News & Events — Page 18

Minnov8 Gang 71: At the Overnight Website Challenge

March 21, 2010 By Steve Borsch

Tim Elliott started a team for the Overnight Website Challenge called “Full Court Press” and the team members are comprised of folks in the Minneapolis/St. Paul WordPress Users Group. He and Phil Wilson hosted an on-site podcast this week by having a conversation with Mark, one of the Nerdery founders of the Challenge as well as with Brad Slaker, head of the non-profit DesignWise Medical, Inc. whose site Full Court Press is building out.

When it comes to websites and technology that can improve outreach and increase donations, many nonprofits are lagging far behind. Thus was born The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge.

Beginning the morning of March 20, 2010 and concluding the next day, The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge will again provide a fun forum to highlight creative ways for nonprofits to strategically use web technology to accomplish their missions.

Hosts: Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Steve Borsch is off today and Graeme Thickins is on his way to DEMO & will liveblog here)
Music by Dexter Freebish and their song, “Everybody Knows Somebody” from the SXSW Music Showcase.
Update: Apologies to Brad Slaker (sounds like laker) of DesignWise Medical for the name mispronunciation by an already punchy Phil Wilson.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 18:40 — 10.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

WCCO Launches ‘The Wire’. Connect Your Own Dots

March 18, 2010 By Steve Borsch

A screenshot of WCCO's The Wire zoomed in on the timeline

People in Twin Cities social media circles got a sneak peek at WCCO’s The Wire last October and its promise looked intriguing. We here at Minnov8 were particularly pleased to see John Daenzer and crew be so bold and embracing risk as it pertains to delivering news in an increasingly changing (and fragmented) media landscape. From what we can see, it looks like the experiment is off to a very strong start.

Here’s how it works: A WCCO reporter or staffer kicks off a story in the timeline. As the story unfolds, updates are done but where it gets interesting is this: We, formerly known as the audience but geared to be highly participative in today’s online world, are able to submit relevant perspective, information, and media we capture digitally and report on the story! In essence, you can connect the dots in your own way and quickly gain additional information and other people’s perspectives on a news story (and how I wished this had been available during the Minneapolis bridge collapse since so many people had multiple angles and photos of what was occurring).

WCCO's 'The Wire' FAQ page with a video fully explaining this new way of delivering the news

After my adventure attending the WCCO hosted Bloginar in October, Minnov8’s Phil Wilson reported on The Wire with this post, “WCCO Walks The Wire.” In it he interviewed Daenzer about the effort and there is a short screencast. At the bloginar, and in subsequent discussions, Daenzer has been quite clear that they see themselves as engaging the community for input and not trying to be the “ultimate brokers of all news”. If the way that WCCO leaders, reporters and staff have leapt into the social media space and how they’re using it daily is any indication of their sincerity with engagement of the community, The Wire is going to be a resounding success.

… [Read More…]

Google’s High-Fiber City: Why Not Duluth?

March 16, 2010 By Phil Wilson

I can see the signs now as I tool into to town on I-35…Welcome to Duluth, Now With More Fiber!

You may not know it but the clock is clicking down to Google’s deadline, March 26th, for nominations of cities interested in being their laboratory for an “ultra high-speed fiber network”. In fact, that clock can be found at the top of the page at GoogleTwinPorts.com, just one of the assets in Duluth’s well choreographed campaign to become a high-fiber community.

According to Google, the city chosen will be built out with a fiber network that will deliver “Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second” at a “competitive price”. And it will provide that network to anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 people in the chosen community. It’s all part of their plan “to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better, and faster for everyone”.

Oh sure, there have been more than a few cities that have made very public pushes to be chosen for this slice of web-surfing nirvana, but none have done it with quite as much panache as our own Duluth.

They have dedicated a website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube Channel to the cause. There’s a Fiber Business Idea award being offered, web badges, a coloring contest, a pledge to sign, Google Fest on March 20^th and there’s even a movie in the offing. (No details on the plot…hopefully a romantic comedy…there aren’t enough of those, ya know.)

