Best Buy will house mini Samsung retail stores within all roughly 1,400 of its locations.
Technology
The Mill in Northeast Minneapolis is closing its doors after about a year of hosting a collaborative workspace for local builders and designers.
Image Sensing Systems fired two Polish employees who are being investigated for alleged criminal conduct; the company's investigation into the matter, meanwhile, has cost $1.5 million to date.
Medica will use payment technology designed by a local tech company to provide its members discounts on healthy food from a variety of local grocery stores.
Edina-based clean energy developer Geronimo Energy recently announced that it has acquired Midwest Wind Energy’s development portfolio.
In an attempt to meet the increasing demand for faster Internet, Comcast will boost the speeds on three of its plans starting Tuesday.
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze, who did not submit a takeover bid prior to a recently passed deadline, has been named chairman emeritus; former executives Brad Anderson and Al Lenzmeier, meanwhile, have joined Best Buy’s board.
Jet Edge builds machines that shoot thin, computer-guided water jets that move about 6,000 miles an hour.
The F.ounders START conference will bring together the founders of 100 fast-growing early-stage tech start-ups and more than 400 investors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to facilitate networking.
Eagle Creek Software Services has also partnered with the University of South Dakota to develop a degree program, which is meant to prepare workers for employment as an IT consultant.
MakeMusic struck a deal to be acquired by venture capital firm LaunchEquity Partners, which has been pursuing a buyout since last summer and already owns nearly a third of the company.
The company said it is the first major bank in the country to offer such a tool to its customers; the feature eliminates the need to manually fill in certain fields when paying a bill with a mobile device.
A Star Tribune report, citing unnamed sources, indicated that founder Richard Schulze appears to be backing off a bid to acquire the company but is trying to regain his former position as chairman of the board.
Sales plunged 57.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, and the company reported a net loss of $6.5 million for the period; CEO Kitty Iverson, who said she was “disappointed with our weak performance,” expects a challenging first quarter but gradual improvement later in the year.
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.
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.