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FreeRange acquired by Kansas City’s Handmark

FreeRangePortland-based FreeRange—one of the leaders of the Portland mobile scene with customers like the Blazers, paidContent, and The Wall Street Journal—has been acquired by Handmark, a mobile entertainment company headquartered in Kansas City, MO.

Last year, I wrote:

If any company is the “founding father” of the burgeoning Portland mobile scene, FreeRange is it. With customers like the Wall Street Journal and the Portland Trail Blazers—and one of the most impressive mobile feed readers on the market—FreeRange is sure to keep Portland associated with mobile apps for a long time to come.

Oopie. Allow me to rephrase that. “Handmark is sure to keep Portland….”

According to the release, FreeRange is a “strategic addition” for Handmark, which has been recognized for its “mobile development expertise and management of a variety of desktop and on-device mobile stores full of the industry’s best games, applications and ringtones.”

“This is an exciting turning point for our company and we are proud to become part of the Handmark organization,” said Jon Maroney, FreeRange CEO. “Handmark has built a large network of happy customers across a wide range of mobile devices. This offers a great opportunity for FreeRange partners to expand their reach, adding tremendous value to content delivered via our publishing platform.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For more information on the acquisition, see the FreeRange blog.

(Hat tip Jason Grigsby)

Celebrate Portland Lunch 2.0’s First Birthday Wednesday at AboutUs

120px-aboutuslogonew.pngIt’s been nearly a year since AboutUs hosted the first Portland Lunch 2.0 back in late February 2008, and we’ll be back there again this Wednesday, February 11.

The last year has been busy, in a good way, for the AboutUs crew. Since we lunched with them last, they’ve been busy raising money, no easy feat in this economy, and staying atop the Portland Startup Index.

I’m looking forward to checking in with the gang and with all of you, natch. You are coming, right? What better way to kick off what Bram has dubbed the “Busiest Day in Portland Tech“. He would know.

So, it’s settled. Just please make sure you RSVP over on Upcoming so they know how much food to get and drop a comment there if you’re a vegan or vegetarian.

It’s been a year now, with ten Lunches 2.0. Or is it Lunch 2.0s? Rick will know.

Here are a few of my personal highlights.

Do you have a Lunch 2.0 highlight? Share it in the comments.

Upcoming Portland Lunch 2.0s

Save these Dates

These haven’t been officially announced yet, but they are happening. Stay tuned for details.

MioWorks needs a place to host their lunch. I guess their tiny office can’t hold 100+ people for lunch. So, if you have suggestions about where they could host, drop a comment, or noodle on it and wait for the official announcement.

Big thanks to all the hosts who have hosted or plan to host Lunch 2.0. I hope we can keep the Lunch 2.0 train rolling this year. Drop a comment (or tweet @jkuramot) if you want information about hosting one. It’s easy.

Twestival: A Portland Tweetup on which lives depend

We need to get on this, Portland.

Next Thursday—a week from today—a worldwide gathering of Twitter types called (somewhat unfortunately) Twestival will be taking place in various cities around the globe. Portland, Oregon, is one of them.

The goal? To provide clean drinking water to the people who don’t have it.

As Portlanders we’re well aware of water. It surrounds us. It falls on us. And it bubbles up clean and clear from the Benson Bubblers.

But there are more than a billion of people who aren’t so lucky. Twestival is designed to fix that.

On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

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Think about it this way: What if you had to drink directly from the Willamette instead of your tap? Not so pretty.

I’m always proud of what we’ve been able to achieve as a community. Whether it’s gathering to chat. Learning about technology. Or figuring out how to build a better community. To me, this seems far more important and worthwhile than that.

Making this happen would be a great way to start another amazing year for the entire Portland Twitter community, tech oriented or otherwise.

Some of you may be way ahead of me on this one. (It wouldn’t be the first time.)

Questions? @mssonicflare and @smashedlife are heading up the efforts for Portland. Or, for additional details, visit the Portland Twestival page.

I’m looking forward to seeing you there. [UPDATE] RSVP for the Portland Twestival on Upcoming or get more details on Calagator.

