Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 111 – The Throng Can’t be Wrong

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We talk with Aaron Weber, co-founder of an already successful startup (W3i) and now a new, exciting personalized and social discovery engine called Inveni. We talk with Aaron about this new platform, his recent influx of venture capital (nearly $500K) discussed in this high profile article at Techcrunch, and what’s next.

We then shift our discussion to another area being impacted by the “wisdom of the crowd“, namely the newspaper and magazine industries. We talk about Rupert Murdoch’s new “The Daily” iPad app and whether it—following the old publishing model of a small group writing and deciding on content being published once as one, big chunk of content—is the future of newspapers and magazines or is it one where the crowd decides what are the most important stories and then drive them to the top?

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Brian Kelly is the artist & the song is “Smiling South” via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:00:38 — 35.3MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Minnov8 Gang 110 – ChitChat Chatter

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The “socialization” and connection of seemingly all we do online increasingly centers around our social graph. Our first guest, Rick Mahn, consults in the social media sphere and runs the #1 Social Media Breakfast club (nationally) right here in the Twin Cities. Rick has a unique perspective on how organizations are applying social media for customer engagement, support and, unfortunately, more and more as a marketing channel rather than a conversational medium.

Our second guest, Fallon Director of Innovation Marty Wetherall, not only has delivered critically acclaimed work at this premiere ad agency, he is CEO of FanChatter, a “chat box” technology that aggregates, organizes and amplifies real-time social conversation. Listen as we discuss how “everything seems to be social” and its implications with these two leaders.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Profetas is the artist & the song is “Baila” via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:40 — 38.2MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Minnov8 Gang 109 – This Mobile Thingy Will Be Big!

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It’s easy to chuckle at a vintage Radio Shack ad like this one on YouTube from 1990 that touted the “Affordable, Portable, Cellular Telephone” from Radio Shack (gee…do ya think that’s a Bill Gates-like character for the boy?). What most of us don’t know is that these ‘brick’ phones, with their six inch antennas, listed for $1,200 ($1,970 in 2011 dollars) and the average cellular phone call cost was $.40/minute!

We’ve come a loooong way since 1990 and it’s likely this mobile thingy is gonna be big.  😉

Joining us on this episode of the Minnov8 Gang is Justin Grammens, co-Founder at Recursive Awesome, LLC, owner of Localtone, LLC founder of the Mobile Twin Cities User’s Group, and co-founder of Mobile March. During the “Gang Mentality” segment we’re pleased to have been joined by Lisa Foote, co-founder of  MixMobi and a pragmatic expert in the mobile space overall. She also speaks at many industry events (e.g., the upcoming Mobile March) and is a strategist with a global perspective on the mobile space.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Beyond the Pale is the artist & their song “Faral O’Garas” via the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:40 — 39.3MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Twin Cities Premier Mobile Event

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The Twin Cities premier mobile event, Mobile March, will be here in just a few weeks. It’s a day long 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. If the attendance is as big as last year’s event—and is already shaping up to be more well-attended than 2010’s with even the preliminary agenda looking stronger—it will sell out very quickly. Registering now is the smart choice and you can do so here.

Founded by Justin Grammens, Phil Wilson and Linda Cummings in 2010, they point out the essence of the event on their website, “…Mobile March offers two tracks of learning; Mobile Development and Mobile Business. By offering content that appeals to mobile developers, business people, and users we also 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.“

If you’re keeping track of the explosion in mobile devices (and networks like Verizon beefing up their networks with 4G) then you’ll instantly understand why this is such a timely and important event for you to attend.

When: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 8am – 4:30pm
(cocktail party begins at 4:30pm)

Where: Best Buy Headquarters Campus

Register Here

Minnov8 Gang 108 – Interactive Public Media

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With the fundamentals around traditional media changing dramatically—and many subscribing to the theory that public media will be the organizations that will lead investigative journalism going forward—Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) must’ve been delighted to snag someone with the skills of John Daenzer, formerly head of interactive at WCCO-TV. As the new Vice President, Interactive Media for TPT, hear what John is up to now and his thoughts on the changing nature of media and much, much more.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins andPhil Wilson.
Music: Bob Kirkpatrick is the artist and the song is, “Too Much Time.“
Music made possible by the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:25 — 36.8MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Upcoming Events:

Minnov8 Gang 107 – Is the MacAppStore Good or Bad?

