Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.
Get ready to hear the phrase "Props and Drops" a lot, at least if SocialSmack has anything to do with it. I heard last week these guys would be here at DEMOfall, and I knew I'd have to interview them. 
This startup, based in Austin, TX, is all about giving consumers a better way to express themselves about the brands they interact with on a daily basis. I had a great chat with Matt Curtin, founder and CEO.
At the opening reception Monday evening, I ran into the folks from Rocky Mountain Ventures, and learned about the new product they would introduce the next day: the CaptureID Mobile Scanner. This company, based in Fort Collins, CO, is headed by a long-time HP engineer and inventor, Gordon Nutall. And I also spoke with Ranjit Singh, COO, who’s a former Xerox executive. The beginning of my interview got cut off (duh, I missed hitting the on button in the glare of the sun!), so we join it in progress.
In the photo I took of the company’s on-stage pitch on Tuesday, that’s Gordon Nutall on the right, and marketing manager Lisa Milner on the left. 
In the interview, Gordon and Ranjit also refer to the company’s previous consumer-market product, the FlipPal portable scanner. The new CaptureID product being introduced at DEMOfall takes the company into a new direction: B2B and professional markets.
Earlier this week, I sat down for coffee with Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad, to chat about a number of things, and we decided to do an impromptu audio interview. I realized later it was almost three years to the day when I'd first met Robert, at an event where he was honored as Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2007 Minnesota Cup reception at the University of Minnesota — and I blogged about that, quoting from his great talk. 
I'd also heard him speak before at other local events, where he's always a favorite. I have much admiration for the man, not just because he's the spiritual leader of 25,000 geeks and has a real passion for technology, but because he's a marketing genius. What's more, he's really funny and entertaining. 
I also find it fascinating that he began college as an art student, then switched to computer science (coming to the U of M for that, from his native Chicago). I've since seen Robert at many of our local tech "barcamp" events, MInneBar and MinneDemo, for which he and his employer of the last eight years, Best Buy, have provided much support. Hats off to them for that. (As Robert likes to tell it, "Geek Squad acquired Best Buy in 2002.")
But, this day, I thought it would be a great opportunity to let Robert tell us about the new role I knew he'd recently been promoted to — that of Chief Technology Officer, reporting the CEO of Best Buy. I knew something was coming, because he hinted so in a meeting with me and my colleague Steve Borsch during the summer. 
There was no Best Buy press release announcing his appointment, which I guess is common for them, but I actually confirmed it a few weeks ago when I hit Robert's LinkedIn page. (He told me he didn't want any hoopla around being named to his new role, that he'll be happy to get recognition when he has some results to talk about.)
We recorded a 21-minute interview, where Robert touched on an array of topics. He talked about technology trends, and how his job is translating those into actionable intelligence for Best Buy. He spoke about his developing relationships and partnerships with companies like Google and Facebook, and how he really finds Best Buy a dynamic place to work, giving him a "palette, and a canvas." He also tells the inside story about how was first asked to be CTO, involving a trip to New York with CEO Brian Dunn on the company jet to meet with Eric Schmidt of Google. Robert also talks about what motivates him, how he thinks more like a startup guy, but has the unique advantage of such big resources at Best Buy — and the abilily to open doors anywhere. "I have the best job," he says. "I get to travel the world and visit all these companies." He said over the next five to ten years, "we'll be exploiting the four screens." In that regard, he talks in particular about how one of those, TV, is coming into an new exciting phase. "I like sitting on the main chess board," he said.
But let's get to it…
• Download or listen to my complete, unedited interview of Robert Stephens, CTO of Best Buy… (MP3)"
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 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 friend 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 1 Gig to run OS 10.6, which I wanted to upgrade her to, and preferably 2 Gig. 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.
CrossOver Mac integrates seamlessly with Mac OSX. There's no need to boot a separate Windows partition, or move files back and forth between two separate environments. It lets you work natively in Mac OSX — you run your Windows apps directly in OSX and save all your work files there as well. And here's a key point: running just one operating system means faster performance as well. (Yes, that means better than Parallels and VMware Fusion.) Running on OSX also means that even if you're running virus-prone applications like Outlook and Internet Explorer, you're completely protected. But here's the best thing of all, you need no Windows OS license! That's right: you don't need spend that additional money; you just pay for the very reasonably priced CrossOver program.
It comes in two versions: Standard at $39.95 and Pro at $69.95, and both are of course downloadable. And, yes, there's a free trial. The system requirements to run CrossOver are really pretty simple. And check out the list of supported Windows apps near the bottom of the product page — all the major ones you would expect. But what if you want to use a Windows app that isn't listed in their database? Does that mean that it won't run under CrossOver? Here's what CodeWeavers says: "Not necessarily. Many applications work perfectly under CrossOver without any modification whatsoever. However, we may simply not be aware of them. So, just because an application isn't in our database doesn't mean that your application won't run. You might consider downloading the trial version of CrossOver to see if your application works. And if it does, please consider submitting it so that it makes it into the database."
