InsideTrack briefs: Comcast is accelerating Twin Cities internet service

Comcast raised the speed of its Xfinity internet service for residential customers in the Twin Cities this past week.

People who use Comcast's "performance" level should now see download speeds of 75 megabits per second (Mbps), up from 60 Mbps. Those who use the "performance pro" service were due for a jump to 175 Mbps from 150. A tier called "the blast" rose to 275 Mbps from 250 and the "extreme" tier to 500 Mbps from 400.

A lot of the upgrades happened automatically. Many customers won't have to reset their modems, a Comcast spokeswoman said.

But people could reset their modems by using the Comcast xFi app or My Account app. A customer can also just push the reset button on the device or unplug the power cord, wait a few seconds and then plug it back in to trigger a reset.

People who bought their own modem rather than leasing one from Comcast can check online at mydeviceinfo.comcast.net to see whether it can handle the increase in download speed.

To test for the new speed, a customer can go to speedtest.xfinity.com on a computer or phone web browser that is connected through their system, either directly by wire into the modem or through Wi-Fi.

Evan Ramstad

Phillip Goter, an intellectual-property attorney with the Minneapolis office of Fish & Richardson, founded the Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship clinic at the University of Minnesota law school four years ago.

Upcoming clinics are on Oct. 30, Nov. 6 and Nov. 13 in Room 190 of Walter F. Mondale Hall, 229 S. 19th Av. Clinic hours are 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. There is room for six clients during each clinic session and some clients may come back for subsequent visits.

As part of the law school's experiential-learning initiative, students may participate in the clinical training and its 25 clinic offerings.

"This is our fourth year of the IP and entrepreneurship clinic," Goter said. "The law school has had clinics for various other areas of law for many years now and they were getting a lot of inquiries about intellection property and startup business, and startup business always have a lot of questions on intellectual property issues."

Goter uses a hybrid classroom and clinic approach. He uses some guest lecturers to go in depth on some of the issues around patents, trademarks and copyrights and then supervises the students in the clinics.

"It's been really well received; we have sessions every fall and tend to fill them up fairly quickly," Goter said.

Prospective clients can stop by multiple times and students are expected to take on three to five clinic cases during the semester.

"People come with patent ideas, graduate students at the university or otherwise, every once in a while people need a trademark," Goter said. "And sometimes people want to talk at a high level about an idea they have. … We are happy to talk to them too."

Patrick Kennedy

Hormel Foods, which announced Monday morning that it was selling a limited amount of "Pumpkin Spice Spam" on Walmart.com and Spam.com, sold out within seven hours. But the Austin, Minn.-based company didn't say how much of the pumpkin-flavored Spam it produced. Two-can packs sold for $8.98.

In recent years, it has been added to a seemingly endless array of consumer products, including Cheerios. The launch of pumpkin-spice products now signals the start of fall as much as turning leaves, light jackets and back-to-school sales.

"Our fans continue to amaze us with their passion for the Spam brand," said Brian Lillis, senior brand manager at Hormel Foods. "At this time, we do not have any plans for more Spam Pumpkin Spice products, but we're always keeping our eye on new flavors or varieties that will resonate with our fans."

The last time Hormel launched a new variety was in 2014 with its Spam Teriyaki.

Although the shelf-stable meat may be thought of by some as a tired, old brand, Spam has been enjoying a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

Spam cocktails and Spam fries appeared in London three years ago.