Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 19

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m8_kmathenyOur kickoff podcast for 2009 is a discussion with guest Kevin Matheny, self-described “E-business Architect & Open API guy for Best Buy” and founder of the innovative Best Buy Remix Developer Network effort.

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

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:46 — 33.3MB)

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Our discussion surrounded a variety of topics:

– How did the idea to open up the Best Buy catalog come about? What is the vision for Remix?
– How does it fit with broader plans or strategies of the corporation?
– Can you talk about how you came to select Mashery as your API delivery partner?
– What about higher level tools to increase access to the Remix API?

As you may have heard, a guy by the name of Keith Burtis (based in Buffalo, NY) was just hired to be community manager of the Remix program and is running the Twitter presence. During this podcast, we discussed the role of the community manager, what Keith is doing, and why it matters.

Links:

+ Kallow.com

+ Blog:  http://remix.bestbuy.com/blog

+ Twitter:  http://twitter.com/bestbuyremix

+ Kevin’s article, Agile Software Development: Bridges to the Future in BusinessWeek.

+ Follow @kevinmatheny on Twitter here.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 18

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m8_09_predictYour Gang members talk about other people’s predictions, make a few of our own, and generally discuss possibilities and opportunities for next year.

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

On our “2009 Predictions” show we discuss:

+ A quick recap of the Social Media Breakfast yesterday

+ Then we move into a discussion of 2009 Social Media Predictions

+ End with a discussion of “general” 2009 Predictions

+ Say very little how incredibly wrong we’ll probably be, lucky to nail a few, and how we hope this mp3 vanishes into the ether so no one can say next December, “Hey! You guys were WAY off.”

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 54:31 — 31.5MB)

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Show notes:

+ Technology discussed: Identi.ca; NetVibes; Yahoo Pipes; Twitter API and the Twitter Fan Wiki, a directory of stuff built atop that API

+ “Containers”: Adobe AIR; Microsoft Silverlight; Site-Specific-Browser‘s (SSBs) like Prism and Fluid; Sproutbuilder; iWidgets; Gadgets;

+ Peter Kim’s Social Media Predictions for 2009 where he ‘crowdsources’ fourteen big thinkers in the social media space and gets them to predict

+ Optimism: “For Net consultant, a crisis, then a silver lining” Steve Borsch interviewed for CNet article.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 17

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Community strategy, management of the ecosystem and paying attention to social media conversations online is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s an imperative for doing business today, for brand management or for building your own personal brand.

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

Connie Bensen is a woman who is completely engaged in the social media world and has turned it into a thought leadership position as well as career. She’s not only connected with other social media leaders who are geographically disbursed around the globe, but she’s also involved representing social media analytics company Techrigy…and all from her home 4.5 hours north of the Twin Cities! Who said outstate Minnesota people aren’t connected and fully engaged in the 21st century communications revolution!

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05:42 — 38.2MB)

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Show notes:

+ Book Connie mentioned, “Personality Not Included”

+ Other links mentioned: Brian Brown’s Twitter account (from Ideapark); Graeme’s Twitter account; Fast Company article about “8 Experts Predict How Web 2.0 Will Evolve In 2009“; ComicTwit (and its Twitter account)

+ Connie has several key resources linked to from her home page here…definitely worth reading ’em!

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 16

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Social media and networking is pretty fragmented, and it’s important that Minnesota becomes fully invested in using all of it in an innovative way (e.g., Best Buy), and doing innovative startups like OnePlace (think Twitter in collaboration) and Enleiten (group GTD). Thankfully, we’re starting to see a bunch of new approaches that are allowing all of us to gather, consolidate and aggregate our social media and network participation, and keep track of all of these disparate channels of ‘conversation’ as well as all of the digital breadcrumbs we’re leaving all over the Web.

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

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 54:01 — 31.3MB)

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We’re blogging; doing vlogs; publishing photos in Flickr and sending messages on Twitter and Identi.ca; social bookmarking like Cullect and Delicious; on networks like Facebook and MySpace *and* joining specialty affinity groups like, for instance, SMBMSP.Ning.com.

Flock, the browser for Windows/Mac/Linux, came out to try to provide a one-stop-shop of all of our disparate, browser-based social media and networking participation. Friendfeed was the one of the first well accepted, Web-hosted one. Now there’s PeopleBrowsr. We’re also seeing inter-connections between social networks, blogs, social bookmarking and channels like Twitter: posting to a blog can appear in Facebook and be sent to Twitter; Twitter messages can be posted on Facebook; Cullect can capture feeds instantly.

Without a dozen tabs open in a browser — or using a tool like Fluid or Mozilla Prism to create a bunch of SSB’s (site specific browsers) or building a dashboard in iGoogle or NetVibes — none of us have enough time in the day to keep tabs on what everyone is doing, participating within all of these channels of communication, and ensuring we’re EVEN AWARE of them in order to participate in relevant and important conversations.

In this show, the Gang discusses where we are and some approaches to solving this chaotic (but fun) mess.

Minnov8 Gang Goofin’ Off

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Probably should’ve posted this yesterday, but if you’re wondering, “Hey! Where is this weekend’s Minnov8 Gang podcast?” we all decided to take this Thanksgiving weekend off and spend time with family and friends (with substantial time spent in the malls for those of us not cybershopping).

