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Month: October 2010

Silicon Florist: Working to make a good thing even better

Rick Turoczy on October 26, 2010

You might have missed it, but last Tuesday was National Evaluate Your Life Day. So, as part of that evaluation, I was thinking about Silicon Florist. You know. This here blog thing that you’re reading.

This has been the most random unplanned success I’ve ever encountered. And I’m very proud of what Silicon Florist has become. And the better it gets, the better I want to make it. But, truth be told, all that pride and $2 will buy you a cup of coffee. Well maybe $3 at Stumptown. But anyway, I’m always working to find ways to make Silicon Florist better. And now, it’s the time to do just that. Read More

WHEREAS Portland loves open source: City of Portland declares Open Source in Government Week

City of Portland has done in recent history, they just declared this week “Open Source in Government” week in Portland to celebrate open source and the GOSCON —the government open source conference—being held here, this week

Rick Turoczy on October 25, 2010

[HTML1]Let’s just get this out of the way: Portland, Oregon, is the de facto hub of open source.

There. I said it. What? Don’t believe me? Well, in addition to all of the other open source loving things the City of Portland has done in recent history, they just declared this week “Open Source in Government” week in Portland to celebrate open source and the GOSCON—the government open source conference—being held here, this week. Read More

Real time Web analytics service Clicky updates interface… and gets an earful

Rick Turoczy on October 25, 2010

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Portland has a whole ton of Web analytics talent here in town. Both on the consulting side of the desk and the development side.

One of those talented companies is Clicky, a cost effective real time Web analytics service that I happen to use right here on Silicon Florist. What’s more, they have an incredibly passionate user base. How do I know? Clicky just changed their interface. Read More

Startup and tech jobs in Portland, Oregon, or it’s Friday and I’m running out of creative headlines

Rick Turoczy on October 22, 2010

So, you’re looking for a gig are you? Maybe a job with one of them there startup thingamajiggers? Well you’re a bright kid. I can see that going well for you. What’s that? You don’t know where to start?

Oh. Well let me see if I can help. There are a ton of awesome Portland startups hiring right now. So why not take the opportunity to thumb through the Silicon Florist job and gig board to see if one strikes your fancy? Read More

Wonder Woman Day: Take the day to geek out on comic books instead of tech and support a good cause

I’m hoping a whole bunch of tech geeks join a whole bunch of comic book geeks at Excalibur Comics on Hawthorne for a very good cause, Wonder Woman Day, an event to benefit Bradley Angle.

Rick Turoczy on October 22, 2010

Now, granted, this isn’t a tech article per se. But let’s be serious. Comic books and geeks? They go hand in hand. And being helpful and Portland tech types? Also a fairly common combination. So I thought I would step away from startup stuff for just a second and give you details on some comic booking for a good cause this weekend. Read More

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. Or Sell Simply where you’re one tweet away from selling. (And buying ain’t that hard either.)

And that’s why Sell Simply, a new service from Portland-based the Good, is a breath of fresh air. Plus, if you have a Twitter account—which I’m going to bet you do—you already have a Sell Simply store

Rick Turoczy on October 21, 2010

If the Web is good for one thing, it’s for buying stuff. I mean, really. Most of the time you’re either buying or you’re looking for something that you plan to buy. It’s just a big old marketplace.

But have you ever actually tried to sell something online? Yeesh. It can be a mess. And that’s why Sell Simply, a new service from Portland-based the Good, is a breath of fresh air. Plus, if you have a Twitter account—which I’m willing to bet you do—you already have a Sell Simply store, all thanks to the magic of OAuth. Read More

Portland startups take note: Kleiner Perkins is going after the social Web in a big way

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers just launched a $250 million fund focused on social Web startups.

Rick Turoczy on October 21, 2010

[HTML3]It’s true. Most of the time I try to keep an increasingly myopic eye on the startup and tech scene in Portland, Oregon, and the surrounding areas. Not even all startups mind you. Mostly those focused on Web apps, mobile, and open source pursuits. In all honesty, there’s more than enough there to cover.

But every once in a while, there’s some earth shattering news that forces me to look outside the region. And to cover more broad reaching stories. And it just so happens one of those stories broke today. You see, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers just launched a $250 million fund focused on social Web startups. Read More

Building your startup using Amazon Web Services? Would $100,000 in prizes help?

Rick Turoczy on October 21, 2010

For startups, finding the most cost-effective means of building and distributing your product can be the difference between life and death. That’s why using the Web has been such a benefit to small startups. As have Web services—like Amazon Web Services (AWS)—that allow those startups to get big time functionality for a fraction of the cost of maintaining their own infrastructure.

But no matter how efficient the startup, a little extra cash can always help. So if you’ve built something interesting on AWS, consider throwing your hat in the ring to win the Amazon Web Services Start-up Challenge. Read More

Annoyed by FarmVille, Mafia Wars, or FrontierVille? Thank Portland’s Puppet Labs for helping configure Zynga’s servers.

Puppet Labs’ open source server configuration management product Puppet helps Zynga scale more effectively by enabling them to configure thousands of servers almost instantaneously.

Rick Turoczy on October 20, 2010

[HTML3]If you’ve ever spent any time online at all, you’ve likely encountered someone who wanted you to help them buy a cow or join a mafia family or survive Oregon Trail 2.0 without dying of dynsentery. Because Zynga‘s games are some of the most popular games online.

But without Portland-based Puppet Labs, that might not be the case. You see, Puppet Labs’ open source server configuration management product Puppet helps Zynga scale more effectively by enabling them to configure thousands of servers almost instantaneously. Read More

How to build a successful startup in 21 days (Hint: Add bacon)

But the guidance on how to build a startup in 21 days has been all laid out for you in a new book from the founders of Bac’n: From Idea to Web Startup in 21 Days: Creating bacn.com.

Rick Turoczy on October 20, 2010

[HTML4]Remember that whole Bac’n thing? That Portland startup that sold bacon on the Internet? Did you know that the entire project—concept to launch—only took 21 days? What the…? How the heck do you build a successful startup in three weeks? Furthermore, is this entire post going to be written in the form of questions?

Well, I can’t answer that last question. But the guidance on how to build a startup in 21 days has been all laid out for you in a new book from the founders of Bac’n: From Idea to Web Startup in 21 Days: Creating bacn.com. Read More

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