Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Oh lookie there. While I’m busy whining about Portland startups not getting the respect they deserve, what happens? Well some them go out and actually get the respect they deserve. Go figure.
That’s right. Seems that two Portland startups garnered some love and attention, this week. Location service Geoloqi won the AppNation Best New App award and PHP Fog won the Audience Choice at Under the Radar. Read More
Wow. That’s a lot of questions for a Friday, isn’t it? But given that funding questions likely keep you up all night, every night, now is as good of a time as any to ask. And while questions are great and all… what about answers? And why the heck did I talk about answers within another question? Read More
I’m a big fan of Dave McClure. He’s got a dynamic personality, credible personal success, and insights that rival some of the most seasoned investors. And he puts his (PayPal) money where his mouth is. Dave’s accelerator, 500 Startups, is just the latest example of his innate understanding of the startup and investing environment.
Dave recently sat down with the folks at Bloomberg to discuss valuations, the startup evironment, and investing. If you’re in a startup—Web based or otherwise—it’s well worth your time to listen to what Dave has to say. Read More
The person who coined the term Web 2.0 was working for a Portland company. One of the very first Web 2.0 apps was built by an Israeli engineering team for a Portland company.
Okay. It’s that time again. You know the one. The one where I get fed up with everyone claiming the Portland tech scene is some sort of flyover, oh isn’t that cute sort of technology community. Long story short, consider my panties in a bunch.
Because here’s the thing… Portland actually has a couple of random claims to fame in the world of Web 2.0. How so? Well first, the person who coined the term Web 2.0 was working for a Portland company not long after she coined it. And second, one of the very first Web 2.0 apps was built by an Israeli engineering team for a Portland company—even though we didn’t know it at the time.
Don’t believe me? Well let’s go. Because oddly enough? I was there. For both of those random things. Read More
Seems like everyone is trying to incorporate game mechanics into their applications and offerings. Or, as we used to call them, “frequent flyer programs” or “loyalty programs.” Granted, there’s more than that to game mechanics, but that’s a big part of it.
Well, what if you could gain those same kind of benefits by using one of the systems you already have in place? Like if your login credential gave you the ability to earn badges and whatnot? That’s what Portland-based Janrain is exploring with a new partnership with Badgeville. Read More
You remember Grove right? The awesome Portland-based company that made amazing bamboo cases for the iPhone 4?
Well, they’re not stopping there. Turns out, the iPad could use a little protection from lovingly handcrafted bamboo artwork too. That’s right. Grove now offers a bamboo iPad case. Read More
And the folks over at Portland’s mmmlabs are just one such example. Check out what they’re doing with 3D projection mapping to make dynamic living art out of inanimate objects.
A great deal of the Portland tech startup scene focuses on people building technology. And that’s all well and good. But what about the startuppy folks who are applying technology in interesting ways. Don’t they deserve a little recognition as well? Indeed they do.
And the folks over at Portland’s mmmlabs are just one such example. You see, their 3D projection mapping combined with a live interactive drawing interface is managing to make dynamic living art out of inanimate objects. Read More
You know how Portland loves the geogeeking. I mean, we’re always hearing about how folks are using geolocation to hack, build products, or simply determine how badass particular Portland neighborhoods may be.
But for all the local activity, it’s always nice when other folks who love geolocation data are in town, too. And that just so happens to be the case, what with JSConf and NodeConf coming up next week. Well, GeoIQ would like to take advantage of that serendipity. So they’re hosting a Portland GeoIQ JavaScript Hack Day at PIE, Sunday, May 1 beginning at noon. Read More
This is the story of Nike, open data, and Code for a Better World Fellowship. I’m telling it in hopes that more people—and hopefully better storytellers—will start talking about it.
Portland is an amazing place. A small town of sorts. Where interesting things manage to happen because of the connections, the openness, and the passion for collaboration that exists here. But that’s not always obvious. So I wanted to try to make it a little more obvious by sharing one such experience.
It’s a story about how some of the Portland tech community and sustainability community recently had the opportunity to collaborate with one of the largest businesses in the world and one of the most successful private advertising agencies in the world—all in the name of openness and open data. Read More
Well, Alex Payne, CTO and co-founder of BankSimple, took a few minutes to sit down with Startup Weekly and to share some of his thoughts.
It’s not often that someone tries to reinvent the banking industry. Especially from Portland, Oregon. But that’s exactly what the folks from BankSimple‘s Portland outpost are doing on a daily basis.
What’s it like? Well, Alex Payne, CTO and co-founder of BankSimple, took a few minutes to sit down with Startup Weekly and share some of his thoughts. Read More