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Another Portland startup closes down

Rick Turoczy on November 25, 2008

SandyUsually, when I have to mention a company going through layoffs or—worse yet—shutting down, it’s a fairly grim and unwelcome affair.

This is a welcome change.

I’m happy to report that Portland-based Values of n is being shutdown—because it has been acquired by Twitter, the popular microblogging service that powers the conversations of the Portland Web startup scene.

Why the shutdown? I mean, Values of n has some amazing technology and thinking in its products: my favorite anthropomorphic digital assistant, Sandy, and Stikkit, little yellow online notes that think. Which I guess makes them somewhat anthropomorphic in their own right.

Yes, the technology is amazing. And Sandy has quite an impressive relationship with Twitter. But quite frankly Twitter doesn’t know quite what to do with those assets at this point. So they’re going into the mothballs.

Which brings us to the reason they actually did acquire Values of n: one substantial piece of intellectual property by the name of Rael Dornfest.

Ev Williams of Twitter couldn’t have put it any better when he said:

Rael Dornfest is a famously talented engineer, author, and entrepreneur. Before founding Values of n, Rael served as Chief Technology Officer at O’Reilly Media and is known for his pioneering work on RSS as well being the series editor of O’Reilly’s celebrated Hacks books…. [I] have always thought he was one of the smartest guys I know.

Smart, indeed. Incredibly talented, yes. And in possession of an insane amount of energy.

It’s a little known fact that the amazing—and highly lauded—services of Values of n were single-handedly conceived and managed by Rael with some help here and there. (But he did the bulk of the work.) Even with all the stress of running those services in parallel with a consulting business, he remains one of the most delightful and intelligent people in the Portland tech scene.

And the good news is, Portland is exactly where he’ll remain. Twitter can have his intelligence and guidance, but we get to keep him here. Which means Twitter wins, Rael wins, and we win. Win, win, um, win.

But don’t just take my word for it

This news was all over the tech scene on Monday. Here’s a quick smattering of posts that provide more details on the acquisition:

  • A fork in the road
    “I have taken an engineering position in the User Experience group at Twitter. I started consulting there a few months ago, and fell in love with the team, their way of thinking about things, and of course the product (my Twitter user id is in the low 100s). It turns out we worked incredibly well together, the feeling was mutual, and they pulled me in as a permanent member of the team.”
  • Twitter Hires Rael Dornfest, Shutters Values of n
    “Twitter just announced on the company blog that the company has acquired the assets of Portland, Oregon based Values of n and brought its well-known engineer founder Rael Dornfest on to the Twitter staff. Dornfest’s latest project at Values of n was an anthropomorphized personal assistant service called Sandy.”
  • Twitter Acquires ‘Values of n’, Adds Rael Dornfest To The Team
    “The primary goal of the acquisition appears to have been to bring Rael Dornfest to the Twitter team. Dornfest is the founder of Values of n and former CTO at O’Reilly Media, whose responsibilities also included editing the O’Reilly Hacks series. He was also the head of the RSS-DEV group, which created the RSS 1.0 standard.”
  • Twitter buys a company, closes it, keeps its founder/engineer
    “The micro-messaging service Twitter, fresh off its rejection of an offer to be acquired by Facebook, has turned around and made a purchase itself: A personal productivity and information management solutions company called Values of n, Twitter reports on its blog.”
  • Twitter Buys Start-up’s Assets; Hires Founder Rael Dornfest
    “Twitter grabbed headlines today after reports surfaced saying it declined a $500 million buyout offer from Facebook. Now, Twitter is making more news today by saying it has acquired the assets of Values of n, a company that developed a sticky-note application as well as a personal productivity app that works over e-mail, SMS, and the Web.”
  • Twitter Acquires Values of n (Makers of Sandy)
    “Judging by the lack of updates to Twitter I highly doubt that we’ll see any of the Values of n’s features integrated. I am devastated to hear they will be shutting down all their services as well.”
  • Rael Dornfest joins twitter; now this gets interesting
    “Now the man’s going to join forces with Ev Williams, Biz Stone and other smart people at twitter; my product development head is bursting with speculation about the cool direction twitter could go in (and thinking multiple products people, one at a time…). And of course the dude’s an engineer….”
  • Twitter says I want Sandy
    “These are two pretty cool products and I have been a fan of I want Sandy for a long time and it usually runs most of my calendering.”

