Portland-based JanRain—a company that started as an OpenID play and has since morphed into the way to simplify distributed Web logins across the board—announced that they had closed Series A financing to the tune $3.25 million. The round was led by DFJ Frontier. Especially considering this round has been rumored to be in the works since this summer.
Today, JanRain announced the latest feature to RPX. Now in addition to getting login functionality, RPX users also gain a social sharing feature that allows visitors to distribute content to various social media sites.
It’s really interesting to watch the continued progression of Portland-based JanRain‘s efforts with RPX, its drop-in, single sign-on solution designed to help sites and developers quickly and easily solve the “login credential” problem. And just to think, it all began with JanRain trying to simplify the OpenID workflow. How cool is that?
Today, JanRain announced the latest feature to RPX. Now in addition to getting login functionality, RPX users also gain a social sharing feature that allows visitors to distribute content to various social media sites. 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.
When a company like Google recommends using Portland-based JanRain for OpenID implementations that that just lends credence to my argument, doesn’t it?
JanRain and I have been flirting for a while, said Peat Bakke in an email. They have a great team here in Portland, and their products lend themselves to the kind of integration and custom development work that I enjoy.
“JanRain and I have been flirting for a while,” said Peat in an email. “They have a great team here in Portland, and their products lend themselves to the kind of integration and custom development work that I enjoy. We’ve worked together on some big projects, the business is growing, and the timing was right… so on July 1st we sealed the deal, and I’m heading up the professional services group.” Read More
thanks to the efforts of Portland-based JanRain, even the good old brick and mortar companies like KMart and Sears are jumping on the OpenID bandwagon.
Google (maybe you’ve heard of them?) has just announced two new enhancements to the Google OpenID API. And it just so happens that Portland-based JanRain and their RPX solution have come to play a critical role in the announcement: they’re one of the first examples of the new features in use. Read More
Many of you know that in addition to serving as an OpenID proponent, a critical part of the Vidoop team, and a devout bacon—and bacn—geek, Scott Kveton has also served as the chair of the OpenID Foundation.
Today, the Foundation announced its new officers. And while Kveton has moved into the role of vice-chair, I’m happy to report that Brian Kissell of Portland-based JanRain has been elected chair of the organization.
It’s great to see Portland—the de facto hub of OpenID development—continuing to have a noted presence in the Foundation and its efforts.
In other news, a little company called PayPal—which is owned by another little company called eBay—became a sustaining member of the OpenID Foundation. But neither of them are from the Silicon Forest, so that’s secondary news.
I like to proffer that Portland, Oregon, is the hub of OpenID (whether it’s true or not). That’s why I love days like today that only add credence to my assertion.
Today, RWW Live—the podcast for ReadWriteWeb—will be focused on OpenID. As such, it will be pulling in a whole bunch of Portland connections to participate.
But just how much Portland-associated influence will there be on the show? Well, we’re lucky to have some of the heavy hitters from the world of OpenID—and Portland—in attendance. Brian Kissel of Portland-based JanRain, Scott Kveton of Portland-based Vidoop, Chris “@factoryjoe” Messina of Vidoop (who doesn’t live in Portland, but thankfully, travels up here on a regular basis), and David Recordon of Six Apart (who is originally from Portland). And, of course, Marshall Kirkpatrick, who heads up ReadWriteWeb content development, is a Portland resident, as well.
That’s a lot of Portland. And a lot of OpenID knowledge.
Today, the group will be discussing ideas for increasing adoption of OpenID, plans for the OpenID Foundation, and opinions on Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect. If there’s a topic you’d like to propose, visit the RWW Live post to offer it as potential discussion point or throw it out in the chat room during the call.
Speaking of chat rooms… it would probably be wise to tell you how to participate:
The show will be broadcast LIVE at 3.30pm PST Monday (6.30pm EST). We invite you to tune in and interact with us via the chat, by clicking here. You can also use the Calliflower Facebook app to listen and participate.
Can’t make the show? No worries. RWW Live is a podcast, after all. You can always listen to the discussion by heading over to ReadWriteTalk, the archive of all ReadWriteWeb podcasts.
So whether you’re saying “Open wha…?”, a staunch OpenID proponent, or an OpenID opponent, it would be well worth your time to swing by the podcast and hear these knowledgeable folks talk about the future of managing your identity on the Web.
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 InterscopeGeffenA&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.
