Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 235 – Will Android Make You Fat?

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Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Last Night  Artist: Stingray. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:57 — 38.6MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota Stories

Don Ball, co-founder of CoCoMSP

Other Stories and Mentions

Upcoming Events 

CoCo Uptown Open House a Success!

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coco-uptownLast night was CoCo‘s open house for their new Minneapolis Uptown location and all four of the Minnov8 Gang attended along with several hundred of our closest friends.

The specs on this place were pretty impressive:

  • 160 Coworking seats for individual members
  • 9 medium campsites for group memberships)
  • The “Garage” – a 3,500-square-foot open space devoted to ideation, prototyping and presentations for groups up to 100
  • A small movie theater, for presentations and pitches
  • A billiard room that doubles as a meeting room.
  • A walkout patio, located within a beautiful green space
  • 2 large conference rooms
  • 6 private booths for phone calls and demos
  • A commons area that can be used for 100-person events and meetups

But it wasn’t until one is actually in the space that you get a sense of the possibilities and how fun it would be to tap in to that energy.

When you also consider that the Uptown area—and the increasing gentrification of blocks east with lofts being built and housing being remodeled—you can understand why CoCo carving out a space within it is a brilliant move. Learn more about the space here.

Don Ball, one of the co-founders of CoCoMSP alongside Kyle Coolbroth, Jeff Heegaard and Roger Heegaard, will be our guest Saturday on the Minnov8 Gang Podcast, episode 235. We’ll talk about the Uptown location, what’s going on with CoCoMSP overall, and what the future holds with co-working.

What If We Stop Trusting The Internet?

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the_internetsWhat if the generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) on the internet—like the ones we know and love like .com, .org, .net and so forth—collided with ones used by internal network names?

What if there were so many generic TLDs—so far there are 1,200 on the list with nearly 2,000 applicants—that your customers literally didn’t know what the hell to type in after the “.” when going to your website?

Mike O'Connor

Mike O’Connor

The push to add hundreds of gTLDs to the internet domain name space was an issue I had thought I understood. But it wasn’t until attending a talk by entrepreneur and smart guy Mike O’Connor last evening at U of MN’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, that I began to understand the depth and breadth of the problem. The scope of the monetary incentives for the organization that runs the domain name system: ICANN, the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers, is breathtaking too.

After Mike’s experiences co-founding the St. Paul internet service provider GoFast.net (PDF of an 1999 article on GoFast is here) and later running the Y2K program for the City of St. Paul staving off digital armageddon at the turn of the century. Then he became even more involved in various community adventures like when he was appointed by the governor to be on the Minnesota Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force.

THE OPPORTUNITY
Turns out the push to add all of these gTLDs is pretty darn lucrative for ICANN. To sponsor a new gTLD isn’t cheap: the initial cost is $185,000 and the ongoing cost is $30,000 per year. Mike also surmised aloud that the fully burdened cost of sponsoring a new gTLD was closer to $500,000 and that was before promotion or marketing of it to drive awareness!

ICANN, a non-profit corporation, is poised to generate several hundred million dollars from adding all of these new gTLDs. Registrees and registrars (along with speculators) also stand to profit from the huge influx of new TLDs in the domain name system.

Of course, one could argue that new gTLDs also open up domain naming possibilities for the rest of us so we can stop dropping vowels in our names (e.g., Flickr; Tumblr, Socializr, etc.) and get exactly what we want.

But there is a looming problem that stands to change our level of trust when it comes to the internet.

THE PROBLEM
Mike laid out the problem in his talk and there is a lot more detail in this blog post. In essence the problem is:

The new TLDs may unexpectedly cause traffic that you’re expecting to go to your trusted internal networks (or your customer’s networks) to suddenly start being routed to an untrusted external network, one that you didn’t anticipate.  Donald Rumsfeld might call those external networks “unknown unknowns” — something untrusted that you don’t know about in advance.  The singular goal of this post is to let you know about this possibility in advance.  Here’s the key message:

If you have private networks that use TLDs on this list, best start planning for a future when those names (and any internal certificates using those names) are going to stop working right. 

You might think, “Ahh…that doesn’t really affect my company or me” but imagine you work for a corporation and are in a coffee shop . You open your laptop and launch your mail program. It tries to connect to your internal network to retrieve your email BUT YOU FORGOT to launch your VPN first. Oops.

