Internet & Web

Minnesota is #1 for Internet Usage

November 17, 2016 By Steve Borsch

Our friend over at Blandin on Broadband, Ann Treacy, had this post about Minnesota ranking #1 in internet usage:

Entrepreneur Magazine just called out Minnesota as the state with the highest rate of Internet usage…

According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, you won’t find the most connected people on the coasts, or deep in the heart of Texas, but largely in the Midwest. Just under three-quarters of U.S. households were online in 2015. But the most connected state isn’t located on one of the coasts — it’s in the heart of the Midwest…

In 2015, 83.1 percent of Minnesotans, or 4,307,850 households, used the internet. In 1998, 1,889,017 (then 41.5 percent) households were online.

It’s great to see Minnesota rank highly! However before we drink too much champagne, there are a couple of caveats – they are talking about Internet usage, not necessarily broadband. And they are talking about use anywhere (library, work, coffee shop, school), not necessarily home. We come in third for home access with 76.2 percent, which is good but still Internet access – not necessarily broadband.

We agree with Ann that it’s good to see Minnesota ranked so highly but our broadband is still lacking state-wide. Read more from Ann and follow Blandin on Broadband.

Akamai’s State of the Internet for Q1, 2015

June 29, 2015 By Steve Borsch

Akamai just released their 8th annual report on the state of the internet for the first quarter of 2015:

Over the course of the last seven years, since the report was first published, the World Wide Web and the Internet have grown and evolved in significant ways. The number of Internet users has more than doubled to an estimated 3.2 billion in 2015, and while Cisco noted that the number of Internet-connected devices first outnumbered the human population in 2008, it now predicts that there will be three networked devices per capita by 2019, up from nearly two networked devices per capita in 2014. From rudimentary Internet-connected smartphones in 2008 to sensors in nearly any imaginable device in 2015, the so-called Internet of Things will continue to drive massive increases in Internet usage.

View this page on Akamai’s site with an executive summary, key figures from the report, various global regions as infographics (the one for the America’s is below) or download the full report: Akamai_State-of-the-Internet-Q1_2015 (PDF)

Steve’s Security Tip of the Week – Use Extreme Caution With Your Debit Card

December 20, 2013 By Steve Borsch

On December 13, 2013 the security researcher, Brian Krebs, broke a story on his blog which turned in to an admission by Target that they had experienced a 40 million credit and debit card security breach which occurred from Black Friday through December 15th.

(Update from Krebs 12/20/13: Cards Stolen in Target Breach Flood Underground Markets)

In a KARE11/USA Today article released just after lunch today, apparently there is “no indication” that debit card personal information numbers (PIN) were part of the breach:

Stolen information from some 40 million credit and debit cards used in its stores from Black Friday through Dec. 15 included names, credit or debit card numbers, card expiration dates and the CVV data on the magnetic stripe on cards, the retailer said.

Target spokesman Eric Hausman confirmed, however, it has “no indication that debit card PINs were impacted.”

Target’s own credit card data, REDcard, was breached but so were all bank credit or debit cards used by shoppers. The big red flag for my family and me in early news reports was the realization that we almost exclusively use debit cards for our retail purchases. Though ours are backed by Visa and Wells Fargo policies (which dramatically limit our exposure) as you’ll see the personal risk and liability for using a debit card over a credit card is MUCH higher!

Though little is known about the exact nature of the Target breach as I write this post, Target’s statement about there being “no indication” that PIN numbers weren’t breached is weak assurance that we Target-shopper’s debit card PIN numbers were not stolen. Some commentary I’ve read suspect code was inserted in to the Target network and the crooks were able to intercept the data on the magnetic strip when shoppers used their cards at a Target point-of-sale (POS) terminal. Capturing this information would then enable crooks to place that data on a counterfeit card ~~or use it for online shopping~~ (Update: As Krebs points out in the last paragraph of his updated post, there are two CVV numbers: one on the magnetic strip and one printed on the back of the card itself. Online retailers use the “CVV2” printed number to verify that you are, in fact, most likely holding the card in your hand. Target has confirmed that the CVV1′s were stolen but the CVV2s were not).

