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Silicon Florist podcast: Gnomedex, Sarah Lacy, and more on Friends of the Florist

Thanks for all the feedback on the first Silicon Florist podcast. I’m working to incorporate the feedback, but please, by all means, keep the critiques coming! I really, really appreciate it.

Now, let’s get on with the latest show. Some important links:

Think this podcast sucks? Well, why not try listening to some people who are much, much better than I at this whole podcasting thing: Strange Love Live with Shizzow.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for August 25

Hazelnut Tech Talk Episode 8 | An Interview with Sarah Lacy in Portland, Oregon | Hazelnut Tech Talk

Sarah Lacy takes the time to sit down with Amber Case and Bram Pitoyo for the latest Hazelnut Tech Talk. If you missed the Sarah Lacy tweetup on Sunday, this will give you a good feel for what you missed (complete with Green Dragon background noise).

WordCamp Portland: How Has WordPress Changed Your Life? « Lorelle on WordPress

Lorelle VanFossen writes “The agenda of speakers for WordCamp Portland is out and I’m the keynote speaker. And I need your help. I will be talking about how WordPress is changing lives, not just from the blogging experience but truly changing your life from stem to stern. WordPress and WordPress.com free blogs give a voice to those who may never have had the chance to express themselves. With WordPress, they have the chance to be heard. I want to honor those people.”

Interview with JanRain on OpenID

An extensive interview with the JanRain folks on some of the finer points of OpenID

Portland Happy Hours on Your Google Homepage

Julian Chadwick writes “I had breakfast with Bryan of UrbanDrinks yesterday and he showed me something that might change your life. For those of you who use an iGoogle homepage (and the rest of you who will–you can only resist them so long), UrbanDrinks has created a Portland happy-hour Google ‘gadget.'”

Young Millionaires – Entrepreneur.com

Jive Software’s Matt Tucker and Bill Lynch are featured as “young millionaires” in Entrepreneur magazine.

Strange Love: strange love episode: shizzow!

Shizzow shouts from the Strange Love Live couch.

Sarah Lacy swings by Portland

After a long weekend at Gnomedex and a—no doubt—“conversation crammed” late-night ride to Portland on the Iterasi Magic Bus, Sarah Lacy took time out of her travels to spend some time chatting with Portland folks at the Green Dragon, last night.

A number of folks got into some pretty in-depth conversations with Sarah. And from what I could hear, those chats made the trip well-worth Sarah’s time.

Sarah Lacy (@sarahcuda) on the Portland tweet up

The Portland stop on her junket was part of her User Generated Book Tour to promote Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good. And I’m proud to say that Portland was one of 13 cities that made the cut. Thanks, in no small part, to folks writing in and asking Sarah to stop by.

So thank you to all of the folks who wrote in and to all of you who took time out of your weekend to swing by and meet Sarah.

As I always say, I think it’s incredibly important for folks from outside of Portland and the Silicon Forest to meet the people who are doing cool things here. To get an understanding of what’s happening in our area. And to get them as excited about what we’re doing as we are.

I think we succeeded in doing that last night. And, I know Sarah really appreciated your being there, too.

But what if you couldn’t make it?

Buck up, little camper. Don’t be sad.

We’re already working—lobbying heavily, in fact—to get Sarah back to town soon.

And Sarah’s assistant, Olivia (who is from Portland), will be here in town for a few more days. So we’ll work on getting her out at some more of the Portland events.

Plus, Amber Case and Bram Pitoyo sat down to record a Hazelnut Tech Talk with Sarah, so you’ve got that going for you, too.

What’s that? Oh, the book?

Well, see here’s the thing. Sarah and Olivia had a few books and a couple of t-shirts and some stickers and stuff left. And they were going to have to check bags. And I knew that you would really like the book.

So, here’s what I did: I kinda bought them out.

And I was thinking of selling them on eBay—I mean, they’re signed and everything—but I like you more than eBay.

So I got this idea.

Join Friends of the Florist

You’ve been working hard and being good and whatnot. You deserve a little reward.

