Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Playing Tag at Social Media Breakfast

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Thursday morning (11/20) saw another gathering of Social Media Breakfast at Best Buy headquarters. This was a “special” event presented by Best Buy rather than the gathering those who attend the event each month have come to expect.

It was billed as “Breakfast with Jeff Pulver“. Jeff is considered a true VOIP pioneer and a very active enthusiast in social media or what he terms “Social Communications”…a term  more fitting to this movement since it focuses on the act of communicating rather than the medium through which we do it.  He hosts breakfasts around the world and, as it appears, he is using them to practice Personal Tagging.

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MinneDemo Showcases MN Innovation

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Ben Edwards & Luke Francl, Minnedemo hosts and organizers

Nearly 300 people attended MinneDemo last Wednesday held in Uptown’s Intermedia Arts which was the best venue in the series of “unconference” demo showcases. Ten Minnesota tech companies presented their products in 7 minute demos to a packed auditorium coordinated by MinneDemo co-founder Luke Francl.  After a brief introduction by Luke and MinneDemo co-organizer Ben Edwards, the demos began without the use of Powerpoint or any other presentation software.

The event got off to a fast start with Reactor, the first product from Rochester-based Hardcore Computer. An imposing beast of a computer at over 125 pounds, this is billed as the first personal supercomputer. Aside from being a wicked fast machine tuned for gaming, the first thing you notice is that the entire motherboard is encased in oil to cool the processor and other components. This fluid is highlighted with a blue light that makes a stunning first impression. After the demos were complete we were able to see Reactor put through it’s paces with a racing game which was most impressive. But it was clear from speaking with executives at the event that they have plans to target other processor intensive applications outside the gaming world such as architecture, video rendering and government applications….  [Read More…]

Visi: Vision 2008 a Success!

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Last Thursday, I was delighted to find myself at Visi‘s Vision 2008 conference. Billed as, “The conference will provide IT managers and business executives the opportunity to hear from technology leaders on the topic of “Technology Innovations That Drive Business”,” it met those objectives and more. 

No question it’s always an imperative for leaders to connect up at a venue that’s all about ideas, new ways of thinking about the I.T. status quo, and to consider ways to shift and accelerate those areas where I.T. provides increasingly mission-critical value to the business.

The conference started off with a keynote by Geek Squad founder (and and guy who seems like someone highly reluctant to fit into a corporate suit) Robert Stephens. Without a wireless connection available (either Wifi or 3G), I put my laptop back in my bag and just listened to him. Fortunately, a more highly disciplined journalist was in front of me, Graeme Thickins, and I saw him with (gasp!) a pen and paper feverishly taking notes so I’ll refer you over to Graeme’s post.  He really captured the essence of Robert’s talk and it’s worth a read. Suffice to say, Stephens had many great insights for any startup, entrepreneur, or corporate leader…especially in this time of trouble where cutting-to-the-chase and offering up pure and true value and doing so in an attractive and fun way is more important than ever before.

(UPDATE 11/17/08: Visi’s Gary Elfert has posted Robert’s keynote in six parts (due to YouTube size limitations, I presume. You’ll enjoy it).

Attending several of the sessions (e.g., Closed Loop CRM; Innovative and Proven Online Tools to Drive New Business) while also visiting all of the booths and taking a tour of the data center upstairs, the value I received far outweighed any costs in fees, parking and time investment. Like always, it was the people I interacted with that made it such a strong and worthwhile event and I met nearly a dozen people with whom I’ll connect with in the future.

Since I first visited with Visi’s CTO, Jason Baker, back in September and wrote this post, I’ve periodically thought about the company and the people, the challenges they face in a time where computing is increasingly shifting to the cloud and competition is accelerating (especially with unlikely entrants like Amazon Web Services), and I learned something at this event that I wasn’t expecting.

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Lessons From Our First “Social Media” President

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One of the keys to marketing campaign management is ensuring that a message, advertisement or call to action is delivered “at the customer touch point”, or that place where the advertisement or content can be delivered and where the customer or prospect is likely to be receptive to it. 

The Obama campaign’s effectiveness in delivering their messages and calls to action will be hyper-analyzed over the next several months. From large spending on traditional media to leveraging the internet, tapping in to the social media zeitgeist, and engaging with people (especially young people) in ways never before possible was a key component to their win.

In this unprecedented traditional media and online media use, there are key lessons here for every company, organization, movement or individual wanting to sell, build brands, move an agenda forward, or build an ecosystem.

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E3: Energy, Economic & Environmental Conference

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Though this is a bit off-topic for Minnov8’s mission around innovation in internet and web technology, energy specifically is so intertwined with what we do — and this conference looks so fascinating — that it seemed like something you might be interested in. As they say on the E3 conference site, “If you’ve ever wondered about the potential for algae to cure our oil addiction, the future of solar power or the role the media plays in environmental awareness—join us at E3 2008!”

As this year’s keynote speakers, Manitoba Premier Gary Doer and Terje Gjengedal, vice president of Statkraft in Oslo, Norway, will set a world-class tone. The conference will also feature compelling research posters and breakout sessions along five different tracks:

Renewable and Sustainable Fuels and Products: Catch the buzz on algae to biofuels, catalysis and bioproducts; featuring experts from the Energy & Environmental Research Center, Ever Cat Fuels, Iowa State University, Stoel Rives, Fish and Richardson, and more.