No-name iPhone agency starts with two big names: Raven Zachary and James Keller

Why is the Brady Bunch theme song running through my head?

Maybe it’s because I’ve just heard the story of a man named Raven and a woman named James who’ve decided to combine their incredible talents.

Raven Zachary started his own iPhone consultancy last year. And he’s been overwhelmingly successful. Being involved in the Obama iPhone app can do that to you. And helping with something like iPhorest only continues the momentum.

So, he decided it was time to do something more.

“Since the Obama app, I’ve encountered some amazing brands and amazing opportunities,” said Raven. “And they were affecting my ability to remain an independent advisor in the iPhone community. It became very clear to me that there was the opportunity to build an iPhone agency.”

Enter James “@semaphoria” Keller, a wizard at Interaction Design, Information Architecture, and User Experience with a rich agency history. Her most recent gig? Serving as Interactive Strategist at Wieden + Kennedy.

“I love technology and how companies communicate with their community,” said James. “Getting to really dig deep and find a place for that within such a new—and gorgeous—platform is really a dream come true. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime, follow-your-heart pursuit.”

Now, they’re joining forces to form a strategic iPhone agency.

James Keller on the new gig

Why an agency model instead of pure app development? Raven and James are both interested in helping people develop and interact with their communities. The iPhone platform is a means to that end—albeit an incredibly creative platform for doing so.

The agency will also likely build apps of their own—Andrew Pouliot and Jonathan Wight, the lead dev on the Obama app, help round out the team—but it’s the strategy on which they will focus the majority of their time and effort.

Not only is this big for all of them, it’s big for Portland and its continued place in the mobile space.

“I think it’s a great fit for Portland because of the long history of creative services and technology,” said Raven. “We’re focusing on both. It’s really more of an agency than a development shop. But it’s really a small, small boutique agency.”

“I think you can be creative and strategic and develop well,” James said. “It’s a uniquely Portland thing.”

So what’s it called? Well, they don’t know yet. But you can find them at Raven.me.

“Maybe instead of Raven.me [Raven’s current consultancy], we can call it Raven.us?” said James.

At the very least, Todd gets his wish.

TiEsQue on Raven and James

Don’t forget your Ig… Nevermind. Ignite Portland 5 sells out in 5 minutes

Well, well, well.

People were wondering, “Is Ignite going to keep up its momentum?”, “Has it peaked?”, “Can we sell out the Bagdad again?”

Well, if the initial interest in tickets is any indication, I don’t think we’re seeing much of a wane.

Ignite Portland 5 tickets—all 560 of them—sold out in 5 minutes.

REMINDER: All your Ignite Portland 5 tickets are belong to you tomorrow at 10 AM

Ignite Portland 5 ticketsTomorrow, Ignite Portland will open ticket “sales” for Ignite Portland 5 at 10:00 AM sharp.

Ignite Portland 5 on February 5th. Get it? It’s a mnemonic device.

No, not that Mnemonic device. This mnemonic device. And the 10? 5 + 5 my friend. Easy easy easy.

Now where was I?

Oh yes. I say “sales,” because you don’t have to pay anything for the tickets. They’re free.

Okay okay. I don’t want to get into some kind of neo-sociological argument about how you pay for Ignite with your attention and social capital and whatnot. They’re the “don’t cost you any cash” free. That kind of free.

Or as the hip (drinking age) kids like to say “Free as in beer.”

To quote a famous Portlander, “Free is a very good price.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to be camping out in front of my computer—all night long—just to save my place in line. No cuts.

To join me, visit Ignite Portland.

[Editor: For those left scratching their grammarian heads at my headline, I assure you that I have not lost it. Wacky headline courtesy of my bastardizing a popular meme.]

iPhorest: New iPhone app launching at TED has Portland connection

iPhorestIf you’re in Portland and involved in a the Web and mobile startup scene, any mention of “iPhone” is usually immediately followed by a mention of “Raven Zachary.”

