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Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a popular cloud computing platform that offers a wide range of services. AWS is a good choice for businesses of all sizes, but it’s important to consider your specific needs before deciding whether or not to go with it. Key Factors to Consider There are 5 key factors to consider…

Native Android apps are built using Google’s own programming languages and frameworks, which gives them a number of advantages over other types of apps. Performance: Native apps are typically much faster and more responsive than hybrid or web apps. This is because they are written in the same languages and frameworks that Google uses to…

Native iOS apps are built using Apple’s own programming languages and frameworks, which gives them a number of advantages over other types of apps. Performance: Native apps are typically much faster and more responsive than hybrid or web apps. This is because they are written in the same languages and frameworks that Apple uses to…

In philosophy, Occam's Razor is a principle that advocates for the simplest explanation or solution to a problem. The concept of keeping things simple applies to software development as well. In this context, Occam's Razor helps guide developers towards efficient, effective solutions that are easier to maintain and understand. For instance, when building a web application to track expenses, opting for a simple JSON file-based system for storing expenses and implementing a minimalistic front-end can be a better choice over a complex relational database with multiple tables. This simpler approach leads to faster development, easier maintenance, and potentially lower resource usage. While there may be instances where complexity is necessary, applying Occam's Razor encourages developers to question whether the simplest option aligns with their current needs. Overall, this principle proves invaluable in creating practical and maintainable software products.

AWS offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means that you only pay for the resources that you use. This is in contrast to traditional IT infrastructure, where you typically have to buy and maintain a server that can handle your peak load. This can be a significant cost savings, especially if your workload is variable.…

AWS can help you improve your efficiency in a number of ways. For example, AWS offers a variety of tools that can help you automate your IT tasks. This can free up your time so that you can focus on other aspects of your business. In addition, AWS offers a global network of data centers.…

This blog post explores the advantages of moving your data to the cloud, including cost savings, scalability, accessibility, data backup and recovery, and security. Discover how cloud computing can enhance your data management capabilities and improve your overall operational efficiency.

Learn about the essential roles in a Scrum project and how they contribute to its success. From the Product Owner to the Development Team, discover how each role functions and the responsibilities they hold. Gain insight into this Agile methodology and ensure a high-quality product delivery. Read more to explore the roles involved in Scrum projects beyond job titles.

Discover why full-stack engineers are an excellent choice for businesses looking to streamline their web development process. Learn about the efficiency, versatility, and cost-effectiveness of hiring a full-stack engineer. Find out how these skilled developers can help solve complex problems and take your web development to the next level.

In this blog post, we explore the importance of field testing in software development and how a QA test engineer can help save you money. Learn how involving users in the testing process can help you catch issues early, get valuable feedback, and build trust with your users. Find out how a QA test engineer can design an effective field testing program, prioritize issues, ensure actionable feedback, and deliver high-quality software.

Want to improve your software development process and streamline your deployment strategy? Learn why DevOps should be an important part of your approach. Discover the benefits of faster time to market, improved collaboration, increased reliability, better scalability, and improved security. Contact us today to start implementing DevOps and see the difference it can make for your business.

React has become one of the most popular front-end development frameworks for web development in recent years. It is a JavaScript library developed by Facebook that has gained a lot of popularity among developers due to its simplicity, flexibility, and efficiency. In this blog post, we will discuss why React is the new hotness in…

How to Deliver Successful Software Projects on Time with Agile Methodologies Agile software development is a popular approach that emphasizes iterative and collaborative work to deliver software products. At Lab651, we’ve adopted Agile methodologies to deliver projects on time and with high quality. In this blog post, we’ll explain how we use Agile to deliver…

What is Bubble.io? Bubble.io is a popular no-code platform that enables individuals and businesses to build web applications without requiring coding skills 5 Benefits of Bubble.io No coding experience required: Bubble.io is designed to enable users to build web applications without any knowledge of coding languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This makes it…

Scope creep is an ever-looming specter in the world of software development. It can strike fear into the hearts of project managers, developers, and stakeholders alike. The insidious nature of scope creep can lead to missed deadlines, budget overruns, and a demoralized team. But fear not! In this blog post, we'll explore what scope creep is, how it affects your projects, and most importantly, how you can effectively mitigate its impact.

In Chapter 9: Attitude Is Everything, Justin delves into the significance of attitude, morale, and mindset in software development. Emphasizing the importance of assembling the right team, the author suggests that hiring for culture and passion should take precedence over hiring solely for skill. Drawing inspiration from leaders like Jim Collins and Jason Fried, the author advises seeking out happy and compatible team members. Trust emerges as a crucial factor, with the author highlighting the value of a team that has each other's back and genuinely enjoys working together. Asking the right questions and fostering open communication are essential in building a positive attitude within the team. Ultimately, the chapter urges readers to carefully consider the attributes and attitudes of their team members to set the course for a successful software development journey.

In Chapter 8: Don’t Be Fooled, You Will Encounter Rough Seas, Justin acknowledges that even the best preparations can't shield a software development project from setbacks and challenges. Drawing inspiration from a Mike Tyson quote, the chapter emphasizes the importance of maintaining a strong resolve, clear communication, and intense focus in the face of adversity. The author shares examples of rough seas one might encounter during the project, such as cost overruns, missed release deadlines, and unfavorable market responses. Instead of resorting to knee-jerk reactions, the author suggests stepping back and strategically planning the next steps. By defining the issue clearly and conducting Level 10 meetings with the team, potential solutions can be brainstormed and action items assigned. The chapter concludes with the notion that embracing challenges and resolving them as a team will ultimately lead to a stronger software product and improved leadership skills.

Let’s consider this scenario. Imagine you are sailing toward your destination - a treasure chest that contains the release of a perfect software product. However, every time you get closer, the chest is moved and you have further to sail. This is what it’s like for those trying to release the “perfect” product. Instead, I suggest you settle for some small wins along the way, get your product released, and gain booty as you continue to learn and adapt, each time getting closer to the release that has everything you are wishing for.

When we build an iOS app, there are several key factors we consider in order to ensure its success. Some of the most important factors include: User Experience (UX): A well-designed and intuitive user interface is critical to the success of an iOS app. The app should be easy to navigate and provide a seamless…

You might need a React developer if you are looking to build a modern, dynamic, and scalable web application that provides a seamless user experience. A React developer can help you create a user interface that is both visually appealing and responsive, while ensuring that your application runs efficiently and quickly. What Characteristics to Look…

You might need a React developer if you are looking to build a modern, dynamic, and scalable web application that provides a seamless user experience. When hiring a React developer, there are several key factors to consider to ensure that you find the right person for the job. Here are some of the things to…

Why Use React for Web Development? React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It was developed and is maintained by Facebook, and is widely used for building single-page applications and mobile applications. React allows developers to build reusable UI components, manage the state of their applications, and efficiently render changes to the user…

What Is React Native React Native is an open-source framework for building native mobile apps using JavaScript and React. It allows you to build apps for both iOS and Android platforms using a single codebase, making it easier to develop and maintain your app over time. The framework uses native components, which provide a more…

As we continue to look at this process as one of exploration and adventure. I believe this charter is aptly named. Inside this chapter are a number of reasons why a Project Charter is important and how it fits into the grand scheme of your software product.

I’ve found one of the best things that a customer of mine can do to help me help them build the best software product possible is to be crystal clear on WHY. It’s not enough to tell your customers what and how you do what you do, you need to start with the why. Starting there will inspire your customers to have a deeper understanding and give them a North Star.

Do your homework, demand the highest quality from the team you hire, and make sure you have clear answers before you start the engagement. Ask these questions and you’ll weed out 90% of the companies that aren’t a fit for you.

The old phrase “The Customer Is Always right” is one that many use in the Service Industry and one that I’ve used many times as I’ve worked in restaurants, delivering newspapers, as a janitor, and other odd jobs I’ve had during my life. While I think the intention of this quote is to help center that your main objective when helping someone is to do what they want, this doesn’t apply to building software products and certainly doesn’t apply to projects that a customer hasn’t done before. If you're in charge of hiring experts or independent contractors - or if you work with them directly - learn how to hire for quality over quantity and use them to tell you when you are right or wrong.

In Chapter 2: Agile Process Exists for a Reason, Justin draws an analogy between building a software application and constructing a house. While there may be some similarities, the author emphasizes that software development requires a clear and concise process to succeed. Unlike building a house, where one follows a set of plans and completes tasks in a linear fashion, software development is more agile and iterative. The author highlights the importance of having a formal process, like Lab651's core beliefs based on the Agile Manifesto, to save time, create a common language among the team, break down tasks into manageable pieces, communicate project goals, and establish the overall tone and culture of the project. Though each project may require a different level of process, having one in place is vital for success and continuous improvement.

When the project is starting, you’ll find everyone is gung ho. It’s the start of a long journey -everyone is fired up, the skies look bright, the wind is light and enormous potential lies ahead. The map to the treasure is clear with success virtually ensured! If you have the right team, they will have done their homework by defining the various phases your product will go through by putting together a development roadmap, bringing the team together with clear alignments on the tasks and priorities and how the project will be run. It’s all perfect! Until it’s not.

Software Development Done Right™ is a guide written by Founder + CEO, Justin Grammens, to help managers and leaders navigate their team to success while launching a software project.

Upgrading your Android applications can be a complicated process. However, by enlisting the expertise of experienced professionals, you can ensure that your applications are optimized for the latest versions of Android and are running as efficiently as possible. Whether you choose Lab651 or any partner, be sure tht your experts have a deep understanding of…

Are you looking for ways to maintain and support your legacy Android applications? If so, then you’ve come to the right place! This blog post will provide helpful tips on how to properly maintain and support your Android applications, ensuring they remain stable and continue to perform optimally. We will also cover how our team…

Ruby on Rails is a popular web development framework that has been around for over 15 years. While it has a reputation for being easy to use and fast to develop with, maintaining a legacy Rails application can sometimes be a challenge. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the key things you should…

As a web developer, you are likely familiar with the Ruby on Rails framework. It is a popular and powerful tool for creating web applications, and has been around for over a decade. However, as with any technology, it is important to keep your application up-to-date and maintainable. If you have an older Ruby on…

If you’ve worked as an IT professional for a while, you’re probably familiar with burnout. It’s not just something that happens to people who work too hard or have demanding jobs—it can also occur to those who are simply passionate about what they do.   You may have IT burnout if you: Feel constantly tired…

The tech sector is constantly evolving, and the demand for developers has never increased.  If you want to recruit top talent but aren’t sure where to start, approaching the field might seem daunting. Fortunately, you can incorporate a few proven strategies into your game plan.  So, keep reading for some must-know secrets to help your…

The world of outsourced software development has continued to evolve throughout 2022. Despite challenges associated with COVID-19, the trends we’ve seen so far indicate that we should expect more of the same moving forward.    So, what are these changes, and what is the “next big thing” in software project outsourcing? Well, there are actually…

Software development teams are a crucial part of your organization, but they can be challenging to manage effectively. Managing a software development team takes navigating a learning curve and discovering how to encourage your team to act with utmost efficiency. Though most of your duties will mirror those in other industries, the world of software…

Last Thursday the team got together to enjoy a perfect, Minnesota summer evening. We ended the work day at little early and headed towards Harriet Island to board the Padelford Riverboat for their Margaritas on the Mississippi Cruise. It was a perfect few hours on the river, sitting with friends, enjoying their company.

At Lab651, our core focus is to reduce our customer’s time to market with vetted and proven software expertise. To do that, we need a framework to channel these concepts and exercise them in a meaningful and impactful way. Lab651 has exercised several different methodologies through the years to help us deliver quality software products…

Introducing a new member of the Lab651 team, Chris Agbolade! We’re excited to have Chris on board as a software test engineer. Get to know Chris: 1.     What bucket list item do you most want to check off in the next six months? –       Run half marathon –       Sky dive –       Visit 2 new states…

Introducing a new member of the Lab651 team, Brian McEvoy! We’re excited to have Brian on board as a test engineer. Get to know Brian:  What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you doing it? I knew it had to be something with electricity, and I am an electronic engineer, so…

Have you been considering a cloud migration for your business’s IT systems? If you still have a rack of servers on-site, it is about time to make a move. You will save money, improve security, and increase the efficiency of your systems. You will even be ready to scale up or down at any time…

Flutter, by Google, is a free, open-source mobile UI (user interface) framework and toolkit that can be used for cross-platform development of mobile applications.

A few Friday’s ago, the team got together for a company outing. This quarter, we decided on curling! Special thanks to the Dakota Co. Curling Club who graciously hosted our group and taught us the ropes. Each quarter we come together as a team, disconnect from work, and connect with each other. It’s something we…

Introducing a new member of the Lab651 team, Mike Simone! We’re excited to have Mike on board as a software engineer. Get to know Mike:  If you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be and why? Definitely sleeping. I’d get so much more done every day and have time to…

What Are Native Mobile Applications Native mobile application is an application that only works on specified operating systems and devices. It is not possible to use this application other than the specified systems. It works in an integrated way with the help of determining software and hardware resources. In general, the application can be used…

Ruby’s Net::ReadTimeout Error We recently added a feature to one of the products we own. This feature runs a nightly job that updates thousands of items from an external API owned by a large company. Because of the way the API is structured we have to query each one of these items separately, which means…

Hiring the right employee increases your work output and earns you thousands of times more than the salary you pay with its quality, visionary thinking, positive outlook, and successful handling of challenging tasks. It is an undeniable fact the recruitment process is an important process for all institutions, organizations, and businesses. From deciding on the position…

Introducing a new member of the Lab651 team, Jerry Phillips! Jerry is a software engineer, specifically with Android. We’re excited to have him as part of the team and can’t wait for you to meet him. Get to know Jerry: You have your own late night talk show, who do you invite as your first…

The software and informatics sector provides services to many different sectoral structures, especially the future world of business. However, it should not be forgotten that businesses need to use their sales and marketing systems correctly to make the most of these opportunities. At the same time, they should include sales and marketing departments in their…

Today, every project is created and managed with a project management methodology – this is the key to success.. In our previous article, we talked about what Agile Software Development is and its processes. In this article, we will explore the differences between Agile and Scrum methodologies, or rather the differences between Agile, the framework…

The secret to success is no longer hard work. It is to work in a planned and systematic way by choosing the right path to reach our goals. Software projects must be carefully planned before they reach the coding stage. Many problems will occur in a project that started without planning. These problems may cause…

Compare it to having a general contractor who might work if you were to build a house. In a Staff Augmentation scenario, you would find the architect, electrician, plumber, etc., and oversee their work and the timelines to ensure the house is built properly. In Project Outsourcing, you hand those tasks off to a general contractor who ensures the house is built properly by bringing their own team of specialists.

Outsourcing is not a new concept in the business and software development industry. For many years, companies have analyzed how to improve their time to market. The buzzwords in the Software Services market are either Software Staff Augmentation or Project Outsourcing. Due to the challenges of finding highly-skilled engineers, the general trend of consulting with…

It’s the process of amplifying your existing team by providing laser-focused developers to help you get over the hump, back on track, or move more quickly. It allows you to keep control over the core functions of your organization and bring in seasoned experts who have built software for decades. You maintain the quality and branding of who you are and the augmentation team carries out the work.

Best Buy, a multi-billion dollar electronics retailer, was one month away from Black Friday, one of the largest retail days of the year, and did not have a mobile app ready.

Showcasing the Rich Capabilities of Native Mobile Apps The Challenge BuzzFeed is an app with more than 1.5 million downloads and popular with the coveted Millennials audience, who use it as a source of entertainment as well as news. It didn’t start out that way. “We went to their offices, and you have fifteen or…

Creating a Cloud-Based Infrastructure Platform and Temperature Probe Foodborne diseases are a significant public health concern, and helping to prevent them is key for food suppliers. Per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), every year in the United States, 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from…

Smart Lawn Equipment Gives Our Client an Edge Over Competitors Craftsman at Sears, a top seller of tools, lawn, and garden equipment, had two major challenges: low user ratings for the Craftsman Smart Lawn mobile app and limited usefulness from the app data it was collecting. “We have thousands downloading the app, but it only…

Introducing a new member of the Lab651 team, Sam Moss! Sam is a software engineer with vast experience (and life experiences!). We’re excited to have him as part of the team and can’t wait for you to meet him. Get to know Sam: 1. What is your most used emoji? I don’t really use emojis,…

Getting the team together Collaboration and teamwork are essential at Lab651, but so is having fun. Last Thursday, November 18th, the team and their significant others, children, family, etc. joined together in a Bremer Bank Suite for a fun night out. The Minnesota Wild played the Dallas Stars, and it was quite an entertaining game!…

Anytime Fitness is improving their customer experience by implementing NFC technology to allow their members gym access with their phone.

Always Learning — We want people who are inherently inquisitive and want to learn on our team. Jobs are boring if you are not growing, learning and becoming better at what you do.   ~~~~~~   Hackathon Day   Back in 2014, Justin Grammens helped create the first IoT Hack Day in Minnesota. The event’s…

Introducing a new member of the Lab651 team, Renna Hintermeister. Renna is our quality assurance tester with a strong passion for learning – she’s a great addition to the team! You may have seen her SciTech Internship Program write up. She has also written two blog posts while learning Particle Photon (part 1 & part 2)…

The Crew Gets Together Each quarter, the team at Lab651 gets together for a special company outing. This fall, we decided on one of our favorite activities, which was spending the evening outside at the Saint Paul Saints game with our friends and family. We rented out a suite, had a ballpark dinner together, and…

This blog post has been written by our 2021 summer intern, Renna. Renna has been a great asset here at Lab651 and we are excited to provide Renna with opportunities to further pursue her passions. Be sure to read part 1. (SciTech Internship Program writeup on Renna.) ~~~~~~~~~ Part 2 – A Servo Motor +…

We assisted Memphis Grills with connecting their wood pellet grills by adding useful and exciting new technology. The team at Lab651 designed a board to take data from the grill controller, send it via WiFi to the cloud to allow the customer to interact with their grill via a mobile app and Amazon Alexa skill…

Reflections on Podcasting & the AIoT Thank you for reading about all the latest things going on with myself and our team at Lab651! As many of you may not know, it has been more than a year since I took on the initiative of creating my first podcast – “Conversation on Applied AI” and…

Once you select a paint color at your local hardware store, you head to the paint counter to have it mixed. A can of base paint is opened, and colors are added to it, then the can is closed and inserted into a paint mixer. This machine shakes, spins, and rotates the can for around…

The Challenge Manufacturers and suppliers of commodities are trying to establish a direct link to consumers and to strengthen their competitive position. The emerging concept known as product as a service (PaaS) transforms a product from a standalone function from a supplier to an integrated product and service offering. Examples of PaaS include a manufacturer using widely available…

The Challenge Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is an expensive proposition, as it should be because an ERP solution typically manages all critical and commercial functions of a business. Automation between processes enables data sharing and enhanced visibility to make better and efficient business decisions. Another form of ERP automation involves the incorporation…

JIT aims to cut costs by reducing the number of goods and materials that a firm holds in stock. One of the most critical, fundamental, and costly aspects of JIT is knowing real-time inventory levels. So when a large chemical company needed to automate its supply chain in a JIT fashion, it called on Lab651.

We are excited to welcome the newest member of our team, Josef. 9 fun facts about Josef. Spoiler, it's a no to pineapple on pizza.

Since my last blog post on creating the Conversations on Applied AI Podcast, I have now recorded numerous episodes, 6 of which are public with 2 more being mixed and mastered this coming week. It’s been quite a learning experience! I’ve loved the time that I’ve spent talking with fellow Artificial Intelligence enthusiasts and practitioners.…

In my last blog post, we discussed how to generate bad movie reviews using a text generator, where the input data was based on sequences of words. But you can also generate text by using an input sequence of individual characters, with a character-based RNN. This is particularly useful when trying to generate text that…

Part 1 & Part 2 Humility Leaders cannot lead from a tower.  They need to get down and put their boots on the ground. They need to get the best information possible to help them make decisions.  Good information can come from anybody.  If there is a problem with a manufacturing line and an engineer…

Co-Founder, Troy Pongratz, shares his thoughts on leadership and empowering employees to make their own project plans.