Since the way seeking works when you have an internet connection, your laptop now attempts to find your company’s internal mail server on the wider internet. Since a new gTLD proposed is the same as internal as an internal name, it would be trivial for bad guys to spoof your program and you’d end up on an untrusted source on the wider internet. Here is part of a diagram Mike showed last evening that will give you a sense of some of the conflicts that are certain to arise:

new_gTLDs

Mike is not alone in his concern. This article at the Domain Industry Journal said in part:

“…the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), who represents dozens of well-known global brands including AT&T, eBay, IBM, Intel and Microsoft, to name just a few (see the full membership list here), blasted ICANN over “woefully inadequate” preparations for the impending roll out of new gTLDs.“

Add to that the simple confusion by consumers on what TLD to use. Many of our readers have “.net”, “.mn”, “.name” and other TLDs and often are frustrated because everyone puts in “.com” as a reflex. Imagine trying to remember one of literally hundreds of gTLDs like “.inc” or “.bank” or “.cloud” and so on. It’s a marketing budget nightmare and a scammers dream.

Add another issue: the inadvertent searching on a string in your web browser bar where you forgot to leave a space (e.g., “best company on the market in routers.Cisco is the best?” brings up a “routers.cisco” webpage instead of a page of Google or Bing results.

The comment period is over at ICANN so we’re along for the ride as users, developers, service providers or just interested observers. But if you are someone who manages or runs a private network with any potentially conflicting namespaces, take Mike’s advice: start planning now.

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To learn more about the controversy and concerns, here are a few links:

Comcast Partnering with CoCo for 1Gbps Fiber

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comcast-cocoGood news for anyone already (or planning to be) a co-working person or company at CoCoMSP‘s Minneapolis Grain Exchange location or at its new Uptown facility: Comcast is providing dedicated one-gigabit fiber network connectivity to CoCo’s growing entrepreneurial community.

More in the good news department too: This 1GB fiber connection is symmetrical (same speeds upload and download) but there is no word yet on whether or not Comcast Business terms of service allow, or disallow, hanging a server off of this connection!

Since bandwidth is so incredibly important this is a good move by Comcast and a smart partnership by CoCo.

Here is the press release:

CoCo Minneapolis and Comcast Business Announce
Partnership to Provide Startups and Entrepreneurs
1 Gigabit Ethernet Connection

High-Performance Ethernet Services Enable CoCo
Entrepreneurs to Access Ultra-fast Internet Speeds

MINNEAPOLIS–Comcast is partnering with Minneapolis-based CoCo coworking and collaborative space to provide dedicated one-gigabit fiber network connectivity to CoCo’s growing entrepreneurial community, including its downtown location in the historic Minneapolis Grain Exchange and a new Uptown site that opens today.

“At CoCo, we always need more bandwidth, so this type of resource is a huge opportunity for our members. We appreciate that Comcast is leading by example in supporting startups and mobile workers.”

The Comcast partnership gives CoCo members access to an entirely new level of Internet bandwidth, once only available to larger businesses. The Comcast one-gigabit fiber connection is hundreds of times faster than outdated legacy technology and is symmetrical to provide equally fast upstream feeds, allowing the kind of bandwidth necessary to meet the most demanding applications.

This cutting-edge resource demonstrates Comcast’s commitment to the entrepreneurial ecosystem and its dedication to helping foster business growth and innovation in the Twin Cities.

“The Twin Cities is among the most connected metropolitan markets in the country, due largely to the major investments we’ve made in our metro-wide fiber optic network,” said Jeff Freyer, Regional Vice President for Comcast Twin Cities Region. “The resources we’re providing CoCo and their clients through this one-gigabit connection are a perfect example of the kind of scalability we’ve built into our infrastructure to serve businesses of all sizes – as well as our residential customers – with a full suite of innovative and affordable products and services.”

Freyer continued, “We appreciate the opportunity to partner with CoCo and are excited to empower today’s technology entrepreneurs with this ultra-fast internet connectivity.”

CoCo serves more than 500 members across three locations in the Twin Cities, including Lowertown St. Paul, downtown Minneapolis and now in the growing Uptown neighborhood. CoCo’s membership consists of startups, freelancers, consultants, and increasingly, mobile corporate workers.

“The high-bandwidth, low-latency connection goes a long way to even the playing field with much larger businesses and tech centers with huge resources,” said Spark software engineer and CoCo member David Middlecamp. “The symmetric bandwidth supports creators of content and services, rather than just content consumption, and facilitates working remotely across the globe, or collaborating across millions of connected devices.”

“This is the type of resource many of our entrepreneurs need in order to develop new technology and grow,” said founding partner Don Ball. “At CoCo, we always need more bandwidth, so this type of resource is a huge opportunity for our members. We appreciate that Comcast is leading by example in supporting startups and mobile workers.”