Portland isn’t alone in that regard, the iPhone consultant—who helped create iPhoneDevCamp before there was even such a thing as iPhone development—has seen more and more attention for his services as the burgeoning iPhone market has come into being.

And it’s thanks in no small part to his involvement in a little iPhone that played a role in putting Barack Obama in office. The other part is that he’s one of the most intelligent and well-spoken people I know. And of course the final part is that he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll get the chance to meet.

Well, now Raven has his hand in another app that’s sure to increase the iPhone limelight for him. Meet iPhorest, a new iPhone app launching this week at TED, the premiere “cool leading edge technology thinking and stuff” conference.

Raven Zachary on iPhorest

And Raven isn’t the only one excited about it. There’s this guy you may have heard of named Kevin Rose who told his 98,700 (and counting) Twitter followers about it.

Kevin Rose on iPhorest

And then there’s Ashton Kutcher’s wife. She likes it, too.

Demi Moore on iPhorest

It’s clear that iPhorest is on to something.

What’s not so clear is exactly what iPhorest does—since it’s not yet available in the App Store. But it has something to do with planting trees. On the iPhone.

By downloading the app, the user activates a seedling both virtually and physically. As the seedling on their phone grows, users can also send seeds to other phones, starting a new forest.

For each virtual tree planted, The Conservation Fund will plant a native tree in real life – starting with restoration of vulnerable wildlife habitats along the Gulf Coast. They will work with the nation’s leading public natural resource agencies to ensure the long-term protection of each iPhorest.

iPhones and sustainability? What could be more Portland-y than that? [UPDATE] More Portland people of course! Raven adds:

The lead developer and designer, Andrew Pouliot @andpoul, is in Portland, as is the 3D modeler, Alex Jetter. Thanks to Bram Pitoyo for the recommendation for Alex.

It’s a very cool concept. I’m looking forward to getting the opportunity to test drive it—and help a few flowers bloom trees grow.

As soon as I know more, you’ll know more. But I wanted to congratulate Raven on iPhorest as soon as I could.

Software Association of Oregon adds familiar faces, Twitter

Software Association of Oregon - SAOThe Software Association of Oregon has recently announced a new Board of Directors. And I’m happy to report that those new Board members include a number of familiar faces from companies that have graced the pages of the Silicon Florist.

“Who?” you ask?

Well, hold your horses and I’ll tell you:

Congratulations to the SAO and all of the new Board members. It’s nice to see some of the Web startups here in town getting a seat at the table.

Not only that, it’s a good direction for the SAO to be moving to ensure that they remain relevant with all of the various “tech community”s in town.

In other news, the SAO now has a Twitter presence. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But interesting anyway.

Ignite Portland 5: And the presenters are…

Ignite Portland

Ooh. We’re getting close now. The Ignite Portland team just announced the lucky people who get to deliver presentations for Ignite Portland 5.

So who gets to spend a nerve-wracking and seemingly interminable five minutes on stage? Here are our latest victims presenters:

Now is also a good time to remind you that tickets will be going “on sale” on February 5.

Congratulations to all those selected! I’m looking forward to seeing you on stage, dazzling 500+ of your closest friends with your burning ideas.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for January 29

Masterbacon contest is real heart-stopper – OregonLive.com

Via The Oregonian “To pay homage to their favorite pork product and win golden piggy trophies, 32 competitors showed up with tin-foiled pans of their beloved ‘meat candy’ dishes, ready to impress, boast and barter.”

LinuxCon 2009 Portland

Via the Linux Foundation “LinuxCon is a new annual technical conference that will provide an unmatched collaboration and education space for all matters Linux. LinuxCon will bring together the best and brightest that the Linux community has to offer, including core developers, administrators, end users, community managers and industry experts. In being the conference for ‘all matters Linux,’ LinuxCon will be informative and educational for a wide range of attendees. We will not only bring together all of the best technical talent but the decision makers and industry experts who are involved in the Linux community.”

Looking forward: SiOnyx, Iovation, RNA & more – Silicon Forest

Mike Rogoway covers the positive news coming out of the Silicon Forest this week.

