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Month: September 2009

Geomena: Could this be the Wikipedia of geolocation data?

Rick Turoczy on September 4, 2009

[HTML2]You ever have one of those posts where you’re really excited by something that you can’t seem to explain sufficiently? Where—conceptually—you get it, but you don’t feel like you’re doing the subject matter justice?

Well, that’s where I’ve been for the past few days with Don Park’s latest project, a fine piece of Portland geogeeking called Geomena, a creative-commons licensed access point location database—or as Don so eloquently puts it “the Wikipedia of access point locations.”

And that, my friends, is a subject which I have not been able to justice. But I’m going to try. Read More

memePDX 002: Mobile, Portland on Fire, Apple, and green screen goodness

Rick Turoczy on September 3, 2009

Admittedly, we’re still getting the kinks worked out on memePDX, the new podcast featuring Cami Kaos and me that covers all the tech news that we can wedge into 20 minutes. This week, we introduce a whole new feature: tricaster green screen magic. So even if Cami and I are boring, Dr. Normal will find something with which to entertain you.

This week on memePDX we talk about PhoneGap, Urban Airship, Portland on Fire, Apple Snow Leopard, the rumored Apple Cougar OS, and the equally rumored Apple Tablet. And then we throw in a little Skype and Marvel + Disney for good measure. Read More

Miss the OEN Venture Northwest application deadline? No you didn’t

Rick Turoczy on September 3, 2009

It happened again, didn’t it? I know, I know. You were planning to do it. But you kept hitting snooze on the task. And then when you finally had a second to consider it, you realized that the deadline for applying for OEN Venture Northwest had passed. So sad. And you had “smart investment” written all over you.

Well, turn that frown upside down, my friend. You’re in luck. You’ve been granted an extension. That’s right. The deadline is now September 8. So get working on that Venture Northwest application. I mean, you weren’t planning to do anything this weekend anyway, right? Read More

REMINDER: Reductive Labs Luke Kanies talks open source and venture capital tonight at Portland Web Innovators

Rick Turoczy on September 2, 2009

You may remember news earlier this year about Reductive Labs, a company started by a couple of former Reed students who—upon garnering $2 million in venture capital—announced that they were moving their company to Portland. Or you may know them as the folks behind Puppet, an open source language for configuration management.

Either way, they’ve got an interesting story to tell. Several stories actually. And they’ll be telling them tonight at Portland Web Innovators. Read More

PortlandOnline design contest redux: City of Portland revises its stance but there’s still more to discuss

Rick Turoczy on September 2, 2009

[Editor: The following is a guest post by Eric Hillerns who has been helping to lead discussions around the City of Portland’s PortlandOnline design contest with both the City and the design community of Portland. I think it’s an important discussion for both the Web design community and—if the City is to engage more closely with the development and startup community—all of us, so I wanted to keep you up-to-date.]

Following our meeting with the City, AIGA Portland delivered our recommendations for addressing the issues surrounding the PortlandOnline “Challenge.” Since our exchange, the City of Portland has posted a revised challenge. Some suggestions were adopted and others were not. We were well aware that the City would make their own decisions, and we respect the outcomes of their position. Read More

Portland on Fire: Lighting it up again

Rick Turoczy on September 1, 2009

Remember Portland on Fire? That site dedicated to “slow social networking”? It’s okay if you don’t. It’s been awhile.

Let me give you a little refresher. In a day and age where we add friends on social networks willy nilly and engage in any number of online conversations, Raven Zachary saw an opportunity to provide a service that helped you really get to know someone. No following or high scores or anything. And yet, something more than an online profile. Without being overwhelming. One Portland person, per day. That’s Portland on Fire.

Unfortunately, that great idea has been on hiatus. For far too long. So now it’s time to light a fire under, um, Portland on Fire and get this thing going again. Read More

Top 10 Silicon Florist posts for August 2009

Rick Turoczy on September 1, 2009

It was a fairly quiet month here in the Silicon Forest. A nice ebb and flow of big stories punctuated by periods of silence. But it’s August. So that’s to be expected.

So what did the dog days of summer reveal for the startup scene in Oregon? Well, even as quiet as it was, there were still quite a few stories—here and there—that got people talking. Which ones? Well, here are the top 10 posts according to your peers—a combination of Web and RSS metrics—from Silicon Florist for August 2009. Take a look. Read More

Dawn Foster joins the Olliance Group to lead new online community practice

Rick Turoczy on September 1, 2009

Anyone who’s spent any time at Portland tech events has likely met Dawn Foster. She’s one of the founding members of Legion of Tech, one of the driving forces behind BarCamp Portland, an adviser to the Shizzow and the SAO, a leader of the online community manager and Portland data plumbing user groups, and a regular attendee at Beer and Blog—among thousands of other things.

One thing you may not realize is that, in addition to juggling all of those side projects, she manages to do a day job, too. And today she announced that that “day job” part of her life was changing. Dawn has joined the Olliance Group to lead a new online community practice. Read More

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