Then there’s the celebrities…Hey Topeka, Kansas we’ll see your Mayor renaming the city to Google, KS for a month and raise you a State Senator.

The most recent addition of voices to the campaign is Minnesota State Senator Al Franken.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2i_piWVXuc&feature=player_embedded

The fact is that Mr. Franken, back in his days working with Tom Davis, was the “Duluth Answer Man” in a series of commercials for the city. Here’s a little known fact: Franken filmed these commercials just two years ago. Boy those Senate bids can age a guy. (OK, not a fact. He actually filmed them in the 80’s). In the video he even credits Google with freeing him from his duties as the Answer Man so that he could join the Senate.

Details of when Google will announce which city will be the recipient of all this fiber are still a bit sketchy. Their website only goes as far as saying “We plan to announce a target community or target communities this year.” When would the network be up and running once a community…no…once Duluth is chosen? Google gives no time frame.

Needless to say, though vague, the Google initiative is an exciting one. Hopefully, like the FCC Broadband Plan, it will yield a low cost way to bring a bigger pipe to all of the US…not just one city. Our collective digital future, with all its applications, opportunities and business ventures, really depends on it.

In the meantime, a city on the shores of Lake Superior can dream, as well as showcase it’s innovative community…and have a lot fun doing it.

Minnov8 Liveblog Archive

March 3, 2010 By Steve Borsch

Minnov8 liveblogs important events in Minnesota so that those unable to attend are still on top of important and key themes at these events. Below are links to three discrete pages of recent liveblog events by Minnov8:

Startup Visa Bill Introduced

February 25, 2010 By Mitchell Hislop

Early Wednesday morning, Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Richard Luger introduced the “Startup Visa Act”, aimed to change the EB-5 visa to allow immigrant entrepreneurs to obtain a visa, if there is funding from a sponsoring VC or angel. This should fuel job growth, as one of the requirements to get the visa is adding 5 jobs a year. The plan has garnered the support of over 100 VC’s and angels, and is now an official bill before the Senate.

It is very interesting to see the support that this bill is getting. In a time of healthcare, economy, recalls, and scandals, over 1200 messages were sent to 164 different congressmen from 33 different states about the StartupVisa bill.

What does this mean for the MN startup culture? For now, not much. The bill is fairly down on the docket, so it may be awhile until it gets voted on. However, with our state having a rich startup culture, several VC’s and angels, and a history as a destination for people looking to make a new home, I would not be surprised if we started seeing new faces on the scene once this gets passed.

You can get the full text of the bill HERE, and the website for the group/bill is HERE.

Comcast Rolls Out Bandwidth Metering in MN

February 17, 2010 By Steve Borsch

I just received this email and went to check my usage. Since it started today I’ve used none, but will see how much I use on a monthly basis especially since my household streams a lot of video, does online gaming, and heavily uses the ‘net. This is, of course, nothing but a precursor to Comcast gearing up to attempt to meter broadband and get you to pay more as their cable TV revenues inevitably downtrend:

Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Customer,

We are pleased to announce the pilot launch of the Comcast Usage Meter in your area. This new feature is available to Comcast High-Speed Internet customers and provides an easy way to check total monthly household high-speed Internet data usage at any time. Monthly data usage is the amount of data, such as images, movies, photos, videos, and other files that customers send, receive, download or upload each month. Comcast measures total data usage and does not monitor specific customer activities to determine data usage.

The current data usage allowance for the Comcast High-Speed Internet service is 250GB per month. This means that the vast majority of our customers – around 99% currently – will not come close to using 250GB of data in a month, and do not need to check the usage meter.

To view your current data usage, please visit http://customer.comcast.com and sign in to customerCentral (as shown at http://media2.comcast.net/anon.comcastonline2/support/Outbound_email/usage/cCentral-Login2.jpg).

