.

Month: June 2009

Health Information Technology: Why is it important to Portland?

I have long taken an outward-looking view and advocated that Portland could become a hub for health IT at the intersection of industry, academia, and its health care systems.

[Editor: Health Information Technology has always had a interesting spot in the Portland startup scene. And I say that, most likely, because I’ve been part of it from time to time. But I’m probably not the best person to write about it. Enter Bill Hersh, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology (DMICE) in the School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. Here’s his perspective on HIT, its role, and its potential for the Portland tech scene.]

I appreciate the opportunity to contribute a piece to this blog about a topic of great interest to myself and many others, which is health information technology, also called health IT or HIT. Read More

Reminder: Lunch 2.0 at ISITE Design Wednesday

Don’t fret though, you can see all your pals at Lunch 2.0 at ISITE Design on Wednesday to rehash the awesomeness, or if you didn’t make it to OSB, you can hear about when went on last week.

The dust has settled from last week’s whirlwind of activity associated with Open Source Bridge, and it’s time to get back to the routine.

Don’t fret though, you can see all your pals at Lunch 2.0 at ISITE Design on Wednesday to rehash the awesomeness, or if you didn’t make it to OSB, you can hear about when went on last week. Read More

The Oregonian on Apple, iPhone, and the Portland mobile scene

The Oregonian’s Mike Rogoway (Happy Fathers’ Day, Mike!) has a great piece about the burgeoning market supporting Apple products—especially with iPhone app developers—here in the Silicon Forest.

Portland-area startups mentioned in the article include Portland-based Urban Airship, Small Society, GadgetTrak, PheedYou, and Vancouver-based Avatron. Read More

You’re invited: Open Source Bridge after party, Wil Wheaton, Stephanie Stricklen, and Strange Love Live

The Open Source Bridge after party is open to all of the folks in Portland. With guests Wil Wheaton, Steph Stricklen, and Strange Love Live

We’re drawing near to the end of three days of open source awesomeness, thanks to Open Source Bridge, the first ever entirely volunteer run open source conference. It’s been an amazing event. And now, it’s time to celebrate what we were able to accomplish.

Why the sad face? You’re invited!

That’s right. The Open Source Bridge after party is open to all of the folks in Portland. So come out and join the people from the conference, our gracious hosts, and all of our volunteers for a beer or two. Read More

Shopping for an iPhone 3.0 app? See what Small Society has cooked up with Whole Foods Recipes

Shop local for iPhone 3.0 apps by trying the Whole Foods Recipes app, the latest project released by Portland-based Small Society

Today, there are tons of people waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Standing in line to get the latest Apple iPhone, the iPhone 3G S. But anyone with an iPhone can grab the new operating system, iPhone OS 3.0. And once you’ve done that, you can snag some cool new apps.

Looking for one to try? Shop local by trying the Whole Foods Recipes app, the latest project released by Portland-based Small Society. Read More

Get to geogeeking with OpenStreetMap this weekend

Portland has always had an interesting geolocation contingent here in town—companies like Platial, gatherings like WhereCampPDX, and mobile apps like Ice Condor. So what better town to help with the OpenStreetMap project?

Portland has always had an interesting geolocation contingent here in town—with companies like Platial, gatherings like WhereCampPDX, and mobile apps like Ice Condor. So what better town to help with the OpenStreetMap project?

No better place, my friend.

That’s why the OpenStreetMap folks will be hosting two events this weekend. Read More

REMINDER: Identica meetup at Russell Street BBQ today

Evan Prodromou of Laconica—the foundation of the open source microblogging service Identica—is here in town for Open Source Bridge.

As many of you know, Evan Prodromou of Laconica—the foundation of the open source microblogging service Identica—is here in town for Open Source Bridge. He’s been spending time in the hacker lounge and speaking at the conference. But he wants to make sure that he can meet up with other Identica users while he’s in town.

What to do? Hold a meetup. Which is exactly what he’ll be doing. At Russell Street BBQ. Today. At noon. Read More

Portland Mayor Sam Adams wants Portland to be a “hub for open source”

Portland Mayor Sam Adams opened the second day of Open Source Bridge with a keynote calling for increased collaboration between the City of Portland and the open source community.

[HTML4]Portland Mayor Sam Adams opened the second day of Open Source Bridge with a keynote calling for increased collaboration between the City of Portland and the open source community.

Why? In hopes of making Portland the “hub of open source” and—in a bit of throwing down the municipal open source gauntlet—vowing to “out open source” Vancouver, British Columbia, which has recently declared itself a completely open city.

“Bottom line: the city government has unnecessarily been closed in proprietary software and has been a a laggard in using open source software,” said Adams. And he wants to see Portland change that. Read More

Open Source Bridge: A peek at the hacker lounge

One of the most anticipated components of the Open Source Bridge conference—which is currently running in the convention center through Friday—was the 24-hour hacker lounge at the top of the Hilton.

The space opened yesterday afternoon and as the evening wore on, a number of developers managed to work their way up to the top floor to hack on everything from Arduino projects to using YQL to manipulate government data.

Don Park captured some video to give you a feel for the space. Read More

Tap tap: Urban Airship celebrates launch of iPhone OS 3.0 with Tapulous deal

Today as Apple makes iPhone OS 3.0 available, Urban Airship announces a deal with Tapulous makers of the insanely popular Tap Tap Revenge that will enable the game to support the latest iPhone 3.0 features.

Okay. I have to admit, I thought it was a big deal when Portland-based Urban Airship launched at WWDC and announced Portland-based Subatomic Studios as their first customer.

But just wait until you hear this.

Today as Apple makes iPhone OS 3.0 available, Urban Airship announces a deal with Tapulous—makers of the insanely popular Tap Tap Revenge—that will enable the game to support the latest iPhone 3.0 features. Read More