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Month: September 2009

Mike Berkley on ‘Preparing for the Next Web Boom’

Rick Turoczy on September 23, 2009

[HTML2][Editor: The following is a guest post by Mike Berkley, who served as the CEO of Portland-based SplashCast until its recent demise. Mike and I have had any number of conversations about the startup scene here in town. And I asked him if we wouldn’t mind putting his thoughts into a post. The first post—of hopefully many—follows.]

Preparing for the Next Web Boom

Since putting SplashCast to rest a few months ago, I’ve finally had time to reconnect with the entrepreneur community here in Portland, as well as in the Bay Area and NYC.  I’ve packed my days full of coffee, apricot scones, phone calls, and meetings… lots of meetings.  I’ve talked to dozens of entrepreneurs and investors.

Two themes have surfaced in this process. Read More

Gluten make you gag? Have I got the social network for you

Rick Turoczy on September 23, 2009

Now we all know I’m a big fan of the niche sites. Why? Because there are any number of sites out there that focus on being everything to everyone—which makes them mean basically nothing to no one. It’s the focused sites—those sites with which we can personally identify—that hold a great deal of promise.

And nowhere do I see people in the Portland area get more niche-y than food. I mean, we like food.

Portland-based Gone Raw is a great example. As is Bacn. And today, I’d like to introduce you to another Portland-area food-focused niche social site: Vancouver-based Gling, the social network focused on the gluten-free community. Read More

Matt Asay better than Fake Steve Jobs at faking Linus Torvalds

Rick Turoczy on September 22, 2009

LinuxCon is in full swing this week in Portland. And while there are tons of good open source conversations and likely some awesome hacking underway, there’s always a little bit of hi-jinx afoot, as well.

Given that it was the inaugural LinuxCon, some of that tomfoolery was planned. Specifically the “Fake Linus Torvalds” contest. And as it turns out, in the end, the open source faker was better than the seasoned proprietary faker. Read More

Second Porch: Thanks to Facebook ‘It’s complicated’ no longer applies to vacation rentals

Rick Turoczy on September 21, 2009

While my blogging empire hasn’t reached the level where I’ve got a “home away from home,” there’s a good chunk of the ever-aging Facebook demographic that does. Maybe it’s a house at the coast. Or maybe it’s a cabin in the mountains. Whatever the case, as the economy continues to tank, those owners are looking for ways to make sure that someone is using those properties—as much as possible.

And that’s where folks like me come into the picture. I’ve got a great deal of interest in renting those properties from time to time—especially if they’re affordable. And when I do, where do I go for recommendations? That’s right: friends and family.

If only there were an app that connected the haves with the have nots. You know, socially. Well, now there is. A Facebook app from Portland called Second Porch. Read More

Matt Mullenweg on martinis, jazz, and a little open source project called WordPress

Rick Turoczy on September 21, 2009

[HTML2]If you’re an out-of-town tech type who’s traipsing through Portland chances are—that at one time or another—you’re going to wind up on the set of Strange Love Live, the best tech podcast in Portland… if not the world.

So it comes as no surprise that when Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, was here in town for Beer and Blog (yes, the rumors were true) and WordCamp Portland that Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal managed to wrangle Matt away from WordCamp for a few minutes to chat about martinis, jazz, and, of course, WordPress. Read More

OregonLive: Allowing OpenID logins, tweaking the blogs, and moving Oregon Reddit

Rick Turoczy on September 21, 2009

As many of you know, OregonLive—the primary Web site for The Oregonian, the largest paper in Oregon—is managed far beyond the control of the local reporters and Web designers here in Portland. Like in New Jersey. What’s more, OregonLive runs exactly the same codebase as all of the other Web sites managed by Advance Internet, like New Orleans’ paper The Times-Picayune.

And since we all love to carp about the shortcomings of OregonLive, it seems only appropriate that we give them kudos for making marked improvements. Recently, Advance Internet has rolled out a few changes to OregonLive that are worth mentioning. Read More

Watching the Emmys? Portland Drupal developers will be

Rick Turoczy on September 18, 2009

Yes, yes. Everyone’s all excited about Portland playing host to Leverage—well, okay, not everyone but you know what I mean. And, as such, there’s all of this talk about PDX becoming little Hollywood or Trolleywood or Hippiewood or whatever.

But that’s just one small segment of the Hollywood experience. Anyone who knows Hollywood knows that the real pomp and circumstance takes place on the venerable red carpet. That’s right, my friend. Awards shows. That’s where it’s at.

And guess what? Portland’s got a part of that, too. No, I’m serious. Portland-based Metal Toad Media is the magic behind emmys.com. Read More

As the Portland Venture Capital turns: Former Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen joins Voyager

Rick Turoczy on September 18, 2009

In a day and age where you’re hearing more and more about venture capital firms rethinking the way they invest in companies, it’s always encouraging to see those same firms taking a greater interest in the Portland startup tech scene.

Actually, you’re right. No matter what, it’s always encouraging to see more interest from the Angel and VC folks.

Well get ready to be encouraged. Voyager Capital—who already has a Portland office—has announced that they have brought on Bruce Chizen, the former CEO of a little software company called Adobe, to help keep an eye on the Portland scene. Read More

Rumor: WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg will be at Beer and Blog

Rick Turoczy on September 17, 2009

[HTML2]Now you know how I struggle with the rumors. Generally, I don’t post anything until I’ve had the chance to check it out. I mean, just look at what all you crazy Portlanders did with that Dave Chappelle rumor.

But this one falls into the “fairly certain” category. And since I’m convinced that Portland loves WordPress and beer almost as much as it loves Chappelle I’m going with it: Matt Mullenweg—none other than the guy who created WordPress—will be at Beer and Blog, this Friday. Read More

memePDX 004: pdx.fm, Microsoft sponsors WordCamp, Kanye, One Web Day, Simler, Events, and Facebook, Facebook, Facebook

Rick Turoczy on September 17, 2009

It’s another Thursday, and that means it’s time for another memePDX, the weekly wrap up of the hottest tech stories from Portland… and beyond.

Yet again, we got a little too chatty. So it’s running a little long. Like about 30 minutes. But in our defense there was a ton of news. And both Cami Kaos and I were tired and a tad punchy.

But trust me, there’s a bunch of good stuff. Like what? pdx.fm, Microsoft sponsoring WordCamp, Kanye, One Web Day, Simler, and a whole heck of a lot of Facebook news. Read More

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