Portland startup and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
McCain may have invented the Blackberry, but today Obama owns the iPhone. Thanks to a team of talented developers—half of whom are here in Portland.
Obama ’08 is your official, comprehensive connection to the heart of Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s campaign, giving you the tools you need to make an impact and stay in the know.
Making a difference takes only moments using the Call a Friend feature. Want to do more? Find your local Obama for America HQ or look up local campaign events.
Creating this politically savvy iPhone app was a wholly volunteer effort. An effort that featured five Portland folks on the team: Raven Zachary, Jason Grigsby, Lyza Danger Gardner, John Keith, and Aileen Jeffries.
Aside from being beautiful, it’s a feature rich application designed to get individuals more involved in the political process. (In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the opponents of the Obama campaign rival the proponents in downloads.)
The application has a “Call Your Friends” tool that helps you organize your contacts by key battleground states — a feature we’re hoping will generate thousands of additional personal contacts. You can also easily mark reminder notes to yourself on which friends you have called, who they are supporting and who wants a reminder call on Election Day. The information does not leave your phone (so your friends’ and your own privacy are protected) but the total amount of calls the application makes are tallied, so you can keep track of your progress as we close in on November 4th.
As Grigsby says on the Cloud Four blog:
Leaving politics aside for the moment, it’s a pretty impressive display of what is possible using the iPhone and iPod Touch platform.
[UPDATE] I just heard that the Obama ’08 for iPhone folks will be holding a launch party for the app during the next presidential debates. Head on over to the Mission Theater on Tuesday, October 7 to congratulate the team and watch some politicking. To RSVP, see the Obama ’08 iPhone App Launch Party and Presidential Debate Party on Upcoming.
So yes, the app is super cool. (And if you agree, you may want to digg it.) But, I think—in my Silicon-Forest-centric frame of mind—that’s not the only cool thing happening in this story.
There’s something else that’s going on here. And when I say “here,” I literally mean here.
While the application is an impressive feat for a volunteer effort (or any effort for that matter) what I think may be even more interesting—and Zachary, arguably the premiere consultant for all things iPhone, agrees—is the underlying story about mobile app development in general—a development effort that, more and more, seems to be centered around talent right here in the Silicon Forest.
“This speaks to a growing trend in Portland toward mobile app development,” said Zachary. “We’ve really got something starting here.”
Grigsby echoes a similar sentiment about the creation of the Obama iPhone app:
I’m terribly proud of this application. I’m also honored to have been part of making it happen. It’s not simply that we built something that we believe will empower people to bring change to Washington, but it is also the fact that we assembled an exceptional team.
As does, Gardner:
The amount of energy that went into this was fun to be around. Raven Zachary and Jason Grigsby’s strategy genius, Jonathan Wight’s very powerful development fu, Mike Lee and Tristan O’Tierney’s hacking support, Louie Manta’s visual-zing-wow aesthetics, Aileen Jeffries and John Keith’s many-faceted support, and Dom Sagolla’s tireless testing work. Phew. That’s the lot of us.
We all hear, time and time again, how mobile is the next big thing. Wouldn’t it be nice if that big thing were happening right here in Portland?
I think it would. And I think it has the potential to happen.
And with efforts like this—and the growing ranks of mobile developers here in town—I’d say we’re well on our way.
Congratulations to the whole team—but especially the Portland folks—on launching an amazing app that’s sure to step on to a national, if not worldwide, stage.
For more, visit the Obama iPhone app page or to download it for yourself, head over to the App Store.
In June, that little software company to the north of us, Microsoft, made news by allowing OpenID logins to its Microsoft Health Vault product.
Problem was—as TechCrunch noted—only two OpenID relying parties were allowed to play:
Over 16 months after first declaring its support for the OpenID authentication platform, Microsoft has finally implemented it for the first time, allowing for OpenID logins on its Health Vault medical site. Unfortunately, Health Vault will only support authentication from two OpenID providers: Trustbearer and Verisign. Whatever happened to the Open in OpenID?
But now, Microsoft has decided to increase the number of relying parties by 50%. To three.
So who was the lucky relying party who made it through the door? Portland-based JanRain‘s myOpenID.
