The concept of Best Buy's Twelpforce is quite simple: enlist a legion of employees as customer service representatives to respond to Twitter questions and concerns about its products and services. Here's what the company's finding.

So, why would a company choose a regional player like Visi as its cloud computing provider? The obvious advantage is peace of mind — the "comfort factor" that all its data is nearby, not on the other side of the world.

As mobile phones have become more powerful, the need to access and back up information on them has increased. Here's a look at some of the pros and cons of these two competitors.

If you haven't taken a serious look at every single one of your business costs within the past year, you need to do so right now. With two examples, I'll try to illustrate how carefully chosen tools can save you money and increase your professional presence and virtuality.

While these initiatives are miles apart in their application and scope, they share the same DNA: hyperlocal, community-driven services focused on generating both financial and social capital.

In an effort to develop a product that answers a need first and foremost, MixMobi was born out of feedback from customers who were looking for easy production and distribution of an online coupon campaign.

The Institute for New Media Studies holds an annual event to get the word out about the many resources and projects under way at the University of Minnesota.

Andy Atkinson, a frequent rider, wasn't sure when the next LRT train was due, so he decided to take advantage of his GPS-enabled iPhone to come up with a handy way to produce that information.

That's because the member of the Minnesota Ultra High Speed Task Force is worried about the governor's choice of the firm to gather data on the state's broadband needs and prepare the proposal for federal stimulus funds. I share his concerns.

In roughly six months, the Federal Communications Commission will be delivering a National Broadband Plan that will affect the future of this information infrastructure, which is probably the most important conduit ever for news, entertainment, learning, medicine and more. A new blog can help you learn about the issues ahead.