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Month: May 2010

Iron Man? Spider-man? Batman? Most super heroes are side projects. Just like yours.

Most of your favorite super heroes are actually side projects. Most super heroes don’t do that whole super hero thing as their full-time gig. In fact, most of them have got a day job.

I know you’re busting your ass, Mr. and/or Mrs. Startup type. I know you’re working hard on a side project or idea while continuing to slave away at the day job. All in the hopes that someday—someday—you might get to turn that side project into a full-time gig. But it can be taxing. I know it.

So every once in awhile, I like to try to give you a little motivation. A little help. A little something that makes staying up that extra four hours a little easier. And that little something today is this: Most of your favorite super heroes are actually side projects. Read More

OurPDX: Ensemble Portland blog relaunches under new management

But the great ensemble blogs with unique insights about Portland are few and far between. And that’s why I’m happy OurPDX is coming out of the mothballs

When it comes to blogging about Portland, there are well known individuals like Bojack and Dave knows Portland. And well know topic blogs like Food Carts Portland, Portland Food and Drink, and Bike Portland. And, of course, there are some great news sources in town that cover all the Portland happenings.

But the great ensemble blogs—the blogs that focus on the unique views of the writers and their insights about Portland—are few and far between. And that’s why I’m happy to report that one of those great group blogs—OurPDX—is coming out of the mothballs, rising from the ashes, and beginning anew. Read More

Reminder: Portland Development Commission Lunch 2.0 is Wednesday

It appears that Summer has arrived, which means lots of stuff to do, including a Lunch 2.0 at the Portland Development Commission (@pdxdevelopment) this coming Wednesday from 12-2 PM.

You won’t want to miss this one.

The PDC has been active lately, including tech as part of their Economic Development Strategy and polling Portland software community for input and information.

Last week, Eva Schweber (@EvaCatHerder) and Audrey Eschright (@spinnerin) started a Portland software community census to provide the City and the PDC with good demographic data to guide their policies.

You’ll want to fill that out, so I’ll wait.

Read More

Is your schedule open? Open Source Bridge and OSCON release final schedules for 2010

What kind of goodness, you ask? Well, each event Open Source Bridge 2010 and OSCON 2010 just released its final schedule so why don’t we take a look?

If there’s one thing people think of when they think of summer in Portland, Oregon, it’s beer. But once they stop thinking about that, they usually start thinking about all of the awesome tech events that take place here over the summer. And then they probably go back to thinking about beer.

Be that as it may. If you’re into open source, there is no better place to be this summer than Portland, where Open Source Bridge and OSCON will be filling the Rose City with all sorts of open source goodness. Read More

memePDX: An old school text edition of the show for your Kindle or something

Well, it’s Thursday again. But unfortunately, due to scheduling and health, memePDX didn’t make it into the can this week. These things happen. The world is an imperfect place. Screws fall out all of the time.

But there, there, little camper. We’ve still got something for you. You see, we still did show prep. So we’ve got the stories. And that’s why I’m going to give you what Cami Kaos (@camikaos) and I (@turoczy) would have covered this week if we’d had a show. Read More

WebVisions 2010: All the webby goodness at which you can shake a digital stick… and it could be free for you

One more week and all of the Web aficionados will be descending upon Portland for WebVisions, the premier Portland Web conference now in its tenth year.

Well well well. It’s about that time. One more week and all of the Web aficionados will be descending upon Portland for WebVisions, the premier Portland Web conference now in its tenth year.

It’s a chance to see people like Merlin Mann, Agnieszka Gasparska, and Luke Williams. As well as any number of local favorites. And now, you have the opportunity to see all those folks for free. Read More

What are the most popular iPhone app icon colors? With Icon Rainbow, now you know

Take Portland-based Icon Rainbow (@iconrainbow), a new project that analyzes iPhone app icon colors and tells you which colors are currently the most popular.

[HTML1]One of the things I love most about this whole Web thing is that if you take creative people and give them access to data? They’ll come up with some pretty interesting ways to munge that data and represent it in really beautiful ways.

Take Portland-based Icon Rainbow (@iconrainbow), a new project from Ryan Snyder (@ryansnyder) and Crystal Beasley (@skinny) that analyzes iPhone app icon colors and tells you which colors are currently the most popular. Read More

When I’m writing about Beer and Blog this early in the week, it must be big (Hint: Twice as big)

And there’s the chance that it could happen again this week, as the folks from Involver swing by Beer and Blog to kick Portland’s proverbial tires.

So, you’ve heard of Beer and Blog, right? The weekly geek gathering that has become the de facto happy hour for the blogging and startup scene in Portland?

So have a lot of other folks. And that’s why, when people are visiting from out of town, they often try to stay over Friday night, so that they can get a chance to meet some of the folks from Portland. And what’s more? We try to woo them to Portland. It’s happened before. And there’s the chance that it could happen again this week, as the folks from Involver swing by Beer and Blog to kick Portland’s proverbial tires. Read More

memePDX 035: PDC software cluster, Beer and Blog with the Timbers, InnoTech and SoMe, 1 million iPads, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington moves to Seattle

memePDX 035: Cami Kaos (@camikaos) and I (@turoczy) talk about the Portland Development Commission (PDC) software cluster survey, Beer and Blog with the Timbers, InnoTech and the SoMe Awards, Apple moving 1 million iPads, and TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington moving to Seattle.

It’s Thursday. And that means it’s time for another episode of memePDX (@memePDX), where we cover the hottest tech stories in Portland and beyond.

This week, Cami Kaos (@camikaos) and I (@turoczy) talk about the Portland Development Commission (PDC) software cluster survey, Beer and Blog with the Timbers, InnoTech and the SoMe Awards, Apple moving 1 million iPads, and TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington moving to Seattle. Read More

JanRain Hosting Lunch 2.0 on July 14

Identity powerhouse, JanRain, will be opening their offices on July 14 to host a Lunch 2.0.

By July, the weather should be nice and balmy, and the plan is to have the lunch festivities on the roof-top deck of JanRain’s office building at 519 SW 3rd Avenue.

There’s a fantastic, panoramic view of the Willamette, all our bridges and points East, from up there, so keep your fingers crossed for weather cooperation on July 14.

In addition to a great view, good food and usual Lunch 2.0 crowd, the good people from JanRain will be happy to chat you up about their RPX and OPX products, OpenID and OAuth in general, industry trends in social media, all the above.

Read More