Renewable and Sustainable Electricity: Learn the latest in wind expansion, solar energy and nanotechnology; featuring experts from Xcel Energy, Windustry, Cymbet Corporation and more.

The Nexus of Energy, the Environment and the Economy: Get the facts on fuel standards, green marketing and the state’s renewable energy portfolio; featuring experts from the Great Plains Institute, GE Capital Solutions, the Minnesota Legislature, Fresh Energy and more.

Conservation and Energy Efficiency: Expand your knowledge of sustainable cities and next-gen energy systems; featuring experts from Volvo, 3M, Faegre and Benson, Xcel Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute and more.

Special Topics: Explore the issues surrounding technology commercialization, research investment and environmental news reporting; featuring experts from Cargill Ventures, Fredrikson & Byron, WCCO (Don Shelby), Minnesota Public Radio and more.

At $80 for those of us in business, this is an inexpensive conference and is sure to spark ideas on, perhaps, applications that could streamline some of these areas? I’ll wager you’d come away with at least one idea on something that needs fixing and you’d be just the person to do it. More about registering can be found here.

Great (Meerman) Scott! What a Social Media Breakfast!

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The monthly meeting of the Social Media Breakfast of Minneapolis-St.Paul, held at the PartnerUp Headquarters, also known as Deluxe, was anchored by author/marketer David Meerman Scott on Friday (10/29).

Following opening comments from SMBMSP head cheese, Rick Mahn, Minnov8’s own Graeme Thickins, who coordinated Meerman Scott’s appearance, introduced the online media evangelist to a packed room.

The bulk of his presentation centered around the need for companies to adopt social media and interactive methods of marketing for one simple reason…that’s where customers go to find what they’re looking for. He noted that whenever he asks any group, organization, or gathering what their habits are, when it comes to finding what they want, the web always impacts nearly 100% or them, yet marketers still cling to those methods (direct mail, mass media, etc.) that have much less impact.

He calls the activity of using online and social media marketing as “Spreading the message by word of mouse.” There is a clear need for businesses, individuals, and marketers alike to “think like a publisher” citing that, “We are what we publish.” What reason is given most often as to why a company or individual can’t do that? “We’re a ________! We can’t do that!” where the blank represents a company’s business practice or product.
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10 Startups to Present at MinneDemo

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An estimated 300 Twin Cities tech-heads will gather for an evening of networking and to watch demos of ten of Minnesota’s hottest technology products on November 12, 2008.

MinneDemo brings together entrepreneurs, investors, software developers, designers, and other techies for a night of short demos and long conversations. Founded in 2006, this is the fifth MinneDemo event. It will be held at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S. in south Minneapolis (map). Pre-networking begins at 6:30 pm, and the demos start at 7:00.

The format of MinneDemo is similar to national conferences like DEMO. The rules are simple: seven minutes for each demo, only real/working software allowed, and NO POWERPOINT! However, MinneDemo is free, both for presenters and attendees. All costs for the event are paid for with sponsorship by local technology and services companies.

At November’s MinneDemo, the following companies will demo their products:

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Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge

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The catastrophic cratering of the global economy, falling gas prices and President George W. Bush’s recent executive activities have indirectly prompted Saint Paul gadfly software developers CodeWeavers, Inc., to provide free software for every American on Oct. 28, company officials reluctantly announced today.

In July, CodeWeavers – whose software lets Mac OS X and Linux users run Windows programs without having to go to Microsoft for a Windows OS license – launched the Great American Lame Duck Presidential Challenge to encourage President Bush to make the most of his remaining days in office by accomplishing a major economic or political goal by January 20, 2009.

The goals focused on President Bush making specific positive accomplishments in areas such as the economy, home values, the stock market, the war on terror and other key issues. Specifically, one goal called for President Bush to help down bring average gasoline prices in the Twin Cities to $2.79 a gallon.

On Monday, Oct. 14, gas prices in Minneapolis and St. Paul did just that.

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Upcoming Book on Hottest I.T. Trend: ‘Cloud Computing’

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Whether you’re in the computer business or not, chances are you’re hearing a ton about “computing in the cloud.” It’s widely being hailed as the top information technology (I.T.) buzzword of the year, thanks to applications many of us use every day — no matter what business we’re in — such as Google Mail or other online applications we simply access through a browser. Other examples would be customer relationship management software from Salesforce.com, or freely accessible word-processing software from Google, Zoho, and others. But there are many more types of these applications, and cloud computing can actually refer to both the software and the underlying infrastructure.

George Reese, a local software developer and tech company founder, knows a lot about the topic — so much so that he was recently commissioned to write a book on cloud computing by O’Reilly Media, based in Northern California, one of the most prominent names in computer publishing.  Reese is the founder of two Minneapolis-based companies: a new one called enStratus Networks LLC, a maker of high-end cloud infrastructure management tools, and an established business called Valtira LLC, the maker of an online “marketing platform” of the same name. Over the past 15 years, George has authored several technology books — with such names as MySQL Pocket Reference, Database Programming with JDBC and Java, and Java Database Best Practices. But his upcoming title, Web Architecture and Programming in the Cloud: Transactional Systems for EC2 and Beyond, may become his most popular yet.

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