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Category: Oregon

Super Friends launch “Legion of Tech”

Rick Turoczy on December 17, 2007

While you may not realize it, a number of the exemplary Portland-based technology events—Ignite Portland, BarCamp Portland, Startupalooza, and others—have the same, very active cast of characters behind them. And now, to help facilitate the hosting and management of said events, they have opted to form an Oregon non-profit: the Legion of Tech.

This organization has two primary functions: first, we organize key community events like BarCampPortland and Ignite Portland; second, we provide resources and help to organizers of other community technology events. Specifically, the purpose of this organization is to

  • Grow and nurture the local Portland technology community through educational, not-for-profit, community-run events.
  • Make it easier for community members to organize technology events.
  • Provide resources and assistance for technology community events.

Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing these folks make this venture as successful as the events they have managed, and am eager to learn more about lending a hand in their efforts.

If you’re feeling the same way, please visit the Legion of Tech (which, as far as I know, does NOT look like a giant floating Darth Vader head. But if, by chance, it does? I’m totally going for the Bizarro role, but I would also settle for Solomon Grundy or Grodd.)

What’s that smell? Oh, Ignite Portland has started to smolder again

Rick Turoczy on December 14, 2007

Did the last one out forget to douse Ignite Portland? Because it’s starting to smolder again. And, if we’re lucky, it will be a rolling blaze in the coming months.

While details are still very slim on the where and when, I’m happy to report that planning for Ignite Portland 2 is well underway.

We won’t publish the details until we have them locked down (date, venue, how to submit presentation ideas, etc.), but we wanted to let you all know that there WILL be another Ignite soon in P-Town!

For those of us lucky enough to attend the first Ignite Portland, this is welcome news.

More details as they become available.

Ignite Portland is an event designed to facilitate the sharing of burning ideas in the Portland community—via extremely quick and compelling presentations. For more information on the concept and the recaps of the first event, visit Ignite Portland. To stay up-to-date on the latest news, subscribe to the Ignite Portland feed.

OEN says every time a bell rings an Angel looks to fund a startup

Rick Turoczy on December 12, 2007

It’s that time of year again. Yes, the time of year when I start trying to write headlines based on obscure references to classic holiday movies.

But, it’s also time for the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) to open submissions for Angel Oregon, the annual competition that lands one lucky startup a chunk of Angel funding.

Angel Oregon 2008 is coming and it’s bigger than ever! Applications are being accepted now through Jan. 11, 2008. We invite companies to compete for $300K in investment prizes, awarded in three distinct investment tracks. A Grand Prize Winner will walk away with $150K, with two runners-up receiving $75K each [contingent on Angel Oregon hitting its recruitment goals].

Angel Oregon is a program of Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) and is the nation’s premier matchmaking event. Angel Oregon focuses on bringing together Oregon and SW Washington’s brightest entrepreneurial talent with qualified Angel investors. Last years Angel Oregon event was perhaps the most successful ever with the top company, M-Six, walking away with $230k. For more information or to apply, visit Angel Oregon.

Cooking Up A Story goes Dutch with Ecotrust

Rick Turoczy on December 11, 2007

Portland-based Cooking Up A Story, an online show about people, food, and sustainability, has established a partnership with Ecotrust, the Portland-based nonprofit organization focusing on rebuilding the Salmon Nation along the West coast.

“Our association with Cooking Up A Story will allow us to broadcast the vital issues facing the sustainable food and agriculture community to a broader, global audience through the internet,” said Deborah Kane, vice president of Ecotrust’s Food and Farms program. “We want to engage viewers regionally and around the world in these issues by allowing them to see the faces and hear the unscripted voices of everyday people and their connections to food and sustainable living.”

Cooking Up A Story features no on-air talent, no scripted programming, and no studio environments, just authentic stories filmed in native surroundings. For more information, visit Cooking Up A Story.

(Hat tip Marshall Kirkpatrick)

Uncloaking: Imindi

Rick Turoczy on December 7, 2007

Profiled previously on Silicon Florist while in stealth mode, Portland-based Imindi, a new Web-based thought engine, has officially uncloaked and is now offering BETA invites to selected users.

What makes Imindi different from other mind-mapping tools?

