Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Best Buy Announces Movies & TV Online

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With the acceleration of online movie and TV show distribution from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Apple along with on-demand access from cable company services, it was inevitable that Best Buy would get in to this online distribution business.

Best Buy Co. Inc today announced the availability of its new digital video service CinemaNow which will provide customers same-day instant access to new release movies and TV shows.

This month the service will be available on the CinemaNow website, but also with internet connected BluRay players. Netflix has been delivered on these devices (as well as the Roku box, internet connected HDTVs and more) but Best Buy is in a highly unique position with consumer electronic manufacturers.

Add to that their ability to explain to consumers how to use the service, Geek Squad ‘officers’ to set it all up in the home, and the potential to begin to reallocate the sheer square footage devoted to merchandising TVs and movies on DVD/BluRay discs.and you can see why this is of such strategic importance to Best Buy.

The full press release is after the jump. …  [Read More…]

Web Innovation Is Everywhere in Minnesota – Even In an Ice Cream Shop!

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A small retailer in St. Paul that’s obsessed with serving its customers has introduced an innovative new convenience for them that would shame even the largest retail giant — and it’s been no less than a year in the making.  Izzy’s Ice Cream in St. Paul today announced a service that delivers real-time updates to its loyal customers about ice cream flavors currently being served in-store via its web site, Facebook and Twitter pages, and email updates.

It’s called “Izzy’s Flavor Up!” and it essentially allows customers to subscribe to their favorite ice cream flavors. Current flavors are updated every three minutes on its “flavor grid” web page.

With web site design and technology assistance from Bloomington MN-based The Nerdery (aka Sierra Bravo), Rogers MN-based RFID firm AbeTech, and CA-based tech vendor Phoenix Technologies, Izzy’s Ice Cream is now tagging all its 90+ flavors of ice cream in-store with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.  Each flavor’s tub is tagged with a unique code that’s automatically scanned when placed in the dipping cabinet.

What it means for an ice cream lover is nothing less than nirvana. Customers can now know, with absolute certainty anytime around the clock, which flavors are available in-store. When new flavors are removed from or added to the dipping cabinet, Izzy’s web site, Facebook and Twitter pages will automatically be updated, alerting fans to the latest changes. Customers can sign up for email alerts for their favorite flavors – so they’ll always know when their favorite Hot Brown Sugar, Soy Peanut Butter, or Peace Coffee ice cream is available. My buddy Al Maruggi told me today that Izzy’s has the best coconut ice cream in the Twin Cities, too, as he licked a sample thereof.

We also learned that SMS or text updates are on the way, if you’d rather get your alerts that way.  In-store customers can see the technology in action via a large-screen monitor that shows which flavors are now being scooped.

“Our customers are extremely passionate about their favorite flavors of Izzy’s ice cream,” said Jeff Sommers, Izzy’s owner, in a statement. “Their enthusiasm, while motivating me to continue creating delicious flavors, can also prove to be a customer service issue. Before today, our customers had no way of knowing if their favorite flavors were going to be available when they walked through the door.  This system solves that problem and makes it easier for our customers to enjoy their favorite flavors.”  The title of a video that Izzy’s crack PR firm put up on YouTube says it all: “How to Subscribe to Ice Cream.”

The nameplates for each flavor in the store have RFID chips built in, which are then read by antennae anchored in the dipping cabinet. The inventory is automatically updated simply through the act of an employee changing flavors in the dipping cabinet. That act triggers an inventory update, which in turn publishes the current flavors to multiple channels: the in-store screen, Izzy’s website, its Twitter and Facebook pages, and it’s automated emails to subscribers of individual flavors.

Izzy’s isn’t just a retail business. It has a catering business as well, and a wholesale business that has signed up several upscale grocery stores and restaurants throughout the Twin Cities that now offer its products — Kowalski’s, just to name one chain.

Regarding its latest new wrinkle, “This is undoubtedly one of the first uses of RFID as a customer service application,” said the company’s statement.  Izzy’s has a history of embracing new technology, having installed solar panels in 2005.  Owner Jeff Sommers also showed attendees at his media briefing today an innovative new cleaning system he has implemented in Izzy’s kitchen called “Zap Water,” which is an amazingly more environmentally friendly way to maintain a germ-free, allergen-free environment.

Izzy’s gets my vote as a true Minnesota innovator!  Now, excuse me, I’m jumping onto their web site to check if my favorite flavor is still available tonight….

Minnesota’s MOJO

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Minnesota’s innovators require many resources to be successful and a new entity, MOJO Minnesota, has been formed to thwart what the founders see as “an innovation crisis in Minnesota” and since “entrepreneurial advances and business revolutions thrive in a culture and community of risk and innovation.”

