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Juice Pitcher: Help GadgetTrak join TheFunded and maybe even the funded

Rick Turoczy on September 25, 2009

If you’re in an early stage startup, you’ve likely no problem coming up with ideas. You’re probably confident that you can bend technology to your will. And you’re still likely fueled by the passion of bringing your project to life. In fact, if there’s one area that causes problems, it’s one that has very little to do with your startup, at all. The problem? Finding the time to make the right connections—and making sure you’re getting in front of the right people.

That’s what make things like Juice Pitcher—an opportunity to pitch friends of TheFunded—such a great opportunity. And that’s why Portland-based GadgetTrak is trying to get there. Read More

OEN Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards get downright webby for 2009

Rick Turoczy on September 24, 2009

Usually when it comes to entrepreneurial awards in the Silicon Forest, I do my best to cheer for the Web, open source, and mobile startups who receive nominations. And then I usually wind up crying in my beer when the awards are handed to apparel and biotech startups.

But not this year, my friend. Oh no. This time around the OEN Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Awards recognized three Web types with awards: Ray King of AboutUs, Jama Software, and Monsoon. All Portland-based, respectively. Read More

Portland’s Small Society builds an iPhone app for a little coffee shop called Starbucks

Rick Turoczy on September 24, 2009

[HTML2]Turns out even coffee shops need iPhone apps. Well, they do if they’re Starbucks. Two even. And now the official Starbucks iPhone drink app—myStarbucks—is available from the App Store.

Yes, yes. Starbucks is headquartered in Seattle, I know. And even though a number of sites were covering the app launch—including Portland-based iPhoneSlutz—I didn’t really have any Silicon Forest angle on it.

So why am I writing about it now? Well, because as it turns out, the Starbucks app was created by none other than Small Society here in Portland. Read More

memePDX 005: WordCamp Portland, Second Porch, LinuxCon, Linux Plumbers, Google reCAPTCHA, and I made $384 on Twitter

Rick Turoczy on September 24, 2009

[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

Mike Berkley on ‘Preparing for the Next Web Boom’

Rick Turoczy on September 23, 2009

[HTML2][Editor: The following is a guest post by Mike Berkley, who served as the CEO of Portland-based SplashCast until its recent demise. Mike and I have had any number of conversations about the startup scene here in town. And I asked him if we wouldn’t mind putting his thoughts into a post. The first post—of hopefully many—follows.]

Preparing for the Next Web Boom

Since putting SplashCast to rest a few months ago, I’ve finally had time to reconnect with the entrepreneur community here in Portland, as well as in the Bay Area and NYC.  I’ve packed my days full of coffee, apricot scones, phone calls, and meetings… lots of meetings.  I’ve talked to dozens of entrepreneurs and investors.

Two themes have surfaced in this process. Read More

Gluten make you gag? Have I got the social network for you

Rick Turoczy on September 23, 2009

Now we all know I’m a big fan of the niche sites. Why? Because there are any number of sites out there that focus on being everything to everyone—which makes them mean basically nothing to no one. It’s the focused sites—those sites with which we can personally identify—that hold a great deal of promise.

And nowhere do I see people in the Portland area get more niche-y than food. I mean, we like food.

Portland-based Gone Raw is a great example. As is Bacn. And today, I’d like to introduce you to another Portland-area food-focused niche social site: Vancouver-based Gling, the social network focused on the gluten-free community. Read More

Matt Asay better than Fake Steve Jobs at faking Linus Torvalds

Rick Turoczy on September 22, 2009

LinuxCon is in full swing this week in Portland. And while there are tons of good open source conversations and likely some awesome hacking underway, there’s always a little bit of hi-jinx afoot, as well.

Given that it was the inaugural LinuxCon, some of that tomfoolery was planned. Specifically the “Fake Linus Torvalds” contest. And as it turns out, in the end, the open source faker was better than the seasoned proprietary faker. Read More

Second Porch: Thanks to Facebook ‘It’s complicated’ no longer applies to vacation rentals

Rick Turoczy on September 21, 2009

While my blogging empire hasn’t reached the level where I’ve got a “home away from home,” there’s a good chunk of the ever-aging Facebook demographic that does. Maybe it’s a house at the coast. Or maybe it’s a cabin in the mountains. Whatever the case, as the economy continues to tank, those owners are looking for ways to make sure that someone is using those properties—as much as possible.

And that’s where folks like me come into the picture. I’ve got a great deal of interest in renting those properties from time to time—especially if they’re affordable. And when I do, where do I go for recommendations? That’s right: friends and family.

If only there were an app that connected the haves with the have nots. You know, socially. Well, now there is. A Facebook app from Portland called Second Porch. Read More

Matt Mullenweg on martinis, jazz, and a little open source project called WordPress

Rick Turoczy on September 21, 2009

[HTML2]If you’re an out-of-town tech type who’s traipsing through Portland chances are—that at one time or another—you’re going to wind up on the set of Strange Love Live, the best tech podcast in Portland… if not the world.

So it comes as no surprise that when Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress, was here in town for Beer and Blog (yes, the rumors were true) and WordCamp Portland that Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal managed to wrangle Matt away from WordCamp for a few minutes to chat about martinis, jazz, and, of course, WordPress. Read More

OregonLive: Allowing OpenID logins, tweaking the blogs, and moving Oregon Reddit

Rick Turoczy on September 21, 2009

As many of you know, OregonLive—the primary Web site for The Oregonian, the largest paper in Oregon—is managed far beyond the control of the local reporters and Web designers here in Portland. Like in New Jersey. What’s more, OregonLive runs exactly the same codebase as all of the other Web sites managed by Advance Internet, like New Orleans’ paper The Times-Picayune.

And since we all love to carp about the shortcomings of OregonLive, it seems only appropriate that we give them kudos for making marked improvements. Recently, Advance Internet has rolled out a few changes to OregonLive that are worth mentioning. Read More

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