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.

Tag: Graeme Thickins (Page 54 of 55)

Another Party Post (If You Can Stand It!)

December 18, 2006 / / 1 Comment

Okay, I promise this will be it — for the holiday season, anyway. At the risk of appearing to do nothing else but attend parties, swill wine, and nibble cheese at various and sundry functions, I offer up here my final party post of 2006…well, I think, anyway. We’ll see… 🙂 Christmaspartygraphic_1 This one was the annual holiday function of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA), held Wednesday evening December 13 at the gleaming new Guthrie Theater along the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. Again, it was a balmy evening, in the low 40s…with no snow (!).

I was gonna shoot some pix of this hot new venue (my first time there), and did take my little pocket cam with me. But then I realized others have probably shot much better photos than I could. [Oh?] Check out these very cool Guthrie pix I since found on Flickr. [Thank you, “jpnuwat.” Whoever you are, you shoot some really amazing stuff!!] I now think I’m gonna throw away my pocket cam in shame, because my shots, a couple of which are shown below (after one of his), leave….uh, a little to be desired? Guthriecjpnuwat

Oh well, these two of mine show the one thing I wanted to capture Wednesday evening: the great view off the outside deck, which my friends and I decided would be a terrific place to hold a reception in warmer weather.

The event drew what looked to be 100 to 150 people, and was crowded into a long, narrow lounge on the fourth floor. But it was fun, and the food was great, as was the wine. Soon as I walked in, I ran into an old buddy I hadn’t seen in years: Terry Anderson, head shooter at TKA Photography in Edina, who was there to capture some shots of the occasion for MIMA. Guthrieview1_1
I also met some other really interesting people, including James Schmit of Greater Web Traffic, a state IT employee and former longtime Carlson Companies staffer, who’s doing some SEO/SEM work in his spare time. Let’s hear it for moonlighting! Guthrieview2_1
Then, after running into friends Tom Borgerding (the original MIMA prez) and Jason Bakker of Campus Media Group, Bloomington — the best darn college marketing firm on the planet — I met Jennifer Meyer, CEO of Web Emarketing, who not only is an accomplished search-engine marketer, but a surfer, too — I kid you not! She’s spent time at Surfer’s Paradise near Brisbane, Australia, and also frequents the Pacific side of Costa Rica in her spare time. [Naturally, we’re gonna exchange some surf pix links while on our respective New Year’s vacations.] After hooking up with MinneDemo colleagues Rob Metcalf of Flyspy and Jeff Pester of Slivercast.com, I was introduced to Martin Davis, principal of Ratchet, an accomplished interactive development shop, spun out of Fallon in 2004, that now serves a large part of the downtown ad agency community. Martin also has really cool business cards, designed by Duffy Design — seriously, you should stop by sometime just to get one! 🙂 Finally, I had a chance to chat at some length with another fascinating guy, Andrew Ecklund, CEO of Ciceron. I’d known his name for a long time, and had briefly met him once in the early days of MIMA, in like 1997, but we’d never had a chance to really talk. He was a font of information, a funny guy, and his firm is doing some excellent web marketing work for clients such as Andersen Windows, US Bank, and Target Center. In particular, he’s really excited about web video, and especially about Brightcove, which I’ve written about before — a company that kinda/sorta has Minnesota roots, since it was founded by Jeremy Allaire and friends, formerly of Allaire Corp., which was founded here. Andrew’s firm is working on some really cool, new video stuff, with a group of well-regarded local film and video talents. I’ll definitely be watching for more news on this….

Well, that’s it from the Minneapolis web marketing and Internet startup party scene for another holiday season….Whoops, no, wait! What’s this? Why, it’s another invitation to a little gathering of players in our local startup community, on Wednesday the 20th downtown. Just an impromptu get-together for beer to meet an out-of-town VC visitor from California. But how can I miss that?… 🙂

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With Multiple Devices, Synching Is an Issue

December 14, 2006 / / 0 Comments

If you shoot digital pix (is there really anyone left who doesn’t?) and have multiple devices, especially both a Mac and PC, plus a smart phone, and/or you travel a lot, then you really should check out Sharpcast. It just announced at the Le Web show in Paris its Mac uploader. This is great news for anyone using Apple’s photo organizing/editing app — iPhoto — which is flat-out the best one out there, my friends. [Not a day goes by when I don’t use it…and love it.]

Sharpcastsynchitall

So, synch your brains out, Mac digital shooters — across all the toys you got! Even if some of them say “Windows” on ’em…. With Sharpcast, Mac users can back up and share their albums online and view their iPhoto albums on a smart phone or Windows-based PC. You can export iPhoto albums directly from your Mac to your Sharpcast Photos Web albums in just a few clicks, where they are backed up, easy to share, and automatically synched all the way down to your mobile phone and PC desktop. You can get the iPhoto uploader as a free download at www.sharpcast.com/download.

