Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
When it comes to building Web apps and sites, making sure that those sites respond to a wide variety of browsers and can effectively support a heavy loads of concurrent users can be the difference between succeed and sucking.
But finding the resources to perform—or purchase—that load testing and performance testing has, to date, been an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. And that has left many startups in a Catch-22 situation.
Until now. Read More
Now, rest assured, I love WebVisions as much as the next guy or gal. Heck, the WebVisions + Open Source Bridge deal is so good, I’m not sure how anyone can pass it up.
But see, here’s the thing: I’d like to see you get something for nothing. Because I like you.
So, don’t tell anyone, but there are still a few hours left for you to submit a response to the WebVisions survey. Read More
Recently, Mike Rogoway of The Oregonian has been working on a piece about the small Web and mobile startups here in town and the community that has grown up around them. The article—entitled “Tech Entrepreneurs Defy the Recession“—has been posted to the Web and should be in the print edition on Saturday.
It’s an expansive piece that manages to bring together views from a number of different folks from the Portland Web startup scene. Among them, David Abramowski, Ward Cunningham, Dave Hersh, Harvey Mathews, Kevin Tate, Raven Zachary, and Josh Bancroft. Read More
Back in the day. Or in the dotcom days, at least (I may be showing my age here), May Day was always a good time for a May 1st reboot.
And while the “official” reboot doesn’t seem to be occurring this year, I’m always happy to partake in the Spring cleaning of look and feel.
With that said, welcome to the new Silicon Florist. Read More
Remember that other rant at which I was hinting in my last rant? No? Well whether your remember it or not, here we go.
I’ve been concerned lately. Bad economy. Tightening budgets. Volunteer run events relying on sponsors. Not exactly a proven recipe for success.
There’s the bigger volunteer-run events like the Legion of Tech events, Open Source Bridge, WordCamp Portland, and Beer and Blog—and then there are any number of smaller events like Portland Web Innovators, PDX Critique, Refresh Portland, PDX Wiki Wednesday, user groups, yadda yadda yadda. Read More
Every once in a while, I get something stuck in my craw that causes me to get up on my high horse. Sometimes I then convince that high horse to climb up on a soapbox. And then I take on a holier-than-thou stance and pontificate on something which has been irking me.
This would be one such occasion. (And, fair warning, there’s another one coming soon. [UPDATE] And here that rant is.)
Something has been bugging me. And if you’ve got a sec, I’d like to lay it all out there.
And to be candid, remember I’m only taking the time to bitch about it because I think we could be fixing something that would help the Web and mobile startups in the Silicon Forest get the recognition they so richly deserve.
And it’s really easy to fix. Read More
Portland-based Walker Tracker, a community for pedometer-wearing walkers to track their steps over time, has announced the release of a “pro” version of its service and a new feature for everyone: competition.
Walker Tracker Pro is a for-pay feature with a user-set pricing model, ala Radiohead’s In Rainbows and LibraryThing. Initial features include daily rank, charting aerobic steps, and priority email support. Paying for the service also removes ads.
As for competition:
You can now lay down the step gauntlet against any other walker on the site, and even challenge those who have yet to join.
No one in your league for competition? Well. then step it up to the next level by choosing to compete against a Greek god, then. (Personally, I’m waiting until my favorite Greek god, Hephaestus, shows up as an option.)
For more information, see Walker Tracker.