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Category: #featured

Don’t just demo, Portland. Demolicious. (Your favorite tech demo night is back.)

If you’ve been around Portland for a while, you might recall Demolicious, a quarterly series of events hosted by Portland Web Innovators that allowed Portland startups and developers demo interesting projects on which they had been working. It was a great way to see all the random stuff happening in town.

If you’ve been around Portland for a while, you might recall Demolicious, a quarterly series of events hosted by Portland Web Innovators that allowed Portland startups and developers to demo interesting projects on which they had been working. It was a great way to see all the random stuff happening in town.

Well, as these sorts of things often do, Demolicious went on a bit of hiatus. But now? It’s back. A little bigger and a little better. Well, a little better, that is, if you apply to show Portland what you’ve been working on. Read More

Sustainable Valley: Southern Oregon is wired and ready for tech growth

Southern Oregon is no stranger to high technology innovators. Now, there’s the new Sustainable Valley initiative and the emergence of a substantial, local Angel investing group: Jefferson Grapevine.

[Editor: Turns out Portland isn’t the only city seeing a surge in tech startups. Southern Oregon has its fair share of burgeoning companies, as well. Charlie McHenry provides a firsthand account of what’s happening down south.]

Southern Oregon is no stranger to high technology innovators. The software utilities segment was practically invented in the region. Central Point Software’s “PC Tools” and Paul Mace Software’s “Mace Utilities” were the earliest players in what would become a very definable segment of the software market. During the mid-90’s, the So. Oregon chapter of the Software Association of Oregon was the state’s largest. Later, the So. Oregon Telecommunications & Technology Council became a regional business power, and influenced the statewide broadband build-out. Read More

Want to sell that CafePress tshirt you just made to your Facebook fans? Talk to ShopIgniter

Let’s say you’re a small startup looking to make a little extra cash. Or maybe you’re the class clown looking to memorialize his latest funny quip. Where do you go? Well, you go to the site that lets more people create their own apparel and tchotchkes than anyone else: CafePress. It’s like the Internet version of iron-ons. We’ve all done it.

But getting that stuff in front of people who will actually buy it? That’s a problem. Just like discoverability in the mobile app world. Or at least it was. You see, now? You can hock your creations to people you know on Facebook—all thanks to Portland’s ShopIgniter. Read More

From AboutUs to Ziba Design: 18 awesome jobs for the technically inclined

Sure, sure. What you do is fun and all. And—let’s be honest—you kick ass. But couldn’t you use a different set of folks to impress? Sure you could. And that’s why a new job would be just the thing right about now. I mean, seriously. You owe it to yourself. And you totally deserve it. Movin’ on up and whatnot.

Well, you’re in luck. There are a whole bunch of awesome Portland (and Corvallis) tech companies interested in hiring awesome people like you. It’s, well, awesome. So why not take a look at the Silicon Florist Job Board to figure out your next potential gig? Read More

Rose City ‘Til I Die: Portland Timbers’ Flickr photostream crowdsources PDX’s love of soccer

Now, those images of true Portland Timbers’ fans are available on the Timbers’ Flickr photostream.

[HTML2]Portland is a town of many loves. There are the obvious ones. The coffee. The beer. The food. The books. And the technology. But some folks outside the town might not be as well phrased in one of the most well-loved sports in the city: soccer. Or to be more specific: The Portland Timbers.

When billboards of “Timbers fans” began popping up all over town, there were any number of “I could do that” claims from locals. Well, the Timbers heard those claims too. And they took the opportunity to ask their fans to do just that. Now, those images of true Portland Timbers’ fans are available on the Timbers’ Flickr photostream. Read More

Get your Portland startup and tech discussions on: Introducing Silicon Florist forums

in an effort to help the Portland startup and tech community have the discussions they should be having, I’m happy to announce the addition of the Silicon Florist forums.

These days, we spend a lot of time talking online. Chatting here. Tweeting there. Updating over there. But sometimes, you just want the interaction of a good old fashioned discussion board. I mean, really. For all the advancements in social media, there’s just something that works about that classic threaded forum discussion format. At least I think there is.

And so, in an effort to help the Portland startup and tech community have the discussions they should be having, I’m happy to announce the addition of the Silicon Florist forums. Read More

Bending server configuration to your will just got a bunch easier with Puppet Enterprise

One of the best things about open source software is how open to configuration it is. Conversely, one of the worst things about open source software… is how open to configuration it is. Sometimes, all that freedom can make things more difficult than they should be.

Companies that work with open source projects understand this. And that’s why they’re constantly searching for ways to make their software easier to use and configure. Puppet Labs in Portland, Oregon, is one of those companies. And their latest release, Puppet Enterprise, takes a leap forward in making things easier for folks interested in adopting Puppet for server configuration. Read More

Since there’s no blimp on Sunday, get your fill of dirigibles with Urban Airship on Saturday

So maybe you missed the first Portland Lunch 2.0 of the year. Maybe you’re really upset because you really, really wanted to see Urban Airship‘s new space in the former Ziba building. And now, you’re sitting there, sullen.

Well, that Super Bowl party isn’t your only entertainment this weekend. You have another chance to go hang out with the Urban Airship crew, see their new digs, and celebrate with the other tenants in their building with Urban Airship open house. Read More

Portland should be ordering dogfood by the truckload

[HTML1][Editor: Given the Startup America Partnership announcement, it seemed an appropriate time to release the latest post from guest writer Dave Chase. It’s a piece calling the City of Portland to action by encouraging them to shop locally for technology. It’s a similar stance to “Buying local isn’t just for food.”]

Perhaps the most frustrating thing for a software startup is the glacial pace at which governments move. In this post, I’m going to suggest something that Mayor Sam Adams and the City of Portland can start today. Fortunately, it’s already identified the value of “dogfooding” (i.e., being a proving ground and reference) of local software. Read More

Startup America Partnership: Obama administration plans to support entrepreneurs and accelerate startup activity

Unfortunately, ARRA efforts didn’t seem to focus much on entrepreneurs or the startup scene. Until now. Yesterday, Obama introduced the Startup America Partnership.

When President Barack Obama took office, one of his first challenges was the United States economy and its veritable freefall. To an effort to slow that downward spiral, he signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a program designed to fund—and you would have heard this term 10,000 times by now—“shovel ready” projects that could help bolster the US economy.

For many—myopically disposed or not—the tech startup scene seemed to hold hold any number of said projects with the potential to positively effect both job creation and wealth creation. Unfortunately, government efforts didn’t seem to focus much on that aspect of the economy. Until now. Yesterday, Obama introduced the Startup America Partnership. Read More