A number of folks—me among them—are surprised it’s taken Microsoft this long to add another relying party. And it seems like the list is still missing a few other obvious and highly secure choices.
But myOpenID is a great place to start:
JanRain’s myOpenID service, the first and most popular independent OpenID service on the Internet, provides consumers with a free, fully featured, reliable, and secure solution for managing their personal online identity. Every myOpenID user receives several choices for secure authentication beyond password. These enhanced security options include: Microsoft InfoCard, Client Certificate, or Phone-based two factor authentication.
For more information on the personal health record service, visit Microsoft Health Vault. For more on JanRain and its OpenID solutions, visit JanRain or myOpenID.
Techvibes has added some new features to their startup indices in time for the release of the Portland Start-up Index for October 2008.
So who are the movers and shakers this month?
Iterasi is the big climber, moving up 12 slots to crack the top 20. Earth Class Mail and Free Range were the only others to make positive progress, moving up one slot a piece.
But boy-oh-boy are there some people dropping down the list. Grabb.it, Pibb, and Rocketbook all slid 13 spots each to lead the pack. And a ton of other folks fell close to 10 spots. It was veritable race to the bottom of the list.
So, here’s how the rankings stand this month:
As always, to see the details on who moved where and what the actual metrics are, visit the Techvibes Portland Start-up Index.
Now, there’s another reason to consider making the trip down to WordCamp Las Vegas in January: WordCamp Portland organizer, Aaron Hockley, has announced that he’s officially on the agenda:
I’m going to explore how the local blog scene and other social media have brought folks together. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be talking to all sorts of Portlandy-types about their thoughts on our social media usage. Yes, that includes the Portland Twitter scene and of course #bacon. A big focus of my talk will be about how online activities have led to offline gatherings including group events like Ignite Portland, Side Project to Startup, and the Portland edition of Lunch 2.0. In addition to the formal events, services such as Shizzow and Twitter facilitate impromptu meetups.
Congratulations to Mr. Hockley on garnering a well-deserved speaking slot. It’s definitely got me thinking about making the trip down south to see him speak. Even though I won’t be able to post on it because of the whole “What happens in Vegas…” thing.
WordCamp:Las Vegas is a conference style event covering topics related to the WordPress software. It will be held January 10-11, 2009. For more information, visit WordCamp Las Vegas.
Well, well, well. I was just thinking about how it was almost October. And that meant that it was almost November. And that meant it was almost time for the next Ignite Portland.
And lookie what just got announced today: Ignite Portland 4 presentation submissions are now open!
If you want to share your passion with some of the most brilliant minds in Portland (and all 500 of them,) here’s your chance.
We’re going to close submission at midnight on October 14, and announce the selected talk lineup on October 20.
So there you go, kids. It’s open! Get going!
I’m looking forward to seeing what you propose.
For more information on the incredible experience that is Ignite, visit the Ignite Portland site.
I’m always saying that—with companies like Vidoop and JanRain here in town—Portland is the de facto hub for the world of OpenID.
And clearly after last weekend, we’ve got a lot of love for the WordPress platform, as well.
So where better to launch the latest version of the leading OpenID plugin for WordPress—wp-openid—than Portland?
Will Norris, the lead developer of the wp-openid plugin, happens to be in town this week. And, as such, he has just announced that he will be launching wp-openid 3.0 this Wednesday at Portland Web Innovators “Demolicious!“, the new hip spot to unveil cool new tools here in town.
What does wp-openid do?
This plugin allows verified OpenIDs to be linked to existing user accounts for use as an alternative means of authentication. Additionally, commenters may use their OpenID to assure their identity as the author of the comment and provide a framework for future OpenID-based services (reputation and trust, for example).
So, if you’re a WordPress type who’s been using OpenID or who is interested in deploying OpenID on your blog, make sure to attend Demolicious! on Wednesday night at NEMO Design. Even if you’re just OpenID curious, I’d highly encourage you to attend.
Plus, as always, there will be some other cool stuff being demoed there, as well.
For more information on the event or to RSVP, visit Portland Web Innovators Demolicious! on Upcoming. For more information on the current version of the plugin, see wp-openid in the WordPress plugins directory.