While I’m sad to see Sandy go, I’ll eagerly await her return. And in the meantime, I’m looking forward to Rael lending his intelligence, wit, and inimitable energy to Twitter.

Congratulations to Rael. This couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

And Sandy…? Call me.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for November 24

Rick Turoczy on November 25, 2008

Corvallis here we come! at Beer and Blog

Sniff sniff. Our little Beer and Blog is all growed up. “After a successful BeaverBarCamp, Dawn Foster made the recommendation to me that Lance Albertson would make a great host for Corvallis Beer and Blog. Then Kelly (@verso) emailed me with an introduction and high recommendation as well. And, so Corvallis becomes the first expansion chapter of Beer and Blog!”

Yahoo Pipes Training: A 2 Minute Yahoo Pipes Demo at Fast Wonder Blog: Consulting, Online Communities, and Social Media

Dawn Foster writes “If you have been wanting to create Yahoo Pipes, but weren’t quite sure where to start when faced with the blank page on a new Yahoo Pipe, I created a very simple demo to get you started. This Yahoo Pipes demo will help you get started with Yahoo Pipes and show you what you need to know to create a basic Pipe.”

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for November 21

Rick Turoczy on November 22, 2008

Turning Ideas Into iPhone Applications – Inside iPhone Blog

Raven Zachary writes “I love talking with entrepreneurs and people passionate about their ideas. It’s one of the things I look forward to most in my week. Unfortunately, we are at a phase in the growth of the iPhone ecosystem where there is a significant gap between individuals with the ideas and those who are actually capable of turning the ideas into iPhone applications.”

Open Source Bridge: Let’s get talking

Via Open Source Bridge “We’ve made some great progress. Our Town Halls have been well attended. And things are starting to fall into place. Now, we want to make sure that we keep the conversation going with you. (Plus, we want to give you the opportunity to volunteer—if you’d be in to that.) So how do you get started? By joining our online discussion groups.”

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

One night only: ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick on Strange Love Live

Rick Turoczy on November 21, 2008

It’s Friday. It’s kind of chilly outside. You’re looking for something to do. Why not spend some time by the warm glow of your monitor learning some interesting stuff from some interesting people?

That’s why there’s Strange Love Live, the weekly podcast hosted by Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal. Dare I say, “the best podcast in Portland”? Indeed, I dare.

What’s that? You haven’t seen Strange Love Live? Are you kidding me?

They’ve got a guest list that boasts a veritable who’s who of the Portland tech scene—Nate Angell, Josh Bancroft, Bram Pitoyo & Amber Case, Aaron Hockley, Scott Kveton, Don Park, Chris O’Rourke, Craig Schwartz, the Shizzow team, and many, many more. And while the podcast is always well worth the listen, there’s nothing quite like watching the show live.

And tonight would be a great night to tune in, because the special guest is none other than Marshall Kirkpatrick, the Emperor of RSS, VP of Content Development at ReadWriteWeb, and just all around nice guy.

The show starts at 10-ish on Friday nights.

And I’ll look forward to seeing you in the chat room, tonight.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for November 20

Rick Turoczy on November 21, 2008

Layoffs leave Silicon Forest less populated

Mike Rogoway writes “This time out, Turoczy said, startups are cutting jobs in advance of business trouble in hopes that proactive steps will stave off catastrophe. And he said many Portland startups are small by design, and collaborative by nature. That makes them less vulnerable to the economic slowdown than entrepreneurs elsewhere who need frequent infusions of outside capital to keep their business ambitions afloat.”

