Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 307 – Geeks Are NOT Funny

By

geeks_mainThankfully April Fool’s Day has passed since none of us think that geeks are funny…especially Steve! Of course, you can decide for yourself by looking at the best and worst ones in the tech world here.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Short Blues Rock by johnmortiboy under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories
Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
  • TIP: If you’re not going to use online backup strategy—or even if you are (or use the Mac’s Time Machine for Filevault-encrypted backup like Steve does)—seriously consider the ioSafe fireproof and waterproof external HD and recovery service for your critical data at home.
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 306 – Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Tech Events

By

Wow! There are an accelerating number of technology events going on in Minnesota, which is both good news and disconcerting. It’s positive since it proves that Minnesota is rapidly becoming a startup and technology hub, and concerning because it is increasingly hard to get to them all!

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Crossroad Blues by Gil Moreau under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories
Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

MN Cup is Now Accepting Applications

By

MN Cupmn-cup-home – the largest statewide new venture program in the country – is now accepting applications for its 11th competition.

MN Cup is the premier resource for Minnesota entrepreneurs. They support emerging entrepreneurs from across the state through events, educational programming and an annual new venture competition that provides them with tools, resources and support to launch and accelerate the development of their new ventures. The competition inspires entrepreneurs to begin their startup journey, supports them as they develop a solid business plan, provides exposure for their ideas and offers numerous opportunities to expand their networks.

The 2015 MN Cup competition is now accepting applications. Apply here.

Minnov8 Gang 305 – Tim’s Lead Underwear

By

tim-lead-underwear_740One of the things we talk about on this week’s show is the danger of RF radiation with connected, wearable devices in contact, or close to, your body. Though I joke on the show about wearing lead underwear (like Tim’s), maybe this is something we should be worried about with our current devices and future wearables? Listen and decide for yourself.

Hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Epic Tension by Matti Paalanen under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 304 – Everyone Reveres the Apple Watch?

By

apple-watch_mainOne big story we discuss from this past week was the Apple event where they revealed more about the Apple Watch, ResearchKit, a new Macbook and more. Not everyone is gushing with enthusiasm and excitement about the Watch though…lots of parodies on the ‘net like this video too.

Hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Canal Street Blues by Alligator Gumbo under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:34 — 39.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories
Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 303 – The Techno Quartet

By

When my Gang cohorts and I talk about this podcast, we often wonder why we carve out time early on a Saturday morning to record this show.  The answer is that we genuinely like and respect each other, we love our listeners and get great feedback from you, we all are focused on today and tomorrow’s technology, and frankly it’s fun.

While seeking music for today’s show, I stumbled across this upbeat and light Dixieland jazz tune. It reminded me of barbershop music and a neighbor of ours where I grew up, a guy who was in a barbershop quartet back in the 70s. I always wondered why he loved and devoted so much time to singing with his buddies, and it was only later in life I learned the quartet had two motivations: They wanted to give back and they had fun doing it together. As I listened to today’s music I realized our shared love for technology and friendship is why we continue to record this show week after week. We hope you enjoy our shows as much as we do recording them for you.

Hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Black Bottom by The Jazz House under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories
Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

Mobile March Agenda Announced

By

Our pals over at Mobile March just announced their full agenda, the lineup of presentations looks strong, and once again this is a must-attend event. You can view the full agenda here and the full press release is below:

Mobile March 2015 Agenda Announced
6th annual mobile event releases agenda with four tracks and three keynotes.

mmtc_500Minneapolis, MN – The Organizers of Mobile March today confirmed their agenda for the 6th annual conference scheduled for March 26th, 2015 at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park. The full day event includes three keynote presentations from nationally recognized speakers and four tracks of sessions. Tracks this year include Mobile Development, Mobile Design, Mobile Enterprise and Mobile Life. In keeping with the focus of learning all aspects of mobile, attendees are encouraged to attend session across multiple tracks.

Keynote addresses this year include, Billy Jurewicz, founder and CEO of Twin Cities digital agency Space150 offer a peek into the future and recap the state of digital to physical technology, Alex Haley of Present Endeavors will explore the Mindfulness movement in a tech crazy world, and Mark Wilkie, CTO of BuzzFeed wraps up the day with a look on his company’s aggressive app strategy.

Mobile March organizer Phil Wilson noted, “This year we are striving to delve deeper into what is happening across the mobile space. We feel this agenda represents not only where the mobile industry is but where it’s going” He goes on to say, “With the introduction of the Mobile life track and the our keynote on Mindfulness, we’ve also tried to focus on the human side of mobile, not often taken into account at other conferences.”

The full agenda may be seen at http://mobilemarchtc.com/2015-agenda/

Registration is now open for Mobile March, Thursday March 26th, 2015 at the Earle Brown Heritage Center via the Mobile March website atwww.mobilemarch.com or directly through Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mobile-march-2015-tickets-14763844055. Cost of registration prior to March 19thth is $115. Student discounts are available as well.

About Mobile March
Founded in 2010, Mobile March is an event dedicated to exploring the latest in mobile technology and trends. The name Mobile March not only denotes the month in which it takes place, it also emphasizes the ongoing advancement and growth of mobile technology and the related lifestyle.

By offering content that appeals to mobile developers, business people, and users we hope to facilitate a greater understanding between the constituencies that make mobile happen.  Whether you make money with mobile or just use it to stay connected, we invite you to join us for Mobile March.

Mary Lower
Sterling Cross Communications
(612) 636-6544
@PRMoxie

Minnov8 Gang 302 – ‘Live Long and Prosper’

By

We were saddened to learn this past week that we lost Leonard Nimoy, as any Star Trek fan knows. Though most closely identified with his character on that show “Mr. Spock,” Nimoy had many other memorable roles and most who encountered him found that he was a very nice and gracious man.

One of his signature phrases was “live long and prosper” and we think he did exactly that in his life.  In fact, as many have pointed out, his very last tweet was a sweet summation of his outlook on life:

One who did encounter him was our friend and journalist (Your Tech Weblog at St. Paul Pioneer Press’ TwinCities.com & TidBits), Julio Ojeda Zapata, who joins us this week as our guest host. Listen to what he says about his experiences with Nimoy.

Hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott and Julio Ojeda Zapata (Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson are off).
Music: Steady as She Goes by Harmonica Jack under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:09:00 — 40.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories

Nimoy & Zachary Quinto (the ‘new’ Spock) in an Audi commercial

Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 301 – Turn off the Internet?

By

turnoff-mainLast year there were an unprecedented number of security breaches, coming in at a record 783! As of February 17th, the number of them for 2015 is already at 101 and there are over 10 months to go in this year. It’s no wonder news stories about cybersecurity and data breaches are making even the most interested among us sometimes roll our eyes with weariness and disgust.

Maybe it’s time to just turn off the Internet?

Hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Stormy Blues by Arne Bang Husby under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast
Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories
Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
Cool Thing of the Week

Phil: Doob-Step into 3D
Tim: Beam: The smart projector that fits in any light socket
Graeme: Astropad: Your iPad as a Professional Graphics Tablet 
Steve: iTraq: Worldwide cellular tracking device

Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 300 – Prepare for Glory!

By

300_mainIt’s our 300th podcast and we’re prepared for glory…or maybe just episode 301?

We all enjoyed the film 300 from 2006, which was about how King Leonidas and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. While we’re not willing to go to Iran and record our podcast in Persian, we do have a lot of interesting stories to discuss this week in English…so get ready and listen ’cause we’re definitely making it to #301!

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson (Tim Elliott is off).
Music: Setting Off by Arizona Music under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories
Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
  • Why should you consider using a laptop lock like these from Kensington?
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events