Graeme Thickins on Tech

Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

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Best Pitch I Ever Got: To Interview a Naked Surfer Girl :-)

Okay, it would've only been on the phone, and she probably would've had clothes on. Didn't have time to interview her, anyway (I'm on vacation!). But the pitch is worth a read. Here it is, word for word, from the PR guy:

————-

Hi Graeme,

Alison
Teal is staring in the Reality TV series on Discovery Channel: Naked and
Afraid
had over 8 million viewers, will have the new episode airing
July 7, 2013. Alison found
herself stranded in and, quite literally, exposed to some of the world's
most extreme weather environments and paired with a total
AlisonTeal-wBoardstranger. The duo were left with no food, no water…and no clothes.
They must survive on their own for a full 21 days, with nothing but one personal
item each and the knowledge that the only prize is their pride and sense of
accomplishment. Alison was joined
with survivalist Jonathan Klay marooned on a Maldivian island for 21 days. The
surfer girl and the former Marine clash when sunstroke and starvation threaten
their survival as they try to get through the 21 days without clothing facing
the elements . You
will see Alison on the survival show challenged to put her love of
adventure and survival skills to the test! http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-
  shows/naked-and-afraid/bios/   alison-teal.htm
.

After
filming Alison was inspired to live her dream, announcing the
launch of her
crowd funding campaign on Red Capes,  http://www.redcapes.com/projectDetails.aspx?pid=47

Alison’s
Adventure was filmed traveling the globe focused
on educating and inspiring children and families about sustainability, adventure
and going for their dreams. Her goal is to embark on a national
AlisonTeal-titlescreenschool tour and
develop partnerships with "do good" organizations to launch Alison's Adventures
to the world.  “I am ready to inspire kids globally to embrace their inner
super-hero, and make a difference!“  

Alison
has begun a campaign at a fund raising site Red Capes, www.RedCapes.com,
because the founders Wendy Robbins and Karen Paull take crowd funding to
expanded levels of service. In addition to helping businesses, products, and
ideas reach their full potential, Wendy and Karen saw a need for not-for-profit
organizations and causes to be able to increase their financial capabilities.
Red Capes believes in supporting every worthwhile project, regardless of whether
the immediate monetary goal has been met. The site operates world.pngde instead
of limiting their offerings to the U.S. and U.K. Wendy Robbins, CEO, says, "Red
Capes is a power to the people, paying it forward fundraising platform where a
large group gives small donations in exchange for unique gifts so everyone gets
to be a superhero." 

Alison
had an atypical childhood: raised by adventure-photographer parents, she
accompanied trips to exotic locales beginning at the age of two months old. Her
life since has continued this spirit of exploration. 

Her
current residence is a Swiss Family Robinson style grass hut that she built with
her parents over the last 20 years. (One of the perks lets you come to her home
for a 3 day adventure!) 

After
graduating from film school at USC, Alison set off around the world with a
backpack, an HD camera, and pink surfboard, and a dream to make a film series
which would offer viewers a passport into her global family and their secrets of
survival, sustainability, and happiness. Alison's
Adventures is an original film series created to make the world a smaller place
by sharing the wisdom of exotic cultures, showcasing authentic people, and
entertaining the kid in everyone through storytelling that captures the mystery
and intrigue of life's adventures. 

Would
you like to interview Alison Teal and Wendy Robbins?

Best, 

Imal
Wagner

GM Throws Money at Hackers at #Gluecon

During the reception after Day 1 of the Glue Conference, I stopped at the GM booth to learn more about their big push for apps in cars, and the hackathon they're sponsoring here. Sound quality starts out bad (sorry), but gets better. Watch for announcement about the winners later today, during Day 2 of Glue.

I’m at #Gluecon 2013 – Preparing for My Brain to Explode :-)

Gluecon2013-bigroomSitting in the big room — largest Gluecon ever, and I'm back for my fifth!  As you can see from the agenda, it's packed with hot topics… even six-across breakout sessions this year, as event organizer Eric Norlin told me in a brief interview just before the kickoff of Day One. Watch for more from me as the event unfolds today and tomorrow…

UPDATE 5/23: Haven't been able to post a lot here yet — but, in case you didn't know, I've been tweeting my brains out about happenings at #gluecon here.

 

Spark Devices Launches ‘Spark Core’ to Enable Wi-Fi for Everything

[Note: This post first appeared earlier today at Minnov8.com.]

Spark-logo-horizontalMinneapolis-based Spark Devices today launched a new project on Kickstarter in a major reboot of the company. The new Kickstarter comes as the cofounders are about to complete an accelerator program in China called HAXLR8R (“hack-celerator” – get it?). It’s described as “a new kind of accelerator program for people who hack hardware and make things.” (Mentors include Brad Feld, Nolan Bushnell, and a host of others.) The Demo Day for the current class is May 13.

“There’s been a lot of excitement around Internet-connected devices, but the barrier’s always been pretty high because building Wi-Fi into a product is surprisingly expensive and difficult,” said Zach Supalla, cofounder and CEO. “We want to take down that barrier so that people can experiment with Internet-connected products as freely as they do with electronics in general using an Arduino.”
SparkCore-InHand

Spark Devices is building an open source development kit for Wi-Fi enabled products. “Spark Core” — it’s first product (and the name of the Kickstarter project) — is an Arduino-compatible, Wi-Fi enabled, cloud-powered development platform that makes creating Internet-connected hardware a breeze. The team confidently state on its new Kickstarter page, “There’s nothing you can’t build with the Core.”