And then there’s me. I don’t really do anything and yet, every once in a while, I kind of stumble into some cool stuff. Like multiple copies of Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good, for example.

Seems like there’s some kind of disconnect here, doesn’t it?

I agree.

It struck me that, for all the nice things you do for me—like creating cool stuff for me to write about and showing up at cool events and being interesting—I’m not really pulling my weight.

So, I’ve started Friends of the Florist.

By joining Friends of the Florist, you’ll get the opportunity to receive random physical mailings from me from time to time. No spam. No ads. Just cool stuff—or at least stuff I think is cool—from people like you who are busting their proverbial humps to make cool things.

Well, and you’ll probably get some Silicon Florist stuff every once in a while, too.

You might get flowers. You might get a pony. Who knows?

First mailing? Four lucky winners will receive a signed copy of Sarah Lacy’s book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good.

Your obligation? I just need a physical address to which I can send the stuff. Well, and your trust that I’m not going to do anything nefarious with that information. (Which I won’t, Seeger.)

If the idea of getting some little rewards and nice things from Silicon Florist from time to time sounds like a good thing to you, simply sign up to be a Friend of the Florist.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for August 22

OEN PubTalk – Becoming “socially” responsible: Understanding your company’s role in the world of social media

I feel really lucky to get the chance to ask a bunch of Portland social media heavyweights some questions at an upcoming OEN Pub Talk. “From Facebook to blogging to Twitter, it seems that social media is everywhere, as is the pressure to participate in this burgeoning “Web 2.0” world. It’s no wonder that every business is contemplating how—and why—they should be involved. Join OEN and its social media panel to gain a deeper understanding of social media, its benefits, and its potential pitfalls. We’ll share the rules of the road and etiquette for entrepreneurs and companies interested in participating in these online communities.”

Gnomedex in Three Days | A Social Media Journey

Amber Case writes “I’ll be live-tweeting, podcasting, and blogging from the event. That is, if there is any time between meeting and greeting amazing people.”

I Have An Idea To Bring PDX Tech Community Together

I really like the idea that Jason Harris came up with while sitting at Gnomedex. Jason writes “Why don’t we start a PDX job shadowing effort? The shadows could be either for a full day, half a day, or just a couple of hours. Two people who are paired for a shadowing could meet either at one’s office or a coffee shop, or whatever.”

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for August 21

Cloud Four Designs Mobile Wall Street Journal : Cloud Four

Via the Cloud Four blog “We’re pleased to announce the Mobile Wall Street Journal launched today. This application was developed by FreeRange Communications and the user interface was designed by Cloud Four.”

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The (Silicon Forest) Galaxy Extensis Blog – Font Management, Digital Asset Management and Creative Info

Via the Extensis blog “In 2003 a graduate student at Portland State University collected data about companies in our area and discovered Intel and Tektronix were sort of the “Kevin Bacon” figures on the local scene-if you went back far enough it all came down to one or the other…. Why am I going on about a poster from 2003? Because five years later it has been updated and just like last time we are totally on the list!”

Strands Community Blog, YourStrands, Strandups

Via the Strands blog “Some new great things for the Strands community. An awesome new community blog, the YourStrands show, and Strandups!”

Follow Gnomedex 8.0 on FriendFeed

There are a bunch of Portland types up in Seattle at Gnomedex, right now, so it was nice to see our own Josh Bancroft set up a room on FriendFeed to monitor the event. Josh writes “Turns out there’s already official Gnomedex 8.0 room, but this one will have lots of chatter from Twitter, FriendFeed, etc.”

New Iterasi release (now with Mac support) garners coverage and kudos from TechCrunch

Iterasi, the currently Vancouver-based but soon to be Portland-based company that allows you to create your own personal Web archive, has released the latest version of its service. And some people are taking notice. [Full disclosure: Iterasi is a client of mine.]

https://www.iterasi.net/embedded/?sqrlitid=VCTZ2q3oBEm2VERKCHW9ig

Who? Well, there’s a little blog called TechCrunch that deems the new release—with the addition of a scheduling feature—“a must have research tool. ”

Michael Arrington writes:

Overall Iterasi is an excellent service, and the schedule feature makes it a must have research tool.

