Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 166 – Print Me Some Coffee

By

The Gang discusses events this past week, including the Twin Cities debut of a new, consumer-grade 3D printing device called the Cube from Cubify. Having been fans of Star Trek in its various incarnations, many 3D printing enthusiasts have a vision for these sorts of printers that is more Star Trek replicator than what they presently deliver: prototypes and trinkets.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 59:17 — 34.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

Minnov8 Gang 165 – So, Lumia 900, why is your software half-baked?

By

The Gang was at the Twin Cities Windows Phone event at Best Buy and Ovative Group‘s open house this week. That, and a number of other big stories, is at the heart of this show.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: “Sugar Rush” by Beau Hall from the podsafe Music Alley

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:28 — 37.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

Minnov8 Gang 164 – One BILLION dollars!?!

By

Lots of surprising news this week with the resignation of Best Buy CEO and allegations of improprieties along with the jaw-dropping valuation of Instagram as acquired by Facebook.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: “Johnnys Deathray Boogie” by Johnny Nicholas from the podsafe Music Alley

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:00 — 37.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Guest Segment: We were pleased to have on the always delightful and incredibly mobile knowledgeable Lisa Foote, CEO and Co-Founder of MixMobi (Twitter)

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

“Your Inner Neandertal” DNA Day Talk

By

Do you know why some people are 1 to 4% Neandertal? During her talk Lynn Fellman will explain how your Uncle Ned and maybe you have an “Inner Neander” during her art and science talk on April 28th. Lynn’s presentation is one of many talks at Twin City libraries to celebrate National DNA Days.

The discovery of modern day humans with some neandertal DNA came as a surprise to many in the scientific community (especially when you consider that most depictions of neandertals show them as very ugly and that “mixing DNA” meant modern-looking humans back then were having sex with these knuckle-draggers!).

It came as a surprise to me too, not because some other people have this DNA within them, but because I have had my DNA profile created by 23andMe and recently discovered that my genetics contain an estimated 2.5% neandertal DNA. Maybe that’s why I have a thick protruding forehead and think about living in a cave!  😉

“Your Inner Neandertal” is a 30 minute presentation showing how art can uniquely express science concepts and why some of us may find a little “Neander” in our genes. With examples from “At the Crossroads” video and her very cool DNA Portrait traveling show, Lynn will explain how some genes may be a surprising and generous gift from our ancient and now extinct cousins (and this I gotta hear).

Saturday, April 28th at 11 am
Minneapolis Downtown Hennepin Library
This keynote talk for Minneapolis DNA Days
is free and open to the public. Please register (go here).
For more information, parking and directions (go here).

More DNA Days events at area libraries (info here) will cover topics like genetic testing and screening, capturing family health history and tools for collecting the information.

To learn more about multimedia artist Lynn Fellman, someone focused on “illuminating the human genome through art, design and narrative,” check our her site at: FellmanStudio.com

Minnov8 Gang 163 – Is Retail Dead?

By

The announcement by Best Buy on cutting $800M by FY 2015, closing 50 stores and corporate layoffs of 400 people sparked a lot of conversation on this show about retail and its disruption. Online commerce, mobile devices, easy price-checking, big-box competitors cherry-picking hot product categories to sell and more is causing Best Buy no end of headaches.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off this week)
Music: “Universal Domain” by Dreamline from the podsafe Music Alley

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 52:20 — 30.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

Minnesota Cup Entry Starts Today

By

The 8th annual Minnesota Cup has officially launched!

This is Minnesota’s premiere entrepreneural event and past ones have seen stiff competition in every category since there are so many great startups here in our State. To familiarize yourself with this year’s competition, please find several resources below in the embedded document (we compiled the press release, “fast facts” and a good article on the MN Cup for you to review in one place which, if you want, you can also download using the download button in the toolbar below).

Use the “Full Screen” button for the best way to view this embedded doc:

SaaS Camp 2012

By

Lief Larson, CEO of Workface, will be holding a single-day event called SaaS Camp 2012.  This inaugural (but hopefully annual) event is focused on education and networking within the developing SaaS community here in Minnesota.

Why this ‘camp’ and why now? Over the last few years, Lief has said he’s had the incredible opportunity to travel to, attend, and speak at numerous SaaS-specific events. Most of what he has learned has been locked away in his head as tacit knowledge. Since “the cloud” and software as services online has become so hot, Lief has been asked by several companies to share some of this information. Like all of us, Lief’s weekday priorities to Workface means that a weekend event would probably be the best forum for the SaaS community.

Lief Larson, CEO of Workface

SaaS Camp 2012 is being tightly packed into a single session-intense Saturday and has been created for SaaS practitioners and businesses embarking on SaaS models.  It will be held at CoCo MSP in the Minneapolis Grain Exchange on Saturday, April 21st, from 9am-4pm.

Thirteen major areas of SaaS will be covered, ranging from pricing models to channel development.  The price is $199, which is being used to cover the facilities costs, catering/lunch, and materials.  It will be limited attendance because Lief is hoping to keep it manageable and more intimate.  Registration info available at: http://saasclass.com/events or http://saascamp2012.eventbrite.com.

Minnov8 Gang 162 – N-N-N-Nerds!

By

The Gang heads down to The Nerdery’s Overnight Website Challenge. Our own Tim Elliott, organizer of team “Full Court WordPress”, introduces us to Sherilyn Howes, Associate Director of Youth Performance Company (current website). (Note: The photo above is of teamBIOS, a group that had a suspiciously interesting “tent” setup in the center of their table).

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 37:21 — 21.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

Minnov8 Gang 161 – Mobilecise!

By

Mobile March is in full swing today and the Gang has on Guy Thier, Chief Information Officer at Bally Total Fitness. Bally is among the largest full-service commercial operators of fitness centers in North America in terms of members, revenues and square footage of its facilities. As CIO, Guy is responsible for creating and executing Bally’s technology vision to support Bally’s market strategy. Like jazzercise in the 1980s, you’ll hear he’s done more to accelerate use of mobile technologies than any other CIO we’ve found and “mobilecise” Bally Fitness in unique and innovative ways.

Justin Grammens

Also joining us on the ‘cast is Justin Grammens with Code 42 Software, one of the cofounders of Mobile March along with Phil Wilson and Linda Cummings in 2010. Mobile March offered two tracks of learning this year: Mobile Development and Mobile Business. By offering content that appealed to mobile developers, business people, these co-founders hoped to facilitate a greater understanding between all constituencies that make mobile happen. We think it worked well and was a great event!

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off)

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 36:36 — 21.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Upcoming Events:

Minnov8 Gang 160 – The de facto ‘Genius Bar’ for Android

By

We are so pleased to have two guests this week: first up is the self-proclaimed “communications passionista“, Mall of America social media expert Lisa Grimm down at the SXSWshow and we get some insight in to her adventure to Texas and that event.

Lisa Grimm

Our second guest is none other than Chief Technology Officer of Best Buy, Robert Stephens, and his just-announced departure and the likelihood his adventure will be heading west to San Francisco. As always, Robert demonstrates how he is an incredibly accessible leader and so willing to connect with those of us in the technology trenches. He has been such a supporter and asset to the Minnesota tech community and will be sorely missed (though we suspect he’ll stay close to Minnesota tech regardless of where he lives)!

We wish them both happy trails and listen for why Robert believes that, “…the Geek Squad is the de facto genius bar for Android.”

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: Speed Limit 35 & the song “Throb” from the podsafe Music Alley.

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:13:29 — 43.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events: