Business, Science and Technology
News, Events and Resources
for Cleveland, Ohio, the Great Lakes Region and Beyond




The Great Lakes Geek Welcomes You!

Your first guess/attempt will probably work. Can you solve it any other way?

Fan Expo (formerly Wizard World) was back in Cleveland the weekend of April 30, 2022. Billed as "the ultimate playground for Comics, Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime, and Gaming. Three BIG days of citywide events, family-friendly attractions and world-renowned celebrities including William Shatner, Katee Sackhoff and many more.

William Shatner at Cleveland Fan Expo

Cool costumes at Fan Expo Cleveland



See lots of costumes from Fan Expo 2022 in Cleveland.



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Having come of age with many of the luminaries of Cleveland Technology the Great Lakes Geek has begun a series of episodes on Cleveland Tech History.

Chris Thompson -Journalist who changed Cleveland's Tech Scene

As editor of CrainTech he reported the stories of the fascinating people and projects that were in Northeast Ohio. Projects like One Cleveland/One Community which sprung from the surprising find of large quantities of dark fiber under the streets of Cleveland. Or The Little Computer. Or Thunderstone who, before Internet search was even a concept, had their search technology embedded in companies like WordPerfect, Dow Jones, eBay and Novell.

He covered people like Packy Hyland Jr. of Hyland Software, Tech Czars Tim Mueller and Tim Moran, Baiju Shah at BioEnterprise, Chris Coburn at the Cleveland Clinic and Phil Wintering founder and CEO of American Cybercasting Corporation who built the first full curriculum for middle schools and high schools delivered completely over the internet.

In this video interview with Dan Hanson Chris will also talk about the role of Higher Education for tech and why Cleveland may not have taken advantage of all the available opportunities and resources. Plus, we'll see what Chris has been up to since the CrainTech days.

Ron Copfer - Serial Entrepreneur and Tech Pioneer

He got involved with the largest law firm in the world, Jones Day, and provided graphics for trials. He created the first online catalog taking it from a paper catalog to CD and then put it on the Internet with Cold Fusion. He got involved with wearable medical devices by cold-calling a firm in Israel and flying there showing up at their door. Big Data, CRM, SaaS, etc. - Ron was involved with every bleeding edge technology that came along.

He has also been involved in every Cleveland and Northeast Ohio tech organization including NEOSA, Nortech which led to BioEnterprise and JumpStart and others, One Cleveland/One Community, Digital C and others. Ron explains how he was able to build companies and then transition it to his team and move on to something else. He tells how curiosity, persistence and enrollment are essential for an entrepreneur. This video will give you a taste of why we call him the most interesting man in the world. See what Ron is up to know at the in the Rebuilder's Xchange. Watch the Cleveland Tech History Interview with Ron Copfer.

Jim Cookinham - Godfather of Cleveland Tech Industry

Jim met with other community tech leaders in an organization called CRITA in Salt Lake City and his 14 pages of notes led him to create the Northeast Ohio Software Association (NEOSA) when he returned to Cleveland. Jim created a thick directory of thousands of tech companies in NE Ohio. He was able, with the help of Crain's Cleveland Business and others, to educate the community that while there may not be a plethora of Silicon Valley type tech-focused companies in town, the IT departments of Progressive, Cleveland Clinic and others still counted. Jim and NEOSA developed many innovative programs to promote the advancement of the tech community and IT industry.

He challenged Mayoral candidates on their tech plans and when Jane Campbell became Cleveland Mayor she followed through and appointed the city's first Tech Czar, Tim Mueller. When City Hall's PCs were found to be outdated, Jim created an AdoptAPuter program that provided new PCs for the Mayor and 20+ others. He started an Angel Network to get funding for startups. The NEOSA Tech Thursdays (NETT) were held at Great Lakes Brewery and brought together tech industry people in an informal setting over great beer. He created an Entreprenerd (he used my word!) Boot Camp and brought in CIOs, CEOs and other leaders to help startups. The NEOSA CIO Symposiums exposed the tech community to the leading CIOs in town. NEOSA's Future Forums brought in brilliant minds to look ahead 5-10 or more years.

Jim is in Colorado now so this video was recorded remotely but you will see some of the major contributions made by Jim Cookinham to Cleveland Tech History.

With the pandemic dwindling and hopefully leaving for good we are bringing back the Great Lakes Geek Calendar of Events. The Calendar features virtual and in person events about technology, business and science.

We are honored to have the technology leaders of BlueBridge Networks as a sponsor of the Great Lakes Geek Calendar of Events.

Submit your open-to-the-public event (it doesn't have to be free, just open to all) and we will post. You can also sign up for the free Great Lakes Geek eNews which includes upcoming events.

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While software and hardware keep changing at an exponential pace, most IT challenges will remain the same in 2022; a secure backup is still a must have, hackers will keep pounding on your systems, and a fast connection reigns supreme over a slow one.

Here is a special offer: Let BlueBridge Networks run a free initial phishing test in your company. Our initial phishing test is simple: each employee of your organization receives an email with a realistic phishing scenario. Emails are a very common starting point for hackers; they do this to steal your login credentials. Once they have the keys to your kingdom it’s often like a walk in the park for them.

With three simple steps you will get a good idea of what is going on in your ranks. From our experience, around ? of employees need additional training. You don’t have to take my word for it, test it yourself. It’s free!

This is how it works:

1. You make a list of your staff's emails
2. BlueBridge sets up the campaign
3. Together we will analyze the results.

Contact Kevin Goodman, Managing Director for more info and to sign up.

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On the supply side, they work with local contractors and individuals who have access to overstock, new or salvaged building material. RBX inventories, markets, and sells dropped-off items. Once an item sells, RBX cuts the 'consignor' a check at the end of the month for 50% of each sale. Instead of dumping, donating or storing usable material; both businesses and individuals finally have a streamlined solution for making money.

On the demand side, they are open to the public 4 days a week! Customers have access to an ever-changing inventory of over 1,000's of new, unique, and vintage items.

Jessica Davis and Ron Copfer

Pictures, video and more of Rebuilders Xchange

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There has been a lot of math and science in developing the systems of latitude and longitude and the time zones and related items. From early astronomers and mathematicians to Ptolemy and Galileo and others the creation of instruments like the pendulum clock, quadrant and sextant were brilliant innovations.

In this special episode of Fun with Maps with Dan Hanson instead of looking at one particular area, he look at some items that affect all the maps of earth. These are the terms latitude and longitude. Using those coordinates you can pinpoint any place on earth. They are essential for ship captains and pilots and others.

Maybe this will be a refresher course or maybe it will be new for you as we discuss latitude, longitude, the Prime Meridian, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, the Equator, International Dateline, Greenwich Mean Time, Time Zones and more.

And we explain how you can be at a spot on Earth where it is both today and yesterday.