Co-founder Justin Grammens shares a little bit about himself for our featured employee: favorite books, role models, and exciting new technologies

An Introductory Course on Game Theory After listening to enough Freakonomics and other podcasts I figured it would be interesting to learn a little more about Game Theory.  Plus I couldn’t find any free beer sommelier classes. Introduction to Game Theory or Never Go Against a Sicilian When DEATH is on the Line! After hearing…

There are 168 hours in a week and you feel as though you’re always busy. Try as you may, you can’t add any hours to a week unless it’s daylight savings and even then you have to pay that back later in the year. What are your options to redeem the time? Quit your job…

Currently, CWI’s rely on manual measurements and hand calculations – which is both time consuming and error-prone. Our customer travels the world as a commercial welder and saw an opportunity to improve the reliability and efficiency of welding inspection – by automating the process.

If you are new to React Native or coming back to it after having been away for a while, this five or so minute read will likely save you a couple days of agony. The promises React Native offers are great but when the "Getting Started" didn't actually get me anywhere I had to investigate. I hope to save you from that pain and keep you from giving up entirely on React Native.

When we were all ordered to shelter in place back in March, I thought that I would have plenty of extra time on my hands. My commute time was down to zero, social gatherings are canceled and I can work from the comfort of my home and set my own schedule. In theory, extended work from home sounds like an introvert’s dream, right? So why did I feel less productive, less motivated, and also have less free time?

The Good Bits Book: Leadership Strategy and TacticsAuthor: Jocko Willink “You can never rest on what you have accomplished in the past, you always need to improve for today”. Jocko Willink Leadership has been more of interest to me as of late so I have read a number of books on the subject.  Leadership is…

Featured Employee Robert Waddell is the Sr. Mechanical Engineer at Lab651 and will be celebrating his 3-year work anniversary this month. Robert brings ingenuity and creativity to all of his work, and we are lucky to have him. Get to know Robert 1 / What game or movie universe would you most like to live…

AWS Certification Amazon Web Services have become a ubiquitous part of today’s technology landscape.  I’ve worked with bits and pieces of their platform on an ad hoc basis in the past, but I never studied it in depth or looked into certification.  It’s been many years since I’ve worked in a DevOps role, but cloud…

Office culture as we know it is quickly shifting. In recent news, large tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook have announced WFH options for employees through the end of the year as well as permanent options for some employees. As we adjust to this new way of working, there may be some inevitable struggles…

I was listening to an audiobook a few months back and a line jumped out at me that made me stop what I was doing and take a moment to reflect. The author said, “Magic happens in 30 days”. Huh… It occurred to me then and there that based on this simple statement, we could create…

For my #30DaysofLearning initiative, I chose to take the 4-part specialization in Tensorflow offered through Coursera. It covers Dense Neural Networks, Convolutional Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks, and their applications to processing images, natural language, and time-series data. As part of the segment on natural language processing, we go through an example of how to…

I enjoy the art and science of cooking. I’m a huge fan of Alton Brown, J. Kenji López-Alt, and Joshua Weissman.  In addition to being known for high-quality recipes and content, they also explain what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.  While I consider myself an avid home cook, baking is something that has…

Part 1 Right now our humanity is experiencing varying magnitudes of the burdens and grief that has been brought on by Covid-19. Many of our societal constructs have shifted almost overnight. The government, our economy, our businesses, how we relate to one another…are all being affected. How can we find balance during this time and…

Smart Appliances Connected appliances are changing the industry for major brands like Amazon, Best Buy, and Sears. Their appliance functions boast ease and convenience for the consumer with features such as remote start and stop, pre-heating, and monitoring cycles from your smartphone or tablet, as well as push notifications about a completed wash, dry, or…

One of the compelling benefits of a connected product is the ability to monitor the product from anywhere.  Whether it’s a leak sensor monitoring a basement for flooding, vibration sensors monitoring the health of factory machines, or power monitors measuring the flow of electricity in a distribution network, the power of pervasive connectivity allows us…

I’ll be using the #30DaysofLearning at Lab651 to learn what and document my journey of creating a podcast. I intend to document the steps that I’m going through to launch the podcast. Everything from the software, hardware, guest selection, the time needed for preparation, and general work that I will learn it takes to generate a podcast on Applied AI.

