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Tag: Oregon

Portland Web Innovators’ Demolicious features five new apps

Rick Turoczy on July 7, 2008

Last week marked the debut of Portland Web Innovators “Demolicious,” an opportunity for folks to provide a quick demo of some of the new apps and side projects on which they’ve been working.

The event was well attended and has been extremely well covered by Amber Case, Doug Coleman, organizer Adam DuVander, Dawn Foster, and Bram Pitoyo.

So I’m going to do what I do best and steal round-up their content:

Matt King demoed the Interface Content Management Framework (Pre-release)

  • Matt King: “It’s a content management system for content management systems.”
  • Amber Case: “Watching King make a website is like watching a chef make something, put it in the oven, pause the camera, and take it out again, completely finished. Except there’s no baking time.”
  • Doug Coleman: “For someone like myself that is interested in building content managed sites, this is cool. It should make my life easier. I will look for it when it is released.”
  • Dawn Foster: “It’s a pretty slick DIY, highly customizable CMS.”

Don Park demoed Do-it-yourself Friendfeed: An XFN spider. (Early release)

  • Amber Case: “He’s working on solving the problem that everyone faces when they join social networks and have to re-enter all of their social connections.”
  • Adam DuVander: “Try your Twitter page and see where it takes you.”
  • Dawn Foster: “The spider is pretty cool, and I’m going to have to take a closer look at this. It also reminded me to finish adding my rel=”me” tags; I added a couple a while ago, but was distracted by something shiny and never finished adding them.”

Lev Tsypin demoed Green Renter (Available)

I’ve had the opportunity to cover Green Renter before. It’s a service that helps people find green housing options in the Portland area.

  • Amber Case: “The founders also own greenowner.com and are looking into develop that, but feel it is more important to really nail down a niche before going on to develop other things.”
  • Doug Coleman: “Once again, Portlanders are leading the way in the whole ‘green’ movement.”
  • Dawn Foster: “The goal is to be the resource for sustainable buildings starting in Portland, but expanding out to other areas.”

Kevin Chen demoed Metroseeq (Available)

Metroseeq automatically find deals and coupons from local restaurants. The Wheel of Meals alone makes it worth a visit. And the recalibrating search algorithm makes is pretty cool, too.

  • Amber Case: “The ability for users to be able to find information from both offline and online sources effectively is the difference between Citysearch and Yelp.”
  • Doug Coleman: “Any product that grew from a college student’s free food association is alright in my book.”

Mounir Shita demoed GoLife Mobile (Available)

GoLife Mobile allows developers to build apps for use on any Java-enabled mobile handset using GoLife’s framework.

  • Amber Case: “It’s as semantic as a roving a meeting maker that negotiates meetups across dynamic time and space, as if the entire geography were a mobile, roaming office.”
  • Doug Coleman: “Their built-in advertising generator automatically generates revenue for your applications and objects and shares it with you.”
  • Dawn Foster: “It’s an object-oriented development framework with a revenue share built in to give developers a way to monetize their applications.”

And the most important part?

“As always, I am blown away by the things that are happening in the Portland Web Community,” wrote Amber Case. “Something amazing is happening in Portland. I’ve never seen anything like it. Everyone I meet is always working on something so interesting, and has an positive and innovative mindset on their shoulders. I’m eager to see what’s next.”

Doug Coleman echoes her response. “There are so many exciting things happening in Portland,” he writes. “I am happy to be part of such a thriving, creative and nurturing scene. I am looking forward to the next event put on by PDX Web Innovators.”

It’s like I always say. Everyone here has at least one side project; a side project that—anywhere else—would be a fully funded full-time job.

Cool stuff happening, to be sure. And that’s why I eagerly await the next Demolicious.

Portland Web 2.0 startups get some love from Oregon Business Magazine

Rick Turoczy on June 27, 2008

Oregon Business Magazine features Toonlet et alOne of the reasons I started Silicon Florist was to use my marketing powers for good, by casting the spotlight on “Portland Web 2.0 startups” and individuals who have been developing really, really cool things here in the Silicon Forest. But who, through sheer lack of time, may not have the opportunity or wherewithal to promote themselves as much as they would like.

I’m happy to report that a number of those companies just got a much brighter spotlight shone on them, thanks to Oregon Business Magazine‘s cover story this month “10 Coolest Tech Startups You’ve Never Heard Of.”

Among the Silicon Florist alumni featured are:

Gone Raw and Lumeno.us—two sites I haven’t yet had the chance to cover except via mentions in the Portland Startup Index—made it as well.

Congratulations to all of those featured for stepping on to a much larger stage! I’ll look forward to continuing to cover your progress and highlighting your wins.

Photo credit: Michael G. Halle

Portland Lunch 2.0 roadmap

Rick Turoczy on June 27, 2008

Portland Lunch 2.0, admittedly a continually evolving work-in-progress, has quickly taken a firm hold—and sparked some interesting conversations—in the Portland tech community.

And like developing any product, even though the Portland Lunch 2.0 team (read Jake Kuramoto) hasn’t launched the latest version of their product—that version will launch on Monday—the team is already hard at work on the next version.

So, I thought it might be helpful to step into a product manager role, ever so briefly. Just so you can get the milestones and release schedule on your calendar.

Let’s take a glance at the product roadmap:

  • Portland Lunch 2.0 SP4 will be released Monday, June 30, at Wieden + Kennedy
    “On Monday June 30th, the PDX Tech/Tweeple community is cordially invited to join 50-100 W+K employees for a “blind date meets grade school birthday party” ad/tech extravaganza. It’s going to be a fun, it’s going to be quirky, and it’s going to rock RockBand style (literally).”
  • Portland Lunch 2.0 SP5 will be released Wednesday, July 16, at souk
    “The Portland Lunch 2.0 saga continues at flex term office space provider souk, once again in Old Town on July 16, 2008. We won’t stop until we have Lunch 2.0 at every, single business in Old Town.”
  • Portland Lunch 2.0 SP6 will be released…?

For more information or to RSVP, visit Upcoming for the Portland Lunch 2.0 SP4 and Portland Lunch 2.0 SP5 RSVP lists. If you’re interested in hosting SP6 or a later release, please ping Jake Kuramoto.

WordCamp Portland: WordPress geeking slated for Sept 27

Rick Turoczy on June 27, 2008

WordPressEver been to an unconference? We had one here in Portland at the beginning of May called BarCamp Portland. And during that BarCamp, a number of folks had the opportunity to lead and attend a few sessions on hacking WordPress, the popular open-source blogging and content-management system. Those sessions formed, by design, a mini-version of WordCamp, a series of grassroots, locally managed conferences for WordPress developers.

So how was the mini-WordCamp received?

Well. Very well, in fact. Interest was high. And the discussions were good. (One of the more packed sessions I attended was a WordPress session.) And that got Aaron Hockley to thinking: Maybe we should get rid of the “mini” and have a full-fledged WordCamp.

And guess what? That’s exactly what he’s done.

Announcing WordCamp Portland

Hockley has announced that we will, in fact, have the opportunity to attend a full-fledged WordCamp Portland.

Do you use WordPress? Want to get more out of WordPress? Need some WordPress tips? Well then, mark September 27 on your calendar with a big W. Simply WordPress curious? You’re welcome, as well.

I’m excited. And I know some other folks around town are already champing at the bit to attend WordCamp Portland, as well. Among them, Betsy Richter of the newly launched Our PDX—a WordPress blog, itself:

[I’ve] already blocked September 27th off on my calendar and am volunteering my time to help make this happen – I really loved the energy at BarCamp & am a total WordPress idiot savant (brilliant at some things, not so hot at others), so am thrilled to see this coming together.

As with every unconference, there’s a dire need for three things: sponsors, volunteers, and participants. So, if WordCamp Portland sounds even remotely interesting to you, why not take a second to RSVP on Upcoming to help give the organizers an way to better gauge interest?

Vidoop Troop #3: Portland by way of Tulsa

Rick Turoczy on June 26, 2008

Well, it’s happened quickly, but it’s been fun. As Vidoop has brought various groups of employees up for a tour of their new hometown, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting Vidoop Troops one, two, and—after this Friday’s Beer and Blog—three.

After that, all that’s left is actually getting them moved up here. And that, my friends, is going to a-whole-nother adventure.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ve got new Vidoopers to meet and welcome to the Rose City.

Who? I’m glad you asked.

Nick Davis, Founding Software Developer

What? I’m involved in several projects, but tend to focus on designing and developing authentication solutions. I also work on some information security related things when not writing code.

How? Raised in Southeast Oklahoma (Spiro), I moved to Tulsa for college and have been here ever since. I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science at the University of Tulsa, and did research in secure operating systems (SE Linux) while at TU. I joined Vidoop as a founding member in March 2006. Outside of work, I enjoy hanging out with family and friends, reading, video games, biking, working out, and movies (especially sci-fi/cyberpunk). Recently, I got married to a wonderful girl named Adrienne, who manages to put up with my various technology obsessions (still trying to get her on Twitter 🙂 )

Links? Nick on Myvidoop, Nick on Twitter, Kernel trap, Bruce Schneier’s blog, FreeSCI

Questions about Portland?

  • Good neighborhoods to live for young married couples?
  • Good biking trails in and around the city?
  • What are the best “weird Portland” places that are unique to the city, and what things must I do/see to have the whole Portland experience?
  • What is the best seafood restaurant in the city?

Rachel Garrette, Marketing + Copy Writer

What? I write and edit copy, assist in the development/maintenance of our websites, create and maintain marketing videos as well as other marketing material, work with vendors, etc.

How? Born and bred in Oklahoma, I graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.A. in Journalism / Broadcast and Electronic Media. After college, I worked for a couple of years as a video editor at the largest independent sports production company in the U.S., serving clients such as ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Sports Net, Discovery, Major League Soccer, and many more. One fateful night in 2006, I met Luke Sontag at a concert. He pitched what then seemed like only an outlandish idea, and it soon came to fruition in the form of Vidoop. A year later, I finally joined the wild ride.

I enjoy music, art, traveling, history, puppies and fireworks (though not fireworks in, on, or under puppies). My favorite food is cereal. I love a good estate sale. I despise banana flavored taffy, and I’m the clumsiest person you’ll meet. I have an astute adolescent sense of humor eloquently coupled with a love for corny jokes. My Boston Terrier, Henry, can’t wait to explore Portland’s parks.

Links? FreeIndie.com, @rachelpalooza

Questions about Portland?

  • I’m having trouble finding a rental property in the NW district that accepts dogs. What gives?! Any suggestions?
  • Where is the best place to go for a run outdoors?
  • Where is the best place to hear live music outdoors?
  • What is the best place to get your hair cut?

Adam Kuert, Lead Web Developer

What? Attend a meeting, write some code, upgrade a server, accidentally delete a vital directory, restore from backup…you know, the usual life of a web dev.

How? Got a degree in Computer Science; realized programming was slightly more complicated than TI-83 BASIC. Ran my own company from 2 years, escaped to find job security, found… another startup. When I’m not coding, you can find me on the soccer field pretending I didn’t get cut from the team in High School. I Lived in Kenya for 18 years and I’m hoping Portland weather is just like Kenya’s: when it’s not raining…it’s perfect.

Links? http://adam.kuert.net

Questions about Portland?

