Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

FCC & Broadband: Tell ’em What You Think

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boy_internet

If you’re a Minnov8 reader, your lifeblood is probably internet-centric. Heck…if you have a PULSE you’re probably an internet user and would care deeply if any internet service provider was allowed to be in control over what you can-and-cannot-do over your internet connection.

Well, don’t just sit there….

Friend of technology, the internet, Minnesota and Minnov8, Mike O’Connor, is on the Minnesota Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force representing the metropolitan area user base and had this on his blog today and I urge you to take action:

Just got this note from Dennis Fazio.  I think it’s perfect so I’m just passing it along to you.  Time to speak out peepul!

Mike, You might want to encourage everyone to enter their comments to the FCC. A large number of citizen comments can help to counter the “everything’s just fine” mantra from the big telecom carriers. Here’s the Ars Technica article  with a nice background summary:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/reformers-isps-clash-on-national-broadband-plan.ars

The Notice of Inquiry is here for those who want to read through it:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-31A1.pdf

But really all you need to do is submit your comments about what you think the future of broadband networks should be by going here:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi

It’s easy and quick You can upload a file, or more simply, type or paste a comment into the field provided.

You will need the proceeding number for field #1 and that would be:  09-51

A large number of knowledgeable citizen comments on the necessity of changing public policy to recognize broadband packet data networks as an essential public utility requiring active government investment, intervention and regulation might have some good effect.

Just so you know that I’m not asking you to do anything I wouldn’t do, peek at the letter I just submitted via the FCC website using Dennis’ link and the 09-51 code:  …  [Read More…]

Whip It Out: Your Smartphone Extends Your Mind

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smartphones

Competition in the mobile phone space is heating up and the smartphone — a mobile phone with computer-like functionality — coupled with ever faster wireless network speeds are changing the way we access news, information, connections with our friends and family, and so much more.

A quick story illustrates one amusing (though not to my wife) use of my iPhone when I first got it. We were at a dinner party when the conversation came around to a particular song, but no one could recall who sang it. As the conversation continued I quickly used the web browser to Google the song name and roughly 30 seconds later blurted out, “Woody Guthrie!”

“Yes!,” everyone cried out simultaneously. “How did you know that,” one woman asked and I whipped out my iPhone to show how I’d quickly and almost instantly found the answer and we then had an interesting conversation about how the world was shifting toward one where we all could have instant access just like that.

A few years ago smartphones were few in number and came from manufacturer’s like Palm (e.g., Treo) and Nokia — and devices powered by Windows Mobile — were robust but somewhat limited in functionality and required an (arguably) geeky nature to use fully. The Blackberry device by Research in Motion (RIM) was a more limited one as far as applications go, but its external keyboard (to many the most important feature) and easy access to email (which was “pushed” to the device automatically) made it the perfect communication appliance for daily business use.

When Apple demonstrated and delivered the game-changing iPhone in June of 2007, its surprising ease of use and simple way to manipulate applications (e.g., pinching and zooming in on a photo or webpage) made a device like this easily accessible to the masses. Because of quick sales of the iPhone and a developer kit to build applications, Apple quickly saw a huge array of applications delivered on the device (more than 25,000 to date). Because of the simplicity of the device and the base of applications already available, sales accelerated to the now installed base of 21.2 million units and the announcement Monday, June 8th of a third generation model (and the second generation lower price point of $99) has caused most observers to see those numbers doubling within a year or so.  …  [Read More…]

MIMA Presents Obama Online

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There has been much discussion about the new emphasis on the online and social media policies of our new administration. As Minnov8’s Steve Borsch noted back in November, “The Obama campaign’s effectiveness in delivering their messages and calls to action will be hyper-analyzed over the next several months.” Well our friends over at the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association are giving us some of that analysis by presenting an “Integrated Campaign Case Study: Obama Online” On June 17th.

The event will be held at Nicollet Island Pavilion and feature Scott Thomas (aka SimpleScott). According ot MIMA you’re invited to “take a look at how the Obama campaign looked before (Scott) and other designers, joined the team for the last election season.” and promises “You’ll see how it was, how it evolved, and the lessons learned along the way. ”

Scott Thomas, aka SimpleScott, was invited to join the New Media team at Obama for America during the campaign and it led to him becoming the Design Director of the historic Obama Presidential campaign.