How big is this “Internet of Things” (IoT) thing?

How does 24 billion devices connected by 2020 grab you? How does the notion of “transforming everything” grab you? A recent survey on IoT found 66% of IT professionals actually believe it will play a part in business and consumer technology converging within 3-5 years. (More about that SAP/Harris Interactive study in this post from ReadWrite Cloud.)

As Spark Devices aptly puts it, “we’re entering a world where products listen and communicate.” It notes that, so far, the Internet of Things is being driven by startups — think Pebble Watch, FitBit, the Nest thermostat, and others that are disrupting sleepy old product categories. But the founders rightly see a huge opportunity to help thousands of established companies take advantage of this connected-devices movement. [That's right, so they don't get disrupted .]

Spark Core works like an Arduino with integrated Wi-Fi. It’s powered by the new Texas Instruments CC3000 Wi-Fi module, and can be easily integrated into any circuit board.

How to manage all these devices?

Spark Core isn’t all that’s being debuted in this Kickstarter project. The company is also announcing it will be building a cloud service to manage its Wi-Fi enabled products in the field. The “Spark Cloud” is a
SparkCloud-logoscalable, managed infrastructure for communicating with all Spark-powered devices — an open but secure system, with a developer-friendly REST API. A key point: this cloud will enable over-the-air firmware updates to improve products over time. Read the FAQ on the Kickstarter project. If you’re a hacker, it will blow your mind.

How to back Spark

Spark Core is being sold for $39 on the company’s Kickstarter project page, and later will be sold on its website and through electronics distributors. But if you move fast, 200 Spark Cores are available for $29 each on Kickstarter as an Early-Bird Special. And there are other great options to back the Kickstarter project.

What can you build with Spark Core and Spark Cloud?

Sample products cited on the Kickstarter page include things like a wireless motion detector, a solar-powered security camera, or even, as the Kickstarter video shows, a “pizza orderer.” To say the possibilities are limitless is not exaggerating.

Here’s more on the Spark Devices team:

• Zach Supalla, CEO. Formerly worked at McKinsey (operations and product development) and Groupon. Kellogg (MBA), McCormick (MEM), Dartmouth (BA).
SparkTeam-inChina

• Zachary Crockett, CTO. Software developer with broad experience across platforms (Ruby, Java, Objective C). U of MN (Ph.D), Vanderbilt (BA).

• Stephanie Rich, VP of Biz Dev. Former director of sales and marketing in the film industry (GreeneStreet Films). Cambridge (MBA), Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism (BS).

• Will Hart, Design Engineer. Cook Engineering Design Fellow at Dartmouth College. BE and ME in Mechanical Engineering, Dartmouth.

[Recent photo shows the team in China, minus Steph, who stayed home in Minneapolis to hold down the fort. Left to right: Zach, Zachary, Will.]

The partnership with the aforementioned HAXLR8R hardware-focused incubator, based in Shenzhen, China, provides Spark Devices an extensive ecosystem of mentors, investors, and fellow startups.

For more on Spark Devices, see its latest web site, and follow the company on Twitter and Facebook. Also catch the founders at the upcoming Bay Area Maker Faire, and (I personally hope) at the Glue Conference later in May. Then, soon, the entire team will be back home hard at work at CoCo Minneapolis at the Grain Exchange.

Congrats to Spark Devices: another great example of Minnesota tech innovation — gone global!

What Comes First in Fargo – the #MidwestMobileSummit or the Spring Floods?

MidwestMobileSummit-logoThey're both coming soon! And they may actually be arriving about the same time. But, no worries, the first-year Midwest Mobile Summit will be held April 28-29 in downtown Fargo ND, which I'm told is a pretty safe area of town from the rising waters that come every spring to this city partially bordered on the Red River.

But if you really want to find out when the floods
H2O-1might arrive — well, it turns out there's an iOS app for that.  Its name?  Why, H2O Fargo, of course!  And it became available a couple of weeks ago in the App Store, just in time for the inevitable rising waters.

H2O-2I learned about the app when I met with the guys from Myriad Devices, a mobile app development shop that's the lead sponsor and organizer of the Midwest Mobile Summit. They developed the flood app as a public service for their community, and Jake Joraanstad, CEO, told me the app was approved by Apple in only one day! I guess they understood the urgency of the situation. (Screenshots of the app shown.)

The MIdwest Mobile Summit has big support of the local community, and will draw a large representation of the area's significant technology industry, including angels and VCs, Microsoft and ex-Microsoft managers, NDSU officials, and a
H2O-3strong mobile development community.  Read more about the the schedule, speakers, and sponsors at the event site — and how to obtain tickets. You can purchase Day One, Day Two, or both days. Overnight accommocations for Sunday, April 28, are availabke at the nearby Radisson downtown (info at event site). Several speakers and attendees are coming from the Twin Cities. See you there if you can make it!

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