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Category: Facebook

Facebook in Oregon: Sure there’s Prineville, but did you know there’s the OSU Open Source Lab too?

Facebook is still very interested and supportive of the open source community. A significant contribution to the Oregon State University Open Source Lab just goes to prove that. Introducing Supercell.

Rick Turoczy on January 21, 2011

[HTML1]When it comes to Facebook and Oregon, the data center in Prineville gets an awful lot of attention. As well it should. Based on reports, it’s changing the town—and potentially the state—for the better.

But where else is Facebook having an effect in Oregon? You might be surprised to learn that for an organization that gets continual press about its market valuation, the Facebook crew is still very interested and supportive of the open source community. (I mean, it is a gigantic PHP app, after all.) And the latest effort—a significant contribution to the Oregon State University Open Source Lab—just goes to prove that. Introducing Supercell. Read More

Open Source Bridge Startup Crawl: Meet Facebook, JanRain, Puppet Labs, Urban Airship, Wieden + Kennedy, and Taplister… well and Portland’s beer

Open Source Bridge Startup Crawl, a progressive party starting at Kells sponsored by Facebook, JanRain, Puppet Labs, and Urban Airship, Wieden + Kennedy, Taplister.

Rick Turoczy on June 2, 2010

No matter how geeky or antisocial you claim to be, it remains a fact that—every once in awhile—you need to put down the keyboard and spend some time with other developers. And this Thursday night, Portland, is one of those times.

Why? Because it’s the Open Source Bridge Startup Crawl, a progressive party starting at Kells sponsored by Facebook, mozying on to Portland startups like JanRain, Puppet Labs, and Urban Airship, and then finally winding up on the rooftop deck of Wieden + Kennedy and refreshments from Taplister. Read More

Second Porch: Thanks to Facebook ‘It’s complicated’ no longer applies to vacation rentals

Rick Turoczy on September 21, 2009

While my blogging empire hasn’t reached the level where I’ve got a “home away from home,” there’s a good chunk of the ever-aging Facebook demographic that does. Maybe it’s a house at the coast. Or maybe it’s a cabin in the mountains. Whatever the case, as the economy continues to tank, those owners are looking for ways to make sure that someone is using those properties—as much as possible.

And that’s where folks like me come into the picture. I’ve got a great deal of interest in renting those properties from time to time—especially if they’re affordable. And when I do, where do I go for recommendations? That’s right: friends and family.

If only there were an app that connected the haves with the have nots. You know, socially. Well, now there is. A Facebook app from Portland called Second Porch. Read More

memePDX 004: pdx.fm, Microsoft sponsors WordCamp, Kanye, One Web Day, Simler, Events, and Facebook, Facebook, Facebook

Rick Turoczy on September 17, 2009

It’s another Thursday, and that means it’s time for another memePDX, the weekly wrap up of the hottest tech stories from Portland… and beyond.

Yet again, we got a little too chatty. So it’s running a little long. Like about 30 minutes. But in our defense there was a ton of news. And both Cami Kaos and I were tired and a tad punchy.

But trust me, there’s a bunch of good stuff. Like what? pdx.fm, Microsoft sponsoring WordCamp, Kanye, One Web Day, Simler, and a whole heck of a lot of Facebook news. Read More

John Kitzhaber takes a page from the Obama social media playbook for Oregon gubernatorial bid

Rick Turoczy on September 4, 2009

[HTML2]Former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, who served two terms from 1995-2003, has decided to throw his hat into the ring for another gubernatorial bid. His Kitzhaber 2010 campaign launched this week.

And even though he hasn’t been out of the political dance that long, quite a few things have changed since his last bid—roughly a decade ago.

I mean, you might remember that Obama guy and his whole social media thing. Based on the initial rumblings from Kitzhaber camp, I can guarantee that the folks working on his campaign do. Read More

JanRain RPX: A login buffet of OpenID, Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, and MySpaceID

Rick Turoczy on December 11, 2008

JanRainAll of the sudden everybody in Portland is going all Hollywood on us.

First SplashCast announces that they’re partnering with Hulu. And now JanRain has announced that their RPX solution—a product that makes managing the ever-growing variety of distributed login credentials easier for developers and users—is going to be helping Interscope Geffen A&M, a division Universal Music Group, give fans an easier way to connect with their favorite artists.

Using the RPX interface, fans who’d like to connect with say, Lady Gaga, have the option of using their Facebook identity, Google identity, MySpace identity, or any variety of OpenID flavors, like AOL, Yahoo!, or Portland’s MyOpenID or myVidoop.

