of the applications from teams like Tech Leopards, French Toast Mafia, and Talk Nerdy to Me are eligible to win up to $20,000 in funding for further development. It was great afternoon filled with music, fun, prizes and technology. The girls conceived, developed, and pitched their applications. Most importantly, it presented an exciting environment for young women to become involved in technology and inspire them as entrepreneurs…with a social conscience.

Tedx Comes South of the River

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IMAG0230Lakeville saw it’s first Tedx on Monday night…and Lakeville was impressed. Ok, not all of Lakeville saw it, but about 150-200 of its residents did. In case you’re not familiar with Tedx, it’s the local, independently organized version of the popular Ted Talks that have been popularly educating audiences, and YouTubers, on everything from driverless cars and neuro-science to global warming and conservation through using only one paper towel to dry your hands.

Tedx Lakeville was spearheaded not by some local brain trust, board or politician, but by a senior at Lakeville South High School (I know, right!). Dylan Adelman is by no means the embodiment of a stereo-typical high school senior guy. He shows very few signs of ‘senioritis,’ waiting for high school to end so he can celebrate the “Summer of Dylan.” Instead he decided Ted, and its series of short presentations, needed to come to Lakeville and he made it happen. The result was “The Next 100 Years: The Future of Politics, Education and Technology.”

So how did it go? In a word…fantastic. Ok, the placement of a tweet wall to the left of the stage was troubling. If you know me at all, you know I despise the tweet wall during speaking events. It’s distracting, a source of pointless tweets and a trolls playground. Not to mention it’s just plain rude to ask a speaker to present only to enable an insane distraction to their topic and presentation…(Oops, I’m ranting). I’m happy to say, after a few Taco Bell tweets, cooler heads prevailed and the tweet wall was turned off. (Well played, all.)

Topics included presentations from local business leaders. politicians, educators and students. They presented on subjects including, Redefining Failure, The Digital Self, Quality Candidates and Education and more. I was particularly taken with the Discovery Learning presentation by U of M Junior, Anthony Fleck in the first half of the show. However, the second half is where Tedx Lakeville took off.

I was most impressed with the last two presentations of the evening. Betsy Grawe, a teacher in Lakeville, presented “Going Off Script”. It was a great combination of the perception vs. reality of the thinking of that group known as millenials. It included results of a poll of Lakeville millenials compared to national numbers. But more importantly it conveyed the message for them to not follow the script for life that has been presented to them.

Finally, Matt Little, Lakeville’s 28 year-old Mayor presented an incredibly well prepared look at solving our current political gridlock in “Beyond Bipartisanship.” His desire to for each political party to take a more pragmatic view to serve the constituency rather than their own party was very interesting and indicated to me that the mayorship will not be the only stop on his public service journey.

All in all Tedx’s trip south-of-the-river was well put together. It lacked only in preparation and focus by some of the presenters that lead to some disjointed and unnecessarily long presentations. The topics were sound and the execution of the event itself was incredibly well done. Mr. Adelman was a standout as he deftly transitioned from presenter to presenter. This guy is a rock solid speaker and, with the help of his team and advisors, delivered a rock solid event. (If no one has said it to him yet, “This will look great on a resume.)

I can’t wait for the next edition of Tedx Lakeville.

Focus on Mobile at MobiU

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IMAG0225The first ever Mobile University, or MobiU, rolled into Best Buy Headquarters on Thursday evening to talk about the Mobile Path to Purchase with some 50 attendees.

The agenda, presented by Heartland Mobile Council, included panels addressing mobile insights and lessons learned about the use of mobile in the consumer purchasing cycle.

What I was most impressed with was the focus group that was assembled to find out how “real” people use mobile in relationship to their buying habits.

While my first impression was that many in the focus group were perhaps more tech savvy than average, some were from Best Buy, there were enough mainstream consumers to offer some insight. Takeaways from the session included: the use of push notifications are clearly annoying and the first thing the group deactivated after signing up for a retail loyalty program. These notifications included both native and text messages.

