Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
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
Some of my favorite products are the ones that seem so utterly obvious in retrospect. Because they’re such a moment of insightful brilliance codified into a product. And you’re just like “Yes. That makes TOTAL sense. Why hasn’t anyone done this before?” Take computers. What are they good at doing? That’s right. Computing. So why hasn’t anyone put that to work in an elegant way to support mathematics in schools? Someone has. Meet Portland startup MathLeap. Read More
One of the things I most love about Portland is that we’ve got more unassuming expertise per capita than any town on earth. Tons of super talented people. But you’d never know it. Because they keep a low profile. So whenever one of them raises that profile a bit? I’m going to celebrate that. Like when Ken Westin decides to start a podcast on encryption. Read More
Often, some of the simplest Web implementations are some of the most fun and compelling. And the latest effort from Travel Oregon is no different. While the piece is targeted at tourism, there’s absolutely no reason that you can’t repurpose it for your careers page to help with hiring. Hint, hint. Read More
We’re starting to move into event season again. And there’s no better way to get that going than a pitch event. Startups telling their stories in the hopes of attracting investors, customers, and potentially fame. If you’re looking to be in the audience, here’s a great opportunity: Pitch Oregon. Read More
I spend a great deal of time pontificating on what’s happening in the Portland startup scene. Guessing at themes and trends. Taking ad hoc swags at what’s having impact and what’s not. It works fairly well. But it’s always nice to have real numbers and research analyzing what’s happening here. That’s why I was happy to see a new Pacific Northwest Capital Scan for 2016. Read More
One of the things I appreciate about Portland is the way it rethinks conference formats. We have any number of examples from any number of small unconferences to gigantic things like the XOXO Festival. Now, there’s a new event in town that promises to gather folks from the design community while helping nonprofits at the same time. Meet Affect. Read More
[Editor: Now, you may be wondering why in the world Silicon Florist would be posting a story that besmirches Oregon. That’s right. I said “besmirch.” Well, fact is, I’m not. But it’s that selfsame titling that sparked a response post from Mitch Daugherty. And he and I both thought that this little grenade might elicit a response from you, as well. So without further ado…] Read More
For the past four years, TechfestNW—an event designed to both showcase interesting tech in Pacific Northwest and attract folks from outside of the region—has been joined at the hip with its much larger and longer running compatriot, MusicfestNW. But this year, that’s all changing. Five year old TFNW is stepping out on its own. And earlier in the year to boot. Read More
Let me preface this with the statement that I don’t even like politics. Mostly because I don’t get it. I come from a long line of coal miners and blue collar workers. You don’t politick. You just work. That being said, even a political n00b like me can see the writing on the wall. And so, here I sit. Writing my second politically fueled post of the day. Because I wanted to bring your attention to the Portland mayoral race. Because it just got way more important for every startup in Portland. Read More