“No indication” of a PIN breach or not, the big problem for we debit card users is that our PIN numbers could have been intercepted from that same POS terminal thus enabling thieves to use it for direct purchases or even ATM withdrawals, according to Krebs:

The type of data stolen — also known as “track data” — allows crooks to create counterfeit cards by encoding the information onto any card with a magnetic stripe. If the thieves also were able to intercept PIN data for debit transactions, they would theoretically be able to reproduce stolen debit cards and use them to withdraw cash from ATMs.

ABOUT DEBIT CARDS
Most of us know that it is simple to report fraud on a credit card, have your card reissued, and at most we’re at risk for $50 if we report it within 60 days. What most people do NOT know is that using a debit card could cause your bank account to be drained and end up with you needing to fight, potentially for months, to get your money returned in to your account.

Did you also know there are two types of debit cards? I didn’t and it turns out our debit cards from Wells Fargo can be used as either a credit or debit card (i.e., used with or without a PIN).

In February of this year ABC News had a good article on Why Using Debit Cards Can Be Dangerous which had these two key paragraphs that detailed the difference (my emphasis):

Unbeknownst to most people there are actually two different types of debit cards, deferred and direct. The deferred card – or signature-based – is similar to a credit card minus the credit. This card requires you to sign for the purchase and then the money will be debited from your checking account within two to three days. A direct – or PIN-based – debit card requires that you punch in your PIN number every time you buy something and the money is immediately withdrawn from your account.

When the consumer uses their personal identification number to make a purchase, the retailer usually pays a flat fee to the bank. However, when the purchaser opts to use their debit card as a credit card, which typically requires a signature, the retailer generally has to pay a percentage fee based on the amount of your purchase. Therefore, it is becoming more common for the retailers to encourage PIN-based transactions, and several are no longer accepting debit card purchases that require a signature at all.

Retailers pay billions in fees to credit card companies that back debit cards so they have a huge incentive to get us to use the direct (PIN-based) method at the register.

I stopped and thought about my own family’s debit card use and that many retailers we frequent do ask for a PIN to be entered in the terminal. Sometimes it is obvious how you can bypass this (so the retailer pays that fee and our PIN isn’t exposed), but sometimes it is not. Frankly I never paid much attention to it since I shop at reputable retailers (like, um, Target?) but I will in the future.

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF
Should you just cut up your debit card and exclusively use a credit card going forward? Probably if you consider this example of what happens if your debit card is breached and used fraudulently. An implied warning was laid out well in this BankRate.com article about why using a debit card is fraught with peril and risk (my emphasis):

Debit cards are different. Debit cards may look identical to credit cards, but there’s one key difference. With credit cards, users who spot fraudulent charges on their bill can simply decline the charges and not pay the bill. On the other hand, debit cards draw money directly from your checking account, rather than from an intermediary such as a credit card company.

Because of that, even clear-cut cases of fraud where victims are protected from liability by consumer protection laws can cause significant hardship, says Frank Abagnale, a secure-document consultant in Washington, D.C.

He cites the example of the The TJX Companies Inc.’s T.J. Maxx data breach that exposed the payment information of thousands of customers in 2007. The incident resulted in $150 million in fraud losses, and much of it was pulled directly from customers’ bank accounts. While credit card users got their accounts straightened out and new cards in the mail within a few days, the case created major problems for debit card holders who waited an average of two to three months to get reimbursed, Abagnale says.

If you are going to use, or have to use, a debit card, BankRate also provided four transaction points where you should use extreme caution (or never, ever use) a debit card. NOTE: I added #5 since we travel frequently on business and #6 because of my own personal investigation with our bank:

1) Independent ATMs – You run the risk of skimmers. While skimmers can be found on bank ATMs, they’re less likely because there are often security cameras in place.