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App stores are all the rage: Apple started the concept with the iPhone App Store, made sure it worked on the iPod Touch and later expanded it to include the iPad, and is now driving that concept further with the new introduction of the MacAppStore. Google has Android market, Microsoft their Windows Phone Marketplace (ironically it’s down, throwing off an “Error.aspx?diagnosticCode=B03/5LZ7” as I write this post);  Blackberry’s AppWorld; and so on.

While the Gang could discuss the “why” and “what it means for developers” at length with each other when it comes to the newest entrant in the app store shift the Mac App Store, our frequent contributor, Julio Ojeda Zapata, was kind enough to recommend and invite in this episode’s guest, Michael Wray.

Michael is the president of Mariner Software, a very impressive, two decade old Mac, PC, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad software firm here in Minneapolis. Besides the groundbreaking Mac apps they’re known for, this company had apps early on in the iPhone App Store and five (with one pending approval as you’ll hear about on the podcast) in the Mac App Store. Listen to what Michael has to say about his experiences with this new model of software distribution.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson with Julio Ojeda Zapata.
Music: Guitar Jack is the artist and the song is, “Roadhouse.“
Music made possible by the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:00 — 38.9MB)

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Minnov8 Gang 106 – What’s Up in Tech?

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Minnedemo is happening within days and the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show is going on right now with numerous major announcements. As such, the Gang is delighted to have both Ben Edwards and Luke Francl, the two behind Minnedemo, on to discuss next week’s event. A bit later in the show we were very pleased to be able to talk with Mitchell Hislop who is on the floor at CES to tell us about all the “cool and new”.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins andPhil Wilson
Music: Edwin Holt is the artist and the song is, “Red Clay Back Road Mama.”
Music made possible by the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:05 — 36.7MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Best Buy “On” Officially Debuts

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Though we’ve been aware of this “Best Buy On” adventure for some time, this week Advertising Age reported that Best Buy company had officially rolled it out saying that it is, “…a multichannel network filled with original editorial content spanning everything from how-to videos and gift guides to new-technology primers and behind-the-scenes looks at popular movies. The network, called Best Buy On, includes a website it bills as an “online magazine” and a huge in-store component with its content and ad messaging “broadcast” on screens across the store, including in the TV, mobile and portable entertainment sections.”

In today’s online media, content must be shareable, give me added value world, “On” is a brilliant strategy to be deeply involved in delivering high value content for a variety of needs and create even more reasons to lean on Best Buy for ones technology.

There is a lot of content at Best Buy On, but we went there today specifically to seek any content related to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) going on right now in Las Vegas. Take a peek at this CES press preview where the Best Buy crew shot video:

CES is THE place for most manufacturers in the world to rollout their new gadgets and tech. Today we’ve been viewing videos, listening to podcasts and reading blog posts about all the hot introductions at CES in anticipation for tomorrow’s recording of the Minnov8 Gang podcast.

Here’s the potential problem with how easy it is to be plugged in to CES’ introductions: Consumers who are interested in knowing what’s coming in the near future are consuming that exact same content! I’ve often wondered: wouldn’t consumers knowing the next generation technology shown at CES this week virtually kill the sales of the current products on the Best Buy shelves today? It stands to reason that if someone sees the next, hottest, must-have gadget in some CES recap online (and we can safely assume that that product will be on store shelves within weeks), wouldn’t consumers just wait to buy that new one?

…  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang 105 – 2011 Tech Predictions

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The Gang once again discusses our predictions for the new year. If you listened to last year’s show, you’ll know that Phil predicted we’d see parachute pants make a comeback, but alas they did not and Phil still has to wear much tighter and more restrictive trousers than he’d prefer.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: Opening version of the New Year’s Eve favorite Auld Lang Syne was performed by J.E.L.L.i., and the closing version of the song was performed by Mario Ajero. Both made possible by the podsafe Music Alley.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 52:26 — 30.4MB)

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Discussed during the show:

Happy Holidays from the Minnov8 Gang!

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We’ll be back with our final Minnov8 Gang podcast of the year on December 31st, our “2011 Predictions” show.  That is, we’ll be back if we’re not hit by some drunk guy driving a sleigh out of the sky tonight.