Portland, Oregon, startup and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Corvallis-based MyStrands has announced that they are releasing their latest lab creation into the wild: iStrands.
What does iStrands do?
iStrands enables you to build your profile at http://www.mystrands.com in realtime while listening to your music on an iPhone or iPod touch.
If you’re up for jailbreaking your iPhone or iPod Touch (or if you already have), this may be an interesting application to try. If you do, I’d love to hear back about your experience.
Based on advice from Portland-based social-media guru Marshall Kirkpatrick, I’ve been spending some quality time with ma.gnolia, this year. I’ve had a personal account for some time, but I never really grasped the power of the the tool until Marshall opened my eyes.
You’d think a florist would have been more into ma.gnolia. But so it goes.
So now, I’m in the midst of weaving some of those tools into the Silicon Florist. Like Baby’s Breath in a wedding bouquet, if you will. Or I guess, more accurately, like a magnolia, since that’s a flower.
So far there are two additions to the site, based on ma.gnolia’s offerings:
Look for more features and insights as I work to make the Silicon Florist a more valuable resource for everyone. If you have any suggestions, please comment or drop me a line.
Portland-based Open-Source guru, BarCamp champion, and Legion of Tech‘er, Raven Zachary, has started the new year off on the right foot by launching Portland on Fire, a new site designed to profile one member of the Portland community each day.
Why? I’m glad you asked. (And I’m glad Raven provided an FAQ for this one.)
Current online social networks are ineffective channels to meet new people. This site will help to facilitate networking. I was working on a project in the late 90’s called ‘Great Minds’ – a global profile site of amazing people. This is an implementation of that idea focused around the amazing people in the Portland, Oregon, area.
For more information, visit Portland on Fire or see additional coverage of the effort in VanPortlander. To participate, prepare and submit your profile. Or, if you’re just looking forward to reading about some interesting folks, grab the Portland on Fire RSS feed or follow @portlandonfire on Twitter.
I’m looking forward to reading more about you one of these days.
Corvallis-based MyStrands, makers of technology for tracking and sharing tastes, will be part of the big New Year’s Eve party in Times Square with a little network called MTV.
And, while that’s not in Oregon, I’m still covering it. Call me fickle. But that’s big news.
MyStrands partyStrands will power the event:
People in Times Square will be able to use their cell phones to send messages, vote to choose music videos and answer trivia questions on MTV’s 44 ½ giant HD screen in front of the MTV Studios.
Not planning to be in Times Square for the festivities? No worries. You can follow along at home, alone, in front of your computer, like me.
(Hat tip to Marshall Kirkpatrick)Â
Feeling a little light on holiday cheer and can’t quite wait until New Year’s Eve? You’re in luck. Because, filled with the holiday spirit, some folks have thrown together a spur-of-the-moment holiday event for all Portland-area geeks.
Join the gathering December 29 at from 6:17 until 10:03 at the McMenamins Blue Moon in Northwest Portland.
What constitutes a “geek”?
By “geek” I mean you have an iPhone or you Twitter or you attended (or plan to attend) an Ignite Portland or have a Facebook account or you’ve heard of the “Richter Scales” or even if you’re a geek and just visiting family (you guys know who you are) then you’re invited.
Sound interesting? Well, head on over to Upcoming and RSVP for the event. Oh, and as always, please feel free to spread the word.
The Ignite Portland folks have just announced the release of a custom application for Ignite Portland presentation proposals. At first blush, it appears that the application will allow public viewing of all proposed presentations, ala SXSW.
The deadline for submissions is less than a month away, closing January 15, 2008. So test drive your 5-minute presentation on the family over the holidays and then submit your proposal.
Ignite Portland, the event that focuses on the sharing of burning ideas with a lickety-split presentation format, has announced the time and place for Ignite Portland 2, the sequel.
The event is scheduled to be held February 5, 2008, at the McMenamins Bagdad Theater over in Hawthorne. [Update] Here’s the official announcement from the Ignite Portland blog.
That’s quite a venue and a lot of space to fill (double the capacity of the fire-code flirting inaugural Ignite Portland), so I hope to see you there. Filling this one to over-capacity as well.
Mark your calendars! RSVP via Upcoming.
That’s a statement. Not a demand.
I Want Sandy, the anthropomorphic digital assistant (whom I always cover so I have the opportunity to use the word “anthropomorphic”) from Portland-based Values of n, has expanded her available inbound communications repertoire, as it were. She is now available to take your messages and requests as @s on Twitter.
Add her as a friend. She’ll add you. And the tweets will be flying in no time.
Sandy regularly polls Twitter asking for any new direct private messages meant for her eyes only. Each message you twitter is associated with your Twitter user name and account which Sandy checks against the Twitter user name she has on file for your iwantsandy.com account.
For more, see the I Want Sandy Twitter FAQ. Or see Rael Dornfest’s comment on the newest Twitter-based I Want Sandy features.
While you may not realize it, a number of the exemplary Portland-based technology events—Ignite Portland, BarCamp Portland, Startupalooza, and others—have the same, very active cast of characters behind them. And now, to help facilitate the hosting and management of said events, they have opted to form an Oregon non-profit: the Legion of Tech.
This organization has two primary functions: first, we organize key community events like BarCampPortland and Ignite Portland; second, we provide resources and help to organizers of other community technology events. Specifically, the purpose of this organization is to
- Grow and nurture the local Portland technology community through educational, not-for-profit, community-run events.
- Make it easier for community members to organize technology events.
- Provide resources and assistance for technology community events.
Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing these folks make this venture as successful as the events they have managed, and am eager to learn more about lending a hand in their efforts.
If you’re feeling the same way, please visit the Legion of Tech (which, as far as I know, does NOT look like a giant floating Darth Vader head. But if, by chance, it does? I’m totally going for the Bizarro role, but I would also settle for Solomon Grundy or Grodd.)
Did the last one out forget to douse Ignite Portland? Because it’s starting to smolder again. And, if we’re lucky, it will be a rolling blaze in the coming months.
While details are still very slim on the where and when, I’m happy to report that planning for Ignite Portland 2 is well underway.
We won’t publish the details until we have them locked down (date, venue, how to submit presentation ideas, etc.), but we wanted to let you all know that there WILL be another Ignite soon in P-Town!
For those of us lucky enough to attend the first Ignite Portland, this is welcome news.
More details as they become available.
Ignite Portland is an event designed to facilitate the sharing of burning ideas in the Portland community—via extremely quick and compelling presentations. For more information on the concept and the recaps of the first event, visit Ignite Portland. To stay up-to-date on the latest news, subscribe to the Ignite Portland feed.
