TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

By Anthony Ha, TechCrunch

“shopkick, the location-based shopping app backed by Greylock and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is having its biggest rollout yet — Target says it’s making the service available in its stores nationwide.

Target was already announced as a shopkick partner, but until now, it was limited to testing integration in seven cities. Now, thanks to what the company says were “rave reviews,” it’s expanding its shopkick integration to all of its 1,764 stores in the United States, making it the largest shopkick retailer.”

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Via News Release

“CHICAGO and MINNEAPOLIS (May 21, 2012) – Avery Dennison Medical Solutions today announced a partnership with Preventice, Inc., to produce patch-based wearable sensors for clinical monitoring of a patient’s unique physiological characteristics.

Preventice is a break-through developer of mobile health applications and patient monitoring systems that deliver continuous care, wherever an individual might be. Mobile health applications, like those developed by Preventice, improve the doctor-patient relationship by establishing a constant connection and exchange of information between care providers and their patients. This connection encourages patients to stay engaged in actively managing their health while away from their health care providers, and feeds data to clinicians about a patient’s health status without impacting their daily lifestyle.”

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By Thomas Lee, Star Tribune

“Don’t count out Best Buy just yet.

Though it is beset with the distractions of leadership turmoil and a slumping stock price, Best Buy Co. Inc. remains a global powerhouse — a company that sells more televisions, computers and tablets than any other retailer in the world.

Combined with its investments in e-commerce, Geek Squad and smaller mobile stores, Best Buy has ample time and money to thrive in the Internet age, just as it conquered traditional retailing with its ubiquitous big boxes, industry analysts say.”

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By Richard Chin, St. Paul Pioneer Press

“St. Paul was a good place to glimpse the future this week and perhaps welcome our new robot overlords.

That’s because about 1,600 scientists, engineers and researchers from around the world converged on RiverCentre for the International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The event is one of the biggest meetings of thinkers and tinkerers in robotics from academia, industry and organizations ranging from NASA to the military.”

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Via News Release

“Cologix, a network neutral interconnection and colocation company, announced today, the acquisition of Minnesota’s premier network neutral interconnection and colocation provider, The Minnesota Gateway, located in the carrier hotel at 511 11th Avenue South in Minneapolis.

The acquisition adds the leading position in Minneapolis, the 16th largest metro market in the United States, to the Cologix platform. The Minnesota Gateway operates the meet-me-room in the 511 building with 70 networks presented and is universally regarded as the place to colocate and connect in the region.”

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By Chris Newmarker, Finance and Commerce

“MINNEAPOLIS, MN — In vetoing the Republican-controlled Legislature’s property tax bill, Gov. Mark Dayton ended up rejecting many other measures supported by the economic development community.

An angel tax credit extension, a sales tax break on business equipment purchases and expanded tax breaks for new data centers were among the casualties.”

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By Dave Berggren, Kare11

“Young minds were insprired by one of the world’s most successful companies Saturday. A team from Google stopped by to pass along skills to high school students in Minneapolis.  “With this training, I’m learning more about technology than I ever did before,” said Claire McKitrick, a high school student at Roosevelt. “The more I learn, the more it will help me.”

Seventy-five students from the city’s Step Up program took part in the all-day seminar. The students, all of which are soon-to-be summer interns at companies across the Twin Cities, heard from Google executives about various internet platforms and how to reach customers using technology. The training is a new initiative by Google.”

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Via Reuters

“May 14 (Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc said founder Richard Schulze would step down as chairman after an independent board investigation found that he had failed to report allegations of personal misconduct by former Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn to the board’s audit committee.

The electronics retailer also said the investigation had found that Dunn violated company policy by “engaging in an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment.” The inquiry found no misuse of company resources, Best Buy said.”

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By Niall Firth, New Scientist

“THE noise level is rising at the Shirley G. Moore Laboratory School. Children are charging through the classroom shouting, playing, picking up toys and tossing them around. All the while, in the corners of the room, five Kinect motion sensors watch and record their every move.

The unusual set-up at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development in Minneapolis is designed to look for signs of behavioural disorders. The plan is to find out if Microsoft’s gaming sensor, combined with computer-vision algorithms trained to detect behavioural abnormalities, can be used to automate the early diagnosis of autism.”

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