2) Pay at the pump – Skimmers aren’t the only danger to your wallet. The gas station will put a big hold on your account that could cause your checks to bounce. If you must pay with debit at gas station, go inside and pay at the cashier.

3) When you’re buying online – Credit card is a much better option. If you don’t get your merchandise, you can do a chargeback during a 60-day window. Debit card amounts are immediately withdrawn from your account and you have to fight the merchant (and quite often your bank) to get your money back.

If it is a small or unknown merchant (e.g., on eBay or an Amazon affiliated merchant) good luck getting reimbursed. If someone has fraudulently used your credit card, you (or your credit card company) are likely to spot it before you get the statement. That means you are never out the money. You dispute the charge, subtract the disputed amount from your bill and let the credit card issuer worry about it. With a debit card, the stolen money may have already left your account. That means you have to dicker with your bank to get reimbursed. Some banks are quick and helpful in resolving these disputes. Others? Not so much.

4) At a restaurant – Because there is such high turnover of wait staff at restaurants, you don’t want a dishonest employee to get hold of your debit card or, hopefully, not run it through a pocket-sized credit card data skimmer (which stores your track data which can subsequently be used to counterfeit your card).

5) When traveling – Consider very seriously never using your debit card while traveling and specifically for booking and paying for your hotel or rental car. When using a debit card hotels and rental car companies place a “hold” on money in your account to ensure that you have sufficient funds to pay your bill when you check out. This held amount can typically be for double the amount of your stay (in case you stay longer or raid the minibar at the hotel) or some arbitrary amount in the thousands of dollars in the case of a rental car company (in case you damage the vehicle). Add to that the unknown number of merchants with which you will interact while traveling (and this varies by country, of course) and your risk could rise exponentially.

6) Discover your bank’s debit card policies – One would think our bank, Wells Fargo (which is the 4th largest in the U.S.) would clearly spell out their debit card policies and how they protect us, right? Nope. It was startlingly obtuse and caused me to dig around alot…and I still didn’t get all my questions answered.

Calling Wells Fargo customer debit card support on Friday morning to replace my wife and my debit cards (just in case they were breached at Target) was a lengthy but easy process, the hard part was trying to find out what our bank’s policy was about when fraud should be reported. Some online articles say things like “most banks want you to report within two days” and others say “within 60 days“. Does prompt mean two days? 30 days? 60 days?

Logging in to our Wells Fargo account I was partially relieved to discover that, even though the bank still doesn’t define “promptly”, it does have some good information about how we are protected:

Your Wells Fargo Debit Card comes with Zero Liability protection at no extra cost:

+ You won’t be liable for promptly reported unauthorized purchases or ATM transactions.

+ 24/7 monitoring: we help prevent unauthorized transactions by regularly reviewing your accounts for unusual activity.

+ Expert help is just a phone call away if your financial information is compromised or stolen. We’ll provide the information and assistance to help you get your account back on track.

+ Get real-time access to all transactions and balances to stay informed of all account activity. Your account information will not be shared with non-affiliated third-party marketers without your consent.

+ Alerts: When you sign up for ATM/debit card alerts, it’s easy to stay informed about unusual activity on your Wells Fargo card. You can set up alerts for any of the following types of activity that may occur:Your purchase or ATM withdrawal is made from an international location.

– Your card is used to make a purchase over the internet, by phone, or by mail order.
– Your purchases exceed an amount designated by you.
– Your daily ATM withdrawals exceed an amount designated by you.

What does your debit card issuing bank offer? I would heartily recommend that, if you have a debit card and use it, you find out what your bank does for you if it is lost, stolen or its data compromised and the card used fraudently. Also find out if they offer alerts like Wells Fargo does (which I’ve now set up on all cards) since it can quickly notify you of any aberrations with your debit card usage.

WILL THERE SOON BE HIGHER FEES FOR USING A DEBIT CARD?
Here is one last data point for your consideration about whether or not to consider using a debit card as you shop going forward: debit cards carry higher risks for everyone so fees are likely to go up.