  • Is the weather really as great as hear? Or does everyone trudges through the rest of the year just waiting for summer to return? [Editor: Truth be known, it’s really more of a “slog” than “trudge.”]
  • Do people actually ‘ski or go to the beach only 90 minutes away’ or is that just a sales pitch for getting people like me to move? [Editor: We have a beach 90 minutes away? Oh wait. I mean, yes.]

Steven Osborn, Founding Software Developer

What? I built the first prototype of our ImageShield technology and since then I’ve worked on nearly every project conceived at Vidoop. Currently working on alien browser plug-in technology to take over the world.

How? I’ve lived in the Tulsa area most of my life, excluding a short tour to Afghanistan. I previously worked for a healthcare software company developing web applications. I’m involved in just about every technology group in Tulsa including Tulsa PHP, Python, Ruby, and even .NET and Java which means I have access to more free pizza than any human can safely consume in their lifetime. Some technologies I’m currently excited about: Django, Python, Android and Mercurial.

Links? Steven’s Blog, Steven’s Twitter, Steven’s LinkedIn

Questions about Portland?

  • I have a 18mo son who was born 16 weeks premature. Does Oregon offer a program similar to SoonerStart? (They send out therapists on a regular basis to check up on his progress regularly free of charge.)
  • Are there any outstanding childcare facilities?
  • What are your favorite fun weekend family activities?

John Whitlock, Software Developer

What? Lead of the RecognitionAUTH team, making the backend service that runs myVidoop faster and smarter, then packaging it for licensees. I think in Python, write C++, and study software management.

How? I was raised in Arnold, just south of St. Louis. I begged for a computer, then a Borland C++ compiler, and spent my allowance on programming books. I got an electrical engineering degree from the University of Tulsa, because I wanted to dive one level deeper into computers. However, code mistakes are less painful than electrical mistakes, so I put away the soldering iron and stuck with programming. I worked for 8 years at a flight simulation company, helping to make pilot training simulators and learning
more Fortran than I ever wanted. When my company started to dissolve, I was surprised to find a web startup in our own backyard.

My wife Jennifer is a research librarian, advocating for new technologies to support the information needs of customers. She is also the Foundation Center Coordinator, helping local non-profits find funding. Our daughter Ainsley recently turned four, and confuses Austin and Portland.

Links? Ambient Librarian, John @ Twitter, CppUnit Wiki, ConfIdent Technologies Software Development Kit

Questions about Portland?

  • Where are the good, affordable, all-day child care centers / pre-schools?
  • Was is the difference between Austin and Portland? [Editor: We have better beer. Our parks feature green grass as opposed to dead yellow grass. And our birds know to quiet down at night.]
  • Are earthquakes a problem? Is there something we tornado-dodgers should do to prepare?
  • Can someone please babysit for Corin so that Sleater-Kinney can put out another album?

How can I meet Vidoop Troop ?

Well, the place to meet and greet the past two troops seems as good of a place as any don’t you think? C’mon down to Beer and Blog on Friday afternoon. We’ll be back at one of our favorite haunts: the Green Dragon. That’s right. Not that other place. The Green Dragon. You know. The one where they have more than one bartender? Yeah, that one. Let me give you one more nemonic device to remember that: Green Dragon.

And no Justin Kistner, this week. And no substitute appointed.

Looking forward to seeing you and the last flight of the Vidoopers there.

Internet Strategy Forum Summit: Gaining momentum

Rick Turoczy on June 25, 2008

Internet Strategy Forum Summit 2008The Internet Strategy Forum Summit, the homegrown Portland event that focuses on “a diverse array of important and complementary strategy areas including general digital strategy, social media strategy, personalized marketing, e-commerce, email marketing and customer metrics,” is drawing ever closer. Only a few weeks remain until the fifth incarnation of the event, July 17 and 18.

This year’s Summit promises to draw a wide-range folks from out-of-town. But more importantly, it’s drawing an all-star line up of speakers, including:

But it’s not just the Summit that’s gaining traction. The Internet Strategy Forum (ISF), the group of Internet professionals on the corporate side of the desk for which the Summit serves as an opportune annual meeting, has been growing by leaps and bounds. In fact the ISF is on track to double its membership—doubling since December 2007.