RPX login box

Where did all of these options come from all of the sudden? Well…

It’s been quite the month for the world of distributed social networking. Both Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect – two services designed to help user manage a single profile across multiple sites – launched on the same day. Then, MySpace followed in close succession with their MySpaceID offering, another distributed social option built on the Open Stack. In a matter of days, the distributed social space went from nascent to completely confusing.

JanRain is hoping to make it a little less confusing, for both developers and users. And if they have to work with big-time music types—like 50 Cent, Fergie, and Guns n’ Roses—to get that done, so be it.

For more information, see JanRain’s RPX specific site or read the release. If you haven’t had your fill of my writing for the day, you can also read my write-up on ReadWriteWeb.

Beyond the Forest: Google and Facebook join DataPortability.org

Rick Turoczy on January 8, 2008

Now, granted, I try to keep my focus right here at home in the Silicon Forest. But I had the feeling that news about these two little Web companies—Google and Facebook—might, just might, have some repercussions for the local tech scene.

I’ll also defend this post by reminding you that The Goog’ has an installation in The Dalles.

Portland’s own Marshall Kirkpatrick broke the news this morning that Google and Facebook are joining the Data Portability group. And as indicated by Marshall’s own admission, this is huge news. A bombshell, as it were.

Okay, that may be gobbledy gook techie speak to some of you. So, why is this so important?

The non-participation of Google and Facebook, two companies that hold more user data and do more with it than almost any other consumer service on the market, was the biggest stumbling block to the viability of the project. These are two of the most important companies in recent history. What’s being decided now is whether they will be walled-garden, data-horders or truly open platforms tied into a larger ecosystem of innovation with respect for user rights and sensible policies about data.

For more information, read Marshall’s post on Read/Write Web. For additional coverage, follow the story on Techmeme.

JanRain releases Pibb for Facebook

Rick Turoczy on September 12, 2007

You may know Portland-based JanRain as one of the leading local proponents of OpenID. But you may not know that they also have a few applications under their collective belt.

One of those applications—their IRC-like Pibb application—has recently been ported to Facebook.

This communications conduit has the potential to be incredibly useful for those folks looking to tie Facebook communications to the rest of their online communications. (Like say for instance, keeping your Facebook comments and your blog comments all in one place.)

By adding the Pibb Facebook application to your account you can easily tie together two end points of your social graph, Facebook and Pibb. Once you add the application to your Facebook account, you will easily be able check for new messages and connect with your Facebook friends on Pibb and vice versa.

Sounds like a useful Facebook addition. (For a useless Facebook addition, feel free to join the Silicon Florist group on Facebook.)

For more information, see the blog post announcing the launch of Pibb on Facebook.

(As an aside, with both JanRain and SplashCast supporting Facebook applications, I’ve got to assume there are others of you out there building Facebook apps. Yes? No? Well, if you’ve got a Portland-built Facebook app, link it up, below, or drop me a note. If enough folks respond, I’ll post a roundup.)

Ignite Portland begins to smolder

Rick Turoczy on August 16, 2007

As mentioned earlier (“Ignite Portland?“), Josh Bancroft came back from Gnomedex with an urge to begin Ignite Portland.

Well, if Twitter is any indication, a small planning session, today, seems to have been extremely positive. Josh mentions it in tweets here and here. And Dawn Foster mentioned it in a tweet as well, offering that something may be happening as soon as October. I know that Raven Zachary was in attendance, too.

Both Raven and Dawn are involved in organizing the annual BarCamp Portland and monthly BarCamp Portland Meetup events.

(Full disclosure: I was honored to be invited to attend this planning session, but had to decline due to personal commitments.)

More details on Ignite Portland as they become available.

[Update] Ignite Portland has a Facebook Group, now.

SplashCast adds email notifications

Rick Turoczy on August 10, 2007

Fresh on the heels of its NPR Podcast player for Facebook, SplashCast has announced the addition of email notifications to its interface. This new feature simplifies the cut-and-paste-a-link process by allowing SplashCast publishers to quickly and easily notify friends about updated content–without leaving the SplashCast application.

For more information on this feature, watch the SplashCast support channel entry, below.

http://web.splashcast.net/go/so/1/c/GDKJ3095GI

Add SplashCast Support Channel to your page

The SplashCast service enables anyone to create streaming media ‘channels’ that mix together video, music, photos, narration, text, as well as RSS feeds, PowerPoint presentations and PDF documents. These user-generated channels can be played and easily syndicated on any web site, blog, or social network page. When channel owners modify their channel, their content is automatically updated across all the web pages ‘tuned’ to that channel.