In the 2013 LexisNexis® True Cost of Fraud Study (PDF) it is pretty clear to me that we shoppers using debit cards simply cost retailers and financial institutions too much money (my emphasis):

Nearly all of the FI interviewed (financial institution executives surveyed) report that credit and debit cards continue to represent both the highest volume of fraud among their product lines and their greatest area of exposure. Some attributed 30%-40% of their overall fraud losses to fraud associated with their credit card and debit card products. Among the types of issues that they are experiencing at the POS, skimming and counterfeit cards continue to be a major problem. Card-Not-Present fraud is on the rise, and as consumers continue to use online and mobile retail channels, issuers are faced with potential for growing fraud exposure.

Visa’s™ April 19th, 2013 chargeback rule change is negatively impacting the success rates of chargebacks among some issuers. By only requiring that merchants provide evidence that the card in question was presented to the cashier, issuers are losing what may have previously been successful chargebacks. They are experiencing a rise in debit card charge backs, particularly through online channels, with charge back recovery rates of about 70% to 85% for most card products. However, many issuers reported lower success rates with debit cards compared to that of credit cards.

Bottom line? We debit card-using shoppers cost retailers more if we don’t use our PIN numbers, fraud perpetrated with debit cards (and disputed charges causing chargebacks) are higher and that costs card-issuers more, and that the card-issuing companies are less successful recovering incorrectly disputed chargebacks so that costs them more too. The only likely outcome of this is higher fees for using debit cards.

Good luck and happy shopping!

FURTHER READING

What If We Stop Trusting The Internet?

October 11, 2013 By Steve Borsch

What if the generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) on the internet—like the ones we know and love like .com, .org, .net and so forth—collided with ones used by internal network names?

What if there were so many generic TLDs—so far there are 1,200 on the list with nearly 2,000 applicants—that your customers literally didn’t know what the hell to type in after the “.” when going to your website?

Mike O’Connor

The push to add hundreds of gTLDs to the internet domain name space was an issue I had thought I understood. But it wasn’t until attending a talk by entrepreneur and smart guy Mike O’Connor last evening at U of MN’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, that I began to understand the depth and breadth of the problem. The scope of the monetary incentives for the organization that runs the domain name system: ICANN, the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers, is breathtaking too.

After Mike’s experiences co-founding the St. Paul internet service provider GoFast.net (PDF of an 1999 article on GoFast is here) and later running the Y2K program for the City of St. Paul staving off digital armageddon at the turn of the century. Then he became even more involved in various community adventures like when he was appointed by the governor to be on the Minnesota Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force.

THE OPPORTUNITY
Turns out the push to add all of these gTLDs is pretty darn lucrative for ICANN. To sponsor a new gTLD isn’t cheap: the initial cost is $185,000 and the ongoing cost is $30,000 per year. Mike also surmised aloud that the fully burdened cost of sponsoring a new gTLD was closer to $500,000 and that was before promotion or marketing of it to drive awareness!

ICANN, a non-profit corporation, is poised to generate several hundred million dollars from adding all of these new gTLDs. Registrees and registrars (along with speculators) also stand to profit from the huge influx of new TLDs in the domain name system.

Of course, one could argue that new gTLDs also open up domain naming possibilities for the rest of us so we can stop dropping vowels in our names (e.g., Flickr; Tumblr, Socializr, etc.) and get exactly what we want.

But there is a looming problem that stands to change our level of trust when it comes to the internet.

THE PROBLEM
Mike laid out the problem in his talk and there is a lot more detail in this blog post. In essence the problem is:

The new TLDs may unexpectedly cause traffic that you’re expecting to go to your trusted internal networks (or your customer’s networks) to suddenly start being routed to an untrusted external network, one that you didn’t anticipate. Donald Rumsfeld might call those external networks “unknown unknowns” — something untrusted that you don’t know about in advance. The singular goal of this post is to let you know about this possibility in advance. Here’s the key message:

If you have private networks that use TLDs on this list, best start planning for a future when those names (and any internal certificates using those names) are going to stop working right.

You might think, “Ahh…that doesn’t really affect my company or me” but imagine you work for a corporation and are in a coffee shop . You open your laptop and launch your mail program. It tries to connect to your internal network to retrieve your email BUT YOU FORGOT to launch your VPN first. Oops.

Since the way seeking works when you have an internet connection, your laptop now attempts to find your company’s internal mail server on the wider internet. Since a new gTLD proposed is the same as internal as an internal name, it would be trivial for bad guys to spoof your program and you’d end up on an untrusted source on the wider internet. Here is part of a diagram Mike showed last evening that will give you a sense of some of the conflicts that are certain to arise:

Mike is not alone in his concern. This article at the Domain Industry Journal said in part:

“…the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), who represents dozens of well-known global brands including AT&T, eBay, IBM, Intel and Microsoft, to name just a few (see the full membership list here), blasted ICANN over “woefully inadequate” preparations for the impending roll out of new gTLDs.“

Add to that the simple confusion by consumers on what TLD to use. Many of our readers have “.net”, “.mn”, “.name” and other TLDs and often are frustrated because everyone puts in “.com” as a reflex. Imagine trying to remember one of literally hundreds of gTLDs like “.inc” or “.bank” or “.cloud” and so on. It’s a marketing budget nightmare and a scammers dream.

Add another issue: the inadvertent searching on a string in your web browser bar where you forgot to leave a space (e.g., “best company on the market in routers.Cisco is the best?” brings up a “routers.cisco” webpage instead of a page of Google or Bing results.

The comment period is over at ICANN so we’re along for the ride as users, developers, service providers or just interested observers. But if you are someone who manages or runs a private network with any potentially conflicting namespaces, take Mike’s advice: start planning now.

To learn more about the controversy and concerns, here are a few links:

Comcast Partnering with CoCo for 1Gbps Fiber

October 10, 2013 By Steve Borsch

Good news for anyone already (or planning to be) a co-working person or company at CoCoMSP‘s Minneapolis Grain Exchange location or at its new Uptown facility: Comcast is providing dedicated one-gigabit fiber network connectivity to CoCo’s growing entrepreneurial community.

More in the good news department too: This 1GB fiber connection is symmetrical (same speeds upload and download) but there is no word yet on whether or not Comcast Business terms of service allow, or disallow, hanging a server off of this connection!

Since bandwidth is so incredibly important this is a good move by Comcast and a smart partnership by CoCo.

Here is the press release:

CoCo Minneapolis and Comcast Business Announce
Partnership to Provide Startups and Entrepreneurs
1 Gigabit Ethernet Connection

High-Performance Ethernet Services Enable CoCo
Entrepreneurs to Access Ultra-fast Internet Speeds

October 10, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS–Comcast is partnering with Minneapolis-based CoCo coworking and collaborative space to provide dedicated one-gigabit fiber network connectivity to CoCo’s growing entrepreneurial community, including its downtown location in the historic Minneapolis Grain Exchange and a new Uptown site that opens today.

“At CoCo, we always need more bandwidth, so this type of resource is a huge opportunity for our members. We appreciate that Comcast is leading by example in supporting startups and mobile workers.”

The Comcast partnership gives CoCo members access to an entirely new level of Internet bandwidth, once only available to larger businesses. The Comcast one-gigabit fiber connection is hundreds of times faster than outdated legacy technology and is symmetrical to provide equally fast upstream feeds, allowing the kind of bandwidth necessary to meet the most demanding applications.

This cutting-edge resource demonstrates Comcast’s commitment to the entrepreneurial ecosystem and its dedication to helping foster business growth and innovation in the Twin Cities.

“The Twin Cities is among the most connected metropolitan markets in the country, due largely to the major investments we’ve made in our metro-wide fiber optic network,” said Jeff Freyer, Regional Vice President for Comcast Twin Cities Region. “The resources we’re providing CoCo and their clients through this one-gigabit connection are a perfect example of the kind of scalability we’ve built into our infrastructure to serve businesses of all sizes – as well as our residential customers – with a full suite of innovative and affordable products and services.”

Freyer continued, “We appreciate the opportunity to partner with CoCo and are excited to empower today’s technology entrepreneurs with this ultra-fast internet connectivity.”

CoCo serves more than 500 members across three locations in the Twin Cities, including Lowertown St. Paul, downtown Minneapolis and now in the growing Uptown neighborhood. CoCo’s membership consists of startups, freelancers, consultants, and increasingly, mobile corporate workers.

“The high-bandwidth, low-latency connection goes a long way to even the playing field with much larger businesses and tech centers with huge resources,” said Spark software engineer and CoCo member David Middlecamp. “The symmetric bandwidth supports creators of content and services, rather than just content consumption, and facilitates working remotely across the globe, or collaborating across millions of connected devices.”

“This is the type of resource many of our entrepreneurs need in order to develop new technology and grow,” said founding partner Don Ball. “At CoCo, we always need more bandwidth, so this type of resource is a huge opportunity for our members. We appreciate that Comcast is leading by example in supporting startups and mobile workers.”

About CoCo Minneapolis
CoCo is a community for tech and creative entrepreneurs, independent businesses and corporate workgroups. We offer inspiring environments where they can gather, share ideas, team up on projects and get work done. A CoCo membership is an alternative to working from home, the cubicle farm or the local coffee shop.

About Comcast Business
Comcast Business, a unit of Comcast Cable, provides advanced communication solutions to help organizations of all sizes meet their business objectives. Through a modern, advanced network that is backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast delivers Business Internet, TV and Voice services for cost-effective, simplified communications management.

The Comcast Business Ethernet suite offers high-performance point-to-point and multi-point Ethernet services with the capacity to deliver cloud computing, software-as-a-service, business continuity/disaster recovery and other bandwidth-intensive applications. Comcast Ethernet services are significantly faster than standard T1 lines and other legacy technologies, providing scalable bandwidth from 1 Mbps up to 10 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) in more than 20 major US markets.

For more information, call 866-429-3085 or visit http://business.comcast.com/enterprise.

About Comcast Cable
Comcast Cable is the nation’s largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to businesses and residential customers. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

Contacts

Comcast
Mary Beth Schubert, 651-493-5775
Vice President, Corporate Affairs,
Comcast Twin Cities Region
Marybeth_schubert@cable.comcast.com

What Hospitals Charge – Some $8k, Others $38k

May 8, 2013 By Steve Borsch

One of the reasons healthcare costs have spun out of control is that most consumers are blind to those costs. There isn’t an easy method of shopping for price and little-to-no incentive for doing so since most consumers only care about their small co-pay.

That all changes today with a “big data” play.

“Consumers on Wednesday will finally get some answers about one of modern life’s most persistent mysteries: how much medical care actually costs.

For the first time, the federal government will release the prices that hospitals charge for the 100 most common inpatient procedures. Until now, these charges have been closely held by facilities that see a competitive advantage in shielding their fees from competitors. What the numbers reveal is a health-care system with tremendous, seemingly random variation in the costs of services.”

— From the Washington Post

An interactive table at the Washington Post allowing a quick scan of each State's cost ranges for various procedures

An interactive table allowing a quick scan of each State’s cost ranges for various
procedures, this data display is one of cost ranges in Minnesota – Washington Post

As an owner of multiple small businesses there is no question that I keep a close eye on medical costs and have had personal experiences with the virtual impossibility of being able to shop for medical procedures by cost and efficacy. This is a fabulous first step in bringing a much-needed level of transparency to a healthcare industry which the U.S. spends more on than any other country in the world (and over 15% of our GDP too).

The Singularity & Schools

July 17, 2012 By Steve Borsch

John W. Moravec, PhD

Even a casual observer can’t help but notice that the pace of change is accelerating, especially when it comes to technology. As we’ve joked here on the Minnov8 Gang in many previous shows, summers used to be pretty dead as far as topics were concerned and we had to pull ones out of our $^&% in order to have stuff to talk about every week.