Considering that it took the organization three-and-a-half years to grow to 850 screened members, adding another 850 in six months is impressive, to say the least.

Interested in attending the Internet Strategy Forum Summit and getting a chance to see all the cool folks listed above, firsthand? You’re in luck. Silicon Florist readers are entitled to a 10% discount on their Internet Strategy Forum Summit registration. Simply enter the discount code FLORIST.

Fast Wonder Dawn Foster launches consulting practice

Rick Turoczy on June 24, 2008

If you’ve had the opportunity to attend any Portland tech events over the past year or so, it’s highly likely that you’ve come in contact with some of the handiwork of Dawn Foster. Chair of the Legion of Tech and a staunch advocate of the Portland startup tech and unconference scene, Dawn’s influence has been a critical ingredient in BarCamp Portland, Ignite Portland, the Legion of Tech Happy Hours, Portland Lunch 2.0, any number of Jive Software events, Portland is Awesome… the list goes on and on.

And now that Dawn has announced that she’s leaving Jive, some of that magic touch is for hire:

Recently, I’ve seen a number of companies struggling with how to get more savvy about social media and interacting with online communities. My focus will be on providing consulting services to help guide companies in developing a comprehensive social media and community engagement strategy. I will help companies engage with their community both online and offline to help generate buzz around their products. I can also help companies find, monitor, and respond to what others are saying about them online.

No doubt, Dawn’s expertise will be highly sought. I’m looking forward to her continued success on the other side of the desk and would like to, again, congratulate her on this exciting new endeavor.

For more, see Fast Wonder Consulting or for a (now slightly dated) bio, see Dawn Foster on Portland on Fire.

Our PDX Network: You can’t keep a good team down

Rick Turoczy on June 23, 2008

Our PDXNot so long ago, there used to be a Portland team blog that I read multiple times a day. Great voices. Great insights. And a really, truly great team vibe.

They had meetups, they had banter with their readers, and—most importantly—they had Portland paying attention.

Not only did I want to read the blog, I wanted to write for them. To comment. To be part of the vibe. To be part of that team. To be part of that talent that was doing a better job of keeping Portland informed—for free. Better, in fact than many of the paid journalists in town.

And then, much to my chagrin, that blog stumbled. Badly.

And the worst part of it was that it had nothing to do with the writers, nothing to do with teamwork, and absolutely nothing to do with Portland. It had to do with the fact that they were part of a much larger network that had less concern about the Portland site than they did the network as a whole. And they made some mistakes.

And now, it seems like ages since we’ve had that vibe. The blog never recovered. They lost the team except for a few who stuck around. They lost the banter by implementing an oppressive comment system. The list goes on and on.

And since then, it’s been some irreparable shell of a blog, mocking its former instantiation, dribbling out half-hearted and insipid posts on an irregular basis.

And Portland sat. Waiting for the voices to return. Or for someone to pick up the torch.

But now, that wait is over.

Our PDX Network charts a new path

I hear you. Whoa whoa whoa, Mr. Sourpuss. Don’t start my Monday morning off on such a depressing note. Geez.

Okay.

How about this, sunshine? They’re back! Meet Our PDX. It’s going to be good, so add it to your feed reader, right now.

“Last Saturday, a local story dropped in my lap. But I had no outlet,” said Betsy Richter, the driving force behind Our PDX. “And, I got frustrated about the fact that I didn’t have much of a local presence any more (Twitter notwithstanding). So, I bought a couple of domains. And sent off email to a few people, asking for a review/feedback.”

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, it’s not the entire team, but it is a good chunk of the team. Richter, Dieselboi, PAgent… they’re putting the band back together.

Now bear in mind, it’s not a repeat of their former existence. This isn’t a “2.0” of the prior site, by any means. No, my friends, it promises to be better. Way better.

