Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 380 – IoT’s Yin & Yang

By

yin-yang_mainIn Chinese philosophy and religion there are two principles, one negative, dark, and feminine (yin) and one positive, bright, and masculine (yang) whose interaction influences the destinies of creatures and things. This week we experienced both with the Internet of Things (IoT): The massive distributed denial of service on Friday was definitely ‘yin’ and today’s IoTHackday was definitely a positive and bright ‘yang’.

Hosts: Steve Borsch and Phil Wilson (Tim Elliott is off this week)

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 37:39 — 22.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Past Week’s Top Minnesota Stories
Other Top Tech Stories
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

 

Minnov8 Gang 379 – Hacking the Internet of Things

By

iothackday_mainOne of the most interesting Internet of Things (IoT) events of the year is IoTHackday, a fun, FREE day that brings together teams, novel ideas, and an entrepreneurial spirit to dream up and build cool new devices to solve everyday problems.

Teams form, submit their ideas ahead of the event, and hack for 12 hours. The public is invited to attend at the end of the day at 8pm, vote for their favorite teams. Top teams receive hardware and prizes!

Justin Grammens is our guest this week (see profile below) and he tells all about IoTHackday, an event started with Patrick Delaney, and one you will definitely want to attend.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson
Music: Buddy Guy Catfish by DJ Ecklectic Mick under a CC by 3.0 License

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 56:58 — 34.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Past Week’s Top Minnesota Stories
This Week’s Guest: Justin Grammens

justin-grammensJustin Grammens is a founding partner of Lab 651, building the next generation of connected devices, owner of Recursive Awesome, an IoT data analytics consulting company and publisher of IoT Weekly, a publication covering current trends on the Internet of Things.

He is also a co-founder of IoTFuse, a 501(c)(3) non-profit to advance the Internet of Things, and an adjunct professor teaching a graduate level course on the Internet of Things at the University of Saint Thomas.

In addition to all of that we’re told Justin occasionally sleeps and, when not doing so, is a devoted husband as well as a great father to two young boys.

Other Top Tech Stories
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

A View of the Cyber Security Summit

By

css2016-logoThe Cyber Security Summit 2016 was this week and Minnov8 covered the event. Cyber security is more important now than ever before, and this event reflected heightened interest in this topic and the information presented didn’t disappoint.

The Summit is a public-private collaboration, whose founding partner was the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute, and is an event which enjoys strong support from industry, government, and university leaders who gather from across the U.S. to pool their knowledge. It was started at a time when ”cybersecurity” was not yet a household word. In 2011, Minnesota thought leaders saw that the issue needed to be addressed. That prediction has proven prescient, and as a result the Summit has grown significantly since it was founded.

The Summit started on Tuesday with a Cyber Security Town Hall, a time to have a discussion about strategies, opportunities and obstacles with cyber security. It was followed by a VIP reception for those who had purchased the all-access pass. Wednesday and Thursday were sessions were a number of keynotes with focus on such topics as: privacy vs. security; assuming you’re breached so now what do you do?; how to attract and retain talent; and several sessions and talks on the size, scale and scope of cyber attacks by a myriad of experts on the subject.

Still, the afternoon on Tuesday dedicated to small business and cyber security was a welcome addition. This “Small Biz Forum” saw the U.S. Small Business Administration’s district director speak about the need for diligence about cyber security, a good overview of how to keep your business free of viruses, scams and breaches, a session on cyber insurance, and ending with a panel answering questions from the audience (very informative). It was a lot more practical than the more “big picture” general session keynote talks and there was a lot of positive buzz during and afterwards about this afternoon.

Though all of the talks were interesting and enlightening, I’d actually expected breakout sessions that would enable we attendees to deep-dive in to specific cyber security areas which would have provided more solution-oriented information. There were few best-practice presentations, specific step-by-step action lists or mentions, and most of the talks were fairly general in tone.

