Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Make Television

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If you fancy yourself a hacker of the physical, a creator of stuff, an inventor, or just like doing it yourself, then you’ll be interested in this just in via a post from BoingBoing along with our own Twin Cities Public Television:

“In January 2009, MAKE: will come to public television. Produced by MAKE:, Twin Cities Public Television, and American Public Television, the show will bring the DIY wonder of the magazine to the small screen, in high definition. A preview of the first episode is now online and I think it captures the fun maker mindset perfectly. There’s also a segment of the show that will feature maker-made videos. The producers are currently seeking videos for that segment, called the Maker Channel. Be sure to submit your two minute clip! The deadline is September 19, 2008.”

MAKE: television, Maker Channel video submissions

Blandin: Ultra High Speed Broadband for Rural MN

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Anyone who understands that the internet is a platform, social media is fundamentally shifting the way we connect and communicate with one another, and that application and computing functionality is rapidly shifting to the cloud, will instantly appreciate the efforts of a broadband public policy initiative by the non-profit Blandin Foundation in Grand Rapids, Minnesota: Blandin on Broadband.

When I wrote a post analogically comparing what happened to a small Minnesota town bypassed by the railroad in the 1880’s, to the effect of being bypassed by ultra high speed broadband today, (see “The Railroad and Minnesota Broadband“), several people emailed me citing the following passage as the key reason why initiatives like Blandin’s Broadband one are so imperative for Minnesota, and specifically those towns and rural areas that lie outside the metro:

If you buy in to the premise that we’re living in a time of the greatest shift in communication and connection in history driven by the internet — and that the transport of digital bits is as important (if not more so) than the movement of physical goods over the past 100 years or so — it almost goes without saying that location is not only less important today, in many ways it’s irrelevant unless you don’t have access to the internet and fast access at that.

In 2003, Blandin crafted a vision (PDF) for Minnesota ultra high speed broadband “…designed to catalyze broadband investment and use, raise awareness about the value of broadband and encourage public and private investment in rural broadband capacity. Expanding the use of broadband technology increases the potential to retain jobs in rural areas, grows new markets for business, strengthens health care, enhances educational access and improves the quality-of-life” and I had a chance to interview Bill Coleman of Community Technology Advisors Corp. about what they’ve done, achieved, and what’s next….  [Read More…]

Working Out While Working the ‘Net

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Spending a little too much time either coding that web application or sitting on your duff using all of them as the number of online opportunities for time investment explodes on today’s internet and web?

Our friend, Paul DeBettignies of MNHeadhunter, included Minnov8’s Graeme Thickins on an email, and we thought our readers — many of whom invest significant “face time” with our butts in seats working, playing and interacting with others in front of computer screens — might like to know about this upcoming TV news show segment.

Oberon, LLC and its affiliates SALO, LLC and NumberWorks, LLC will be featured on ABC News’ 20/20 in a story about innovative workplace wellness programs.  As you may have heard, Oberon was invited by the Mayo Clinic to be the first corporate partner to test the impact of movement at work on weight and wellness. The story will appear this Friday, August 1st at 9 PM CST on ABC (Channel 5 (KSTP-TV) in Minneapolis/St. Paul).

For six months starting last September, 20/20 producers were in Oberon’s offices to monitor their movements and progress. And move they did. Oberon added treadmill desks to their workspace and conference rooms. Walking meetings became more the norm than the exception.

The company is very appreciative of the opportunity provided by Mayo and Dr. James Levine to include 18 volunteers from Oberon, SALO and NumberWorks in the study.  Oberon believes that the Mayo Clinic may really be on to something new in workplace wellness, and they hope you can tune in to the ABC News’ 20/20 broadcast to see the progress that they’ve made since then.

Mobile Marketing Workshop

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Space150 seminar graphic

Minneapolis based space150, a full service digital creative agency, is hosting a Mobile Marketing Workshop on Monday, August 11th, at the Fine Line Cafe (map) in downtown Minneapolis.

With mobile poised to make the leap to a viable advertising medium, space150 feels that this is the perfect time to discuss new technologies, relevant trends and best practices.