By Portland and for Portland, Our PDX promises to be a true hub of Portland news and happenings. You’ll see content developed by the Our PDX authors, but you’ll also see a great deal more. They’ll be working to aggregate publicly accessible media from throughout Portland, be that via Twitter streams or RSS feeds.

And they’ve really focused on getting the conversation going, again. Which is a very, very good thing.

Based on what I’ve heard about their vision, I’m excited. And I think it could really become that hub of activity for Portland that we’ve all been seeking.

Long story short, Our PDX will truly be a community blog.

I know that these folks know how to do it right. And I’m really looking forward to having them back.

Please join me in welcoming them back from their respective sabbaticals.

I can’t wait to see where this goes.

For more information, visit Our PDX and join in the conversation.

ReadWriteWeb, the Adidas of tech blogs, now a Portland blog

Rick Turoczy on June 21, 2008

ReadWriteWeb—the Adidas of tech blogs—is the second most influential technology blog according to the Techmeme Leaderboard (TechCrunch is the leader) and one of the top 20 blogs (#11 as of this writing) in the world according to Technorati. And now—continuing to extend the Adidas metaphor—they’re officially part of Portland.

ReadWriteWeb

RWW announced today that Portland-based Frederic Lardinois has joined RWW as the “News & Reviews” blogger. According to RWW founder Richard MacManus, “[Frederic] will be a daily presence on RWW throughout the working week.”

With this announcement, we’re soon to have more ReadWriteWeb content produced in Portland than anywhere else. Because Portland is now home to twice as many ReadWriteWeb bloggers as any other city in the world.

We have two: Marshall Kirpatrick and Frederic.

And I don’t know about you, but if you got the chance to meet Corvida—who was formally welcomed as part-time writer for RWW, as well—at Ignite Portland 3 or the Strands after party, I think we have a good chance at having at taking an insurmountable lead as the de facto home of ReadWriteWeb.

So much so, in fact, that let’s just agree that ReadWriteWeb is now a Portland blog. Okay? Okay.

I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time a major player, headquartered somewhere else, had more employees in the Silicon Forest than in their hometown. Now would it, Intel?

And, this isn’t the first time Portland has been lucky enough to attract a major blog to our fair city. Another high-traffic property—Waxy.org—became a Portland blog when Andy Baio moved here earlier this year.

Congratulations to Frederic and ReadWriteWeb on this new relationship. I’m looking forward to continuing to read what is now the most popular Portland blog. And I’m also looking forward to Corvida coming back to town—so that we can further increase our lead.

ReadWriteWeb began publishing on April 20, 2003 and is now one of the most widely read and respected blogs in the world. It has over 220,000 RSS and email subscribers. ReadWriteWeb is edited by Richard MacManus and is written by a team of Web enthusiasts.

Email to ID: My OpenID is an email address

Rick Turoczy on June 20, 2008

Email to ID from VidoopOh boy. He’s on that OpenID soapbox again.

Look. You’re in Portland. Arguably the de facto hub of OpenID. So it happens. The OpenID soapbox is literally right here. I can jump on it at practically any time.

So yes, I’m talking about OpenID, again.

But this time, I think even the staunchest critics will find the discussion interesting. Because it solves a very common complaint.

You see, once you get past initial objections surrounding OpenID and the “we should push the value, not the technology” discussion—once you get into actually trying to convince people to use OpenID as a form of credential for online services—one criticism tends to pop up time and time again…

Why is OpenID a url? Why can’t OpenID be an email address?

Why does this complaint come up so much? Because email passes the “mom ‘n’ pop” test. As in mom ‘n’ pop are growing increasingly comfortable with the idea of having an email address. They “get it.” And they’re far more comfortable managing that type of address than they are managing a url.

Long story short, email seems easier to grasp.

And we’ve been so conditioned to plug an email address into the “username” box, that it’s almost becoming second nature.

