Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Portland’s never-ending dance with Google around Google Fiber continues with no end—positive or negative—in sight. But that’s not stopping Google from applying needed resources to the Portland community. Like their Google Fiber Digital Inclusion Fellowship. Read More
Google likes it some Portland. Apparently we have a test market that they like. And as such, they tend to test drive products here before they try them anywhere else.
Well, and this time, it doesn’t hurt that we’re home to one of the leading resources for open transit data. That’s why Google and TriMet have teamed up to provide real-time updates on transit via Google Maps. Read More
This Friday, Google Hotpot have one recommendation that few Portland people will be able to dismiss: visit Beer and Blog at the Green Dragon for a free beer.
In a town like Portland, where we’re a little spoiled with a selection of brewpubs and restaurants, making decisions can be difficult. Reliable recommendations—especially from people you trust—can be the key to figuring out where you want to go.
Google Hotpot, a new service that helps provide those recommendations, is being currently going through a little test drive—right here in Portland. And this Friday, the Google Hotpot folks have a recommendation that few people will be able to ignore: visit Beer and Blog at the Green Dragon for a free beer. Read More
You just have to think like a startup. And that’s just what Multnomah County, Oregon, is doing by switching from Microsoft Office to Google Apps.
When you’re trying to build a startup—or run a fledgling project—every little bit helps. And lately, one of the most popular startup cost cutting maneuvers has been eschewing expensive office software suites in favor of free online versions—like Google Docs or Google Apps—of course.
But see, you don’t have to be a startup to take advantage of this little cost saving procedure. You just have to think like a startup. And that’s just what Multnomah County, Oregon, is doing by switching from Microsoft Office to Google Apps. Read More
What would you do to woo that Google Fiber group and make them think kindly of you? Well, if you’re Portland, Oregon, you brew a special beer. Duh. And then you call it Gigabit IPA.
Let’s say—hypothetically—that there’s the search engine for finding stuff on the Internet. For the sake of argument, let’s call it “Google.” Now let’s say that that search engine wants to bring a big super fast Internet connection to some lucky city. And I mean fast. Gigabit fast. Let’s just call it “Google Fiber.”
What would you do to woo that Google Fiber group and make them think kindly of you? Well, if you’re Portland, Oregon, you brew a special beer. Duh. And then you call it Gigabit IPA. Read More
[HTML2]It’s Thursday and that means it’s time to unveil a new version of memePDX, Portland tech news for those short on time and attention. And you’ll be happy to hear that we took your feedback to heart. We tried to keep it shorter and we tried to keep it more local.
Now there’s still some national stuff going on this week. But for the most part Cami Kaos and I are talking about Portland stuff like WordCamp Portland, Second Porch, LinuxCon, Linux Plumbers Conference, Google teaching computers to read, and I made $384 or $484 yesterday thanks to Twitter.
So without further ado, let’s get to it. Read More
The message carried some very interesting tidbits about future OpenID developments with Google. Sachs recommended using Portland-based JanRain’s RPX solution for OpenID.
A few weeks back, Portland’s Marshall Kirkpatrick, VP of Content for ReadWriteWeb, found a missive in the OpenID group from Google’s Eric Sachs. The half-composed message appeared to have been posted to the public list by mistake, but it still carried some very interesting tidbits about future OpenID developments with Google.
The most interesting part of that post to me? Sachs recommended using Portland-based JanRain’s RPX solution for OpenID. Today, JanRain and Google revealed the rest of the story. Read More
When a company like Google recommends using Portland-based JanRain for OpenID implementations that that just lends credence to my argument, doesn’t it?
I hear you. “Oh boy. Here we go again with the ‘Portland is the de facto hub of OpenID development‘ speech again.”
Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. But you have to admit that when a company like Google recommends using Portland-based JanRain for OpenID implementations that that just lends credence to my argument, doesn’t it? Read More
All of the sudden everybody in Portland is going all Hollywood on us.
First SplashCast announces that they’re partnering with Hulu. And now JanRain has announced that their RPX solution—a product that makes managing the ever-growing variety of distributed login credentials easier for developers and users—is going to be helping Interscope Geffen A&M, a division Universal Music Group, give fans an easier way to connect with their favorite artists.
Using the RPX interface, fans who’d like to connect with say, Lady Gaga, have the option of using their Facebook identity, Google identity, MySpace identity, or any variety of OpenID flavors, like AOL, Yahoo!, or Portland’s MyOpenID or myVidoop.
Where did all of these options come from all of the sudden? Well…
It’s been quite the month for the world of distributed social networking. Both Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect – two services designed to help user manage a single profile across multiple sites – launched on the same day. Then, MySpace followed in close succession with their MySpaceID offering, another distributed social option built on the Open Stack. In a matter of days, the distributed social space went from nascent to completely confusing.
JanRain is hoping to make it a little less confusing, for both developers and users. And if they have to work with big-time music types—like 50 Cent, Fergie, and Guns n’ Roses—to get that done, so be it.
For more information, see JanRain’s RPX specific site or read the release. If you haven’t had your fill of my writing for the day, you can also read my write-up on ReadWriteWeb.
Earlier today, Portland’s Marshall Kirkpatrick had a post on the first Google Friend Connect widget observed outside of captivity, in its natural habitat:
Prominent Israeli tech blogger Orli Yakuel has just installed the first Google Friend Connect widget we’ve seen yet in the wild.
Read the post. Found it interesting. Filed it away.
Then, this evening, I’m reading through my feeds and what do I see? Portland-based Mapdango has added Google Friend Connect:
Friend Connect provides a simple, effective, and fairly universal way of adding social networking features to a web site. Although Friend Connect is still in private beta, mapdango is one of the lucky sites that now includes Friend Connect functionality (it took a little cajoling) 🙂
Now, that’s exciting!
So, what’s Google Friend Connect? Well, it’s a social-networking widget. The most readily available analogy I have is “the Yahoo! MyBlogLog widget on steroids.” Or, as Google says:
Google Friend Connect lets you grow traffic by easily adding social features to your website. With just a few snippets of code, you get more people engaging more deeply with your site.
Now granted, Google Friend Connect is not without its shortcomings—or its detractors. But let’s suspend disbelief for a brief moment, disregard that silly “privacy” thing, and revel in how cool it is to see a Portland company among the very fist to get the chance to test-drive this technology.
As always, I’m very interested to see where this goes.
To try Google Friend Connect for yourself, visit Mapdango.