Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
I don’t want to get my hopes up. Or our collective hopes up. But there’s something about a new happy hour popping up on Meetup that makes me think that things may be changing for the better. Especially when it’s a gathering that brings together a community of folks who could use more happy hours. Like the local hardware community. Meet Hardware Happy Hour (3H) Portland.
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It’s like Funko Pop for failed hardware. Or Garbage Pail Kids for startups. Randomly creative house MSCHF has created a set of tiny versions of famously bad hardware projects — or projects that failed famously. And coming as a shock to absolutely no one, Portland’s Coolest Cooler — at one time the breathlessly heralded “most successful Kickstarter in history” — is right there among them. Front and center.
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For a time, if you wanted to geek out on hardware or build your own computer, Fry’s in Wilsonville, Oregon, would have been your first stop. But it appears that — like Wilsonville’s Hollywood Video before it — Fry’s is no more. (Also, it’s sadly ironic that the frys.com Website is throwing a 503 error.) For more, visit Ars Technica.
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If surviving during this pandemic includes your working on something new — or keeping a new startup alive — then you might consider applying for the PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment) startup accelerator. They’re currently accepting applications for Software (SaaS, Web, Mobile), Hardware (Internet of Things, Connected devices, Electronics), and Consumer Product (Food, Beverage, Apparel, Beauty) startups. But you have to act fast. Applications close August 9, 2020.
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[Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from Duane Benson of Screaming Circuits.]
Oregon has a long history with electronics hardware design, going back to the early days of Tektronix and Intel. Those two technology pioneers begat hardware startup companies like Radisys, InFocus, Planar, and a host of others. But over the last two decades, the local tech startup scene has been much more about the Internet and software than it has been about chips and solder.
It’s true that the Portland startup community is experiencing a bit of a hardware renaissance, but fact of the matter is, there’s been a strong and consistent undercurrent of that startup activity for years. A no one has been a more ardent champion of that activity than Portland startup Crowd Supply. So it only makes sense that they would be behind the effort to get that community together. Meet Teardown.
Even though there’s less focus on it than previous years, Portland is—and remains—the de facto hub of open source activity. It’s just something in our blood. So it only stands to reason that—as more things become open—Portland would be a great spot for those open pursuits to congregate. Take for example Open Hardware Summit. Read More
Among many interesting developments announced at the Intel Developer Forum (in San Francisco, where the technology discussion was largely about what Intel is doing in Oregon) was the announcement that Intel’s somewhat understated Custom Foundry business would be building processors for ARM and its customers, including LG, servicing the mobile and IoT markets. While this is not as big as a win as having the dominant branded design, it underscores Intel’s continuing leadership in manufacturing technology—led by Intel’s Hillsboro Ronler Acres site. Read More
In my first post, I made a mild dig at my former hometown (Silicon Valley) for perhaps becoming a bit soft(ware) and distant from the science and tech base it started from. That’s not the whole story, of course, and in any event the home of Apple and Google (great software companies that ended up doing their own great hardware) doesn’t need my help to philosophize on this topic. Read More
It’s no secret that Portland loves its crowdfunding campaigns. We love it so much, we even build platforms for facilitating it. And those platforms wind up hosting any number of interesting projects. Like the campaign currently running on Portland based Crowd Supply, The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen. Read More