Attensa, the Portland-based You Software spin off that focuses on tools surrounding RSS technology, has released new versions of their RSS readers.
You can download the new enterprise-quality RSS feed readers for Windows, Mac and Microsoft Outlook at no charge immediately from the Attensa Web site. The three new Attensa feed readers are built using consistent AttentionStream™ technologies, architecture and user experience to provide business users with a complete set of tools for receiving, managing and reading critical business information delivered through RSS, Atom and XML web feeds.
Attensa also appears to have recently refreshed its blog design to focus on its main content, clearing off links to areas that have been relatively stagnant. (I didn’t want them to think that had gone unnoticed. It’s a welcome change.)
For more information on Attensa technologies and its AttentionStream concept, visit Attensa.
One of those applications—their IRC-like Pibb application—has recently been ported to Facebook.
This communications conduit has the potential to be incredibly useful for those folks looking to tie Facebook communications to the rest of their online communications. (Like say for instance, keeping your Facebook comments and your blog comments all in one place.)
By adding the Pibb Facebook application to your account you can easily tie together two end points of your social graph, Facebook and Pibb. Once you add the application to your Facebook account, you will easily be able check for new messages and connect with your Facebook friends on Pibb and vice versa.
(As an aside, with both JanRain and SplashCast supporting Facebook applications, I’ve got to assume there are others of you out there building Facebook apps. Yes? No? Well, if you’ve got a Portland-built Facebook app, link it up, below, or drop me a note. If enough folks respond, I’ll post a roundup.)
The intent [of the BarCamp Portland Meetups] is to get a group of cool people interested in technology together to chat over drinks on the fourth Thursday of every month. Anyone working in high-tech is welcome to attend.
For more information or to RSVP, see the Upcoming page.
We’re quite excited about the new look. As we discussed the other day, the leaf logo and the NewSkin are intended to reflect the alive and growing AboutUs community, and make us feel wholesome and rooted in the whole world. We’re happy with this direction for the community and are glad you’ve joined us.
To see the new skin in action (it is out of BETA and has replaced the default skin), visit AboutUs.
Have a hard time visualizing the Silicon Forest? Maybe the Silicon Forest Universe can help.
The Silicon Forest Universe tracks the massive celestial bodies in the Portland-area—like Tektronix and Intel—and the startups that have launched because of them—which slide into an orbit around the originating company.
Brings “spin off” to a whole new level, doesn’t it?
Well, now that you know what it is, what’s in it for you?
Heike Mayer was a PSU student in 2002 when she helped create the original. Now a Virginia Tech professor, Mayer is working with PSU’s Sheila Martin (from the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies) and a host of regional technology associations to update it.
Excuse me, if you will, as I step out of character. I wanted to take a second to chat with you.
Don’t look over your shoulder. You. Yes, you. Please, read on.
Right around a month ago, I decided to try a little experiment.
I felt the local coverage of small technology startups was somewhat lacking. I mean, I could thumb through international coverage on sites like TechCrunch and Mashable for once-in-a-blue-moon postings on Portland-area companies. And, I could read about larger startups in The Oregonian.
But none of those was really hitting the mark. So I decided to quit being part of the problem. And I tried to do my little part to help solve it.
That solution, from concept to first post, took an earth-shattering 35 minutes. And the Silicon Florist—a blog covering the small startups in and around Portland, Oregon—was born.
And so here we are, one month hence. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
No, that’s not true.
I’ve been shocked. Shocked with the reception. Shocked with the kind notes. Shocked with the participation.
I think I’ve struck a nerve. And I hope that I’m providing a valuable service for you readers out there.
I also thought it might be valuable to provide a little recap of what has happened in the past 30 days or so. I’m not setting any records, but I am seeing some interesting stuff.
Stats
70+ posts
Flirting with 100 RSS subscribers at times. The current count is:
Nearly 2,000 visitors
37% returning visitors
70% of traffic comes from referring sites (Thank you to all of you who showed Silicon Florist the link love!)
It looks like there’s been some activity over on the Ignite Portland site. It’s no longer reporting a 403 error, and the blog is at the very early stages of taking shape.
Portland’s own (well, okay, technically Sherwood’s own) Justin.tv correspondent, Alpha Geek, has provided a stream for the InVerge 2007 event, currently running down in the Pearl.