The catalysts for MOJO Minnesota read like a “Who’s Who” of successful entrepreneurs, innovators, investors and intellectual property experts such as: Brad Lehrman; Ernest Grumbles; Kim Garretson; Mary Meehan; Tim Bachman; Rick Brimacomb; Andy Halper; Joy Lindsay; Damien Novak and Marti Nyman.

As they so engagingly point out, “Minnesota has amazing creative, technical and financial capital – yet new business launches and exits are scarce agitation is needed to – promote a culture of risk – and to – support innovation on the path from launch to exit the need for leaders Minnesota needs business revolutionaries to:

  • boost emerging business and technology models
  • spark the innovation community; and
  • promote use of risk capital
  • the path to mojo – a movement.”

The Minnov8 team met with the founders Wednesday to talk about their vision and what’s next. Here’s a snippet of that conversation where Phil Wilson asks Brad and Ernest for an overview of MOJO MN:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_fn8H6-R74

MinneSpark Has $1,000 (Potentially) For You

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MinneSpark is an initiative from the team that brings you MinneDemo and MinneBar

What could you do with $1,000 for your best idea? Could you turn it into a scalable business? Let’s find out!

MinneSpark will award 1 to n grants of $1,000 to Minnesota-based teams who demonstrate to their trustees the ability to take that money and turn it into something real. This is about doing more with less, and building a profitable business from day one.

Winners will get some help along the way in the form of mentoring from the trustees and services from sponsors.

Applications are due by April 30, 2010. Winner(s) will be announced at MinneBar on May 22, 2010. Find the FAQ, application and more here.

24 Hours, a New Site and Real Fun.

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Some 36 hours after the conclusion of the event and after about 11 hours of sleep I am still amazed by the experience that is the Overnight Website Challenge.

In case you missed it, I joined fellow Minnov8er Tim Elliott’s Team, dubbed Full Court Press as a bond to the WordPress platform we used, for the 3rd annual Nerdery sponsored event. This unique gathering pairs 10 person teams of web site professionals with deserving non-profit organizations. Those non-profits, some who have no web presence, receive brand new websites valued at well over $25,000 at the end of the 24 hour period. (Check out the Minnov8 podcast that originated from the Challenge.)

You couldn’t help but be taken by the dedication of these web pros. It’s not easy to spend a relatively short period of time with a “client”, then accelerate the design and creation of a website that accomplishes the goals of the non-profit…much less spending part of it in a sleep deprived state.

This being the third year of the event the folks at The Nerdery do a great job providing what teams need including entertainment and food. The carnival-like atmosphere is definitely not what you would expect from a bunch of web site developers. From human pyramids and massages to oxygen bars and ice cream the 24 hour period was anything but sedate….  [Read More…]

WCCO Launches ‘The Wire’. Connect Your Own Dots

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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?

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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 20th 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.

Why the FCC Broadband Plan Matters

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On Tuesday the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is delivering their Broadband Plan to Congress. Most of us in the tech community are anticipating the plan and are eager to read it in its entirety when released.

Within this plan, the FCC has the unenviable task of encapsulating the complexities of the markets, technologies, other country’s use of broadband as a competitive advantage, possible use-cases for broadband (e.g., telemedicine, distance learning), demand for rural use (a market segment seen as horrifically expensive to build-out with wired broadband) and determine the possibilities for broadband in total, whether wired or wireless. Ensuring the public good, and that the internet remains a conduit for innovation and entreprenurialism, is a vital part of their mission.

In conferences I’ve been to, discussions I’ve had with broadband experts, and interviews I’ve held with internet-centric startups and entrepreneurs, all are adamant that nothing is more important to internet innovation and entrepreneurialism than ubiquitous and fast broadband (except for startup funding, of course).

But moving from a Plan to Congressional action in the way of law is another matter entirely. …  [Read More…]

Dan Mallin Presents MN Science & Tech Committee Findings

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Pretty sobering assessment of our state and the future of innovation here….we might not have one if we don’t get moving in a positive direction!

Minnesota faces a crisis of competitiveness in attracting high-tech industries, and needs a comprehensive science and technology initiative to remedy the problem. A 16 member committee of experts from the public, academic and private sectors have been assembled to assess the challenge and make recommendations to the legislature, and on February 16th, Co-Chairman Dan Mallin (@danmallin, partner in Magnet360 and co-founder of the Minnesota Cup) presented the findings of the committee to the state legislature.

The full report is available on the DEED (Department of Employment and Economic Development) website here. Watch these videos in two parts and listen to the end for the recommendations the committee makes around incentives for investors to accelerate funding for startups and growth of companies in Minnesota:

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxQ_-dLcKFg

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DDzQJXW6Kw