Inventor of the Wiki Responds to Google Search Wiki

Marshall Kirkpatrick writes “We asked Ward Cunningham [of Portland-based AboutUs], inventor of the wiki, what he thought about Google Search Wiki. This was his first reaction….”

Rogue Now Owns Green Dragon

Via Brewpublic “Something like 30 people employed by this place. Rogue offered people to move to places like Eugene…made them offers they have to refuse. Many of these people have families and can’t just move to places like Newport and San Francisco. They’re not seventeen years old.”

Seattle: The Expansion Continues

Via the Shizzow blog “As I mentioned yesterday, the California expansion went so well that we have decided to open it up to Seattle, too. We’re getting a bunch of invite requests, but the servers have been rock solid, so we wanted to continue our plans for world domination (or at least the west coast of the U.S.)”

Cooking Up A Story Survey

Via Cooking Up A Story “As many of you may know, this is a unusual post from us, as it does not involve any of our Shows directly. Instead, this post is a call for your active participation to help us better understand you, and how we can continue to provide unique and valuable content worthy of your attention. Please take a couple minutes of time to answer this brief survey (only 3 questions)”

Hillsboro/Beaverton TweetUp at Mc Menamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (Monday December 1, 2008) – Upcoming

Do you live in Washington County, Oregon, use Twitter and want to meet your Twitter friends IRL? If so, come join us for lunch at the McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse. Learn more about the peeps you follow, check out @jaboncroft’s cool gadgets, find a biz partner for your new project, and/or just plain have fun!

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for November 19

Rick Turoczy on November 20, 2008

Qik And Strands Each Trim 10 Percent Of Staff

It’s unfortunate to hear that Strands has had to make some cuts. Via TechCrunch “The cutbacks continue, even at seemingly healthy startups. Social recommendation engine Strands let exactly 10 percent, or 14 people go (7 in the U.S. and 7 in Spain), the company confirms.”

Tweetup Breakfast at Fuller’s Restaurant (Thursday November 20, 2008) – Upcoming

Upcoming Tweetup Breakfast at Fuller’s Restaurant (Thursday November 20, 2008)

Vote AboutUs in the Mashable Open Web Awards

Via the AboutUs blog “It’s tough to say vote for us, when we are with so many great sites. But that is what we say! Vote for AboutUs! because we are doing something groundbreaking and different than all the other fabulous sites in the category.”

Iovation gears down for ’09 w/job cuts – Silicon Forest

Mike Rogoway writes “Downtown Portland tech startup Iovation laid off a dozen employees last week, the latest in a series of Oregon companies making tough decisions as the recession deepens.”

How To Get People To Link To and Talk About Stuff You Write Without Being a Jerk at Josh Bancroft’s TinyScreenfuls.com

Josh Bancroft writes “I’m writing this up to help bloggers and other people who create stuff online (videos, etc.) get their ‘stuff’ more visibility, by getting more sites to link to it and talk about it. Specifically, I’m trying to help people in my group at work, Intel Software Network, by sharing some of my experience and ideas, since I’ve been blogging for over 5 years. I’m by no means an expert, just sharing what I know. I hope you’ll post a comment or otherwise jump into the conversation if you have ideas of your own on how to get more ‘outside’ links and conversation around the things that you write.”

The Great Portland Interview Project: Dawn Foster Edition at Fast Wonder Blog: Consulting, Online Communities, and Social Media

Dawn Foster writes “I’m participating in the Great Portland Interview Project, and I was recently interviewed by Grant Kruger. According to the rules of the project, I’m posting the results of the interview here for your reading pleasure. Grant even slipped in a few extra questions, including an obscure question about Sausage the goat. The questions came from Grant, but the answers are mine.”

State of Portland Tech – Portland Web Innovators (Wednesday December 3, 2008) – Upcoming

A discussion about the Portland tech scene heading into 2009. Where are we now, how did we get here and where do we want to go?

