Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for January 21

Via Beer and Blog “This Friday we’re going to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of our first Beer and Blog meet up. Naturally, this calls for a celebration!! So, we’re going to have a cake and maybe some party hats.”

Via the SXSW Interactive blog “Last night, Portlanders turned out to meet, greet, socialize, nibble, and talk about the state of tech in general and SXSW Interactive specifically…. Portland truly proved it is a sister city to Austin last night, and we have the feeling this is only the beginning of a beautiful friendship!”

Via StepChange Group “Some of our own data shows that average times spent viewing an iPhone web app (versus, say, a similarly focused widget targeted for desktop browsers) is noticeably lower. This isn’t surprising; in fact, it reinforces one of the things we know about mobile users: they’re less likely to be generous with their time. What’s interesting is that the number of actions a user takes per visit is actually slightly higher on an iPhone app, despite the shorter visit times. In short, the growing popularity of mobile browsers gives you another opportunity to engage your users.”

Via Ignite Portland “Did you know that the deadline to submit a talk idea for Ignite Portland 5 is only about 3 days away? After 11:59 PM PST on Saturday January 24, it’ll be too late. That burning idea in your head wants to be free! It wants to be shared on stage at IP5 with 500 of your closest friends! Head over to the “Submit a Talk” page and set that burning idea free.”

Via The 451 Group “President Obama has already been positioned as a friend of open source, starting with his support for universally accessible formats, the technology used to run his campaign, and his use of collaboration techniques, not to mention some of his early policy group appointments and his promotion of ‘open source democracy.'”