So what does the new Scheduler offer?

Use the iterasi Scheduler to automatically Notarize pages when you tell it to, without having to be there to push the button. Set up the Scheduler to Notarize a page every day, week or month at a time that you choose. Great for tracking blogs, reviews, retail sites, and just about anything you can think of. Use the Scheduler to build your own history of any website!

But the biggest news (in my opinion)? They now have native Mac support for Firefox 2 and 3!

No more switching over to my Windows machine to save pages. With the latest release, I can do it right from my Mac. Simple.

Now, granted, I’m a little biased since Iterasi is a client, but I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see another Silicon Forest based company—joining the ranks of Vidoop and others—getting recognition on such an international stage.

Good for Iterasi. And good for Portland.

For more information, visit Iterasi. Or to download the the browser-based tools, register for an account.

To view my saved pages, visit the Silicon Florist public Iterasi page.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for August 20

Mobile Portland: Mobile Insecurity

Data and identity theft due to mobile phone theft and vulnerabilities are rising concerns. However, with both businesses and developers mobile security usually takes a back seat to features, convenience and time-to-market. Ken Westin, the Founder and CTO of GadgetTrak, will lead a spirited discussion touching on mobile security and privacy.

A Fundraising Survival Guide

Paul Graham writes “Raising money is the second hardest part of starting a startup. The hardest part is making something people want: most startups that die, die because they didn’t do that. But the second biggest cause of death is probably the difficulty of raising money. Fundraising is brutal.”

Hopping On the Bus to Gnomedex! « Techcraver.com | Craving tech, craving life!

Jason Harris writes “This weekend, the best social media/web culture conference of the year, Gnomedex gets underway in Seattle. For those of you unaware, Gnomedex is a 2-day social media conference hosted by Chris and Ponzi Pirillo. This conference is not driven by a corporate message, rather it’s just a bunch of geeks getting together to talk about our craft(s) and geek out.”

Free MusicFest NW Wristbands From Strands.com | “Portland Centric” « Portland Music, Art, Events, Entertainment, Sustainability | PDX PIPELINE

Julian Chadwick writes “Luckily, I was able to meet up with Heather of Strands.com this week. Lucky for you that is because Strands is giving away MusicFest NW wristbands–those are like $50…all because we/they love you.”

“We’ve” been listening to you! | Oregon Media Insiders

Oregon Media Insiders elicits a string of comments after mentioning oregonlive.com’s pending redesign “So, the Big O has been listening to us – and are preparing a re-launch of the website. Of course, they’re getting the re-launch after several other newspapers in the chain get the makeover. The good news: it looks different. The bad news: it looks the same.”

WordCamp Portland: It’s on!

WordCamp PortlandI’m happy to report that registration for WordCamp Portland is now open.

So, come on down all you WordPress-o-philes or WordPress curious types. And get all signed up to spend a full day discussing the WordPress platform, plugins, themes, RSS, and more with some of the Portland WordPress faithful.

Registration is $10. And that garners you a t-shirt. Well, and a really interesting conference experience:

WordCamp Portland will be held at CubeSpace on September 27th. You can head over to the Agenda page to check out the details, but we’ll kick things off with a couple large-group speakers including Lorelle Van Fossen as our keynote speaker. The middle of the day will feature several small-group breakout sessions with a variety of topics. Attendees can pose WordPress questions to our “Ask the Experts” panel before dinner [featuring yours truly in my ever popular “nodding and smiling but not really saying anything” role]. After dinner, we’ll have a bunch of rooms available for unconference-style sessions to be determined by the attendees on the day of the event.

But wait! There’s more! Fellow sponsor OurPDX hints at some other benefits of attending WordCamp Portland:

This all-day conference will cost you a mere 10 dollars – which includes a t-shirt, meals, and beer. Yes, there will be beer – in fact, Our PDX Network is more than happy to be ponying up for a keg (or two) to help support WordPress Portland…!

