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Get out your RSS wrench: Portland Data Plumbing User Group

Want to share the ways you consolidate different data streams to make your life better? Interested in learning more about RSS wizardry? Are your Yahoo! Pipes clogged?

Well, you’ll be glad to hear that there’s a new (or at least, resurrected) user group in Portland that will allow you to compare notes with other plumbers of your ilk: Portland Data Plumbing User Group.

Dawn Foster writes:

I’ve decided to resurrect the Portland Data Plumbing Group to give us a time and place to talk about RSS feed hacking, Yahoo Pipes, Dapper, and other related technologies.

I know! What a way to start 2009. It sounds interesting, doesn’t it?

Well, what are you waiting for? A dangling preposition? (Sorry. Grammar humor.)

Get involved by joining the Portland Data Plumbing User Group discussion and RSVP for the first event, Tuesday, January 13.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for January 04

Reviewing Oregon’s top tech stories of 2008 – Silicon Forest

Mike Rogoway writes “Portland’s culture of socially networked startups: With a social calendar any undergrad would envy, a host of Portland Web startups knitted a vibrant tech culture concentrated in Old Town. Jive, Vidoop, Splashcast and many, many others made this a good year to be young (or a young company, anyway). And while many have cut jobs, these microbusinesses are holding up better to this point than many tech titans.”

Why I Love My iPod (Yes, This Is Work-Related)

Dawn Foster writes “Instead of music, I fill my iPod with audio podcasts. I don’t watch the news on TV or listen to the radio, so I rely on podcasts as my primary way to consume some types of news (blogs and feeds are also a big part of how I consume information). I use iTunes subscriptions, which allow my podcasts to automagically appear on my computer every day, and I sync my iPod first thing in the morning so that it is ready at all times.”

A year of innovatin’ — 2008 | PDX Web Innovators

Adam DuVander writes “We had ten excellent gatherings in 2008. New Year’s Day seems like an apporiate time to look back, as we get excited for 2009.”

Top Fast Wonder Posts for 2008 and Some Silliness

Dawn Foster writes “I was looking at my Google Analytics for 2008, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the info.”

meme: Current state of me

Selena Deckelmann writes “Audrey started a meme that I liked – so here’s my answers…”

What a busy 2008

Audrey Eschright looks back at a busy—and successful—2008.

2008 Year in Review for Dawn and Plans for 2009

Dawn Foster looks back at 2008 and plans for 2009.

2008 — Another Blogger

Aaron Hockley recaps his achievements in 2008.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for December 30

OpenID & SAO Election Results

Via the Vidoop blog “The OpenID Foundation just announced the results of the annual board elections and two of Vidoop’s employees voted in: Chris Messina and Scott Kveton. Chris was elected to a two year term and Scott a one year term. In addition to the OpenID Foundation elections, Scott Kveton has just joined the Board of Directors for the Software Association of Oregon for the 2009 term.”

Tallying tech layoffs at year’s end – Silicon Forest

Mike Rogoway writes “Through November, Oregon’s high-tech employment was down 2,400 jobs from a year earlier. That decline, 4.1 percent, is the sector’s steepest fall since February 2004. Here’s a look back at who took the hits.”

Beer and Blog St Louis

Beer and Blog expands to another city known for its beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

Strange Love Live recaps 2008 and looks toward 2009

Strange Love LiveI had the honor of joining the Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal on Strange Love Live for a recap of 2008 and a look forward to 2009.

Well, not “joining” exactly. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to actually attend in person, thanks to the Portland arctic blast, snowpocalypse, and resulting thawnami.

But it’s probably just as well, given that I was all prepared to show up in my “incoming 2009” outfit—a sash and not much else. So thanks to Aaron Hockley for allowing me to appear more respectable.

Cami and Dr. Normal altered the usual format giving us the opportunity to talk for a good 90 minutes—and that led to some pretty interesting discussions including the top events on 2008, Vidoop, Shizzow, Bacon Geek, Beer and Blog, KGW’s The Square with Stephanie Stricklen and Aaron Weiss, Twitter, Rael Dornfest, pdxtst, Our PDX, Neighborhood Notes, OpenID, calling Facebook Connect the Hotmail of this generation… even indulging in some conspiracy theory and what’s to be in 2009.