So the conversation always, always, always comes around to “What if logging in with OpenID were as easy as logging in using your email address?”

If only! If only someone, somewhere could put some of the leading minds together with some brilliant developers and get this thing figured out. I mean, maybe like Chris Messina and Will Norris. Maybe get Scott Kveton and Scott Blomquist in there. And that Michael Richardson is a pretty sharp developer.

I mean, if someone could manage to put a team like that together… I’m sorry. What? Really? Really? Vidoop? They all work for Vidoop? Oh. Well. That would probably explain this then….

Enter Email to ID, a new service from the folks at Portland-based Vidoop. (And yes, this is the thing they’ll be demoing at Beer and Blog this evening.)

How does Email to ID work?

The concept is simple. And congruent with current OpenID logins.

One box. One credential to enter. The basic difference being that you’re using an email address instead of url.

So how do you validate that you are who you say you are? Well, there are a couple of ways.

If you don’t have know that you already have an OpenID, you can just use your email address and Email to ID will create an OpenID association for you.

The first time you sign into a new site, Email to ID will send a validation code to that email account. (Much in the same way CAN-SPAM encourages people to confirm their membership on email lists.) Using the code, you can validate that the email address is, in fact, yours and that you are who you say you are.

If you’re already a typical OpenID user, you can associate your existing OpenID(s) and relying parties with an email address. This allows you to use the inherent security features of your relying party instead of having to check your inbox every time you want log into a new site.

Technically, what’s Email to ID doing?

Okay. I can see you geekily salivating over there. But I’m not going to try to explain it. Instead, I’ll let the people doing the work explain that:

Emailtoid is a simply a mapping service – we take a GET request to our mapper ( eg, http://emailtoid.net/mapper?email=jane@example.com ) and return an HTTP redirect (a 302) to an OpenID. If the email address is not in our system, we create an OpenID account for the user on the fly. The user logs into the OpenID account by verifying his or her email address through a one time URL or confirmation code sent to that email address. The RP (relying party, the site that originally sent the request) then has the user returned to it.

Get it? Good. Explain it to me sometime.

All I care about is that it works. And it does. Quite gracefully. And that is technology as it should be.

So is OpenID “mainstream” now?

I don’t know that making OpenID mainstream should even be a goal. But I do know that making services and technologies more useful to the general populous should.

“Basically, OpenID is great, it’s a wonderful technology, but it can be a bit confusing to the end users,” said Richardson, lead developer for Email to ID. “Users are already trained to use email as an identifier, so this bridges the gap between email and OpenID.

“Ideally, this service will go away as all top level domains will implement their own mapping. But until that time, we provide a way for sites to have people to use OpenID through their email address. The barrier of entry into OpenID is significantly lower.”

Conceptually, this service marks a huge step forward for “bending the OpenID technology to the needs of the common user.” And as such, it could definitely be one avenue for introducing a new way of logging-in to a wider group of people.

But, whether the term or concept “OpenID” needs to travel along with that form of credentialing is still a matter of debate.

To paraphrase something that Kveton, who in addition to efforts at Vidoop happens to chair of the OpenID Foundation, often says, “My mom doesn’t says she’s going to go establish an SMTP connection. She says she’s going to go check her email.” Or to put it another way, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak—or Gardenburger, as the case may be.”

Make no mistake, this is progress for OpenID and its potential. And progress very much in the right direction for a very fledgling technology with a number of benefits.

I, for one, feel that—with Email to ID—one of the major gripes against OpenID is now a thing of the past.

And that means, it’s time to attack the next one. What’s next?

For more information or to set up your own email-based OpenID, visit Email to ID. Interested in implementing this service? See the Email to ID developers area and follow Email to ID on Get Satisfaction. Of course, if you’re lucky enough to be in Portland, today, swing on by Beer and Blog to talk to Email to ID developer Michael Richardson about this new service.

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