About CoCo Minneapolis
CoCo is a community for tech and creative entrepreneurs, independent businesses and corporate workgroups. We offer inspiring environments where they can gather, share ideas, team up on projects and get work done. A CoCo membership is an alternative to working from home, the cubicle farm or the local coffee shop.

About Comcast Business
Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast Cable, provides advanced communication solutions to help organizations of all sizes meet their business objectives. Through a modern, advanced network that is backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast delivers Business Internet, TV and Voice services for cost-effective, simplified communications management.

The Comcast Business Ethernet suite offers high-performance point-to-point and multi-point Ethernet services with the capacity to deliver cloud computing, software-as-a-service, business continuity/disaster recovery and other bandwidth-intensive applications. Comcast Ethernet services are significantly faster than standard T1 lines and other legacy technologies, providing scalable bandwidth from 1 Mbps up to 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) in more than 20 major US markets.

For more information, call 866-429-3085 or visit http://business.comcast.com/enterprise.

Follow us on Twitter @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social.

About Comcast Cable
Comcast Cable is the nation’s largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to businesses and residential customers. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

Contacts

Comcast
Mary Beth Schubert, 651-493-5775
Vice President, Corporate Affairs,
Comcast Twin Cities Region
Marybeth_schubert@cable.comcast.com

SharePlan from Code 42

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shareplanSharePlan from Code 42 Software, the makers of CrashPlan. SharePlan is a “…sync and share platform that keeps information flowing, teams collaborating and business humming—securely, in real-time, between all endpoints, from the get-go.”

It’s a product that hits the sweet spot of the angst felt by just about every leader in I.T. across the world: Employees are sharing files—oftentimes insecurely and using consumer-centric services like Dropbox. They are also increasingly bringing in their own devices (BYOD) and want to share files to their devices too. For anyone charged with the responsibility of security for their organization, this is the stuff of nightmares.

SharePlan nails what the enterprise needs: a highly secure (256-bit encryption); the option to self-host behind their firewalls; remote wipe and audit trails; and much more (complete list of features here).

They just released a recent webinar for enterprise prospects and you can learn more watching it below or, if you’re an enterprise representative, Request a Demo:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/QYNiZ9j8yfg]

Minnov8 Gang 234 – Add a Word, Ruin a Movie

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miracle1Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off this week).
Music: Why Do You Punish Me  Artist: Mean Gene Kelton and The Die Hards. 
Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 52:25 — 30.8MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota Stories

Other Stories and Links

Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 233 – Prince’s Awkwardly Shaped Guitar Center

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princeHosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off this week).
Music: Great Dividing Blues  Artist: Gerry Joe Weise. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:10 — 32.9MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Minnesota Stories

Other Stories and Links

Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 232 – iSomething

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Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Phil Wilson and Julio Ojeda-Zapata.
Music: It Is What It Is  Artist: Mark Claytor. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:12:35 — 42.5MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Upcoming Events

 

Minnov8 Gang 231 – One Word: “Plastics”

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Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Morning Shock  Artist: Vince Carpentieri. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast (m8-audio): Download (Duration: 55:58 — 46.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast: Download (Duration: 55:58 — 32.6MB)

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Discussed During the Show

Upcoming Events

Comcast and $9.95 per Month Internet

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If you are reading this post chances are you enjoy internet access and likely have broadband at home. In fact, 58% of United States homes have high speed internet connections (see this PDF from the International Telecommunications Union 2013 report) and this access—whether fixed broadband or mobile—is no longer optional. It’s become a primary way for an accelerating number of us to connect, socialize, find jobs, signup for services, access knowledge and a whole lot more.

Fortunately there is an affordable program to connect low-income families (with students at home) to the internet for just under $10 per month. A program now in its third year, Internet Essentials is delivered by Comcast, costs only $9.95 plus tax per month, provides access to a low-cost computer (a laptop for $149.99 plus tax); and has online training.

Undoubtedly this program was a key “give” on Comcast’s part during the negotiation when they were vying to acquire NBC Universal, but the numbers of families who have signed up nationwide are over 220,000!  Of that there are already 5,200 families in Minnesota benefitting from Internet Essentials and let’s hope more signup and participate this year.

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COMCAST’S INTERNET ESSENTIALS CONNECTS MORE THAN
220,000 LOW INCOME FAMILIES TO HIGH SPEED INTERNET AT HOME
Comcast Celebrates Year Three of National Program to Bridge the Digital Divide
More than 5,200 Twin Cities Families Have Enrolled in Internet Essentials

St. Paul, Minn. – Sept. 12, 2013 – With the start of the new school year, Comcast is launching the third year of its Internet Essentials program, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption initiative for low-income families.  As a result of the first two years of the Internet Essentials program, more than 220,000 families, benefitting an estimated 900,000 low-income Americans nationwide, now have a broadband connection at home.

