Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

E3: Energy, Economic & Environmental Conference

By

Though this is a bit off-topic for Minnov8’s mission around innovation in internet and web technology, energy specifically is so intertwined with what we do — and this conference looks so fascinating — that it seemed like something you might be interested in. As they say on the E3 conference site, “If you’ve ever wondered about the potential for algae to cure our oil addiction, the future of solar power or the role the media plays in environmental awareness—join us at E3 2008!”

As this year’s keynote speakers, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer and Terje Gjengedal, vice president of Statkraft in Oslo, Norway, will set a world-class tone. The conference will also feature compelling research posters and breakout sessions along five different tracks:

Renewable and Sustainable Fuels and Products: Catch the buzz on algae to biofuels, catalysis and bioproducts; featuring experts from the Energy & Environmental Research Center, Ever Cat Fuels, Iowa State University, Stoel Rives, Fish and Richardson, and more.

Renewable and Sustainable Electricity: Learn the latest in wind expansion, solar energy and nanotechnology; featuring experts from Xcel Energy, Windustry, Cymbet Corporation and more.

The Nexus of Energy, the Environment and the Economy: Get the facts on fuel standards, green marketing and the state’s renewable energy portfolio; featuring experts from the Great Plains Institute, GE Capital Solutions, the Minnesota Legislature, Fresh Energy and more.

Conservation and Energy Efficiency: Expand your knowledge of sustainable cities and next-gen energy systems; featuring experts from Volvo, 3M, Faegre and Benson, Xcel Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute and more.

Special Topics: Explore the issues surrounding technology commercialization, research investment and environmental news reporting; featuring experts from Cargill Ventures, Fredrikson & Byron, WCCO (Don Shelby), Minnesota Public Radio and more.

At $80 for those of us in business, this is an inexpensive conference and is sure to spark ideas on, perhaps, applications that could streamline some of these areas? I’ll wager you’d come away with at least one idea on something that needs fixing and you’d be just the person to do it. More about registering can be found here.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 12

By

No discussion of social media is complete without an emphasis on the phenomena known as Twitter (good overview it here), one that is showing no signs of abating and, in fact, is growing dramatically.

On this Gang podcast, we are pleased to have as our guests Rachel Stassen-Berger, the Capitol Bureau Reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press (LinkedIn profile), along with her colleague who invited her to participate in this show (so we all could gain from her insights), Julio Ojeda-Zapata, the paper’s consumer technology reporter (and a guy so completely in the game of technology and social media, that he’s written a book on Twitter) (LinkedIn profile). Most importantly, we discuss some innovative uses of Twitter by the Pioneer Press as well as some use-case examples of others leveraging this new communication channel.

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

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:00:14 — 35.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Mentioned during this show:

+ Twitter mentions: Twitter mashups; Minnov8 account;

+ Julio’s upcoming book, “Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company”

+ Digsby; Nabbit (Minnov8 story and their Twitter account); ComicTwit; Yammer; OnePlace

+ The Twitter for Terrorists article we discussed

+ RACHEL ONLINE: In addition to the articles she pens for the Pioneer Press, here are just some of the areas in which she participates online: Political Animal blog; PolAnimal; MNVotes

+ JULIO ONLINE: Deeply involved in a variety of places online, here are a few: Twitter account; YourTech blog; TechTestDrive.

 

10 Startups to Present at MinneDemo

By

An estimated 300 Twin Cities tech-heads will gather for an evening of networking and to watch demos of ten of Minnesota’s hottest technology products on November 12, 2008.

MinneDemo brings together entrepreneurs, investors, software developers, designers, and other techies for a night of short demos and long conversations. Founded in 2006, this is the fifth MinneDemo event. It will be held at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S. in south Minneapolis (map). Pre-networking begins at 6:30 pm, and the demos start at 7:00.

The format of MinneDemo is similar to national conferences like DEMO. The rules are simple: seven minutes for each demo, only real/working software allowed, and NO POWERPOINT! However, MinneDemo is free, both for presenters and attendees. All costs for the event are paid for with sponsorship by local technology and services companies.

At November’s MinneDemo, the following companies will demo their products:

…  [Read More…]

Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge

By

The catastrophic cratering of the global economy, falling gas prices and President George W. Bush’s recent executive activities have indirectly prompted Saint Paul gadfly software developers CodeWeavers, Inc., to provide free software for every American on Oct. 28, company officials reluctantly announced today.

In July, CodeWeavers – whose software lets Mac OS X and Linux users run Windows programs without having to go to Microsoft for a Windows OS license – launched the Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge to encourage President Bush to make the most of his remaining days in office by accomplishing a major economic or political goal by January 20, 2009.

The goals focused on President Bush making specific positive accomplishments in areas such as the economy, home values, the stock market, the war on terror and other key issues. Specifically, one goal called for President Bush to help down bring average gasoline prices in the Twin Cities to $2.79 a gallon.

On Monday, Oct. 14, gas prices in Minneapolis and St. Paul did just that.

…  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 11

By

Regardless of your political views, citizen journalism, social media use in activism, and a massive shift in tools for creating video, audio and then self-publishing and distributing it, is fundamentally changing the way political opinions are shaped and one guy is at the epicenter of that trend in Minnesota.

Chuck Olsen is a cofounder of The UpTake, a non-profit dedicated to training and distributing the work of video-based citizen journalists. He is also the founder of Minnesota Stories (soon to relaunch), called one of the best videoblogs by the New York Times. He is the producer-director of “Blogumentary,” the first documentary film about the rise of political and personal blogs. His work has screened at the Walker Art Center, Get Reel Documentary Film Festival, Harvard University, and on renegade laptops all around the world. He is the Minneapolis correspondent for Rocketboom and works as a freelance producer, videographer, editor and educator.

