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Month: April 2016

It's Wednesday! Seems like a good excuse for a Happy Data Hour with Keen IO

As a community, we don’t get together as much as we used to. Back in the old days. And I’d like to work on changing that. Because I miss you. Here’s a good excuse. Our friends from Keen IO are in town. And they remember when we used to get the Portland startup community together too. So they’re inviting you all out for a happy hour. A Happy Data Hour. Read More

Portland startup Vacasa quietly raises a healthy amount of venture capital

While I tend to refrain from covering funding announcements, this one seemed like it would be of particular interest to folks. If only as a signal that we should be including a new name when rattling off the impressive startups in our community. You see, Portland’s Vacasa just announced that they have raised $35 million in Series A financing. And that’s the largest round any Portland company has raised in two years. Read More

REMINDER: New Relic FutureTalk with Hideshi Hamaguchi, tonight

Back in the early days of Silicon Florist, one of the first startups I began covering regularly was a Portland startup called LUNARR. And while that venture didn’t achieve the stratospheric heights we all hoped it would, it did bring an incredibly thoughtful and interesting cofounder to the fore in Hideshi Hamaguchi. Now, fast forward nearly a decade and Hideshi is speaking at New Relic’s FutureTalk, this evening. Read More

Remember when the City of Portland was a shining example of open data? It can be again

There was a time—not so long ago—when the City of Portland was at the forefront of making civic data transparent and open. And while Portland has stumbled a bit in terms of leading the charge, we now have a very real opportunity to pick our open selves up, dust our data off, and get back in the running. Read More

50 startups vie for attention during TechFestNW's inaugural PitchFestNW

When you’re just starting out, getting the attention that you firmly believe that your earth shattering startup idea deserves? That can be challenging—at best. So opportunities to test your story with an audience, get in front of potential investors, and hone your ability to convey the value of what you’re building are always welcome. And that’s why a new event from TechFestNW attracted more than 100 applicants. Read More

More flavors of reality: Oregon Story Board drives Augmented Reality development with Microsoft HoloLens training

One good story deserves another, so speaking of Oregon Story Board… Virtual Reality isn’t the only reality they’re exploring in Portland. Following up on the grant they garnered from Microsoft, the digital storytelling accelerator now offers Augmented Reality development training specifically designed for the Microsoft HoloLens environment. Read More

The design of VR: Experience a WILD environment during Design Week Portland

It’s been a while since we’ve had a new communications platform. One that is new and different and motivates us to think about new ways of designing. And creating content. And experiences. But we’re seeing more and more of that happening with our reality, both augmented and virtual. That’s where Oregon Story Board alum WILD is playing. And now you can too. Read More