Best Buy at Google I/O

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Best Buy’s Ben Hedrington and Curtis Thompson were out at Google I/O (Google’s developer conference held May 27 – 28, 2009 at Moscone Center in San Francisco) and were grabbed on the floor at “The Developer Sandbox” to briefly describe how Best Buy is leveraging the Google App Engine.

Google describes the Sandbox: “The Developer Sandbox is a new addition to Google I/O. Comprised of “pods” – demo station areas grouped by product theme – the Sandbox featured a wide range of developers who have built applications based on technologies and products featured at Google I/O. Representing large and small companies, individual developers, and a diverse group of apps, these developers were on hand at the Sandbox to demo their apps, answer questions, exchange ideas, and meet attendees in person. We interviewed many of the Sandbox developers on the ground at Google I/O to pick their brains on their applications, challenges, and best practices.”

View and listen to Ben and Curtis’ descriptions:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7MlEJC9ZbA

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyIh9ncmiN0

Predicting the Future at the U of MN

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carlsonschoolIn 2004 James Surowiecki published his now-famous book, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations. For many this milestone introduced the era of collective intelligence for people, business, institutions, the environment and civil society.

New ways to share, trade and aggregate information using Internet-based markets are exploding. These powerful Web 2.0 network knowledge markets help companies, schools, governments and individuals to acquire and master ever-growing bodies of knowledge. These prediction market capabilities achieve mastery knowledge management (KM) and collective intelligence with stunning speed, efficiency and accuracy.

Collective Intelligence Summit: Leading Enterprise Prediction Markets
I happened upon this press release about a summit event at the U of MN about prediction markets. Though the marketing of this event is so laughingly bad that I had to go BACK to the press release to figure out how much it costs ($399) — since this event page is confusing, poorly laid out and appears to be targeted at a group of people already in-the-know — the potential of receiving benefit from attending it makes slogging through this inadequate communication worthwhile.

While this summit might seem a bit esoteric or academic (which it just might be), if you’re working on collaboration, enterprise social media or connected innovation, this is something you might find invaluable.

From their site:

What are Prediction Markets? Also known as information markets (PM), decision markets, idea futures, and virtual markets, prediction markets are speculative markets created for the purpose of making predictions. Assets are created whose final cash value is tied to a particular event, outcome or parameter (e.g., total sales next quarter). The current market prices can then be interpreted as predictions of the probability of the event or the expected value of the parameter.

People who buy low and sell high are rewarded for improving the market prediction, while those who buy high and sell low are punished for degrading the market prediction. Evidence so far suggests that prediction markets are at least as accurate as other institutions predicting the same events with a similar pool of participants.

One of the oldest and most famous is the University of Iowa’s Iowa Electronic Market. It has been predicting the results of American presidential elections since 1988 with greater accuracy than polling companies.

DETAILS:

Where: Carlson School of Management, Executive Center Room 2-206 (Directions)

When: Thursday 18 June  2009, 8:00am – 5:00pm

Registration is here (Secure, online registration is required and includes meals, refreshments, materials and Wi-Fi)

Questions?: Please Contact Sarah V. Jones, sarah.jones@pmclusters.com, Tel: 978-468-0267, Fax: 206-984-2429

Thought Leaders At-Your-Fingertips

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ecornerStanford University has an incredible resource that you’ll undoubtedly find quite useful: an entrepreneurship ecorner that delivers videos and podcasts from top names in technology.

From their About page:

The Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) Entrepreneurship Corner is a free online archive of entrepreneurship resources for teaching and learning. The mission of the project is to support and encourage faculty around the world who teach entrepreneurship to future scientists and engineers, as well as those in management and other disciplines. The site has been developed by a dynamic team of educators, entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP). The project has been financially supported by Stanford University and a number of generous sponsors. Other collaborators in its creation include the Stanford Center for Professional Development and Stanford Video.

One thing that was fascinating was from this post about why they’re translating their video’s audio and providing subtitles in so many languages, “Recent analysis reveals that over 40% of our viewers are visiting from outside the United States.” Also from this post is the factoid that they’ve created and are shipping an iPhone application to access their content.