Chuck’s personal blog, Blogumentary, is here.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Phil Wilson, Garrick Van Buren

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 44:08 — 25.7MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

Mentioned during this show are:

+ Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s (blog) article in the Pioneer Press that kickstarted Chuck’s notoriety

+ Technology and other links of stuff mentioned includes:

Comcast Delivers: From Broadband to Wideband

By

If you’re in need of faster broadband (and who isn’t!) then you need to know what Comcast is delivering starting today, although it may not be as wide open as you might hope.

Comcast announced it is making the leap from broadband to wideband with the launch of next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 in over 10 U.S. markets (including the Twin Cities) and doubling the speed of existing service for most customers.

This move is certain to help them stave off competition in some markets — mainly in the northeastern US covered by Verizon with their fiber service and 50mbps down, 20mbps up service — as well as position Comcast to deliver a host of new services.

As part of this new wideband deployment, Comcast will launch two new premium speed tiers to its residential and business class customers, Extreme 50 and Ultra.

…  [Read More…]

Minnesota Microblogging

By

Every day there seems to be an uptick in the number of people who are online and interested in connecting with friends, family, colleagues or others where even a digital relationship might end up as meaningful.

The continued growth of social networks is the strongest indicator of that trend, but the explosion of microblogging is another that bears watching, is worthy of your participation sooner-rather-than-later, as it’s already beginning to shift how early adopters in Minnesota are connecting with one another.

If you’re reading this blog post — whether directly on Minnov8, through an aggregated feed like the one at CentralStandardTech, or a publication we support with our content, MinnPost — you’re already familiar with blogging.

Though blogging is still one of the best ways to connect with people, inexpensively self-publish, create search engine friendly frequently updated content, or be a ‘container’ in which one can place value and position oneself as a a thought leader, good blogging requires significant time and effort in order to build and maintain an audience.

Microblogging, on the other hand, is a method to quickly publish small snippets of commentary or value — usually 140 characters or less that is somewhat like a persistent instant message, public in nature — and is therefore much easier to update when the mood strikes. Add to that the ability to make a brief comment and include a web link URL if so desired (so people can go out and read or view what you’re pointing them to on the Web) allows anyone publishing in this way to have their “followers” or audience quickly read that snippet, comment on it, forward it on, or let it stream by as other content appears from other followed microbloggers.

Minnesotans have embraced microblogging and its promise is that it will help to shift the way we all connect with one another, are alerted to items of interest, and even to collectively be engaged in running commentary like what has been exhibited during the various presidential or vice presidential debates where people were making real-time comments sent over Twitter….  [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 10

By

In our continuing quest to bring you Minnesota thought leaders on ‘net and web innovation, we invited none other than Pete Birkeland, CFO & Investment Manager with the angel network RAIN Source Capital, to be on this show to talk about funding and his perspectives.

RAIN Source Capital is a multi-state network of RAIN funds that works with angel investors who are interested in supporting growing companies.  RAIN Source® helps bring together like-minded angel investors to form individual RAIN funds – and then provides these funds with additional capital, a process for due diligence, legal templates, management support, access to deal flow and other resources.  RAIN funds share expertise, deals and experience between and among RAIN Source Capital’s multi-state network of RAIN funds, to support growing companies throughout the area.  RAIN funds range in size from seven to 61 members, who have pooled anywhere from $500,000 to $2 million.  RAIN Source Capital is based in St. Paul, MN.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Garrick Van Buren

m8-spacer

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 41:13 — 23.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

m8-spacer

In today’s show, a few things were mentioned:

+ Annual RAIN Conference

+ A couple of companies RAIN has funded: Ntractive and Flyspy

+ Angelsoft: The hosted software RAIN uses that’s geared for VC’s and angel investors

+ Recent VC moves with startups:

– Sequoia Capital’s meeting with their funded companies and the presentation. Good recap here.

– Paul Graham from YCombinator on Why to Startup in a Bad Economy

– Uncov’s funny post Paul Graham, Just Shut Your Face Already

+ Upcoming events: Richard Stallman at the UofMN (with a gathering at Bullwinkle’s saloon afterwards (map)); Social Media Breakfast on Oct 31st; Visi’s VISION 2008 Conference with keynote speaker, Robert Stephens head of Geek Squad.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast Update

By

Due to a shift in my travel schedule (and I’m the one with the audio gear and setup), I was forced to postpone our next Gang episode until next Saturday.

One of the keys to building an audience for any sort of show is consistency. If you know it’s posted on Saturday and you’re going out to cut the lawn and like to listen to it, then not having it appear in iTunes is a drag. I know…it’s happened to me several times when I’ve subscribed to a podcast series.

I apologize for the hiccup and we’ll back on track next week.

Court Paves Way for Publicly Owned Broadband

By

I’ve been following Blandin on Broadband and the Minnesota Ultra High Speed Task Force due to the fundamental importance of this type of infrastructure for our State, for you as an entrepreneur or one interested in innovation online, and any hope we have of being competitive in the future as the internet continues to become a key component of commerce, education and global collaboration.

This press release just arrived and I thought you’d appreciate seeing it in its entirety. This was a celebrated victory primarily due to the incumbent telephony company lobbying, legal and other efforts to keep broadband in private hands.

…  [Read More…]