The event is free, but space is limited so advance registration is required.

CentralStandardTech & MinneLR

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Central Standard Tech and MinneLE imageCentralStandardTech, a site tended by Minnesota geek Luke Francl (yes, that Luke from Minnebar and Minnedemo fame), is one I frequent to stay appraised of all things tech in our State and is in my #1 folder of feeds in my RSS reader.

From a great tech blogroll to a calendar of events and, especially, an aggregation of posts from those blogs, it’s a site you should frequent if you’re interested in technology in Minnesota and the people here with propellers on their beanies building great software and leveraging web and internet innovation trends.

Much to my delight today, I discovered a new forum by Jamie Thinglestad (former CTO of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network) called MinneLightroom. If you’re not an Adobe Lightroom fan like I am then this is of little interest to you, but there are a couple of things of note:

1) Adobe Lightroom is developed right here in Minnesota at the Adobe engineering office in Arden Hills

2) Jamie is using the WordPress ‘bbpress‘ forum software — one I’m interested in but find far too limiting currently — but he was able to get this forum up-n-running quickly for a narrow audience of Minnesota Lightroom fans. Granted, he’s pretty adept at WordPress (as evidenced by his session on optimizing it at the recent MinneBar), but deploying this forum has created a focal point in MN for interested Lightroom users and is there if you’re interested in joining.

I encourage you to head over to CentralStandardTech right now and just poke around. If you’re interested in Minnesota tech happenings and the people involved in it here, it’ll be your hub.

Minnesota Keeps Feeding the iPhone Habit

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DoApp has had a busy week. Their MyLite and MyTo-Do applications are currently available and moving up the rankings via the iPhone Apps Store and Magic 8 Ball and Whoopee Cushion are waiting in the wings. Current stats include MyLite ranking #8 overall on Top Free Apps, and #1 in Top Free Apps in the Utilities category along with MyTo-Dos showing at #81 overall on Top Free Apps, and #8 in Top Free Apps in the same category

Launched as PagePow, DoApp was founded in 2007 by former early Google employee Joe Sriver. The company positions itself as “a new kind of internet applications company.” They aspire to the rather lofty sounding mission of enabling “a glorious new world of distributed content and commerce.” Okay, so flashing lights and whoopee cushions don’t exactly sound “glorious”. However, in our interview Sriver assures me that there is more afoot at DoApp than finding your keys in the dark, telling the future, or goofing on your friends. The current applications for the iPhone are about establishing the firm and “gaining experience in the process.”

He goes on to say, “The iPhone applications are just one aspect of DoApp, making up part of a growing portfolio of work.” More serious applications in the commerce, utility (including MyTo-dos), and entertainment segments are planned.” We have a staff of eight and we are working furiously to keep pace with the ideas we are generating.” Those ideas include mobile and web based applications. In fact PagePow was originally launched as a widget builder. There is still a presence in that market with plenty of interest, much of it on an international level, but “the attention around iPhone applications has really replaced the buzz on widgets.” according to Sriver. Clearly, though it may be hard to believe, not everyone has an iPhone and there are still plenty of opportunities to supply applications for other platforms. This reality does not appear to be lost on DoApp.

As for iPhone applications, “Nobody really knows the criteria by which Apple decides which applications to release to the App Store, so we can’t really provide a timeline for what’s next there.” says Sriver. As the company expands beyond its current staff it will be less reliant on Apple because it will be delivering applications for other platforms. For now though, being ranked #1 in a category on the hottest application distributor site is not a bad way to bring recognition to a growing firm. Perhaps its own Magic 8 Ball app would say that it “appears likely” that this Minneapolis based firm will parlay that attention into serious application success.

(In the interest of full disclosure it should be norted that Minnov8 contributor Graeme Thickins is also the DoApp Marketing VP.)

Minnesota Public Radio Goes to Camp

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A unique collaboration to benefit public radio, MPR and maybe all of media for that matter took place at the studios of the Minnesota Public Radio on Saturday July 12th.