Getting to Know W3i

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w3i_logoAs usual, the schmoozing at Minnedemo yielded a pleasant surprise. My discovery of a Minnesota company that is known better beyond it’s borders than within them and the CEO of said company. The CEO; Andy Johnson. The company; St. Cloud based W3i.

Many in the Minnesota interactive “space” (I love using that term. It’s so Gene Roddenberry) know Andy from his days at Fingerhut. He was instrumental in moving them into the e-commerce world where he grew their business to some $300 million* before Fingerhut sold in 1999, allowing him  to take some time to recharge and be with family. He eventually joined CMS Direct where he was lured away by three brothers–Rob, Ryan, and Aaron Weber (the W3 of W3i. Yep the “i” is for interactive.)

What does W3i do? According to Johnson, whether you are a small developer with a great Windows based application or part of a monster company like Yahoo!, W3i can get your product on computers, build traffic, and make you money. How?…  [Read More…]

Innovation to Ride Out the Economic Downturn

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uofmn_workshopThe University of Minnesota’s Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering, is offering a workshop in their Tech Tune-Up series for 2009.

Here are the details:

2009 Tech Tune-Up will expose professionals to breakthroughs and innovations coupled with insights and commentaries from internationally renowned researchers and practitioners. It will hone the competitive edge of participants and help them stay ahead of market and technology changes in today’s competitive environment.

Join our internationally renowned researchers and practi tioners for insights and informati on about University of Minnesota’s successful economic collaborations, energy technology solutions and bio-related advancements.

  • What: Lectures and panels will be given by experts from industry and the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology (full schedule on lower half of this page)
  • When: Friday, June 12
  • Time: 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m
  • Where: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building (full directions here)
  • Cost: $250 per person (includes course materials, lunch and breaks)
  • Register here
  • Additional information: 612-625-2855

You Want Us to Pay Attention? Cut to the Chase.

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preso-stylesIncreasingly we’re all swimming in a river of news, information and communications, and the flow is moving faster all the time. Not only are more of us accessing content online instead of paying attention to a handful of traditional media offerings, more of us are shifting our attention to such services as Twitter and what’s becoming known as the real time web, called that since frequently these services are the first place alerts, news stories and even trendy topics are emerging.

This real time web is becoming more important, but it’s further diluting the attention we can pay to any one piece of news, information or communication. One reason it’s importance is increasing is that more of us can access the real time web with our computers, of course, but especially with our mobile devices which we carry about wherever we go.

Because of this ability to connect with online services regardless of where we are, more of us are always on and always connected and our attention is split between an ever growing array of places online. We’re able to pay attention to this news, information and communication flow in the grocery store, while waiting in our car at a stoplight, while our kids are huddled with the coach during a momentary lull in their soccer game, or when we’re watching a TV show or political debate and “discussing” it with those whom we’re connected with through these sorts of services like Twitter.

Our dispersed attention isn’t just a problem for each of us trying to keep our heads above water in that rapidly flowing river of stuff, it’s also a huge problem if you are an entrepreneur, marketer, salesperson, small business owner, or even a teacher or cub scout leader trying to communicate the essence of your message and get people to pay attention to you and to it whether that message is delivered in person or online.

Thankfully there are some new models emerging that are beginning to point the way toward how we must communicate in a world with a scarcity of attention and is enabling more of us to understand how to cut to the chase and get the essence of our points across….  [Read More…]

MN Video Vault

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mn-videovaultThis morning I was made aware of a beta offering from Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) called, “MN Video Vault.”  They’re hosting a focus group session in downtown St. Paul on June 8th, but since I don’t think focus groups are meaningful in a day when one simply has to connect with a savvy, connected and worthy audience (ahh….like Minnov8 readers?) I figured you all would be happy to give them feedback on what they’ve delivered in this first iteration.

For anyone who knows me, it’s obvious that I’m a huge fan of curated, meaningful and historical content so I was very pleased to see this archive of TPT videos launching and immediately went to view it when I got the email. I care deeply about TPT, Minnesota Public Radio, the Minnesota Historical Society and many other resources in our state, but I feel I’m qualified to provide feedback to them while the Vault is in beta and you, our savvy and connected internet and web technologists, are equally (or more) qualified to let them know what they need to do to make this wildly successful.

I’m confident I’m right smack-dab-in-the-middle of their target market for MN Video Vault but in its current form, I won’t be using it. Here’s why…  …  [Read More…]