Google is investing an undisclosed sum to support events that fuel entrepreneurship in Minnesota; a company official said the partnership with local “co-working” firm CoCo is the first of its kind.
Technology
The University of Minnesota study found that production of key global crops is likely to increase 38-67 percent by 2050 while the estimated need for those crops will increase by 60-110 percent in that period.
The retailer will match the prices of all local retail competitors and 19 major online competitors, a move it says will end the practice of “showrooming.”
The executive board of a union representing about 13,000 U.S. CenturyLink employees has authorized setting a strike date, although negotiations with the company continue.
The struggling data storage company, which reported a fourth-quarter loss of $310.2 million, said it is in the midst of a strategy to turn itself around, which includes previously-announced plans to cut 20 percent of its global work force.
The company, which recently changed its name to Holaira, employs about 20, roughly half of whom have joined since its move to Plymouth.
The company’s Twin Cities work force and locations will reportedly not be affected.
Best Buy’s expensive Super Bowl ad appears to have been popular among viewers; meanwhile, the company continues to close big-box stores and cuts jobs, although its period of turmoil has proven lucrative for many executives.
Designs on your genes.
The Bloomington-based firm, which has roughly doubled its staff almost every year since its founding, now intends to grow at a “more manageable pace.”
The February 20 event, called Google for Entrepreneurs Day, will feature workshops led by Google experts.
ShopJimmy.com acquired St. Paul-based Ness Electronics for an undisclosed sum.
Shortly after adopting a year-round online price-match policy and reporting flat December sales at stores open for at least a year, Target is introducing six online-only brands; the retailer separately announced plans to cut ties with RadioShack and begin working with two new mobile phone partners.
The “Breakthrough Health Challenge” seeks ideas about how common consumer technologies or devices can be used in new ways to help people address chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
Chris Heim and Dan Mayleben, who specialize in acquiring and growing software firms, plan to expand their latest purchase, Axium, organically and through acquisitions.
Barry Judge, who joined Best Buy in 1999 and left in May 2012, is among at least half a dozen key leaders who left the electronics retailer last year.
This year’s local attendees will include 3M Company, which will showcase an 84-inch touchscreen table prototype, Canopy Company, which offers a touch-enabled iPhone case, and Finder Codes, which developed a QR code-based lost-and-found system.
Bloomington-based Acuo Technologies, whose technology is used to manage digital medical images, will become part of Lexmark’s Perceptive Software business unit.