News & Events — Page 19

Minnesota Apple Watchers React to Steve Jobs’ Rant

January 31, 2010 By Graeme Thickins

So, if you haven’t seen the news Wired broke late Saturday (updated Sunday afternoon) about Steve Jobs going off on Google and Adobe at the Apple all-employee meeting, here it is: Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra is ‘Bullshit,’ Adobe Is Lazy: Apple’s Steve Jobs.

Here’s an excerpt:

“After a big public announcement of the sort Apple had this week for the iPad, CEO Steve Jobs often takes time in the day or two afterwards to have a Town Hall at One Infinite Loop, making himself available for questions from employees bold enough to stand up and take one right between the eyes.

This time, the big topics included Google and Adobe — no surprises there… And the absence of Adobe Flash support on the iPhone for three years and counting, and now on the iPad, is either celebrated by users as a poke in the eye of one of the web’s most dextrous tools, or the most over-rated and overused crutch for decent design.

Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press.

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.

About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.”

I decided to ask three local observers with a special perspective on Apple for their reaction. Two of them are former Apple employees, the other a 26-year user of both Apple and Adobe technologies. … [Read More…]

Startup Roundtable to Convene, Huzzah!

January 27, 2010 By Phil Wilson

Thomas Knoll is gathering the Knights of Tech Entrepreneurship for a meeting at the MN Startup Culture Roundtable, scheduled for February 5th.

Thomas, currently residing in the sunny climes of San Francisco, is familiar to most in the Minnesota tech and social media world through his time working as a web designer here. He made the move west in 2008 to work with Seesmic and has since since gone freelance, working with the likes of Swordfish.

Though this would appear to be a result of the recent discussion surrounding Paul DeBettignies’ article on less talk and more walk when it comes to our own start up community, it had it roots well before it. “I was motivated by the startup atmosphere in San Francisco and wanted to get more of that vibe back to Minnesota.” He goes on to note, “There are so many people that are working on startups here. In fact, I know two baristas that have real, viable projects going on the side.”

The timing isn’t lost on Thomas. “I originally wanted to talk culture but it morphed into a call to action in response to the current local startup discussions. Paul outlined what he would do to help and I felt I should to the same.”

The roundtable discussions will highlight the differences between here and ‘the valley’. What type of differences for example? “Here we are so secretive. We keep everything quiet, rather than share it with the community. In San Francisco you are constantly putting out ideas. So many that you hope someone will pick it up and run.”

If you plan on attending the event there is some homework. Follow the links on the Eventbrite registration page to become familiar with the discussion so far and most importantly the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach Thomas is planning on including to move ideas into action.

Let the discussion…and action continue!

Minnov8 Interviewed at MIMA Summit ’09 by SocialWendy

October 23, 2009 By Steve Borsch

The Gage Group had a video shooting area at the MIMA Summit ’09 and these interviews were being done by Wendy Meadley (@socialwendy). Wendy grabbed three of the four Minnov8 Gang to get us on camera and recap the event from our perspective.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Was Unsummit Perfect?

October 15, 2009 By Phil Wilson

From the comments in our usual post event video, you would have to believe that the recent Unsummit was an example of pure perfection in conference land. In reality, there very well may be some issues that founder Don Ball and organizers Mykl Roventine and Meg Canada should address…but damned if I know what they are.

unsummit3_logo OK, there is one comment I heard; “It’s not really an unconference.” True, the ‘un’ in ‘unconference’ might denote that there is no set agenda, that the space is provided and the topics are decided upon by those who show up. This style of meeting has spawned many a BarCamp like event, our own Minnebar to comes to mind.

However, as it pertains to UnSummit, the ‘un’ is a hold over from the inaugural event last year. Don Ball, not able to secure a ticket to the always popular MIMA Summit, decided to host a gathering of those interested in Interactive and Marketing who, like him, either couldn’t get a ticket or didn’t want to pay the relatively spendy ticket price. Hence, being held at the very same, the UnSummit was born.

It should be noted that, at it’s even loftier price, MIMA attracted 1000 folks to it’s recent 2009 Summit…and despite a few exceptions was well worth the price. It should also be noted that what little competition between the MIMA Summit and the UnSummit that might have existed in the very beginning, or perception of such, has long since disappeared. At least it should have. So while the UnSummit does borrow from the unconference concept in it’s presentation, it is really ‘un’ in name only.

OK, so next time perhaps there can be a few more open times and rooms to build some sessions on the fly.

No matter the format, the UnSummit was about bringing together close to 200 hundred interactive enthusiasts on a Saturday to learn from each other and discuss the future of the interactive and online world in a relaxed environment. From my standpoint, at the end of that day, that’s what everyone walked away with. But don’t just take my word for it…

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYb6ZJIn-Uo

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 54: Live from #UnSummit ’09

October 10, 2009 By Steve Borsch

M8_Gang_Unsummit

The Minnov8 Gang was delighted to report on, and be a part of, the UnSummit ’09 unconference, held today at the incredible facility at the Hennepin County Central Library in downtown Minneapolis. Hats off to Meg Canada, Don Ball and Mykl Roventine — as well as all of the sponsors — who made it such a great event. We did some light liveblogging which you can see on this page.

We were pleased to have a slot to record our first live version of the Minnov8 Gang podcast. Hosts today were Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is up north searching for colder weather, we presume).