Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Max Ogden, creator of PDX API, was just awarded a fellowship by Code for America, an organization that connects city governments and Web 2.0 talent.
Remember the CivicApps contest? Of course you do. Who am I kidding?
Well one of the most valuable things to come out of that contest was PDX API, a way of making sense of all of the data sets offered up by the City of Portland. So valuable, in fact, that Max Ogden, creator of PDX API, was just awarded a fellowship by Code for America, an organization that connects “city governments and Web 2.0 talent.” Read More
[HTML2]It’s Thursday. And that means it’s time for yet another roundup of the hottest tech stories in Portland and beyond. And while this episode may be numbered 007, it’s probably not as suave or charming as Mr. Bond. Well, Cami Kaos might be. But not Rick Turoczy. For sure.
This week, we cover Portland’s openness, WhereCamp PDX, WordPress.tv, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Google Wave, and boco. Oh and we throw 40 iPhone apps in to boot. Read More
I don’t think I’ll be causing any of you to burst into any awe inspired epiphanic fits when I say “radio is broken.” I mean, let’s face it. The format is outdated. And the idea of force feeding folks advertisements and only providing content on the broadcaster’s schedule? It smacks of ludditism. At best.
That’s why new models are emerging. Satellite radio for one. Podcasting for another.
But what if you could get the best of both worlds? What if you could get your regularly scheduled radio program and could still listen to shows on demand whenever you wanted? And what if you could still get all of that for free? Now, you can. Introducing pdx.fm. Read More
[HTML3]As you probably realize, we’re smack dab in the middle of the Internet Strategy Forum Summit. And one of the keynote speakers here in town is Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst with Forrester Research.
But before Jeremiah was on the ISF Summit stage, he took some time to hang out with Social Media Club PDX. As far as recaps go, Amber Case did an amazing job of capturing the event, but this video they captured will help fill in any gaps.
They’re all in good fun. But what if you’re interested in a more business-like get together? Well then. The PDX Uniquely Portland Oregon inaugural tweetup may be for you.
Now, if you’re in Portland, you’ve no doubt received the Twitter pitch. You know, the whole “Why aren’t you on Twitter?”, “I heard about it on Twitter”, “Isn’t everyone on Twitter?” treatment?
And if you’ve succumb to the pitch, you’ve likely been invited to a tweetup or two. Maybe at Whiffies. Or at the Green Dragon. Or maybe just a random get together.
They’re all in good fun. But what if you’re interested in a more business-like get together? Well then. The Uniquely Portland Oregon inaugural tweetup may be for you. Read More
But I’m definitely not as savvy as the folks who will be gathering to discuss Cloud computing on June 30 as part of CloudCamp PDX.
I can still remember when I first heard the term “the Cloud.” As in, we’re saving that up in the Cloud. My initial thought was “anything having to do with clouds and Portland is going to own that.”
Well, I’ve managed to get a wee bit more educated about the whole cloud thing since then. But I’m definitely not as savvy as the folks who will be gathering to discuss Cloud computing on June 30 as part of CloudCamp PDX. Read More
One of the original social media groups in Portland—Social Media Club PDX—was an early leader in gathering like-minded social media types to discuss the potential of social media.
Then, it went into hibernation for awhile. But tonight, it wakes up again:
Join Chris Heuer, co-founder of the Social Media Club, at the re-launch of Social Media Club PDX as he discusses how companies can transform their organization through the use of social media. Chris will discuss the elements and framework for creating a successful social media strategy and how to get your organization and clients behind it. He will also examine how companies need to re-think current advertising methods and their purpose in order to utilize the full potential of social marketing.
The first meeting of the reunited group will be held tonight at The Agency, starting at 6:00 PM. For more information or to RSVP, visit Social Media Club PDX on Upcoming.
Portland’s version of the club is part of the larger Social Media Club family.
To stay up-to-date on all of the latest, follow Social Media Club PDX on Twitter, join the Facebook group, or visit the Social Media Club Portland wiki.
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Last weekend, Portland played host to all sorts of geolocation goodness at WhereCamp PDX. And proud as I was to sponsor this unique event, I was unable to attend.
What to do? Read the blog posts about the event, of course! And since I’m tracking down those posts, anyway, I thought it might be nice to share them with you, gentle reader.
Let’s get going, shall we?
For more details on the event, visit WhereCamp PDX.
Last Friday was podcast day for me. And for as nervous as I was, I think they turned out pretty well. No doubt thanks to the talented people actually managing the whole podcast thing and me just having to spout off every now and again.
So, I thought I’d share the links, in case you were interested in listening.