Bob Stasio, Worldwide Senior Product Manager for IBM Cyber Threat Intelligence SME

Bob Stasio, Worldwide Senior Product Manager for IBM’s i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis & Cyber Threat Intelligence SME

That said, just one example of an interesting and enlightening presentation was by Bob Stasio, Worldwide Senior Product Manager for IBM’s i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis & Cyber Threat Intelligence SME and a guy from the private sector who used to head up threat intelligence programs at Bloomberg and global financial firms, and someone with deep government experience having held positions at NSA’s Cyber Center, U.S. Cyber Command, U.S. Army’s Signals Intelligence Corps, the FAA, and NASA.

Listening him layout their capabilities and offerings, one begins to appreciate the scope, scale and cost of fending off cyber attacks. There is a lot at stake and it was a bit stunning to learn that most compromised corporate networks have, on average, attackers who have been in the network for nearly one year before being discovered. Based on all that he’s been involved in and privy to with respect to cyber security, I would have loved to buy him a beer and talk for a few hours!

Like most conferences of this type much of the beneficial activity occurs during networking sessions and in the exhibitor space and this Summit was no exception. Some of the most profound and deeply interesting discussions had were talking to presenters or attendees in the hallway or exhibitor representatives in the trade show area. This was worth going to the Summit in-and-of-itself.

It’s really great to see a Summit of this caliber right here in Minnesota and you are encouraged to consider it for 2017!

 

 

Minnov8 Gang 378 – “Cloud” is the Answer

By

cloud_mainWe cover the usual Minnesota tech stories as well as other top ones, but our guest this week is all about the cloud. Tom Iverson is an Enterprise Solutions Consultant with a Minneapolis firm and we dig in to questions about cloud computing and why it’s the answer.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson
Music: Penitentiary Blues by DJ Ecklectic Mick under a CC by 3.0 License

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 42:02 — 25.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Past Week’s Top Minnesota Stories
This Week’s Guest – Tom Iverson

tom-iversonTom Iverson (LinkedIn) is an Enterprise Solutions Consultant with RBA, Inc., a firm specializing in Cloud, DevOps, Application Lifecycle Management, custom software development, and integration. The firm is a national digital and technology consultancy based in Minneapolis and they’ve been recognized as one of the nation’s fastest growing private companies and consistently named a Best Place to Work.

We discuss RBA’s focus, the acceleration in cloud solutions, spend some time on cloud security, and chat a bit about their client base.

Other Top Tech Stories
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

IoTFuse Outlines Activities for IoTHackDay

By

iotfuse_logo_300Once again IoTFuse is putting on IoTHackDay 2016, a great event that brings together makers and doers to create and show-off Internet of Things devices. Check out the press release below for all the details.

IoTFuse Outlines Activities for IoTHackDay 2016

October 22 Event Brings Together Minnesota’s Best and Brightest to Assist in New IoT Inventions

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — IoTFuse, the nation’s fastest growing Internet of Things (IoT) user group and a registered non-profit, located right here in Minnesota, today announced the menu of activities leading up to and taking place at the group’s annual IoTHackDay. The event takes place Saturday, October 22 at Minnetronix headquarters located at 1635 Energy Park Dr., St. Paul, Minn. The deadline to pre-register as a team is Friday, October 7. Those not interested in registering their own team may come to the event and join pre-existing teams or register to participate in the “Random Stuff” team.

The third annual IoTHackDay is sponsored by IoTFuse Platinum Sponsors Digi International and The Nerdery, as well as a number of other sponsors. IoTHackDay is a fun, free day that brings together teams, novel ideas, and an entrepreneurial spirit to imagine and build cool new devices and software to solve everyday problems. Open to everyone, teams form, submit their ideas ahead of the event, and hack (construct their project) for 12 hours.

“The spirit of IoTHackDay is to focus on solving a problem in a short period of time. Like other technology professionals, my basement is filled with many IoT projects I’ve started and not completed because there wasn’t a deadline. IoTHackDay sets a deadline and motivates participants to focus and build a solution in 12 hours,” said IoTFuse co-founder Justin Grammens.

To submit project ideas or to form a team, visit IoTHackDay. After descriptions of projects have been posted they will appear on the IoTHackDay Gallery of Submissions.