After signing in, click on the “User & Settings” tab and click again on “View details” under “My devices”. The usage meter shows the current calendar month’s data usage for your account starting on the 1st of the month. Over time, you will be able to see the previous three months’ data usage as shown in the sample image at http://media2.comcast.net/anon.comcastonline2/support/Outbound_email/usage/Usage-Meter.jpg.

The usage meter is only available to Primary user accounts and Unrestricted Secondary user accounts with billing access.

If you would like to learn more about the usage meter and how it works, please visit http://networkmanagement.comcast.net/datausagemeter.htm for more information. Please visit our customer support forums at http://forums.comcast.net if you would like to ask us more questions or post comments. You can also visit http://www.comcastsupport.com/chat to chat with a customer service representative, or call 1-800-COMCAST for assistance.

Thank you for choosing Comcast!

This is a service-related email. Comcast will occasionally send you service-related emails to inform you of service upgrades or new benefits to your Comcast High-Speed Internet service.

Day-Long Conference Highlights Mobile’s March

February 11, 2010 By Tim Elliott

What organizers hope will be the first of an annual event dedicated to Mobile technology and it’s application, Mobile March is scheduled for March 27th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Minneapolis.

The two track conference will offer sessions that appeal to active software developers as well as mobile users including marketers, advertisers and enthusiasts. Attendees can choose a single track of learning and information or pick and choose from either track to maximize their experience.

According to event founder and organizer, Justin Grammens, “There are plenty of meetings focused on mobile development or mobile marketing and use. We wanted to bring the two groups together to better understand the overall mobile platform.” Grammens, President of mobile development firm Recursive Awesome and founder of Mobile Twin Cities noted, “We have assembled an agenda of mobile experts and users that will offer unique perspectives on the opportunities with the local, national and global mobile community.”

The agenda, available online at www.mobilemarchtc.com, includes technical sessions addressing the development of applications for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry mobile devices. These sessions will be presented by local developers Aaron Kardell, Robert Green and Shawn Butler respectively. The technical track also includes Beyond the Code: User Experience, Testing, and Support presented by Breon Nagy.

The non-technical mobile users track includes What Do They Want, providing results from a consumer study presented by Carlson Marketing’s Doug Rozen and On the Air and In the Papers, featuring a panel of representatives from local TV, Radio and Newspaper companies. Other sessions slated are Show Me the Money, discussing the future of mobile commerce with Farhan Muhammed, and Mobile Marketing: Watch That Step presented by a panel of marketers highlighting the process of initiating a mobile strategy.

Other agenda items including a keynote to start the day will be announced in the near future.

Registration is now open for Mobile March, Saturday July 27th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Downtown Minneapolis via the Mobile March website or directly through Eventbrite. The cost is $20 and includes lunch.

Minnov8 is pleased to be a sponsor of this event* and joins other event sponsors including: Verizon Wireless, Fusion Room, Best Buy, The Nerdery, Recursive Awesome, Focus Business Development, and RemainComm Media Strategies.

*Minnov8 contributor Phil Wilson is a Mobile March organizer and is the founder of sponsor RemainComm.

Event: Grow Your Own IT Business

February 10, 2010 By Steve Borsch

With I.T. spending beginning to accelerate nicely, now is the time to look seriously at an entrepreneurial adventure in this area. Bill Coleman from Community Technology Advisors reached out to me this morning about an upcoming event that Minnov8 readers would likely have an interest in attending. With support from the Dakota/Scott County Workforce Investment Board, Minnesota Workforce Center, Dakota Future and the Dakota Scott IT Entrepreneur LinkedIn group, it’s shaping up to be a solid session.

A panel of successful IT entrepreneurs will talk about their startup success and will include: Kelly Schaefbauer of Danbury IT, a 14 year old I.T. services firm; Mike McBrady of ImageTrend, a 120 employee software firm; and Michelle Jennings of Netmajic, a web asset development shop; all people with solid companies and a wealth of experiences.

It will be held Thursday, February 18th from 4-6 pm at Old Chicago Pizza (map) in Apple Valley. Cost is $10 (appetizers are provided). If you’re interested, RSVP/register by contacting Cindy Johns (email).

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