But, Wait – There’s More
The photo app from Sharpcast is the first thing out of the chute for this well-backed startup. [See my coverage from DEMO ’06 back in February.] It’s built on the company’s patent-pending universal “push” synchronization platform, which it says “marks the first time that Blackberry-like push synchronization capability is available to the average consumer, outside of an enterprise setting.” It automatically backs up photo collections online, organizes them into web albums, and keeps the collection constantly up to date across all of a person’s mobile phones, all their PCs, and the web. It thus eliminates the hassles of manual uploading, sync cables, etc, so people can get on with creating and enjoying their media.

Here’s what’s coming from Sharpcast next: it previewed at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco its upcoming product code-named Hummingbird. It’s a solution for backing up, sharing, accessing, and syncing ALL your documents, photos, music, and video — across all the computers you use, the web, and optionally your mobile phone, in what the company says is “a completely automatic way.” Sharpcastsynchgraphic Watch for a publicly available version of Hummingbird in the first half of 2007. Anyone interested can sign up as an “alpha” tester at www.sharpcast.com/products/hummingbird.

Tags: Sharpcast,

‘MinneDemo 2’ Was One Hot Ticket!

December 13, 2006 / / 1 Comment

Hot, as in…could you find a parking place? Then could you get in the door? And could you believe the freaking great weather outside? For those of you not in Minnesota, we’ve been basking in 45-50 degree temps of late, haven’t seen a snowfall yet (and it’s mid-December!), and we actually had a light rain/mist goin’ on outside Monday evening for this second MinneDemo event. I had to pinch myself to believe I wasn’t in San Francisco! And the scene, a high-energy gathering of Internet entrepreneurs and developers, made it even more reminiscent of the City by the Bay, back in days of….well, you know.

Minnedemologo200w

But, hell no, this is no bubble! Web 2.0 is different, folks. And this group is great evidence of that. It proves that smart developers can live and work anywhere they want….even in now-subtropical Minnesota [if this is global warming, bring it on, baby!]. And the new, open tools and platforms of the Web 2.0 era let them build their stuff quickly while they stay right where they prefer to live. It’s hard convincing Minnesota folks to leave. Something about quality of life, snow (hah!), lakes, fishing, hunting, the local music scene, the culture, and, doggone it…“Minnesota Nice” in general.

What’s interesting, too, about this new breed of startups is that they don’t need much to bootstrap and get their businesses going and up on the Web. Rapid development platforms like Ruby On Rails help a lot in that regard [and I’m hearing we have an excellent community of those developers here]. The hope of these entrepreneurs, of course, is that word will spread “virally” about their new sites…kind of the comeback of the age-old ‘build-a-better-mousetrap’ concept. But they’re smart enough to realize they don’t need to be hunting down big VC dollars for these businesses — they wouldn’t know what to do with such money, anyway. They understand, however, that angel funding is a good fit for their needs. [And, yes, there were definitely some angels present! Of course, not a single VC showed, but my radar is picking up that this will change soon.] Think of our local Web 2.0 phenomenon as a kind of giant caldron of experimentation: build ’em fast and get ’em up on the Web! Then, hey, if people like ’em, they just might catch on and turn into real businesses….

Minnedemo1

[Note: The event, by the way, was held at at the Arcadia Cafe at Franklin and Nicollet. Photos shown are courtesy of Minneapolis’ own Jamie Thingelstad, VP/CTO of Dow Jones Online. He and his crew run all the awesome sites of this global leader from right here! Yes, 110 people downtown, in the original MarketWatch offices. Jamie is also affiliated with one of the sponsors, Road Sign Math. The photos, in order, are of the bar, organizer-extraordinaire Dan Grigsby, the demo room, and Mike O’Connor getting ready to pitch.]

Minnedemo2

Net-net: anybody who’s anybody in the local developer community was at this schmoozefest, either to demo their wares (there were six companies/projects pitching), watch their peers demo, or just catch up with their fellow developer friends, advisors, potential employees/employers, look for contract talent, angel connections, etc, etc…. I saw and heard all that and more. I was in awe being around so many smart people. We have one really, really great developer community here, folks! Some of my best friends are developers, and I’m very happy to say that. Get to know ’em. This is where this state’s next generation of company-building and wealth generation will come from!

