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Category: #featured

SwedeShop: IKEA on the iPhone

But don’t despair there’s a third frustrating IKEA thing that can be fixed: the golf pencils. Introducing SwedeShop the unofficial IKEA iPhone app from Eugene-based iPhone developer Danilo Campos.

Rick Turoczy on August 17, 2009

Some folks just can’t get enough of IKEA. I mean, do you remember the pandemonium when they finally opened a location in Portland? Cheap modern furniture and tasty Swedish meatballs? What’s not to like?

Well, a few things. For all the Swedish furnishing and food awesomeness, it does have some drawbacks. First of all, the Las-Vegas-casino-like maze that is IKEA. And that ball pit thingamajig. But I can’t help you there.

But don’t despair, there’s a third frustrating IKEA thing that can be fixed: the golf pencils. Introducing SwedeShop, the unofficial IKEA iPhone app, from Eugene-based Bend-based (according to TechFlash) iPhone developer Danilo Campos. Read More

xkcd on Oregon

Rick Turoczy on August 14, 2009

If you’re on the Web, here’s hoping that you—at one point or another—have had the pleasure of being exposed to xkcd, “a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” Long story short, it’s sheer awesomeness. Especially if you’re a geek.

So making it into xkcd—even completely tangentially—is a bit of a coup. And a geek rite of passage.

Well, congrats to you, my friend. You’ve reached the pinnacle of geekdom by being included in an xkcd comic. Well, sort of. Read More

WordCamp Portland sells out

When you combine that camp popularity with the WordPress fandom that consumes the blogging world of Portland you’ve got a sure fire recipe for a killer camp. That’s WordCamp Portland.

Rick Turoczy on August 12, 2009

Now, as we all know, the Camps are a pretty popular item here in the Portland area. BarCamp Portland, WhereCamp, Digital Journalism Camp… the list goes on and on. And when you combine that campity camp camp popularity with the WordPress fandom that consumes the blogging world of Portland, you’ve got a sure fire recipe for a killer camp.

That’s WordCamp Portland. And that’s why—as promised—it sold out in a little over a week. Read More

Who’s building BlackBerry apps in the Silicon Forest?

For all my crowing about Portland being the de facto hub of mobile development, I seem to cover primarily iPhone apps and maybe an Android app every once in a while. Inevitably when those posts go live a few people always ask Is there a Blackberry version?

Rick Turoczy on August 12, 2009

[HTML1]For all my crowing about Portland being the de facto hub of mobile development, I seem to cover primarily iPhone apps and maybe an Android app every once in a while. Inevitably, when those posts go live, a few people always ask, “Is there a BlackBerry version?”

And that leads me to wonder, is there? Are people in the Silicon Forest building BlackBerry apps?

I’m not a Blackberry user, but I know quite a few people who are. And—basically in any town besides Portland—I run into a lot more BlackBerry users than iPhone or Android users.

That said, I don’t know that I’m following the BlackBerry development space as closely as I could be. Read More

Strange Love Live: Portland, startups, entrepreneurs, venture capital, and the Silicon Florist

Rick Turoczy on August 10, 2009

Last Friday, I was honored to be the guest on Strange Love Live—the best tech podcast in Portland, if not the world—to celebrate the second birthday of this little blog here.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Strange Love format, there’s generally a serious “tech” segment followed by a less serious “afterhours” segment. But you know me. Given the opportunity, I can’t help but continue blabbing about the Portland tech scene. Blah blah blah.

So if you’ve got a few minutes, take some time to listen in on the tech episode where we chat about Silicon Florist and whatnot. Read More

Silicon Florist is two today. What a short strange trip it’s been.

In the wee small hours of August 7 2007 I dragged my ass out of bed sat myself down in front of the computer and registered siliconflorist.com. I posted the first Silicon Florist post a few days later.

Rick Turoczy on August 7, 2009

Roughly 730.5 days ago, I sat up in bed at 2 AM with an idea. Who knew it would be an idea that all but ensured I’d rarely be in bed at 2 AM ever again?

In the wee small hours of August 7, 2007, I dragged my ass out of bed, sat myself down in front of the computer, and—giving life to what seemed like a bit of a strange idea with a wacky name—registered siliconflorist.com. After some hosting setup and WordPress wrangling, I posted the first Silicon Florist post a few days later.

The concept, in my mind, was to highlight what folks in Portland were doing with tech startups. To shine a small light on developers and open source folks who were focused on building cool stuff, but who didn’t have the time to focus on promoting that stuff. Read More

Getting even more creative: Wieden + Kennedy launches Portland Incubator Experiment

Wouldn’t it be awesome if something positive did the same thing? Now it may. Introducing the Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) from Wieden + Kennedy (W+K).

Rick Turoczy on August 5, 2009

[HTML2]If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, Portland is a town full of creatives. We’ve got creatives in technology. Creatives in startups. Creatives in graphic design. Creatives in writing. Creatives in the arts. Creatives, creatives, creatives.

But if there’s one thing I don’t like about the Portland creative scene, it’s this: how divested these creative groups seem to be from one another. It’s a crying shame.

Now granted, some recent negatives have helped bring these creative groups together. But wouldn’t it be awesome if something positive did the same thing? Now, it may. Introducing the Portland Incubator Experiment, from Wieden + Kennedy. Read More

WordCamp Portland: Let the registration begin

Once a year, Portland WordPress aficionados like to gather to share ideas, compare notes, and learn from our astute peers at WordCamp Portland. WordCamp registration opened today.

Rick Turoczy on August 5, 2009

You know me. I like to state—some would say overstate—the obvious. So here we go. You may not know it, but Portland? Portland loves WordPress.

It’s true. We have user groups for it. Build themes for it. Code plugins for it. Heck, some of us even blog with it every now and again.

And once a year, all of us Portland WordPress aficionados like to gather to share ideas, compare notes, and learn from our astute peers at WordCamp Portland. Sound interesting? Well get moving, because WordCamp registration opened today and there’s only room for 200 folks. Read More

Sad news: SplashCast hits the off button on Social TV

While I love all of the startups in the Silicon Forest equally, SplashCast has always held a special place in my heart. Unfortunately, that scrappy Portland startup’s history has now come to an end. SplashCast has decided to shutter its operations.

Rick Turoczy on August 4, 2009

While I love all of the startups in the Silicon Forest equally, Portland-based SplashCast has always held a special place in my heart.

You see, not too long after I came back to this side of the desk as a consultant, I had the opportunity to meet with QMind founder Mike Berkley a few years back—and signed an NDA, I might add—when he was getting ready to retool the company into what would become SplashCast. And then they hired Marshall Kirkpatrick. And Alex Williams. And they showed a great deal of promise.

Unfortunately, that scrappy Portland startup’s history has now come to an end. SplashCast has decided to shutter its operations. Read More

Portland, Oregon, is the most entrepreneurial town in the world

Rick Turoczy on July 30, 2009

It seems there’s a bit of contention and kerfuffle about a recent Entrepreneur piece on the most “startup friendly cities in the US.” Why? Because Portland—and a number of other “not seen as startup hub” towns—made it to the list while traditional metropolitan juggernauts—like Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle—were left by the wayside.

Read More
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