Ignite Portland 5! (…oh, i think i’m gonna be sick) | Positively Glorious!

John Metta writes “The line-up for Ignite Portland is in, and yours truly is on the freight train headed straight for Public Humiliation, USA. I think this must be some kind of payback or revenge for laughing so hard when Cami Kaos went on about ‘her bluff being called.’ There I was, sitting with A.J. and Jon laughing it up. ‘Ha!’ I said, ‘She sent an idea as a joke and totally got called on it!’ Now here I am with waves of nausea spreading over me. Why? Because payback’s a bitch.”

From Planned Obsolescence to Community Innovation

Wende Morgaine writes “Are you worried about technology and information literacy in K12 and higher ed? If you are, I say, let’s get together. Let’s brainstorm. Let’s come up with one idea, or 100 ideas. And let’s implement something. Portland is a tech haven and heaven. Its an open source mecca. And we have the most engaged tech community (possibly in the world.) Let’s implement something great and create a model for school revitalization that will be copied in cities the nation over. We live in Portland. From our transportation to our city government to our tech community we create the kind of innovations that is studied and copied all the time. Yes we can. I am thinking we should meet each other at Ignite5 and plan our first brainstorming meeting in March 2009.”

FiveEdge Media has officially joined the Innerecho family!

Portland’s FiveEdge Media (John Weiss of Refresh Portland fame) gets adopted by innerecho “FiveEdge Media and Innerecho were both founded at about the same time with the same values: we believed in small teams, personal relationships, and the power of great experience design. This was not merely a coincidence. We the founders had actually begun a friendship five years prior.”

Hungry Nerds Flock to Lunch 2.0 – Social Dining for Fun and Profit

Amber Case writes “Are you into tech? Do you want to meet other tech types? Are you tired of eating lunch with the same people? Well you can meet a bevy of interesting people just like you if you attend a Lunch 2.0 event. Here in Portland, 100-150 Nerds flock to a local tech company to eat, greet, get clients, get hired, find employees, and exchange memes. Basically, it rocks—-nerd-style.”

Social Media and the Open Web

Tim Sears writes “Our personal web footprint really is no longer just what we blog about, but is really a collection of our interactions across various social media. I can see this being the future of blogs, in that they are no longer blogs at all, but rather centralized portals to the content that person contributes across the web. The first natural question to this is how do you manage the firehose of content that we each contribute to social media every day? If people wanted to read every tweet you make, wouldn’t they just follow you on Twitter? This is where tags and hashtags come into play, in that we find meaning and value in content we contribute through the metadata we and others provide with it. It’s machine-readable, so it’s easy to process.”

11870.com and Strands partner to offer the best personalized recommendations of services and places

Via Strands “We are happy to announce that Strands is partnering with the Spanish start-up 11870.com to offer the best personalized recommendations of services and places to their users. 11870.com, the European equivalent to Yelp, is used for people to save, share and keep track of the places and services they like around the world through reviews, pictures and videos.”

How Ignite Portland Presentations are Selected

Aaron Hockley writes “With the fifth incarnation of Ignite Portland coming up in a few weeks, one issue surrounded in a bit of mystery is the process used to select the presenters. With far more entries than speakers (Ignite Portland 5 had over 80 submissions with less than 20 chosen to speak), many people wonder why they weren’t chosen or how the field is narrowed.”

What Twitter could have given Sam, and Portland | Our PDX Network

Abraham Hyatt writes “Late last month, when the whole Gov. Blagojevich indictment situation was threatening to taint Barack Obama’s transition, two writers at the Politico put together a list of “five rules of scandal response” that the president-to-be had intentionally, or unintentionally, imposed on his staff. Rule No. 1 was simple: ‘Be transparent, to an extent.’ Sam Adams didn’t get that memo. As the opening days of the Breedlove scandal unfolded, Adams hid. He hid from the press, from his critics and from his city. And it’s too bad, because whether you support the mayor or not, he had an incredible communications tool at his fingertips: his Twitter account.”