The PublicRadioCamp was organized by Dan Grigsby and those behind Minnebar and Minnedemo here in the Twin Cities along with MPR. The “camp” was positioned as “a new community event” and the purpose was to examine “the tons of really interesting content, data, audio, meta-data and feeds.” and to spend the time “collaboratively remixing and mashing up these goodies.”

The designers, bloggers, journalists, internet types, and plenty of MPR representatives (about one for every non-MPR attendee), assembled in the deluxe UBS Forum. The space had been lined with work areas complete with large whiteboards indicating there wouldn’t be much observing and plenty of brainstorming. Within minutes the group divided into what resulted in four groups; Data Access, User Generated Content, News Visualization, and Nuevo Radio. My time was spent in the Nuevo Radio group, a name I gave it as a spicier take on radio. Besides nouveau seems so snooty. The results of it and the other collaborations are briefly reviewed below….  [Read More…]

The Man, the Artist, the Designer, the Podcaster…the Show

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There are tremendous firms, organizations, groups, and entrepreneurs responsible for some amazing innovations. There is also one Minnesota resident behind the look, feel and sound of some of those innovations.

That person or “show” is Woodbury’s John Benson, aka Johnee Bee. Johnee runs his own firm; The Johnee Bee Show, specializing in flash design and illustration. His work can be seen all over the web. In fact, Johnee donated the banner art we use on Minnov8. Not only can you see his work, you can hear it as well. I caught up with Johnnee for what was a high energy, sound effect and character voice riddled, fast-paced discussion.

Johnee moved to Minnesota in 2004 — but why? “A woman…why else?” he says with a smile. His wife Cynthia was offered a position at 3M so, along with their Weimaraner dog, Sprocket, they came to the Midwest. To get a good idea of what this show is all about, let’s step back and get the full scoop on the colorful history of Johnee Bee. Not to conjure up images of that guy you knew (or were) in high school, but here’s how he became the ultimate AV guy….  [Read More…]

TinyURL: Making long URL’s short

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Did you know that a tiny service used 1.5 billion times per month was created in Minnesota? TinyURL is a service I’ve used often (especially when using Twitter) and this creation by Blaine, MN developer, Kevin Gilbertson, is quite popular.

I was first alerted that this was a Minnesota creation by St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Julio Ojeda-Zapata (column, blog) when he put out a ‘tweet’ on Twitter about the service’s Minnesota connection. Of course, I poked around to find out more and was just delighted on what I discovered.

Then sitting down to breakfast this morning with the StarTribune, I saw this article entitled, “TinyURL developer basking in website’s success” which covers the man behind TinyURL and a bit about the service. The article lays out how Gilbertson could make ~$1 million per month but chooses not to have annoying popup ads (thank you Kevin!). He makes enough per month that he apparently doesn’t need to work outside of making TinyURL better and is able to focus on his passion for unicycling (peek at the Strib article for more).

Julio’s writing, the Strib’s coverage and ours is fantastic for a new and successful Minnesota startup, but not everyone agrees that services like TinyURL are ones we should rely upon….  [Read More…]

WCCO Launches Ad Network & You’re Invited to a “Bloginar”

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WCCO-TV today announced the launch of the WCCO-TV Minneapolis/St. Paul Network, “a first-of-its-kind partnership between a major media company’s owned television station and local blogs and social media sites” delivered through embeddable news widgets.

According to their press release, this network (and why they’re pitching we bloggers and social media types) is, “Site owners participating in the WCCO-TV Minneapolis/St. Paul Network receive a portion of the advertising revenue generated by WCCO-TV, which is responsible for selling the advertising space within the widgets. There are three widget formats available, each with IAB standard ad units, and partners can select from six topical news feeds to provide the most relevant content for the publisher’s site.”

The jury is still out on whether or not local ad networks will drive viewer/readership toward local TV news outlets, but I’ve got to acknowledge the foresight in doing something to engage local new media creators, and they’re giving you, a blogger, site owner or community news organization, an opportunity to schmooze with WCCO folks at a “bloginar” next week.

While a potentially laudable effort to engage us, I suspect it’s not enough and could be so much more. …  [Read More…]