For more resources and links on CrossOver Mac, check out this nice video, and the company's online Support Forums are quite active. You can also follow CodeWeavers on Facebook or on Twitter.
I learned at a recent business seminar at my local Apple Store that CrossOver Mac is available in pretty much every one of Apple's stores. You may have to ask a staff member for it, since they may store it in the back room, but it's there, according to James Ramey, the company's head of sales, who gave a talk at the seminar. The title on his business card: "Minister of Greed"… 🙂 You have to admire a company with some seriously good products, but also a sense of humor — and not afraid to put it out there. Check out this news release they put out a few weeks ago:
CodeWeavers CEO Names Himself "Employee of the Month" for 175th Consecutive Month
Software Developer CodeWeavers Leader Calls Feat "Jack Welchian" as He Awards Himself Honorary Plaque
The only Codeweavers press release funnier than this one was from July of 2009:
Codeweavers to Overtake Microsoft by 2018
Current Sales Trend Indicates Gadfly Open Source Developers Will Be Nation's Largest Provider of Windows Technology; Microsoft Imperiled CodeWeavers Offers to Buy Microsoft Campus "On Credit"
The company manages this unique approach to publicity under the guidance of Minneapolis PR firm Haberman & Associates, one of the best (and most unsung) here in the Twin Cities. As a marketing advisor to tech firms, I take my hat off to them.
And I thank CodeWeavers for helping massive numbers of people (me included) to avoid buying Windows.
(Update: I neglected to mention that CrossOver Mac is based on the Wine Project. Thank your local Linux geek for that! Also note that CodeWeavers has two other very popular products: "CrossOver Games" and "CrossOver Linux.")
(This post first appeared on Minnov8.com, a site about web & Internet innovation in MInnesota.)
Okay, so there’s this company named Apple that I hear makes phones. And people tell me there’s been, uh, a bit of news lately about some new phone of theirs?
Well, that media firestorm didn’t stop Minnesota’s W3i from deciding to jump in with some news of its own, which is actually related to the exploding ecosystem around Apple mobile devices. That would be apps.
St. Cloud, MN-based W3i is in the app distribution business — in a big, profitable way (33 successive quarters thereof). But till now that business has been all about desktop apps, and Windows only. Well, mark down yesterday as the day they entered the world of mobile, with this bombshell: W3i Launches New Incented Mobile App Distribution Service for iOS App Developers. A separate version of the release, for consumers, gets more to the benefit: Consumers Can Now Earn Rewards for Installing Apps. Those rewards, my friends, would be cash — for consumers who register at a W3i site called Apperang.com.
Naturally, app fanboys and girls everywhere loved the news — after reading about it on some of the sites they frequent the most. TechCrunch (MobileCrunch) ran this story: Apperang Pays You Cash to Download iPhone Apps… Ka-Ching! And VentureBeat (MobileBeat) ran concurrently — amazing how that happens — with their take: Get paid to install apps with W3i Mobile Solutions and Apperang.
Numerous other sites and blogs picked up on it immediately, and Twitter was going crazy on it (just search on hashtags #apperang and #w3i). [Oh, sure, there was a story in the Mpls StarTrib last week, too, but that didn't light up much of anything… <rimshot>]
I asked the CEO of a local app development company for his reaction to this W3i news, from a business perspective: ”The model and integration W3i has developed for desktop distribution has been a huge success in the past, so I wouldn’t bet against them on making their mobile version a success,” said Wade Beavers, CEO of DoApp Inc. “For developers wanting to get a core base of users fast, it makes sense to use this service. The key will be how long those users keep your app, because that’s where the return on investment is.”
I also asked one of Minnesota’s most experienced iPhone app developers for his reaction: “Will app publishers readily jump to use this type of service? Small developers, maybe,” said Bill Heyman of CodeMorphic. “But small developers may not have budget to support this type of promotion… Will it be enough to hit the tipping point for more organic sales because of a higher App Store ranking? Well, ultimately, it would depend on how much a company wants to spend to buy a ranking.”
But, actually, W3i signed on some pretty successful big developers for its private beta before the announcement yesterday (the service is now in public beta). That list of launch advertisers — just those that let W3i use their names for PR purposes — includes these firms, with the name of their app in parentheses: Big Stack Studios (Sigma), Inert Soap (FingerZilla), Booyah (MyTown), Gist (Gist), Thinking Ape (Kingdoms at War), Flixster (Movies), Slacker Inc (Slacker Radio), xCube Labs (My Health Records – Health n Family), and infinidycorp (Zombies vs. Aliens).
I’m sure we’ll be hearing about a lot more, as W3i tells me they are crazy-busy now following up with other app companies who are inquiring.
(Disclosure: the author has had a consulting relationship with W3i for providing PR services.)
Strategist. Writer. Consultant.
Advisor. Investor. More.
© 2024 Graeme Thickins on Tech
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Recent Comments