“Eighteen years after launching a business to provide emergency 911 development services for county governments, GeoComm CEO and President Tom Grones has reached a deal to sell majority ownership in his company to Granite Equity Partners.Terms were not announced, but Grones said the transaction involved an exchange of GeoComm stock for shares of Granite Equity’s other holdings, as well as cash and satisfaction of some of GeoComm’s debt.”

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“Mynul Khan was fresh out of St. Cloud State in 2004 when Fujitsu handed him a big assignment: develop a better tool to manage the Japan-based company’s IT outsourcing: “Even a large Fortune [Global] 500 tech company has trouble finding and managing people,” says Khan, who worked with Fujitsu’s office near Dallas. “They were going through multiple tiers [of an organization] to get to the local guys to deliver service.”

Khan put together a basic website called TechnicianMarketplace.com, hired local contractors, and “[Fujitsu] started to see the cost savings, time savings, and direct control of the service delivery,” he says. He ran Technician Marketplace for two years, eventually broadening it beyond Fujitsu and growing it to 10 employees and almost $3 million in revenue. But that got him thinking even bigger.”

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“Minneapolis, MN— 5.20.13 — Today Clear.md announced that it has been selected as a finalist for “Startup of the Year” at the Doctors 2.0 conference scheduled for June 7, 8 in Paris, France.

“A global perspective has defined our strategy since day-one. We are honored to be recognized by Doctors 2.0 in Europe as a US-company with an international identity, and we look forward to representing the Twin Cities digital health community at the conference in Paris this June,” said John Brownlee, CEO and co-founder of Clear.md.”

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“(Reuters) – Target Corp (TGT.N) said on Friday it opened a new San Francisco office to track down technology companies that can help the second-largest U.S. retailer grow its online commerce business.

Target’s Technology Innovation Center is run by David Newman, an executive who spent six years at the online business of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), which has had a major presence in Silicon Valley for several years.”

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It’s important to recognize those who financially sponsor TECHdotMN because their contribution helps to advance Minnesota’s technology industry.

Thank you JAMF Software for reinvesting and supporting the cause!

What does JAMF Software do?

We help customers succeed with the Apple platform, specifically in larger scale environments. We’ve built the business on philosophies rooted in trust, teamwork and our mutual success. Over the last 11 years our customers have grown in excess of 2 million Apple devices under management. We hope the Fortune 100, the Fortune 1000, small businesses school districts, universities, colleges and schools on five continents.

Where is JAMF Software headquartered and officed?

Our headquarters are in Minneapolis, which has a focus on operations, finance, sales, and marketing. Our largest office, by employees, is in Eau Claire Wisconsin. Here the focus is on development, customer service,  and product management.   We have field offices in Cupertino, Manhattan, Amsterdam, and Hong Kong.

What is something unique about JAMF Software?

While many companies will point towards customer centricity and culture we believe in measurable ways we orient our business and day-to-day activities focusing on these areas. When we assess our success we do so in terms of customer retention, employee retention, acquisition of new customers and efficiency. The first three measures are direct representations of this philosophy focused leading to action. The efficiency metric we use to understand how we scale the business in support of the first three. We see the game is being how do we delight customers and the scoreboard of revenue as our measure of success. We believe that by focusing on customers first revenue will follow. We have seen some companies focus on revenue first and struggle to build an enduring brand. All of this is easier said than done and we hope to continue to perfect our ideals into actions over the course of the business. While we are not alone in this pursuit, as there are many companies pursuing it, we are a part of a minority of businesses who live it.

Why does JAMF Software sponsor TECHdotMN?

We sponsor TECHdotMN  because we appreciate the value it creates. The rest of the country does not quite understand how our region contributes globally on the technical front. While we are not the Silicon Valley or the Silicon Alley we do create world-class technologies that change the world for better. Your dedication and focus to markets that many other people don’t care about, yet remain relevant, is in line with our beliefs and we are happy to help your organization carry on your mission.

What are your thoughts on how the Minnesota tech climate could improve for JAMF Software?

When we think of how the tech climate could improve it is more about the entire ecosystem than it is about how it would improve to benefit us. Mayor Rybak has extolled the virtues of leveraging the diversity of cultures that have migrated to the region. In addition, a large research universities including the University of Minnesota have strove to produce more qualified graduates from schools in the area. However, we are not seen as a destination for people outside of the region to move to and as such we see in outmigration of talent to Seattle, Silicon Valley, Austin Texas, Boston Massachusetts, in New York City. We as a region need to continue to develop attractors that will bring people from these regions into our communities that their perspectives, skills and knowledge to complement our native talent.