Minnesota’s best and brightest IoT coders, developers and engineers will be on hand to help with designs as part of an “experts table” to help attendees on how to build and scale their projects. Recent examples of successful ideas that have been accelerated through IoTHackDay include HabitAware, a smart bracelet which helps people overcome compulsive behaviors and Termi, an intelligent connected device that helps protect grain stores from being ruined by pest infestations.

Pre-event activities

Leading up to the event organizers will offer opportunities to select teams and become more familiar with the process.

  • Meet and greet mixer: Taking place Thursday, October 6, this offers the opportunity to meet people planning on participating in the hackathon, including team leads. The mixer is located at Lab 651, 550 Vandalia Street, Suite #224, St. Paul, Minn. and will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. CT.

IoTHackDay activities:

The agenda for IoTHackDay is as follows:

  • Team competition: Teams compete from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT to build the most innovative solution. To register to attend this event, visit IoTHackDay.MN.
  • Random Stuff Team: Designed more as a traditional hackathon, the Random Stuff Team allows participants to assemble a team on site and to use whatever random hackable hardware people may bring to see if they can come up with something completely new all in one day. Those interested in this approach should still register for the event ahead of time as a participant.
  • Public voting: The event will open to the public at 8:00 p.m. for voting of top team projects. Top teams will receive hardware and prizes. Those interested in voting should sign up at the IoTFuse monthly meetup site.

“IoT is more of a process, a community of people, than anything else,” said IoTFuse co-founder Patrick Delaney. “All sorts of people come to participate in our community events because they have an idea and an interest in building cool stuff, but they go away with a lot more than idea.  They leave with a network of like-minded tech friends, a plan to execute that idea, and more often than not, a new device that they built that actually works. That’s the power of the IoTFuse collaborative environment.”

Follow updates on IoTHackDay on Twitter at @IoTHackDay , join IoTFuse on Meetup and follow IoTFuse on Twitter @iotfuse.

The cutoff for team leader registrations is Friday, October 7, with cutoff for general registration the night prior to the event on October 21 at 5:00 p.m. CT. To participate, sign up at IoTHackDay.MN.

About IoTFuse
Established in 2014, IoTFuse, a non-profit organization, unites accomplished doers, makers and hackers with the brightest executives, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The organization, based inMinneapolis, Minn., holds an annual national conference, local hackathons, meetups and more. It values the spirit of IoT innovation, and how it can be used to improve the physical world and daily life.

Digi Becomes Platinum Sponsor for IoTFuse

By

digi-logoDigi International has signed on to be a platinum sponsor of IoTFuse (release is below).This is part of Digi’s increased efforts to call attention to the IoT industry in and around Minneapolis. IoTFuse – based in Minneapolis – is a nonprofit organization that “unites accomplished doers, makers and hackers with the brightest executives, investors, entrepreneurs and innovators focused on the Internet of Things space.”

Digi International Signs on as Platinum Sponsor of IoTFuse

Market Pioneer to Provide Resources to Assist in Elevating Minnesota as an
IoT Innovation and Commercial Hub

MINNETONKA, Minn., Oct. 3, 2016 – Digi International®, (NASDAQ: DGII, www.digi.com), a leading global provider of machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products and services, today announced that it has agreed to be a platinum sponsor of IoTFuse.

IoTFuse has been a driving force to bring together Minnesota-based developer and engineering-centric members that also have an eye toward commercial application of emerging technologies. Together, the entire community of entrepreneurs, investors, executives and developers, teachers and students, universities and commercial organizations, emerging startups and established leaders, centers of excellence and hackers, have worked to create, accelerate and map the future of the IoT marketplace.

Since its founding in 1985, Digi International has been at the forefront of the IoT industry and, over the course of more than 30 years, has connected more than 100 million devices. Digi’s support of IoTFuse is targeted specifically toward the organization’s next phase of growth – gaining proper recognition for Minnesota as a research, development and commercial leader in IoT technologies and services, while maintaining the grass roots efforts that have come to be the hallmarks of the organization. As such, Digi will have a major presence and provide financial and technological support of ongoing events, including the annual IoTFuse HackDay, periodic hackathons and makeathons, monthly events and the annual IoTFuse Conference.