I know I speak for all the sponsors and organizers when I say that we’re looking forward to having you at WordCamp Portland. So why not take a couple of seconds to register? Space is limited. First come, first served.

Silicon Florist’s links arrangement for August 19

Kryptiq picks up Portland company – Silicon Forest – The Oregonian – OregonLive.com

Mike Rogoway writes “Hillsboro-based Kryptiq says this morning it has purchased a small Portland company called Secure Network Solutions.”

Yet Another Cool Digital Newspaper Product: Get The Wall Street Journal, For Free, On Your BlackBerry

Via Silicon Valley Insider highlights a new mobile product that has some deep Portland ties. “Yes, newspapers are screwed. But that isn’t stopping some of them from coming up with some really interesting digital projects. So far we’ve seen the New York Times release a slew of cool gizmos and gadgets. But the Wall Street Journal’s Mobile Reader is easily our favorite to date.”

Sunday Sunday Sunday! For one night only! Sarah Lacy swings through Portland

Once You're Lucky Twice You're GoodIt’s not often that Portland gets random “Internet famous” types swinging through town. I mean, yes, we have quite a few Internet famous types who live here, but we’re not often on the “swing through” route for those that don’t.

But this Sunday, we get one of those opportunities.

Sarah Lacy, arguably one of the most important voices—female or otherwise—in the world of Web 2.0 apps and startups, will be swinging through Portland as part of her User Generated Book Tour in support of Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0.

“Wait a second,” you’re saying. “On the Silicon Florist podcast, you said this gig was Monday Monday Monday!”

Well, you’re right. It was originally scheduled for Monday. But schedules being what they are, the event had to be moved up to Sunday. Same bat time, same bat brew pub. Just a different day.

But let’s get back to Sarah, shall we?

Lacy has been a reporter in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade, covering everything from the tiniest startups to the largest public companies. She writes a biweekly column for BusinessWeek.com called “Valley Girl” and is co-host of Yahoo! Finance’s Tech Ticker.

And the book? It’s been incredibly well received.

“Happily, one intrepid reporter, Sarah Lacy, stayed on — and she now has given us what will likely be the only real record of what happened during that remarkable era. Her portrayals of the founders of companies such as Facebook and Twitter are dead-on, and her reporting will no doubt be a vital source on this amazing time for generations to come. ”

– Michael S. Malone, author of Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company

So, much like the opportunity we had to meet with Garyvee not too long ago and like the missed opportunity with Charlene Li, I see this as a big opportunity for the entire Portland tech community to put its best foot forward in welcoming Sarah to town.

But there’s another important aspect to this. As much as I hate to admit it, there simply are not enough women’s voices in tech. Sarah is one of those voices, and a strong one at that. One that holds its own with the likes of Tara Hunt, Li, Kathy Sierra, and Kara Swisher.

Likewise, in Portland, I’ve always been terribly impressed by the number of incredibly strong women’s voices we have in our own tech scene. Voices like Dawn Foster, Audrey Eschright, Selena Deckelmann, and Amber Case to name just a very, very few.

And, this event—in my opinion—would be a really, really good opportunity to shine a spotlight on that wealth of female tech talent we have in town. And I would really like to see that happen.

As I’m sure would others.

So now, here comes my begging and pleading

In my opinion, this is one of those rare opportunities to give some new folks a view of what makes Portland so special. An opportunity to share our town. And an opportunity to give a brief glimpse into the incredible tech community in this town.

And you know, I’m all about making people appreciate what’s happening in the Portland tech scene.

I realize that it’s Sunday (trust me, I’ll be busting my hump to make it back to town after Gnomedex). And I realize that you may already have some stuff planned. And the shift in time doesn’t help.

But let’s try to make this happen, Portland.

So please join Sarah Lacy, me, and (hopefully) a full patio of people at the Green Dragon, Sunday, August 24 at 6:00 PM.

For more information or to RSVP, please see the Sarah Lacy Tweetup on Upcoming.

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