Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
What if you turned the world of robots upside-down? No. I don’t mean like making a T-800-esque Schwarzenegger stand on his head. (Although that’s a good idea, too.) I mean, what if, instead of building armies of autonomous beings who do nothing but serve our every whim, we instead built robots who needed us. Like a lot. That’s what Wieden+Kennedy’s creative technologists at W+K Lodge have done with Needybot. Read More
We’ve all been there. You’ve had this moment of inspiration. You’ve chased that inspiration from concept to prototype. Now, you’ve got a working example of your vision. And all you need is just a little capital to take it to the next level. Well, that’s exactly where the Beaverton School District finds themselves with their #FutureBus project, a mobile maker space that encourages kids to make stuff and break stuff. But this time, you get to play the role of investor. Read More
In case you haven’t heard, Intel is in the midst of reducing its global workforce. It’s a change that affects thousands of employees worldwide. And given that the Portland area is home to more Intel folks than anywhere on earth, it’s going to have significant impact here locally, as well. Like to the tune of nearly 800 people in the Portland area losing their jobs. Read More
It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since we held the first TechFestNW. Back then, we called it the Portland Digital eXperience or PDX, and it hosted a small contingent of tech faithful at both the Leftbank and Ziba Design, late in the summer of 2012. This week, a bigger, better—and independent of MusicFestNW—TFNW filled the Armory in Portland with activity, energy, and a view into our tech future. Read More
In my first post, I made a mild dig at my former hometown (Silicon Valley) for perhaps becoming a bit soft(ware) and distant from the science and tech base it started from. That’s not the whole story, of course, and in any event the home of Apple and Google (great software companies that ended up doing their own great hardware) doesn’t need my help to philosophize on this topic. Read More
It’s always interesting when companies move from single solution thinking to platform thinking. GoPro is in the midst of that very transition as it rethinks and retools its business. And local startup Rigado is right in the thick of it. Read More
We’ve all sat through them—or at least seen them made fun of—the dreaded corporate on-boarding, training, and organizational development curricula. But what if those learning experiences were more, well, fun? What if we actually enjoyed them? I mean, without the snark. Call them optimistic, but Portland startup OpenSesame thinks that there’s an opportunity there. To reinvent the medium. That’s why they’re throwing a Training Jam. Read More
The day and age of schools having shop class are, sadly, a thing of the past. So what is the next generation of would-be makers to do when they need space to muck around with tech or production equipment? The Beaverton School District is proposing one solution. It’s a mobile maker space housed within an old school bus. Meet the #FutureBus. Read More
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
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