At its core Imindi is a “Thought Engine” because it is an engine that augments the way that we think of new ideas, concepts and questions as opposed to a Search Engine which helps you find information or answers to questions that you have already formed in your mind.

On a practical level Imindi will help you to express your own thoughts and expand them by connecting your thoughts with others. In some ways its a bit like the popular web application Flickr except instead of using it for collecting and sharing your photos you use it for collecting your thoughts.

If you’re interested in testing the Imindi tool, leave your email address after the beep.

Kryptiq repeats as Oregon’s most admired privately held technology company

Rick Turoczy on December 7, 2007

I received word, last night, that Hillsboro-based Kryptiq, makers of technology that streamlines healthcare communications, has been named the fifth most respected company in Oregon—up two spots from last year—by the Portland Business Journal. And, for the second year in a row, it’s also the highest ranking privately held technology company on the list.

Votes were collected from more than 2,000 Oregon-based CEOs who were asked to select the companies they most admire in a number of different industries. In all, 87 different companies were nominated in the technology category. Other organizations recognized in the category include HP, Microsoft, Tektronix, Intel, and Flir Systems.

(I haven’t seen anything from the Portland Business Journal, but I’ll make sure to post once I find it.)

Kryptiq streamlines healthcare communications among patients, providers, pharmacies and health plans with secure messaging, electronic prescribing, disease management and contract management technologies. By integrating these solutions with existing systems and applications, Kryptiq enables the trusted transport of health information where and when it is needed. For more information on the company, see Kryptiq.

Newsvetter seeks to rescue media from flood of boring press releases

Rick Turoczy on December 6, 2007

Portland-based Newsvetter, a service designed to enhance the relationship between the media and those who would love to influence them, has released a BETA version of its product to the public.

The product provides a simple—but much needed—filter that promises to help both sides of the media exchange communicate more clearly and intelligently with one another.

News presenters submit story ideas after completing an online vetting questionnaire. The vetting questionnaire contains a list of key questions asked by the news media when evaluating stories for publication. News media review the submissions, provide feedback in the form of ratings and comments, and, if warranted, contact news presenters to discuss possible publication of their story ideas.

While there isn’t a great deal of content to be found in the service at this point (you could do something to change that, hint hint), the idea has definite merit. I think it’s worth a test drive. And if you’d like to consider using it as a way to pitch stories to the Silicon Florist (again, hint hint), please feel free.

Newsvetter was released by Single Cell, a Portland-area public relations firm. For more information or to test drive the service, visit Newsvetter.

(Hat tip Lev Tsypin)

JanRain heralds the release of OpenID 2.0

Rick Turoczy on December 5, 2007

Portland-based JanRain, arguably the most active proponent of the OpenID standard, has announced the release of, and support for, OpenID 2.0.

The latest version of OpenID assures its position as the dominant standard for next-generation digital identity. With new features that improve security and usability of OpenID, the user-centric single sign-on and online user-authentication standard is primed for mass adoption and widespread disruption across the Internet.

[Editor: For those of you who use the OpenID login for Silicon Florist comments, please do let me know if anything breaks, given these latest changes.]

JanRain is the driving force behind the adoption of OpenID services. Based in Portland, OR, the company has delivered the first comprehensive communications and reputation platform, Pibb, leveraging OpenID’s decentralized and user-centric identity. For more information, visit JanRain.

MyStrands lands $24 million in funding

Rick Turoczy on December 5, 2007

Yesterday, Corvallis, Oregon, based MyStrands announced that they have secured an additional $24 million in funding, increasing the total capital raised by the company to $55 million. The round, led by Spanish bank Grupo BBVA, is slated primarily for continued research & development and product development.

This round of funding has been covered by TechCrunch and Profy, among others. [Update] And I’ll sheepishly add Portland’s Marshall Kirkpatrick’s coverage of the MyStrands’ funding from Read/Write Web. (I didn’t see it in the trackbacks, I swear! And, seriously, have you ever seen that many possessives in one sentence? I mean, really?)

MyStrands develops technologies to better understand people’s taste and help them discover things they like and didn’t know about. MyStrands has created a social recommender engine that is able to provide real-time recommendations of products and services through computers, mobile phones and other Internet-connected devices. For more information, see MyStrands.

(Hat tip Brooks Jordan)

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