We’ll be back at it next Saturday after, of course, we all go shopping and contribute to our economic uptick (BTW, have you been using Best Buy’s Giftag Firefox add-on for collecting your wish list for this holiday season?).

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 15

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A lively discussion about social media tools, approaches, and a handful of insights about this hot area from the never-bashful-or-lacking-for-opinions Gang.

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

The term “social media” has many connotations depending upon whom you ask for an opinion or insight about what it covers, what it means, and exactly what sort of ‘media’ comprises it (e.g., blogging, social networking, social bookmarks, video sharing, et al).

We certainly don’t try to make this show a primer or any sort of comprehensive overview of the social media space, but we’re each in-the-game using several forms of it, advising clients and others on its use, and being surprisingly connected with most of the other thought leaders in social media nationally, so we’re exposed to quite a bit and cover alot of ground in this podcast.

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 52:33 — 30.5MB)

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Show notes:

+ Social Media Breakfast who brought in Jeff Pulver for this month’s meeting

+ Pistachio Consulting (Laura Fitton) who published “Enterprise Microsharing Tools Comparison” (PDF or view full screen here at Scribed)

+ Tools: TubeMogul; Ping.fm; OnePlace’ new “Twitter-like” feature addition; Delicious and Cullect; Tweetie for the iPhone (iTunes URL); Analytics: Collective Intellect; Radian6; Google Analytics add-ons like these hacks and tips and this Social Media Metrics Greasemonkey Plugin For Google Analytics

+ Mentions: Motrin Moms controversy; Tim O’Reilly‘s Twitter stream and, curiously, the fact that his archive page doesn’t save or reference his tweets; Google Friend Connect

+ Other: “A Chronology of Brands that Got Punk’d by Social Media” by Jeremiah Oywang and a “Groundswell” slideshow, with great info, here (and there are other ‘Related Slideshows’ worth viewing on this page.

+ The final report has been released and it’s very enlightening if you’re involved in social media in any way. “Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures” is a three-year collaborative project funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Carried out by researchers at the University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley, the digital youth project explores how kids use digital media in their everyday lives. (via Danah Boyd)

  • Two page summary (PDF)
  • White Paper – Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project (PDF)
  • Article here in The New York Times and many others.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 14

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We talk with Mike O’Connor from the MN Ultra High-Speed Task Force, a self-described community organizer, entrepreneur and tech-geek (blog here & bio here) turned business-leader (and, I might add, a gentlemen farmer turning his Wisconsin 420 acres back to its original pristine state).  Mike also became moderately famous in Minnesota as one of the people who popularized the Internet back in the mid-90’s and, in fact, started an ISP with his gang of cohorts in St. Paul called “Go-Fast.net” which he later sold.

Mike also has alot of experience in public policy matters having been with the St Paul Mayor’s Y2k Taskforce (chair), St Paul Mayor’s Education Taskforce (chair), Minnesota Legislative Coordinating Commission Working Group on Taxation of Telecommunications (member), St Paul Mayor’s High Tech Council (founding member), State of Minnesota Information Policy Council (member, Steering Committee), and the Lowertown Cyber Village Association (founding member).

Mike graduated from Grinnell College with a Bachelors Degree in Economics, and received an MBA from Cornell which, as you’ll hear on this show, clearly helps him have a solid perspective when it comes to funding, public policy and how broadband could act as a catalyst for innovation in our State.

We wanted to talk with Mike for those reasons and, most importantly, since he has gained a global perspective (e.g., he’s on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) Business Constituency group) but because he’s one of the Governor Pawlenty appointed members of the MN Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force.

Hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04:20 — 37.3MB)

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Links from this show:

+ Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Task Force

+ Mike’s UrbanUsers blog (he represents urban areas of Minnesota on the task force)

+ From our story about Daren Cotter who founded CotterWeb due, in no small part, to his access to broadband when attending Mankato State University and how it acted as a catalyst that sparked his entrepreneurial endeavor

+ Blandin Foundation‘s Broadband Initiative and this blog on it

+ Technology Information Education Services (TIES) provides technology and information resources to school administrators, educators and students and Dennis Fazio, now Director of Technology at TIES and formerly with the now defunct MR.Net (MN Regional Network and here’s a Wayback Machine MR.Net page from 1996)

+ Mentioned Internet2 (and here’s a PDF map of this network).

(Note: We had some trouble with the conferencing bridge today so, unfortunately, Mike’s audio is a bit choppy. I apologize for that — Steve).

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 13

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One of the most enjoyable venues for getting connected with the Minnesota tech community is at MinneDemo. Taking nothing away from previous startups who’ve showcased their wares, each event has learned what works and what doesn’t, and this event Wednesday, November 12th is going to be the best one yet!

Begun by Luke Francl, Ben Edwards, and Dan Grigsby, Luke and Ben have carried the effort forward and we were delighted to have Luke on the podcast to discuss the event and to go through the companies that will present in four days.

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.

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

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The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 41:13 — 24.0MB)

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Mentioned on the podcast:

Tickets are still available for Wednesday’s event. Register here.

 

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 12

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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

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The Podcast

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

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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.

 

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 11

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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

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The Podcast

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

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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: