Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

MN Company Lets You Run Windows Apps on a Mac – the Easy Way

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They say the best blogging is about story-telling. So, let me tell you one of mine — how I came to write this post. First, some background: I run a Windows-free environment, and have for a long time. I put in my time with “Windoz” many years ago, and quickly left it behind. I can’t even remember what version of the Mac OS I was using when that happened, but it was several iterations ago, and I upgraded through all those OS upgrades, loving the enhancements every step of the way.  There are many reasons I became an Apple fanboy, and have happily stayed that way — but the biggest of them all was simply ease of use, across the whole Mac experience, and the much lower hassle factor all around. I value my time. I don’t want to be a computer geek. I just want to get stuff done. Mac fits the bill.

Today, thanks to the amazing advances of the Apple OS over the years and other Apple software offerings, I don’t have a single need to run a Windows app on my Mac. However, I realize many people do — they have a work reason, perhaps, to run Outlook, one of the Windows versions of Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer, or other apps that just don’t (for some crazy reason) yet have a Mac version. I’ve been running the same Mac version of MS Office now for more than a decade; it works fine. (So, I can’t say I run a completely Microsoft-free environment; just a Windows-free one.) I also realize there’s another big universe of Mac users out there who want to run Windows on their machines: gamers. We’re not talking a work reason here (I don’t think!), but this is a big market. There are many more games available for the Windows platform than for Mac — though that is changing somewhat, since so many game apps are continually being introduced for the Mac iOS — that is, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. (And the new “GameCenter” in Mac iOS 4.1, due next week, moves Apple even further into the games market.)

But why I am writing about running Windows on a Mac when I don’t have a need myself, and I’m certainly not a gamer? Well, before I tell you about “CrossOver Mac,” here’s why: I had a personal experience recently helping my daughter.  She’s also a longtime Mac user, but she needed to run a single Windows app for her business, which was required by a government agency she had to deal with. So, I told her, sure, I’d help her figure out how she could do that. I of course knew about two programs designed to do that, called “Parallels” and “VMware Fusion,” either of which we could buy (for about $80, I think).  And I told her I could help her get one of those installed on her Macbook. But we really didn’t like the idea of spending even that much money to run one little Windows app, maybe once a month — plus a friend, Steve Borsch, told me Windows doesn’t really run all that snappy with those programs, anyway.

But I was starting to think about buying one of those programs when another local friend, Gary Doan, said, “Wait, what about Boot Camp? That won’t cost you anything.” Apple started bundling that program with OS 10.5 and now 10.6, and you just need the original install disk to fire that up. Yes, plus a bonafide version of Windows, with an install disk — and we would have had to buy that. Cheapest I could find: an OEM version of 32-bit Windows 7 for $110 at our local Micro Center (closest thing we have to Fry’s here in MN). You can’t even buy Windows XP anymore, I learned, so that was not a cheaper option. That, combined with an onerous 14-page manual that Apple said you must print out and have by your side as you go through the detailed Boot Camp installation and configuration process, was making me start to think, screw this. Then I learned my daughter’s Macbook only has a half a gig of RAM, and would need at least 1G to run OS 10.6, which I wanted to upgrade her to, and preferably 2G. That would have cost me at least another $60, even if I installed the memory myself, which I really didn’t want to do. I thought, wait a minute, we’re getting close to $200 here — for something we really don’t want to do! Plus untold hours of my time screwing around to get it running.

Long story short: I found a brand-new HP Mini netbook on sale for $269 at OfficeMax (thanks to a friend’s tip), and I had a $30 off coupon! I told her I’d gladly pay for half of that. I figured I was coming out way ahead, considering I wouldn’t have to invest any time at all if we went with this option.  Plus, she wanted a second computer anyway, just for email and web use on another floor of her house, and the HP Mini came with built-in wifi capability, so it was a pretty cheap option for that. Now, we’re both happy.

Which brings me to the subject of my post: there’s a much simpler way to run Windows on an Intel Mac — and it might just work for you.  I wish I’d have known about it a week or two earlier, and I could have saved even more time (and money).  It’s a product called CrossOver Mac, from the playfully named CodeWeavers, based in St. Paul, MN.

…  [Read More…]

The Joy of Infiltration Champions Open Game Development

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The mind of Zach Johnson is an interesting place. While much of it remains unexplored it’s filled with plenty of ideas, projects and fun. We last talked with Zach about Scribbls, a great site where doodles can give birth to hilarious results that he and his Watermelon Sauce partner Paul Armstrong developed.

His most recent work comes from his own Zachstronaut, which he describes as a “web rocket-lab” site to showcase his love for the internet and gaming as well as his experiments. The result of that work is his internet game Infiltration.

Infiltration was built in response to blog Boing Boing‘s call for games to be developed that were inspired by “chip music“. (You can vote for Infiltration through today, 7/15). Most likely very familiar to gamer cycles but not far beyond, chip music is inspired by early video game soundtracks. Think Asteroids, Pac Man and a host of Nintendo games. Grab a Casio keyboard and hang on…

Johnson, a fan of this unique musical genre, has spent more than his fair share of time listening to chip music and envisioning the game activity that it might accompany. A User Experience developer at Worrell, he says, “Video games contributed to shaping my entire career in computers.” It was clearly a natural for him to develop a chip music inspired game.

Indie game developer game designs tend to be very simplistic, with an almost nostalgic look and feel. “Part of the design is a nod to the old school music but it’s probably more about the amount of time and money indie game developers have to spend on the games.” He goes on to note, “It took nine people a year to write Pac Man, I wrote this in about 30 hours.”

Johnson also saw an opportunity to advance his passion for open programming. “I wanted to make a game that didn’t need a plugin.” Hence the use of Javascript, allowing the ability to play the game directly from your browser. “Javascript and browser based games offer a very low barrier of entry.” notes Johnson.

The use of coding language like Javascript and HTML5 is on the rise as many see the use of Flash diminishing. “I don’t hate Flash, but it’s obvious it is going the way of the Dodo.” according to Johnson referencing the ownership and closed nature of the language. “I always bet on the openess of  web.” When developing the game and entering the Boing Boing contest (Did I mention you could vote for his game through 7/16.) Zach thought that the use of Javascript would allow him to be more unique and give him an upper hand. But “The use of Javascript was more prevalent than I thought…which is good.” Nearly half the games submitted use it.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhvupyRdR5I&feature=player_embedded

The design of the game and the participation in the contest serves Johnson in number of ways. First and foremost, it’s a hobby. It also clearly promotes his programming skills and many projects while allowing him to share his passion for open web design. In addition, while he could have spent much more time on the game he appreciates the short-term goal. “The competition set a deadline. Otherwise I can spend a lot of time on it. I need to make a game I need to get done.”

Where does he see this indie game developer movement going? “There are plenty of applications from entertainment to art to even civil engagement. Imagine someone demonstrating the need for better routing of traffic through a game.” He also notes a very basic result. “If I can make little tidbits of joy for someone, that’s great.”

‘The New Industrial Revolution’ and Minnesota

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I absolutely love it when my new WIRED magazine shows up in the mail.  Hey, I read as much as the next guy online (on my little 13″ Macbook screen, or my iPhone), but I still love excellence in print — good ol’ ink on dead trees. And WIRED continues to stand out in this category. (Bonus: having a print subscription means I can read the latest issue before others can online.)  The February 2010 edition has another hard-hitting cover story, as only this publication can do, declaring with bold artwork: “The New Industrial Revolution.”  These guys know how to sell magazines!  I especially liked the title of the article, which I saw as I quickly flipped to the table of contents: “Atoms Are the New Bits.” And it’s by none other than editor-in-chief Chris Anderson. This has been a favorite discussion topic of mine with some of my colleagues. Yes, there’s quite a bit more to life, and innovation, than just digital stuff.

In the article, Anderson chronicles the age of “open source, custom-fabricated, DIY product design.” He profiles a fascinating startup called Local Motors of Wareham, Mass., and another one called TechShop of Menlo Park, Calif. (which I first heard of when I met the founder at a DEMO Alumni Reception in Palo Alto in August 2007).

…  [Read More…]

Web Design Workshop/Seminar for Creatives

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tenseven If you’re a designer creating websites, web applications are someone working with a developer on a project or initiative, then this workshop and seminar will empower you with the things you should know before you design your first website; what the content management system Drupal can do for you and your clients; and simple project management for design projects using the wildly popular web application called Basecamp.

If you are a person who will somehow be interacting in the process of creating a website, but won’t actually be doing the coding or development of it, and are a copywriter, graphic designer, illustrator, art director, creative director, or project manager, then you’ll find the $149 fee for this full day session incredibly beneficial.

I interviewed Ivan so you can hear him describe the day and also so you can gain some insight in to the strategic reasons why you must pay attention to what’s happening on the web, and how this session would enable you to learn in ways you might not expect.

Listen to the interview with Ivan by hovering over the ‘speaker’ icon on the left, or download it as an mp3. (Note: The Drupal 7 user interface project mentioned is here: http://www.d7ux.org).


Podcast: Download (10.9MB)

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Oracle Drinks Up Sun: MySQL Questions Remain…

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…Like is LAMP now LAMOP?

mysqlI’m personally aware of over 40 projects here in flyover country that are not only leveraging — but are wholly reliant on — MySQL. To make matters worse (and admittedly selfish on my part) our company uses MySQL across all our web properties. To see that megalith Oracle purchased Sun Microsystems today for $7.4 billion sent chills down my spine and left me with a nasty taste of cottonmouth.

Sure, there are a few of those Oracle fanboys out there that will say this deal means Java will get more technical attention than it’s been paid for years. Still, I liken this acquisition to a story I saw in a documentary called Flow: For the Love of Water. A segment in this movie shows corporate giant Nestle setting up a bottling plant in Michigan and stealing away millions of gallons of water from a stream running through that community, putting it in bottles, and then selling it back to local residents.

It no secret that I’m a capitalist, and that I believe that money is the root of all that is productive. My problem with what Nestle did is that they took what was already free and a universal right – clean and fresh water – and sold that under the auspices of having actually produced something. I too fear this will be the case with Oracle and MySQL.

MySQL has over 10 million installations around the world and it is the productive man’s database management system. MySQL occurs naturally and freely in nature. People take it and turn it into something meaningful. It was provided under GPL and its current form represents the untold contributions and real-world use cases of thousands and thousands of people. Now are we to expect Oracle to come, bottle it up, and sell it back to us?

This transaction only happened today, so I don’t want to be too quick to jump to conclusions. That said, you would sure think that a guy as smart as Larry Ellison would have made a community statement to appease me. I mean gosh, this guy has all the water he could ever dream of and now I find him standing over MY WATER holding a big-ass straw in his hand.

What do you think?

CommunityEngine: Open Source Social Network Application

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Earlier this summer, Bruno Bornsztein released the code behind his niché social-networking sites Curbly, Uncooped as an open-source project called: CommunityEngine.

CommunityEngine is a complete, white-label social network app wrapped up as a Ruby on Rails plugin making it easy to integrate forums, blogs, and user profiles into an existing web application or a stand-alone application. Like many weblog engines, the look and feel of each CommunityEngine can be completely customized.

“I envision somebody doing a theme that makes [CommunityEngine] act more like a social network, a theme that makes it act more like a blog, a theme that makes it act more like a group blog, or a newspaper. So you can pick and choose.” – Bruno Bornsztein

One of the first community contributions to the CommunityEngine code was l18n internationalization support, promptly encouraging a number of non-US-based CommunityEngine-based sites.

“The biggest benefit [to open-sourcing CommunityEngine] is making the code-base stronger…I can now launch a Curbly site in Spanish. I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.” – Bruno Bornsztein

For more about CommunityEngine listen to my podcast conversation with Bruno.

Minnesota’s Internet Tech Crowd Flexes Its Muscle

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If one had any doubt about the intensity of our state’s information technology and Internet community, one only had to be anywhere inside the U’s Coffman Union on Saturday for the third annual Minnebar “unconference” (part of an international phenomenon called Barcamp). To say the joint was a-jumpin’ simply does not suffice. And numbers alone don’t tell the story (though attendance was an event record at 430). Rather, it was the intensity of energy through the entire day that could only impress one about this somewhat quiet, and definitely underrated, sector of Minnesota’s economy.

I was there for at least 12 hours of the event — yes, it went on that long, and no one was complaining — and I can surely say that even the most skeptical of attendees who sacrificed part of their spring weekend were impressed with what they experienced, and left beaming with an elevated sense of pride in the industry they’re a part of. One needs only to scan the voluminous talk that went on in real-time — thanks to the magic of Twitter, and all archived here — to see that something big was happening in the Gopher state on this rainy fishing-opener Saturday. (In fact, Minnebar was ranked during the day as one of the top-five conversations going on in the entire, global “Twitterverse.”)…  [Read More…]

‘Minnebar’ Becoming Top Event for State’s Internet/Software Developers and Entrepreneurs

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An annual Minnesota event, playfully named Minnebar — which grew out of a grass-roots tech industry initiative called Barcamp — is happening for the third year in a row here in the Twin Cities this coming Saturday, May 10, at the U of M’s Coffman Union.
Minnebar logo By 8:00 am, somewhere between 300 and 400 software developers, startup founders (and hopefuls), web designers, interactive marketers, local media reporters, angels, VCs, and other investors will start converging in one place as they seldom do in any venue in these parts, at any other time throughout the year.

Coffman Union They come to talk shop, learn, share tips, listen to presentations on the latest tech developments and tools, share war stories, listen to startup pitches, and (of course) take notes, blog, and Twitter about all the proceedings on the laptops and smart phones they never seem to have far from their sides. …  [Read More…]

DJ Edna – The Open Source Music and Art Catalog Engine

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logo.gifOne of the persistent issues with selling creative works digitally is the need for a middle man to handle the transaction. Engaging with these middle men – whether MySpace, iTunes, SnoCap, or another vendor – often comes at the cost of loss of rights or increase in fees for the artist. DJ Edna, the latest project from Thomas Bohmbach, is an open-source framework designed to make managing and selling digital works easy while allowing the artist to maintain full control over their work.

“Independent artists, who have a geek friend, could install [DJ Edna] on an extra computer in their basement, and run it that way, with no fees. ” – Thomas Bohambach, founder, DJ Edna.    

Full control means, DJ Edna will support any licensing or pricing structure the artist wants to release their work under. Plus, like any polite open-source project, DJ Edna is easily customizable for integration into WordPress, Gallery, and other projects.DJ Edna is currently behind The Skullcranes and Spirit of Salt. For those interested in using DJ Edna for their creative catalog, there’s a DJ Edna wiki with installation instructions in addition, Thomas provides set up, consulting, and hosting services.For more on DJ Edna, listen to my podcast interview with Thomas [mp3]

Podcast: Download (31.7MB)

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