Minnov8

Like you, the Gang had a ‘filling’ Thanksgiving and joked about Dan Akroyd’s famous Saturday Night Live skit, Rovco’s amazing new kitchen tool, the Super Bass-o-Matic ’76, and TV’s WKRP in Cincinnati’s bit, the turkey drop. (Watch the videos at the bottom of this post).

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Music: Tom & Smitty Play the Blues by Smitty under a Creative Commons License

The Podcast

Story Links

Past Week’s Top Minnesota Stories

* J.J. Hill-inspired fund seeking millions to back small businesses

* App Design For An Equity Stake

* Target

* Target expands LED customer tracking

* Target Announces Cyber Monday Deals As Holiday Shopping Kicks Off

* The hard part is ahead for Digi International’s rookie CEO

* Accidental historian: New Brighton teen captures Minneapolis in the 1970s

* Mall of America store will turn you into a ‘3-D selfie’

* Whoopass Custom Bobbleheads

* Slack chooses Minneapolis as one of four cities for its first ad campaign

Other Top Tech Stories

* Apple

* 3 hot Apple Watch deals on Black Friday & Cyber Monday

* Round charging dock for the Apple Watch

* Apple has acquired Faceshift, a virtual reality startup used in the latest ‘Star Wars’ movie

* Opinion: Why has Apple bought Faceshift? Six intriguing possibilities

* WordPress.com Gets a New Face and Joins the JavaScript Age

* WP REST API & the Future of WordPress: Could the WordPress REST API change the face of WordPress forever?

*

Another round of great stories this week along with Phil’s Cool Thing of the Week: the BB-8™ Droid by Sphero and yes, cats love it!

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off).

Music: OMFG-Hello by Argofox under a Creative Commons License

The Podcast

Story Links

Past Week’s Top MN Stories

* Mobcon review (Phil)

* Local companies, others win Tekne tech and science prizes

* Comcast is mystery employer seeking $1.4M in job subsidies

* Best Buy Joins Chorus Of Weary Retail Outlook For Holiday Season

* Best Buy dragged down by declining sales of some devices

* Target Posts Strong Q3 Amid Faltering Retail Market (i.e., online sales)

Other Top Tech Stories

* The Shady World of Repair Manuals: Copyrighting for Planned Obsolescence  (hat tip to Alex Haar from this tweet)

* Encrypted Messaging Apps Face New Scrutiny Over Possible Role in Paris Attacks

* Is Congress Really Gearing Up for an Encryption Battle?

* Apple News:

* Tim Cook: Apple won’t create ‘converged’ MacBook and iPad

* Renderings show spectacular plans for new Frank Lloyd Wright-style Apple Store on the Chicago River

* Introducing the new Google+

* Oxford Dictionaries Selects an Emoji as Word of the Year

* Mentions:

* Honey – a Chrome browser extension to find coupons

*

Yes, “virtual” is a thing and it is getting closer to reality, especially with local Minnesota startups like Chuck Olsen‘s Visual. We talk about virtual reality, and a lot more, on this week’s show.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Music: Down Around Bull Creek by Walker Winn under a Creative Commons License

The Podcast

Story Links

Past Week’s Top MN Stories

* Code42 lays off 30 workers; ‘Let’s get the wrong people off the bus,’ CEO says

* Virtual reality becoming a reality in business, entertainment and the arts

* Local businesses match Amazon’s prices via Web tool

* St. Paul’s Tech Dump gives ex-cons a new lease, through work

* Tech Entrepreneur Tames the Warranty Wild With Upsie App

* Best Buy announces Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday doorbusters

* Defrag Conference Recap by Graeme

* #defragcon Twitter search

* Aaron Fulkerson’s MindTouch and Aaron’s slide deck (Graeme: good stuff starts about slide 18 on self-service content and “outside-in content”)

* Dell Cloud Manager (Enstratius) 

* About Ramez Naam & his bio

Other Top Tech Stories

* Apple:

* Mossberg: The iPad Pro can’t replace your laptop totally, even for a tablet lover

* Apple developing personal payment plan

* Apple TV buyers are overwhelmingly male

* TAG Heuer, Google Release First Swiss Luxury Smartwatch

* Alibaba’s Singles Day Blowout Racks Up $5B in Sales in First 90 Minutes

We cover many stories this week including the inspiration for this week’s show title: Apple has patented a way for your iPhone to enter ‘panic mode’ when you unlock it with a specific finger, which is sure to spark a lot of jokes like ours this week about using one’s middle finger as the ‘panic’ digit!