More than 5,200 Minnesota families currently participate in the Internet Essentials program and 300 families have joined in recent months.

Today at the Minnesota Children’s Museum in St. Paul, Comcast along with civic and community leaders will kick off the program’s third year.

Family Open House and Internet Essential Sign-Up
Thursday, Sept. 12, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Children’s Museum of Minnesota
10 West Seventh Street, St. Paul, Minn., 55102

The company is hosting similar community events in 23 states across the country to raise visibility about bridging the digital divide in America and connecting more families to the Internet.

“This type of fast Internet access is absolutely essential for students to do their homework and for parents to stay in touch with teachers and information.  It also supports so many activities that we take for granted, such as finding and applying for jobs, researching a health condition, or paying a bill,” said Mary Beth Schubert, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Comcast Twin Cities Region.

“This event is about continuing to build momentum and raise awareness among the families that can benefit from the Internet Essentials program.  It also is about thanking partners in the community that are helping us to make progress toward narrowing the digital divide in America,” added Schubert.

Comcast Enhances Internet Essentials Program for 2013
To increase enrollment and continue to help close the digital divide in America, Comcast continues to enhance Internet Essentials. This year the program includes:

  • Increased Speed – For the second time in two years, Comcast has increased its broadband speeds for Internet Essentials customers up to 5 Mbps downstream and up to 1 Mbps upstream. On September 1st, Comcast will have more than tripled the download speeds for Internet Essentials customers since the program’s launch.

  • Streamlined Enrollment – Comcast has further streamlined the enrollment process by expanding the instant approval process for families whose students attend schools where 70 percent or more of the students are eligible to participate in the National School Lunch Program.

  • Expanded Eligibility – Comcast has expanded program eligibility criteria for the second time, to include parochial, private, cyberschool, and homeschooled students.  Now, nearly 2.6 million families nationwide are eligible for Internet Essentials.

  • Created an Online Application Tool – On InternetEssentials.com and InternetBasico.com, it is now easier and faster for a family to apply for Internet Essentials.  This convenient online request form is available in English and Spanish and can be accessed through any Internet-enabled computer, tablet, or smartphone. It can be used by families on computers at community centers, local libraries or at a friend’s to request an application.

  • Introduced Internet Essentials Opportunity Cards – Our community partners are now able to help connect low-income families to the Internet by purchasing Opportunity Cards that can be used toward the cost of paying for Internet Essentials service.

In Minnesota, Comcast is working with community-based organizations in Minneapolis and St. Paul to spread the word about Internet Essentials and provide digital literacy training. These organizations include: Neighborhood House and the Hmong American Partnership.

Internet Essentials Gains Momentum
The momentum of Internet Essentials continues to increase.  Since the program’s launch in August 2011, Internet Essentials has enrolled upwards of 50,000 new families every six months.  In the last six months alone, 70,000 new families have signed up.  In addition, Comcast has distributed more than 18,000 subsidized computers; trained nearly 20,000 people; publicized the program in more than 4,000 school districts and more than 30,000 schools; broadcast nearly 2 million public service announcements and partnered with nearly 7,000 community based organizations, agencies, and officials to help spread the word about the program.

 

About Internet Essentials:
Internet Essentials from Comcast is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program.  It provides low-cost broadband service for $9.95 a month plus tax; the option to purchase an Internet-ready computer for under $150; and multiple options to access free digital literacy training in print, online, and in-person. A household is eligible to participate if it has at least one child eligible to participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), is located where Comcast offers Internet service, has not subscribed to Comcast Internet service within the last 90 days, and does not have an overdue Comcast bill or unreturned equipment. Families that enroll in the program can continue to enjoy the service as long as one child eligible to participate in the NSLP is living in the household.

For more information about Internet Essentials visit InternetEssentials.com for English and InternetBasico.com for Spanish. Educators or third-parties interested in helping to spread the word can find more information at InternetEssentials.com/partner. Parents looking to enroll in the program can call 1-855-846-8376 or, for Spanish, 1-855-765-6995.

About Comcast Corporation:
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal.  Comcast Cable is the nation’s largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses.  NBCUniversal operates 30 news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts.  Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

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Media Contact:
Dave Nyberg
dave_nyberg@cable.comcast.com
651-493-5291

PRESS RELEASE
Comcast
One Comcast Center
Philadelphia, PA 19103
www.comcastcorporation.com