Comments also highlighted some disconnect with brands and the technology they use. One participant noted that pricing not always matched between the mobile app and the store. Additionally, when I asked if any ever presented a mobile code or coupon to someone in a store, only to to be met with an unknowing blank stare, there were plenty of “yes” responses. And, while many went on to say that they could eventually find someone who was ‘in the know,’ they really shouldn’t have to.

The best part of the Focus Group panel were the ideas generated by the panelists themselves on what brands like Best Buy, Target and Cub could provide on a mobile platform, including helping locate specific products bia GPS.

The Heartland Mobile Council is a Chicago-based non-profit organization whose mission it is to educate brands on how to use mobile effectively. Founder Hugh Park Jedwill kicked off the evening with some remarks including plans of launching incubators and more events around the country. He emphasized that the MobiU was a “safe learning environment” where brands were welcome to take part, but not sell or make pitches. In fact, he talked so much about that environment and the actual Heartland Mobile Council, it started to sound much like a pitch itself.

All in all, the event was a solid evening of learning and exchanging of ideas. Any organization that can precipitate that kind of interaction on the topic of mobile is great…and needed to effectively capitalize on mobile technology.

The Search is On for Tech to Impact Aging

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AgePower-e1374596369247Mojo and Ecumen officially launched the AgePower Tech Search today at the Carlson School of Business at the U of M.

Hosted by Mojo co-founding agitator Ernest Grumbles the event was the first public information meeting to reinforce the mission of AgePower: to locate, reward and help launch new technologies that have a positive, near-term impact on the aging experience. That means the search is on for companies, startups or individuals who have a testable technology that serves that aging population.

IMAG0161_1In his opening remarks, Grumbles noted AgePower is interested in providing real-world feedback with a desire to move the technology and the companies that develop it forward. With that in mind, AgePower will take submissions until October 31, 2013.  Up to four finalists will be selected with a 6-month field evaluation to follow.

Eric Schubert of AgePower partner Ecumen highlighted that serving the aging population is global, not just a Minnesota issue. Perhaps that’s the reason the search is not limited to only those within Minnesota’s borders. What is for certain, Minnesota’s Ecumen and Mojo will split a small equity stake in the chosen company and/or technology.

Update: I was curious about the opening of the search to those outside Minnesota, especially in light of Mojo’s focus on promoting Minnesota tech growth. I asked Ernest about it and he sent this response:

“In an innovation economy, we need to do two things:  (a) support our talent here in birthing startups and (b) attract startup talent to come here.  MOJO tries to do this with internal support/advocacy and external marketing/messaging/networking.  We want innovative people to want to stay here and to want to move here.
So, the reason why AgePower will welcome submissions from those outside the state…they have to come here to participate, and if they come, well, the life is good here…”

Fargo Roadtrip: Midwest Mobile Summit

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midwest-mobile-summit-15There are very few reasons for me (a 6′ 5″ guy) to want to drive for four hours. Family is usually the only reason…with Iowa and (gulp) Kansas frequent destinations. With destinations like that, I’m never looking to see more flat terrain like that found heading to Fargo from Minneapolis. However, the lure of the first ever Midwest Mobile Summit was strong enough for me to caffeine up and set out Sunday for the 2 day event.

I was excited to be heading to an event with a very grassroots vibe.  Jake Joraanstad and Ryan Raguse of Myriad Devices were responsible for putting this event together that attracted some 150-200 to downtown Fargo and it appears to have been a resounding success.

The multi-site format showcased mobile technology, strategy and industry tracks and three different downtown locations. The Fargo Theater, with it’s nostalgic feel, including an organ front and center, provided homebase for keynotes as well as the setting for the strategy track. The event even started  with the organ rising to the stage. After some brief remarks we were all treated to ‘feats of yo’ from John Narum, Yo-Yo World Champion at 11 years old. It was a nice way to get everyone engaged.