“Minnesota has served as an incubator and pioneer of IoT technologies, and, IoTFuse has been a galvanizing force in creating a broad and deep community in this marketplace,” said Joel Young, chief technology officer, Digi International. “As IoT technologies become the centerpiece of innovation in areas such as smart cities, precision agriculture, industrial automation, medical care and others, establishing Minnesota as a central hub of research, development and commercial application is a logical next chapter for IoTFuse.”

“It’s essential that companies that helped form the foundation of Minnesota’s IoT ecosystem continue to be leaders in mapping its future,” said Patrick Delaney, co-founder of IoTFuse. “Digi understands how all the players intersect and create synergies to propel our community forward. We’re thankful of their support and look forward to the energy their experts will contribute to establishing IoTFuse as a force in our industry.”

About Digi International
Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII) is a leading global provider of business and mission-critical machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products and services. We help our customers create next-generation connected products and deploy and manage critical communications infrastructures in demanding environments with high levels of security, relentless reliability and bulletproof performance. Founded in 1985, we’ve helped our customers connect over 100 million things, and growing. For more information, visit Digi’s website at www.digi.com, or call 877-912-3444 (U.S.) or 952-912-3444 (International).

Minnov8 Gang 377 – Don’t Hire Me Bro!

By

dont-hire-me-bro_mainYou may remember the protestor at Secretary John Kerry’s talk at U of Florida and that guy wouldn’t leave so the cops Tased him as he yelled out, “Don’t tase me, bro!!” The video of the guy screaming that out became an internet meme in 2007 and so it was the first thing that came to mind when we discussed one of our first Minnesota tech stories called High-tech Talent Grab. The focus of the story was about Twin Cities companies essentially being raided for their tech talent.

But is that apparent tech-talent-raiding a good thing or a bad one? Is it really happening? Find out what’s really going on in this week’s show.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson
Music: Latin by beatfn under a CC by 3.0 License

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:36 — 31.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Past Week’s Top Minnesota Stories
Other Top Tech Stories
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 376 – Down the Well

By

down-the-well-mainPhil Wilson, aka “Mr. Acoustics“, comes to us from the Minneapolis BuzzFeed office conference room. As a former radio DJ, Phil knows a thing or two about good acoustics, microphones, and sounding your best. THAT is why it’s so fun to tease him about his “down the well” acoustics this week!  😉

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson
Music: Beaumont Rag by Walker Winn under a CC by 3.0 License

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 36:16 — 21.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Past Week’s Top Minnesota Stories
Other Top Tech Stories
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

New from Prime Digital Academy

By

From news release:

prime-digital-academyPrime Digital Academy moving to downtown Minneapolis for larger campus in 2017, adding user experience design program

Growth fueled by market need and graduate success of software engineer cohorts, bucking negative trend of for-profit schools

Recent failures of national for-profit schools are showing that some educational models aren’t able to meet the changing needs of modern employers, but Prime Digital Academy (Prime) is a Minnesota success story that’s showing there is room for disruptive innovation in education. Today, Prime announced a plan to relocate their campus from Bloomington, MN to a new downtown Minneapolis campus in January of 2017. They’ll use the additional space at the new location to launch a program focused on training User Experience Designers. This new course provides a second program option alongside the Software Engineering course that celebrated its 13th graduation ceremony last month. Prime now has 160 alumni working on the development teams of more than 110 companies in the Twin Cities metro – including Prime’s sister company, The Nerdery.

Read the entire release here…

Minnesota Cup Division Winners

By

mn-cup-winnersThe Minnesota Cup is thrilled to announce eight division winners who will compete for the grand prize title on September 22. The winners, one from each division, were pared down from an initial, record-breaking participant pool of 1,500. They are:

Each division winner has been awarded up to $30,000—and is now in consideration for the sought-after MN Cup grand prize, which comes with an additional $50,000 in seed capital. In its 12th year, the MN Cup is giving away a record amount of prize money: $405,000 total.

Go here for more information and to register for the final awards event.