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Music: This Highway Tonight by Don Conoscenti under a Creative Commons License

The Podcast

Story Links

Past Week’s Top MN Stories

* Angel investment tax credit pricey but has defenders

* Twin Cities start-up shows how to succeed without Silicon Valley

* Mentions

* Justin Porter, Kipsu (formerly of U of M Venture Center)

* Jeff Nelson, MN Angel Tax Program Manager, MN DEED

* Sprint ordered to maintain low-cost Internet for the needy

* Co-Working Space Industrious Opens In Minneapolis

* Best Buy Will Help Create The Rules For Drones In The US

* MnDOT testing drones for bridge inspections

* Pad & Quill launches new handcrafted Horween leather bands for Apple Watch

Other Top Tech Stories

* Surviving in the IoT world: Kaspersky Lab Experts Discover the Risks of Smart Home Devices

* Chrome OS is here to stay

* Google is merging Chrome OS and Android

* Hurricane LTE-U: Don’t Let Wi-Fi Get Blown Away

* Official Plex app for Apple TV now available, offers local streaming, playlists, channels, more

* The Podcasting Audience Just Got A LOT Bigger

* Signal,

No, the zombie apocalypse has not yet happened but eavesdroppers, black-hat hackers, and other miscreants are coming for you. Our Security Tip of the Week reveals a new way you’ll be able to stay safe so don’t be scared. Happy Halloween!

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off).

Music: Hallow’s Eve Ritual by Darren Curtis under a Creative Commons License

The Podcast

Download or listen link

Story Links

Past Week’s Top MN Stories

* Michael Jordan, Mark Cuban invest in parent of Minneapolis sports stats firm

* Jordan, Cuban, Leonsis Put Millions on Sports Betting’s Future

* Richfield-based drone company has big plans

* Drone Flies Over Nude Beach

* Turn your Phone into a Drone 

* Stratasys Invests In Direct 3-D Metal Printing Startup

* Comcast to save low-income broadband as Sprint technology fades

* Twin Cities Comcast discount Internet programs detailed 

* Minneapolis Parking App Now Available To Everyone

* Seagate lays off 125 workers in Shakopee and Bloomington

Other Top Tech Stories

* Apple

* Apple sees iPhone sales grow 22.1% to 48M in Q4 2015, but iPad sales declined 19.5% 

* Mossberg: The Apple TV gets smart

* Apple Store and Best Buy Have the Fourth-Generation Apple TV In Stores Today

* Inside Apple’s perfectionism machine

* A legendary car executive thinks Tesla is facing the R...

We discuss the top stories of the week including Jack Dorsey of Twitter’s “reset” with developers which the Gang is not optimistic of success, the top holiday gifts according to Best Buy, Target’s retail startup accelerator, and much more.

Hosts: Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson (Steve Borsch is off).

Music: Nothing Much by My Bubba & Mi under a Creative Commons License via The Free Music Archive.

The Podcast

Download or listen link

Story Links

Past Week’s Top MN Stories

* Event Recaps: MinneAnalytics; SMBMSP

* IoT Hackday Winners

* On Top Of The Hill With Don Ness

* Stratasys will write down MakerBot value; warns of bigger loss

* Deluxe Corp. buys Datamyx for $160 million

* Target Partners With Techstars To Build Retail Startup Accelerator In Minneapolis

* Announcing the New Managing Director for the Target Retail Accelerator

* Best Buy survey taps into your holiday wish list

* Best Buy will ship online orders free starting a month before Black Friday

* SCSU grad’s technology company collects $30M

Other Top Stories

* “YouTube Red” offers premium YouTube for $9.99 a month, $12.99 for iOS users

* YouTube Red

* “There is a big catch about that $9.99 price: $9.99 will cover Android, desktop, and the mobile Web, but if you want iOS support, the price goes up to $12.99/month. Apple takes a 30 percent cut of all subscription revenue on its platform, and Google is passing that cost directly onto the consumer.”

* Twitter CEO Dorsey Apologizes To Developers, Says He Wants To “Reset” Relations

* 10 reasons why Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized to developers

*