Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 261 – Graeme’s Jams

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graemes-jams-mainAny holiday is an excuse to break out all your decorations and fun garb, but Peeps® pajamas? We love our buddy Graeme but have a hard time visualizing him in his footie sleepwear…but we had no idea his new startup was making these manly versions for guys.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Bogan Race by The Naxalites. Brought to us by Music Alley.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:13:39 — 43.0MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota’s Top Stories

Other Top Stories

Other Links to Topics Discussed During the Show

Steve’s Security Tip of the Week 

Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 260 – The Minnebar Show

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minnebar_mainminnebar1This week’s show was recorded at Minnebar, the annual, largest and most fun tech event all year. Though this year’s event organizers have yet to release attendance figures, it was packed and our estimates are between 700-900 attendees.

barb-stinnett

Our very special guest was Barbara Stinnett, CEO and Managing Director for The Timmaron Group, an early-stage applied technologies firm that offers strategic and consultative expertise, working closely in the angel, VC, and PE community to help connect entrepreneurs with funding, strategy, product development and go to market initiatives.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Graeme Thickins (Phil Wilson was here, but had to depart for two hours so missed our recording).

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 25:20 — 14.7MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Upcoming Events

 

IoT World Forum in Chicago This October

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iotwf-chicagoCisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) is the company that drove the first Internet of Things World Forum and the second annual event will be held in Chicago this October (registration is not yet live).

Since this event will be held so close to us (vs. in another country like last year!), if you have any interest in the Internet of Things you owe it to yourself to attend.

What is the IoT World Forum? “The Internet of Things World Forum (IoT WF) is an annual event that brings together the best and brightest thinkers, practitioners, and innovators from business, government, and academia to accelerate the Internet of Things. Last year’s inaugural event in Barcelona was attended by a capacity crowd of 800 delegates and 16 sponsors and was headlined by more than 100 speakers, immediately establishing the IoTWF as the premier leadership forum in this rapidly emerging Internet of Things industry.”

Follow the hashtag #IoTWF (e.g., Twitter search here) to stay abreast of developments surrounding this event.

Minnesota STEM Conference

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stem-featuredPre-Registration for STEM Conference Ends Today

The Minnesota STEM Network’s 5th Annual Conference is your opportunity to come together with a community of stakeholders of STEM education and workforce development. Together the community can create the opportunities which inspire passion, build knowledge, and showcase career opportunities about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 15th
TIME: 9:00 – 3:30
WHERE: Continuing Education and Conference Center at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus (Map)

REGISTER TODAY!

Pre-registration closes today for next Tuesday’s STEM Network Conference, sponsored by Boston Scientific, and Discovery Education.  Networking will begin at 9am and the conference program will take place from 10am to 3:30 pm.

The keynote presentation, “Closing the Achievement Gaps:  Why STEM? Why Now?” will be delivered by Cindy Moss, Director of Global STEM Initiatives, Discovery Education.  Cindy taught high school biology and chemistry for 20 years, winning numerous national awards including the Milken National Teaching Award. She then served as Director of STEM for nine years in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools where they won the Broad Award due to their growth in math and science scores while closing the achievement gap. Cindy was then honored as one of the 100 Women Leaders in STEM by U.S. News and World Report at the STEM Solutions conference.

The conference will also feature sessions on exemplary STEM teaching and learning and cross-sector collaborations; networking time; and a forum on current topics in STEM education and workforce development.

The afternoon plenary session will feature informal discussions on Current Challenges in Advancing STEM Education and Workforce Development, via an open space technology format.  In this format, topics are proposed in advance by registered attendees. The forum offers multiple topics per round and two rounds of discussions.  Attendees engage in a discussion as long as interested, and then move to another discussion topic.

Examples include:  How can we stimulate more project-based learning through collaboration across sectors?  How can we encourage more volunteerism among STEM professionals?  How can parents be engaged most effectively in STEM events?

Pre-registration closes Thursday.  On-site registration will be open at the conference at a rate of $79.  Registration includes the conference, meals, and parking on a nearby surface lot.