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Iterasi unveils bookmarklet, glimpse into potential for Web archive

Rick Turoczy on November 19, 2008

[Full disclosure: Iterasi is a client of mine. I was briefed on these features while they were in development and I was involved in on-going consulting as they came to fruition. I recommend you read this post with that grain of salt in mind.]

IterasiPortland-based Iterasi is on a mission to save the Web from extinction. Or at least the Web page at which you’re looking right at this moment. So they keep coming up with ways for you to save Web pages—in all of their functional HTML glory—as quickly and easily as possible.

First came the toolbar, then the Firefox add-in, and now there’s the Iterasi bookmarklet, which allows users to save pages without installing anything. To try it out, click on the link below and you’ll see how it works. (And if you want to take it with you, simply drag-and-drop it to your bookmarks bar.)

Archive to iterasi

In addition to the new bookmarklet, Iterasi has done more organizing to make their archive of Web pages for accessible and digestible. Tags are more prevalent and usable. And there’s a search function.

What’s more, one of their new views of the archive could prove to be pretty interesting. It’s akin to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Kind of a people-powered version of the Internet Archive’s version.

You save a page, make it public, and it winds up on the archive page for that site. Just the push of a button and you’ve made history. Or at least saved it for everyone to see. And while there’s not much there now, this has the potential to become a valuable resource for everyone. A sort of Wikipedia-esque archive of the Web.

For more on the new features, see Iterasi’s post. To test drive the products or search the archive, visit Iterasi.

 

 

Shizzow starts shouting in the Bay Area

Rick Turoczy on November 18, 2008

ShizzowPortland-based Shizzow—the service designed to help you find and meet up with friends as quickly and easily as possible—has had a good run in the Portland area. But now, they’re feeling the need to stretch their horizons a bit.

And where better for a cool Web-based and SMS-friendly app to stretch than the Bay Area? Um. Well, nowhere, really. So, starting today, Shizzow has decided to expand its “heretofore relegated to the Silicon Forest” user base to include our friends in San Francisco and the surrounding area.

Now, granted, our friends to the south get to test this kind of thing more often than most. Why should they take a look at Shizzow? According to the folks at Shizzow—arguably the best ones to respond—there are a number of reasons their service is different.

But the one that strikes me—an active Shizzow user—as the most poignant is this one:

We developed Shizzow to solve a specific need: the desire to find our friends and hang out with them. The other services had so much clutter that we weren’t able to effectively solve our need using any of the existing location-based applications.

If you’re in the Silicon Forest and haven’t had a chance to try Shizzow yet, drop a comment below and I’ll get you on board. Same goes for our Shizzow neighbors in the Silicon Valley. Or you can always go straight to the source.

Puff! The Geeky Dragon is dead (maybe)

Rick Turoczy on November 14, 2008

Green Dragon FAIL WhaleBirds of a feather flock together. Startups like startups. Creatives like creatives. And that’s probably why when a startup distillery and bistro called the Green Dragon opened, the startup tech community in Portland felt a certain affinity for it.

They liked us. We liked them. They were perfect for Beer and Blog. They were centrally located for other tech events. It was a very much kismet.

But now, that’s coming to an end. I’m sad to report that, like many a startup, the Green Dragon has (possibly) been acquired by Rogue Brewing.

And, if it goes through—the lawyers have jumped in to say that “nothing is final”—then the dynamic of the joint may be changing.

OurPDX is reporting:

John Foyston of The Beer Here blog has an update that pretty much states that Rogue plans on keeping most of what the Green Dragon character is today, so that could bode well for us who love it. From how I read the article, the only change would be in ownership, but the heart of the Green Dragon would live on. You decide.

We don’t know what we don’t know. But I’m not exactly holding my breath that the Green Dragon we know and love will be around much longer.

What to do? Show up to Beer and Blog today to bid one of the best geek hangouts in town a fond farewell. Mourning attire and protest armbands optional.

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