Jim Zemlin, Raven Zachary, Audrey Eschright, and I had the opportunity to chat about open source and the open source scene in Portland. Topics include OSCON, how we all use open source software and may not even know it, corporate adoption of open source, Portland’s culture as a complement to the open source community, open-source rockets, and NTEN.
Download the mp3 of OPB Think Out Loud: Open-source City
Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal invited me over for a tech edition of Strange Love Live (if you’re not watching/listening, you should be). And we were lucky enough to command a live studio audience as well, featuring Michelle Anderson (mediachick), Amber Case (caseorganic), Bram Pitoyo, and Kelly Guimont (verso). Topics included the reasoning behind Silicon Florist, the Portland tech scene, Vidoop, Intrigo, OSCON, the Open Web Foundation, and more.
Download the mp3 of Strange Love Live Tech Edition with Rick Turoczy
[Update] If you’re interested in streaming the podcasts—instead of downloading them—Cami Kaos has posted the streaming audio files to her blog.
Once the serious Strange Love stuff is done, the cameras keep rolling for the #afterhours discussion. We continued talking about some of the tech topics, discussed my sleeping habits (or lack thereof), talked about and lightsaber-ed with the iPhone, made some tech predictions including hinting at Marshall Kirkpatrick‘s upcoming internet brain implant venture, thanked our luck stars for OurPDX, introduced folks to Planet PDX, talked about upcoming guest Melissa Lion, and got into a pretty serious bidding war for sponsoring Strange Love Live.
Download the mp3 of Strange Love Live #afterhours with Rick Turoczy
Suffice it to say, this was a trial by fire for me and audio. So I’d love to hear feedback as to a) whether I was intelligible at all and b) if I was intelligible, if you’d be interested in more podcasts from yours truly.
Looking forward to your feedback.
Not so long ago, there used to be a Portland team blog that I read multiple times a day. Great voices. Great insights. And a really, truly great team vibe.
They had meetups, they had banter with their readers, and—most importantly—they had Portland paying attention.
Not only did I want to read the blog, I wanted to write for them. To comment. To be part of the vibe. To be part of that team. To be part of that talent that was doing a better job of keeping Portland informed—for free. Better, in fact than many of the paid journalists in town.
And then, much to my chagrin, that blog stumbled. Badly.
And the worst part of it was that it had nothing to do with the writers, nothing to do with teamwork, and absolutely nothing to do with Portland. It had to do with the fact that they were part of a much larger network that had less concern about the Portland site than they did the network as a whole. And they made some mistakes.
And now, it seems like ages since we’ve had that vibe. The blog never recovered. They lost the team except for a few who stuck around. They lost the banter by implementing an oppressive comment system. The list goes on and on.
And since then, it’s been some irreparable shell of a blog, mocking its former instantiation, dribbling out half-hearted and insipid posts on an irregular basis.
And Portland sat. Waiting for the voices to return. Or for someone to pick up the torch.
But now, that wait is over.
I hear you. Whoa whoa whoa, Mr. Sourpuss. Don’t start my Monday morning off on such a depressing note. Geez.
Okay.
How about this, sunshine? They’re back! Meet Our PDX. It’s going to be good, so add it to your feed reader, right now.
“Last Saturday, a local story dropped in my lap. But I had no outlet,” said Betsy Richter, the driving force behind Our PDX. “And, I got frustrated about the fact that I didn’t have much of a local presence any more (Twitter notwithstanding). So, I bought a couple of domains. And sent off email to a few people, asking for a review/feedback.”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Now, it’s not the entire team, but it is a good chunk of the team. Richter, Dieselboi, PAgent… they’re putting the band back together.
Now bear in mind, it’s not a repeat of their former existence. This isn’t a “2.0” of the prior site, by any means. No, my friends, it promises to be better. Way better.
By Portland and for Portland, Our PDX promises to be a true hub of Portland news and happenings. You’ll see content developed by the Our PDX authors, but you’ll also see a great deal more. They’ll be working to aggregate publicly accessible media from throughout Portland, be that via Twitter streams or RSS feeds.
And they’ve really focused on getting the conversation going, again. Which is a very, very good thing.
Based on what I’ve heard about their vision, I’m excited. And I think it could really become that hub of activity for Portland that we’ve all been seeking.
Long story short, Our PDX will truly be a community blog.
I know that these folks know how to do it right. And I’m really looking forward to having them back.
Please join me in welcoming them back from their respective sabbaticals.
I can’t wait to see where this goes.
For more information, visit Our PDX and join in the conversation.