Learn more about the STEM Network Conference here

MOJO Minnesota’s Two Upcoming Events

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mojo_280We were just alerted to two upcoming events hosted by MOJO Minnesota, the “…innovation co-operative comprised of like-minded business leaders working to fuel entrepreneurship and reignite Minnesota’s culture of innovation.”:

MSP Hackathon

MSP Hackathon is a bi-weekly event for growing startup companies. It’s free to attend and open to current startup companies and individuals looking to join a startup from an ownership, employee and/or volunteer level.

Starting tonight, MSP Hackathon will be held every other Wednesday from 5:30-8:30pm. There will be tables for companies to meet and work with their team. Internet, coffee, tea, etc. will also be available.

Wednesday, April 9
5:30 – 8:30pm
Cafe Inc.
4940 West 77th Street
Edina, MN 55435

RSVP Here

Mobile Twin Cities

The first 50 tickets sold out fast, so tomorrow at 9amwe’re releasing 20 additional tickets! Grab one and crash Mobile Twin Cities with us:

  • 4 Mobile Startup Demos
  • Life of the Mobile Startup Founder
  • How to Build a Mobile App in 20 Minutes

Beer and snacks will be provided. The event is co-sponsored by MOJO Minnesota, Code 42, and the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship.

Tuesday, April 15
6:30 – 8:30pm
Carlson School of Management
Classroom 1-123
321 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

RSVP Here

Competition: Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs

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small-businessInc. Magazine & Comcast Business are running a national competition which will include two local Minnesota winners. The competition is called “Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs” and it seeks to recognize small businesses (less than 50 employees) using technology to:

a) Improve the Customer experience or

b) Enhance the employee experience.

This contest will offer solid local exposure for the two winners in regional business & tech news. Deadline is quickly approaching for online submissions which is Wednesday, April 30th.

To learn more about the competition, the rules and the benefits, view the Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs website.

An awards ceremony will be held at the CoCo – Downtown Minneapolis location on June 19th.

Twin Cities Startup Weekend – Education

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startupweekendeduTwin Cities Startup Weekend EDU is a part of a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals, teams and communities. Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where teachers, students, developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups! Startup Weekend EDUs are Startup Weekends with a focus on only education.

If you are passionate about education and have an idea or want to lend your talents to a great idea, Twin Cities Startup Weekend EDU is for you. We’re looking for students, educators, designers, developers, business and school leaders to kickstart the next great startup.

The Details:
May 2nd @ 6 P.M.—May 4, 2014
Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota
(Hanson Hall—1925 4th St. South – Map)
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Minnov8 Gang 259 – Have Fedora. Can Now Report

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reporter-700Our special guest host this week is ace tech reporter, author and a man not bashful about his love of gadgets and scifi, Julio Ojeda-Zapata. Fortunately Julio has little need for his fedora and press pass…or does he?

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Phil Wilson and Julio Ojeda-Zapata (Tim Elliott and Graeme Thickins are off this week).
Music: Tender Lines by Mario Tomic. Brought to us by Music Alley.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:26 — 38.7MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota’s Top Stories

Other Top Stories

Upcoming Events

CIO Review Lists CRAM as Most Promising Security Company

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cramworldWe’ve been following serial entrepreneur Daren Klum‘s CRAM adventures for some time now. As such we were quite pleased to see that CIO Review just named CRAM as one of the “20 Most Promising Enterprise Security Companies.” This list is compromised of organizations CIO Review says this about: “We believe these companies have achieved significant momentum and will rise above the rest.”

This is an incredibly tough list to be named to since CIOs have a no-foolin’-around stance when it comes to data security.

Daren Klum

Daren Klum

CRAM was first positioned as a media storage device but with a very smart pivot some time ago, Klum and crew have created the perfect security product at exactly the right time…the hallmark of a great startup and a visionary founder.

In a time of government infiltration of corporate and personal data, an acceleration in black hat hacking, and other ways in which our vital data can be compromised, having a cloud storage solution that is as close to foolproof as possible is why CRAM’s timing is so spot-on.

What is CRAM? Their website says it best, “A new approach to cloud storage and data security. Multi-Cloud is the modern-day paper shredder for digital information. We shred your data, encrypt and backup into multiple cloud locations. Providing the most secure end-to-end data backup solution.”

Daren has walked me through the underlying security technology and it is stunning in its elegance and randomized, distributed, “shredding” security model. If you care about data security and an approach that will make it essentially impossible to reconstruct your randomly cloud-stored data, you owe it to yourself to check out CRAM.