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Tag: Oregon

Portland Lunch 2.0: Filling and good for you, too

Rick Turoczy on February 27, 2008

The inaugural Portland Lunch 2.0 kicked off, today, at the AboutUs offices in the still-being-renovated Olympic Mills Commerce Center. And after pouring through a number of tweets about the topic, this afternoon, I can confidently say that Lunch 2.0 was a definite success.

The Lunch 2.0 concept started with folks in Silicon Valley as a means of staying in touch with friends and former coworkers, while getting the chance to gawk at everyone else’s office spaces and to try out the food in the cafeteria.

And there was much gawking to be had at the new AboutUs build-out. The space was perfect for the crowd. And, by midway through the event, it was easily filled to capacity with a wide variety of folks from startups around the area.

Since its start in the Valley, Lunch 2.0 has popped up all over the map, from Amsterdam to Bangalore to (my personal favorite) Lunch Five-0 in Hawaii. Portland’s version of Lunch 2.0 was brought to town by Jake Kuramoto with help from Dawn Foster.

Thinking about attending a future Lunch 2.0? Please bear in mind that part of the appeal of Lunch 2.0 is its progressive nature of moving from one location to another—so you can start scheming about how to cowork in their space you get to see the cool spaces in town where smart people do their work. If you’re interested in having a group of hungry startup types invade your office space during a lunch hour, please comment below.

As a reminder for those of you who were taking pictures and who have plans to upload them to flickr, tagging them “lunch20” will ensure they appear in the flickr widget on the official Lunch 2.0 site.

Jive Software nearly doubles customer base in 2007

Rick Turoczy on February 26, 2008

I knew Portland-based Jive Software was hot. I knew they were award winning. And I knew that they had taken an unassailable lead in the “Most Want Ads in the Portland Area” race.

But, even with all of this purported knowledge of mine, it’s always nice to have some numbers to back me up.

Today, Jive released some of those numbers for FY2007. And they’re impressive, to say the least:

  • Nearly 800 new customers
  • 325% increase in annual sales
  • 15% of the Fortune 500 use a Jive product

Jive attributes its continued success to businesses’ growing need for “a better way to work,” highlighting that the collaborative nature of Jive’s products makes them a compelling platform for improving communications with a “proven, people-centric approach to collaboration.”

For more information on Jive’s numbers, read the press release. For more information on the company, visit Jive.

(Hat tip Northwest Innovation)

Reminder: Marshall Kirkpatrick on RSS, February 19

Rick Turoczy on February 18, 2008

Just a reminder that Marshall Kirkpatrick, lead blogger for Read/Write Web and RSS guru, will be presenting a “Lunch and Learn” session on RSS at the OTBC on Tuesday, February 19.

I like to think of myself as fairly RSS savvy. And I can say, without a doubt, that no one has taught me more about how to make RSS jump through hoops than Marshall.

To RSVP, visit the OTBC Meetup page on the event. The cost is $15 at the door. But you were going to spend that money on lunch, anway. And this way, you actually get to learn something.

ORBlogs releases iPhone interface

Rick Turoczy on February 18, 2008

Corvallis-based ORBlogs, the Oregon-focused blog aggregator, has announced the release of an iPhone interface. Interested users can access the simplified iPhone version via m.orblogs.com. (You can access that URL via a Web browser, as well, if you’re interested in a really big interface.)

ORBlogs’ new interface provides a stripped down view of its site content:

[Y]ou can browse all posts, Oregon-related posts, popular posts, and the top 15 topics from the last seven days. Clicking a post excerpt will take you directly to the post on the original blog.

iPhone users will also be happy to know that there is a custom icon for your iPhone desktop, if you choose to add it as a Web clip.

More is planned for the m.orblogs.com, including city-focused pages similar to those found on the ORBlogs site.

ORBlogs is run by Paul Bausch, one of the original developers on Blogger. An admitted side-project, ORBlogs provides a valuable resource to all Oregon-based bloggers by aggregating stories from across the state. For more information, visit ORBlogs.

Portland Start-up Index: February 2008

Rick Turoczy on February 15, 2008

As promised, Techvibes [Full disclosure: I contribute Portland articles to Techvibes] has released its monthly update to the Portland Start-up Index, which has now increased to 50 companies.

And that’s not all that has changed. Now, the index has some movement indicators, showing who was where and where they’ve gone—up or down.

New additions include Kongregate (didn’t realize they had a Portland office), Rocketbook, Iterasi [Full disclosure: Client of mine], Active Reload, WeoGeo (recently relocated from Florida), VocalNation.net, GoLife Mobile, and Worldwide Nest.