Here’s us chatting about the 2008 recap:

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And here’s our discussion of the potential future for 2009:

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Or, if you just want to listen to the whole shooting match, have at it:

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Thanks, yet again, to Cami and the good Doctor for allowing me to appear on the show. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Strange Love Live is the best podcast in the Portland. And one prediction for 2009 that’s sure to come true? You ain’t seen nothing yet as far as Strange Love Live goes.

And hopefully, we’ll see the same thing for any number of people in our area. I’m really interested to see what Portland and the Silicon Forest will do in 2009.

And of course, I’m truly looking forward to watching—and covering—that of which you’re capable of in 2009.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for December 29

WebVisions – – Submissions due 12/31

Via WebVisions “WebVisions is now accepting submissions for sessions, panels and workshops for WebVisions 2009, which will be held from May 20-22, at the Oregon Convention Center. Submissions are due by December 31.”

Welcome to Beer and Blog, 2009 Edition at Beer and Blog Portland

Mediachick writes “Recently Justin and I talked about what the first part of 2009 should look like for Beer and Blog, and Oh! It’s an impressive list: better use of the WordPress MU for the chapter blogs; development of docs to assist new Beer and Blog chapters in getting up and running quickly; and Beer and Blog badges for members to use on their sites, as well as members-only perks. There are also plans to make Beer and Blog swag available in late February. Yay!”

OpenID » Blog Archive » OpenID Board Election Results

Chris Messina and Scott Kveton of Vidoop and Brian Kissel of JanRain have been elected to the OpenID Foundation Board

What’s better than Boxing Day? Strange Love Live on Boxing Day, of course!

Strange Love LiveI know, I know. You’ve all been girding up for your Boxing Day celebrations. Braving the weather and the treacherous conditions to make sure that everything is just so on December 26th. So when you’re done with the hectic Boxing Day goings-on, why not take a load off and reward yourself?

How, you ask? With Strange Love Live, silly.

At 10 PM, December 26th, Cami Kaos and Dr. Normal have been kind enough to welcome me into their studio, yet again, to discuss the Silicon Forest tech scene. What happened in 2008 and—more importantly—what’s going to happen in 2009.

And if that’s not exciting enough, then try this: Strange Love Live is now on Mogulus, which means more quality audio and video for you. Win win win.

So now, you can enjoy the holidays, knowing full well that at 10 PM on December 26th, you’re going to be able to get your Strange Love Live fix.

Don’t say I never gave you nothin’.

And don’t forget, if you—yes, YOU!—want to be part of the Strange Love Live show, make sure to proffer your predilection for prognostication by submitting your predictions for the Silicon Forest tech scene in 2009. We’ll be discussing the best submissions during the show.

Rest assured, I’ll be doing everything in my power to ford the snowpocalypse or thawnami to make it to the studio.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for December 23

Most Stolen Electronics – Forbes.com

Via Forbes “Ken Westin will help you find your stolen BlackBerry–and give you an opportunity to mess with the thief who pinched it. His company, GadgetTrak, a Portland, Ore.-based computer security firm, develops software that gives you remote access to a missing gadget.”

Emergency Tweetup for Blood Donations at American Red Cross (Wednesday December 24, 2008) – Upcoming

We’ll bring the cocoa, you bring your arm! Because of the snow and the holidays our donor numbers have seriously dropped this week. We’re in need of intrepid, kind-hearted souls who would like to spend an hour this Christmas Eve giving blood. You’ll be warmly rewarded with cookies, hot cocoa, and the company of fellow Twitter friends.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for December 22

Writing for WebWorkerDaily and The Holidays

Dawn Foster writes “Many of you already noticed that I have started blogging on GigaOM’s WebWorkerDaily site. Thank you so much for all of the congratulations, well wishes, comments, and more. The plan is to post an article or two a week on a freelance basis. I even got a head start before I left, so I have a couple more posts in the WebWorkerDaily publish queue that should go out sometime next week.”

Looking Forward: Zapproved, Ensequence, more – Silicon Forest

Mike Rogoway’s latest installment of positive Silicon Forest news.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for December 18

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Via the Beer and Blog, um, blog “This Friday we’ll get together and toast to 2008 as we enjoy the last official Beer and Blog of the year (although people may still show up on the 26th).”

Open source in 2008 in pictures

Via The 451 Group “I was thinking of writing a round-up of the key open source agenda items in 2008 but then I got distracted putting together some graphics, so – two birds with one stone – here’s open source in 2008 in pictures.”