We can't find the right words for what the world has been going through lately with the global pandemic. But as a company, we believe in "people first"— you and your family's wellbeing above all else. We wanted to use this time to emphasize this to our employees by enabling them to utilize hours not allocated to clients to pursue something that interests them.

The team at Lab651 is what makes us who we are. We employ creative, inquisitive people who are always trying to improve upon their craft. Ryan Inman is no different, and we are delighted he’s spent the last year with Lab651 as a software engineer. Get to know Ryan: What is one thing most people…

Rethink Device Interaction Since the introduction of the iPhone, an increasing number of devices haveadopted touchscreens as a means of interacting with them.Touchscreens have become so pervasive, that our instinct is to touch a screen whether it is designed to be touched or not. We use them at virtually all payment terminals, gas pumps, restaurants,…

A golf swing can be tricky to master because there’s so much that goes into it; your grip, stance, head position and more. It can be a lot to manage on your own. That’s where SkyPro Golf Swing Analyzer comes in.

Hundreds of kids across the state of Minnesota are now able to quickly learn how to perfect a passing technique called, "saucing the puck" (airborne passing) thanks to a partnership between ProGuard, a Minnesota sports retailer, and Lab651.

Discovery Workshop You read our last blog post, right? “You’ve Developed an MVP, Now What?” When you launch a phase of your MVP you are beginning the Build, Measure, Learn wheel again. Ideally, you would start our discovery workshop before you launch your MVP. That way, our workshops can devise the best plan possible for…

When you decide to take on a business transformation, like implementing an IoT strategy, you’ll likely meet and want to partner with an engineering firm to start your project’s roadmap. Here are some things that they’ll need to know in order to fully understand every component of your project and engineer the best solution possible…

Hiring Expert Consultant Benefits Save time, money, and efforts by hiring expert consultants versus hiring in-house. 1. ACCESS Hiring expert consultants for your project means that you have access to anyone, anywhere in the world with the right capabilities to make your project the best it can be, no matter its uniqueness.  2. SPEED Get…

Vitals Aware Services has developed a potentially life-saving app for individuals with invisible vulnerabilities. These individuals, who may have disabilities or mental health conditions, can struggle to communicate effectively with emergency service personnel in high-pressure situations. This can lead to misunderstandings or escalations that put them at risk of injury or harm. The Vitals app…

As a part of an ongoing series we are starting called “Lab Work”, we will be interviewing a handful of the amazing clients that we are blessed to have the opportunity to support through our experience in Mobile/Cloud Applications and Data Science. This month, we will be talking with Angie Eilers from UR TURN. A…

I had the extreme pleasure of recently keynoting the University of Minnesota’s Law School’s Symposium on the Internet of Things. During the opening remarks and the lunch keynote that I gave to the audience, I talked about the way in which intelligent “things” are more and more going to have an impact on our lives.…

Vitals Aware Services, a client of Lab651, is releasing mobile and web applications with IoT based technology created by our team to more than 500 police officers in Dakota County, Minnesota with a number of other law enforcement agencies around the United States set to pilot the program in the coming months. Coverage by the…

Here at Lab651, we are proud to have fast-growing and forward-thinking clients like ZEF Energy. They are committed to expanding their Midwest-based Fast Charging network to accommodate the rapid growth of electric vehicle use. ZEF Energy has successfully worked with many Minnesota and Wisconsin cities, utilities, non-profits, and for-profit partners in our mission to provide…

VariAware LLC, a client of Lab651, released their “Vitals App” at a press release yesterday in conjunction with the Saint Paul Police department and the Autism Society of Minnesota. The release was followed up by joint efforts between members of VariAware and Lab 651 teams attending a “Safe Summer Nights” event in Saint Paul where…

Outside of running the mobile and web applications team at Lab651, I teach a graduate-level course on the Internet of Things at the University of Saint Thomas. I have had the opportunity to experience situations where I wished that I was omniscient; able to see, hear and know all in the classroom. Therefore, when Wildflower…