The Sunday keynote from Ryan Raguse set the tone with a dramatic smashing of the “box” that represented pre-mobile technology. The rest of the day and , for that matter, the rest of conference presented an array of topics. Some presentations were ok at best but most were above average and some simply crushed it. (Johnathon Rademacher of Sundog and Livefront‘s Mike Bollinger were the clear standouts.)

Screen Shot 2013-05-03 at 1.12.55 PMMany real world mobile experiences were shared throughout the Industry track. While finance and heavy equipment may not be sexy industries that represent a category that has plenty of need and opportunity for mobile solutions.

For a first-time event this was huge. Not only was there plenty of local talent  in attendance but plenty made the trip from outside the state. The chance to enjoy strolling from the historic theater to more modern and artistic spaces provided a nice transition. There was a clear passion for mobile and plenty of opportunity to learn. I look forward to next year. I can even visit my son since is heading off to NDSU in the fall. (See, family is once again I drive for hours across the plains of the heartland.)

*Many of you know I’m co-founder of Mobile March and am happy to see the birth of another mobile event with such a community focus.

Me and My Pebble

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pebbleIf you’re a regular listener to our Minnov8 Gang Podcast you’re aware that I was a major…er…one of the first…um…ok, an investor in the Pebble watch Kickstarter campaign. You also know that I get a good deal of questions like, “Have you got that Pebble yet, Phil?” or “How’s that Pebble working out?” from the rest of the Gang.

Who knew that after ponying up some of my hard earned shekels to help fund one of the most successful campaigns on Kickstarter…and to get me a nifty geek watch…Pebble would become the poster child of what can happen when you over-promise.

Well, huzzah! My Pebble has arrived and I wanted to share some first impressions. (You can see my version of an “unboxing” below. What’s up with unboxing videos anyway?)

[youtube=http://youtu.be/53_yOAF74bg]

First and foremost, the design is very slick. The screen and body are one, with no gaps or raised edges like that found on a regular watch where the crystal and body come together. While I’d like to see a band that is as wide as the square watch itself the black rubber band is of good quality.

Pairing it with my HTC Evo via Bluetooth was a breeze. I’ll have to admit there was a bit of head scratching to set up the sync with mail etc. Set up is not all that intuitive once you get past pairing and it took me a bit of time to actually locate the settings. The Pebble app relies on both it’s own visible menu bar as well as a settings function accessed by the Android menu button. It’s quite obvious once found, making me feel a bit like a dolt for not checking that first.

I was prompted to update the firmware and then was off and running. I selected the classic watch face and lashed it to my wrist. My first thought…I need a bigger wrist. Being a skinny kid from way back always becomes apparent when I try a new watch, but the Pebble really is very sleek. I’ll just have to bulk up a bit.

I’m still getting a feel for the need for this watch but here are the quick observations:

  • The screen is a lower resolution than I expected with some pixelization to the graphics and fonts. However, it’s a watch, not a TV.
  • I can’t find a way to scroll through multiple emails received at the same time. However, it may exist and I haven’t found it. (See above head scratching.)
  • There’s no battery life indicator. I hook it up via the handy magnetic charging USB cable each night to be sure.
  • I like that I’m notified regularly of incoming emails and texts. I often have the phone on vibrate and I miss calls and texts because I don’t feel the phone’s vibration. The Pebble alleviates that problem. That alone is makes me a fan.
  • I love being able to control playing music on my phone. It’s great to keep the phone in my pocket and reach for my wrist when I want to skip or pause a track. I would so dig a volume control.

pulsarThe wearable technology space is growing and all in all the Pebble watch is a darn fine early entry in this soon to be competitive arena. The size and design of the Pebble raises its geek factor a little. It reminds me a bit of the early digital watches Those of you in my demographic can still remember the first digital watches from the 70’s (right). Ok, show of hands, who had a Pulsar watch? Oh look, some of you are still rockin’ one. (Sorry.)

I like this watch and many of my tech friends are a bit jealous that theirs hasn’t arrived yet…so that’s kinda fun. I’m looking forward to more apps. Soon I hope. So perhaps those who are waiting for the Pebble to arrive can take heart that more apps may be available by the time they unbox theirs.