Minnedemo3

So, who’s behind organizing this MinneDemo thing? It rose up out of a grass-roots, open-source movement called BarCamp, which is actually (and fittingly) a global phenomenon. Three local developers named Dan Grigsby, Luke Franci, and Ben Edwards decided about a year ago that our local community could be a great “chapter” if someone would just get it started. Well, they seized the moment! …and actually have put in a ton of work into throwing the three events so far. [BarCamp MN and then two MinneDemos.] We salute you guys! And they had no problem finding sponsors — in fact, I hear their list is almost over-subscribed already. For this event, the sponsors were ipHouse, Mosquito Mole Multiworks, Kinetic Data, Road Sign Math, and New Counsel. [Thanks, guys! Smart marketing dollars invested.]

Minnedemo4

This second MinneDemo easily drew 180 people, which was double the first one! [That was held at a smaller venue in Uptown in September.] Not only was this one a happening, fun networking event, there was a lot of stimulating discussion going on Monday night — I can attest. As well as seeing a lot of old friends, developers and others alike — Tom Kieffer, Rob Metcalf, Jeff Pester, Mike O’Connor, John Roberts, Derek Peterson, Tom VonKuster, and several more — I met some really interesting new friends, including [the ones I got cards from, at least]: Ben Moore of Curbly (great tagline this social network has: “Love Where You Live”)….Dan Carroll of imp (that stands for “Intelligent Media Platform” and, interestingly, it’s a company that sort of grew out of the Utne Reader)….John Sandberg of Kinetic Data (one of the sponsors linked above)….and Katharine Grayson, the new technology beat reporter for our local weekly The Business Journal. She was nice enough to bring along a photographer, after I alerted their managing editor, Mark Reilly, to the event. [Note: Buy next week’s issue — lots more about our local tech community there.]

So, you get the point by now: the Minnesota Internet startup and business community is a-hummin’!! I know you’ll be hearing more from many people in this group. And I’ll continue bringing as much of it to you as I can…

Nothin’ “mini” about Minne-sota!

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It’s Pah-ty Time!

December 7, 2006 / / 0 Comments

That’s not only my favorite line from my favorite cut of Big Audio Dynamite, but it’s my favorite call to action at this time of year! And here, friends, are three of the coolest places to be in Minneapolis in the next week. The first, unfortunately, is by invitation only…a customer-appreciation kinda gig for the great design/UI firm, FactorUE, tomorrow night, Friday, December 8. But maybe you know someone who can get you in….or just show up at the Foundation Nightclub downtown about the time it’s wrapping up at 9:00, when things will continue raging, I’m sure. The cool thing is that two of FactorUE’s designers are DJs, too!

Factorueevite

The second local event I’ll be catching, on Monday the 11th, is the holiday gathering of our great local community of developers and entrepreneurs, playfully called MinneDemo. [It’s the local chapter of a loosely affiliated global network called Bar Camp.] Go onto that MinneDemo link (it’s a wiki page) and sign up if you’d like to attend — unless the list has already gone beyond the capacity of the larger club where it’s being held this time. Dan Grigsby and friends have done a great job organizing and planning these gigs, which are catching on like wildfire. Actually, this one is half-serious, too — a separate room is devoted to a program of five or so brief demos by aspiring entrepreneurs or new startups.

Minnedemoholiday

The third event on my agenda is next Wednesday the 13th — the annual holiday bash of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, which has a reputation for being a really fun party. This year, it’s at the brand-new locale of the Guthrie Theater, so I thought I’d check it out, and catch up with some old friends. It’s free for members or $20 for non-members, and you can read more about it and register right here.

Mimaparty

Okay, I must be getting to sound more and more like the Michael Arrington of Minnesota here 🙂 …. [except I don’t throw parties at my own house]. But, if you’re a player in our local IT/Internet/Web 2.0 community, you should be showing up at one of these events, at least! I’m looking forward to all of ’em. See ya there….

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My 15 Minutes of Fame?

November 29, 2006 / / 2 Comments

Imagine my surprise the other day when a friend sent me this link and asked if he could have my autograph. All because of a comment I’d left on a blog, it turned out.

Mediashiftme

I’ve never actually met Mark Glaser, but he’s a guy I really respect — one of the very best out there today writing about New Media. To be featured on his new PBS blog is a real honor. In the past, I read and very much enjoyed Mark’s weekly column for the USC Annenberg School of Communication’s Online Journalism Review, and he still writes an “intelligence report” newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. But I wasn’t yet aware of his new gig, MediaShift. [Great name, by the way, Mark!]

I remember Mark’s byline from the halcyon, pre-crash days of The Industry Standard — which had an amazing editorial staff. I got to know several of those folks from attending their great conferences and reporting on those events. [I did that by email newsletter, since those were pre-blogging days.]

Mark is now doing some very important work chronicling and analyzing the impact of new media on our culture and society. Keep up the great work, Mark!

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