But no more. Everything is moving faster and faster and, if Ray Kurzweil is right and The Singularity is Near, we need to listen to those who understand it and how it will impact us all — especially when it comes to our children and how they’re being educated to deal with exponential change.

One of the smart folks I read consistently is John Moravec, PhD, who is a, “…co-initiator of the Invisible Learning project; a co-founder of the Horizon Forum, a roundtable on the future of education at all levels; and am the editor of Education Futures (ISSN 1940-0934, http://www.educationfutures.com). I am also a faculty member in the Innovation Studies/Master of Liberal Studies graduate programs at the University of Minnesota.”

Vernor Vinge

Dr. Moravec just wrote this post on his blog and embedded the audio below about his interview with Vernor Vinge [Wikipedia | website], a retired San Diego State University professor of mathematics. Vinge is better known as a five-time Hugo Award-winning science fiction author. His works include True Names, Fast Times at Fairmont High, and Rainbows End. Most importantly, his 1993 essay “The Coming Technological Singularity,” argues that accelerating technological change will bring about the end of the human era as we know it, and that the world will become so complex and foreign to human observers, it will be impossible to predict what will happen next.

[media url=”http://www.educationfutures.com/res/educationfutures_vernor_vinge_interview.mp3″ width=”400″ height=”25″ jwplayer=”controlbar=bottom”]

U of MN Paying Professors $500 to Review Open Textbooks

May 11, 2012 By Steve Borsch

The University of Minnesota launched an online catalog of open-source books last month and it’s just been revealed that the University will pay its professors $500 each time they post an evaluation of one of those books, according to this article on Inside HigherEd. Minnesota professors who have already adopted open-source texts will also receive $500, with all of the money coming from donor funds.

This is a brilliant move on the part of the University, especially when you consider the accelerating cost of a higher education as well as the increasing demand to for students to have textbooks they can view on multiple digital devices. With this payment motivator for professors, the University is clearly working to align the incentives of professors with those of a concerted effort on the part of higher education institutions to move toward an open textbook and open courseware.

Below is an infographic from OnlineSchools.org that will give you a glimpse in to the drivers behind the open textbook and open source books movement.

… [Read More…]

Minnesota: A Great Place to Be for SaaS Companies

April 23, 2012 By Graeme Thickins

I had the pleasure of attending a workshop event held this past Saturday at the awesome CoCo coworking space at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. It was called SaaSCamp 2012. Note the year is part of that title, because it fully intends to be a recurring event. If you’re part of an early-stage software-as-a-service business, or planning one, and you missed this workshop — well, you missed a great one, and I would make sure you get to the next one when it happens!

The event was conceived and conducted completely by Lief Larson, CEO and founder of Workface Inc., with assistance from a couple of his team members. Workface is a growing startup in Minneapolis that itself developed a SaaS offering it now markets widely, which it calls a “customer engagement platform.” I was extremely impressed with the breadth and depth of the content Lief pulled together for this event. It included a extensive look at market data for SaaS in the U.S. and globally, monetization strategies and practices, selling to the enterprise, negotiating contracts, increasing adoption and retention of your app, marketing your app, creating a channel to sell your app, financing and funding a SaaS business, training your SaaS customer, and ongoing monitoring of your SaaS business. On top of all this, Lief related some really excellent stories throughout the workshop about his journey in funding and building Workface.

I had a chance to follow up with Lief afterwards to get some further perspective on the story behind SaaSCamp…

Q: Lief, why did you decide to do the event?

Lief: I’ve had a great group of mentors who have helped me during my entrepreneurial journey and I try to pay it forward by helping other young businesses and entrepreneurs to find success. A few of my “mentees” are building applications that are software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings and asked that I consider putting on an event. That’s why I created SaaSCamp 2012 — to bring together like-minded people working on SaaS. I think the event is already bigger than me, and I’m hoping the community will take it and run with it. … [Read More…]