The company is pursuing a “Digital Mobile Music System with Studio-Grade Resonate Frequency head phones,” to administer patients with tones that enter through the ears and vibrate throughout the body’s skeletal and vestibular system.  According the website, this involves both iOS and Android mobile applications.

“Sonic Therapy is the scientifically developed practice of using very specific musical frequencies and their inherent vibrations as a powerful and natural way to activate specific areas of the brain. These frequencies when applied through vibration techniques advance the firing of specific neurons from the brain throughout the body. This creates stimulation of descending motor pathways resulting in increased coordination, decrease sway, better muscle stability, control and strength.”

Based on their Twitter feed, the technology has been used by members of the Minnesota Twins and the head US Olympic training coach. Activation Life unsuccessfully attempted a $50k crowdfunding campaign last year, yet something must be happening here given the launch of a large new funding round with $40k committed.

“Target Corp. is testing a Netflix-like movie streaming service with its own employees.  Called Target Ticket beta (find it at www.targetticket.com/home/beta), the service claims to offer “instant access to 15,000 titles, new releases, classic movies and next-day TV.” The site requires a Target employee login to use.

The Target website says users can either stream or download movies (streaming video is not stored on a computer’s hard drive, and thus can be watched instantly instead of after a lengthy download.)  Target on Thursday acknowledged it was testing the video service with its employees, but provided no details.”

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“In our houses, cars, and factories, we’re surrounded by tiny, intelligent devices that capture data about how we live and what we do. Now they are beginning to talk to one another. Soon we’ll be able to choreograph them to respond to our needs, solve our problems, even save our lives.

On a 5-acre plot in Great Falls, Virginia, less than a mile’s stroll through ex­urban scrub from the wide Potomac River, Alex Hawkinson has breathed life into a lifeless object. He has given his house, a sprawling six-bedroom Tudor, what you might describe as a nervous system: a network linking together the home’s very sinews, its walls and ceilings and windows and doors. He has made these parts move, let them coalesce as a bodily whole, by giving them a way to talk among themselves. Open a telnet session in the house’s digital hub and you can actually spy on his chattering stuff, hear what it says when no one’s listening.”

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Last month, Adventium Labs announced the expansion of mobile gaming division Andamio Games to “Pursue the creation of  collaborative, mobile device games that comply with educational standards and take full advantage of the capabilities in mobile computing.”

Now they are taking their pursuits to Kickstarter with iNeuron, a mobile game that teaches high school neuroscience in a multi-player mobile environment.

“iNeuron takes science education to a new and a different level by re-imagining the traditional classroom experience using technology and a mobile game environment. Rather than the traditional teacher lecture, students are able to interact with the content in engaging ways (multi-media interactions such as touch screens, video, audio, and graphics) and collaborate with other students and the teacher in multi-player mode.”

The current iNeuron prototype was developed in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, and funded by a 2-year grant from the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) targeted at improving K-12 neuroscience education.

“…with the increased confidence that comes from understanding a concept, students are more likely to pursue science and technology related careers or, at the very least, not be intimidated when encountering these subjects. New standards for education specifically require teaching neuroscience (e.g., Next Generation Science Standards–NGSS). Tools to help teachers adapt their lessons to these new standards are not widely available.”

As CEO Kyle Nelson previously mentioned, their beta testing is already in motion. “Every teacher in our initial evaluations of iNeuron (5 teachers, 13 classes, and 311 students so far) has asked for it. An independent assessment showed an improvement in neuroscience learning.”

With a support levels ranging from $1 to $8k, if at least $25,000 is pledged by Wednesday June 19, the project will be funded.

The Kickstarter approach seems to be but one part of a broader strategy for Andamio, considering they are also pursuing traditional funding routes via angel and Federally funded R&D, saying that “We have a Phase 2 SBIR proposal submitted to NIH for iNeuron. This and angel funding each takes time and have their own risks” 

“Our NIH funding has ended and now it is up to us to get iNeuron into the classroom. The only impact of not succeeding with Kickstarter is that iNeuron will not be available for the 2013/14 school season.  That’s why it is the goal of the Kickstarter project, and why it’s an important effort.”

Perhaps iNeuron will follow suite with two other recent Minnesota crowdfunding wins including Spark Core and JamStik.

“I am honored to be with you as we gather to celebrate your graduation.  This school has a distinguished roster of graduates… Earl Bakken, the founder of Medtronic, was an Electrical Engineering grad, and Bob Gore of Gortex, and your current president are both alums of your Chemical Engineering program.

In fact, I feel very connected to another one your grads. I’m sure you’ve heard of Seymour Cray, he built a supercomputer company in Chippewa Falls that made the fastest computers in the world. These were very expensive supercomputers. They cost 10’s of millions of dollars and filled two tractor-trailers worth of space.”

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