As far as movers go, ChoiceA, Lunarr, and MomHub saw the biggest upticks. As expected, number of folks were sent screaming down the list with the addition of the new companies.

The mixture of companies and products on the index are ranked by the average of their Alexa and Compete rankings.

Since each revision of the index replaces the previous one, I’ve captured the list, for posterity:

  1. AboutUs
  2. Discogs
  3. Kongregate
  4. MyOpenID
  5. Splashcast
  6. Earth Class Mail (now located in Seattle)
  7. Jive Software
  8. Sandy
  9. Gone Raw
  10. Cliq
  11. Stikkit
  12. NetworthIQ
  13. Grabbit
  14. Walker Tracker
  15. Pibb
  16. Attensa
  17. UrbanDrinks
  18. Rocketbook
  19. Iterasi
  20. Active Reload
  21. ChoiceA
  22. fmyi
  23. Lunarr
  24. GadgetTrak
  25. Iovation
  26. KnitMap
  27. WeoGeo
  28. FreeRange
  29. Picktastic
  30. Goboz
  31. Imindi
  32. Art Face Off
  33. MomHub
  34. Avnera
  35. VocalNation.net
  36. Box Populi
  37. Pheedo
  38. GoLife Mobile
  39. Workplace2go
  40. Techchex
  41. Kryptiq
  42. Jama Software
  43. Lumeno.us
  44. GoSeeTell
  45. Lightfleet
  46. Cendix
  47. Worldwide Nest
  48. YourList
  49. IDP Solutions
  50. Kumquat

For the complete listing, metrics, and movement indicators, please visit Techvibes.

Startupalooza: Start making your plans to attend

Rick Turoczy on February 15, 2008

Portland’s Startupalooza, the March 29th bootcamp for startups—both existing and planned, continues to expand its roster of speakers. And it’s shaping up to be quite a gathering of local startup talent.

As part of the continuing build-out of its schedule, Starupalooza has announced the addition of a Toonlet demo, a Vidoop demo, and the formation of a “Technopreneur” panel featuring Sarah Gilbert of Cafemama, et al., Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWrite Web, Justin Kistner of Metafluence, and some other guy.

Startupalooza is an interactive forum for the Portland tech startup community. Find out about cool tech startups, learn from successful tech entrepreneurs and meet local tech-business people in a candid, no-BS environment. Admission is free.

TwitterThreads: Portland’s love affair with Twitter continues

Rick Turoczy on February 13, 2008

One of the biggest drawbacks of trying to follow Twitter conversations is that Twitter tends to come at you in one stream. And if you’re following enough people, it’s a fire hose. That said, one of the biggest benefits of using Twitter is that, with the availability of the API, someone is going to figure out how to fix pretty much any Twitter “drawback” you can highlight.

Case in point: TwitterThreads from Portland-based CouldBe Studios, a one-night project that delivers Twitter conversations in—shockingly enough—threaded format. (Man, they should call this thing… oh wait, they already have.)

Developed by Matt Beck, TwitterThreads provides a more conversational view of your tweets, allowing you to see multiple tweets from the same person grouped together or to more easily follow conversations as the @s start percolating.

To see it in action, visit TwitterThreads where you can view the public timeline. Or, login and see how your conversation threads come together.

Ignite Portland 2: Let the rounding up begin

Rick Turoczy on February 6, 2008

I just returned from the second Ignite Portland.

Wow.

In terms of attendance, this one eclipsed the previous one by leaps and bounds. In fact, folks had to be turned away. More than 750 people crowded into the Bagdad, and folks still had to be turned away.

Wow.

Tons of good energy. And presentations that rivaled the brilliance of the first Ignite.

Great event.

A now, even though we’re still a bit early with the returns, I’m going to take a cue from my fellow newsies who are reporting Super Tuesday results with 6% of the precincts reporting.

Here’s what folks are saying:

  • Ignite Portland 2 was one of the best nights of my life!
    “The best moment of the night came when I was sitting in my seat, down in front, surrounded by people who had worked so hard to make this happen, and who had become good friends in the process. And we, in turn, were surrounded by all the amazing volunteers, speakers, and sponsors that made it even possible. And we were all in turn surrounded by a crowd of exited people, enjoying themselves in a very cool theater. It all just sank down on me right then, a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling. I realized that this was the coolest thing I have accomplished so far in my life.”
  • Attention Deficit Theater
    “How hot was Ignite Portland on Tuesday night? So hot that 750 people filled the Bagdad Theater in Southeast Portland, and many more got turned away. So hot that the wacky, idea-sharing event rose to the second spot on the national Upcoming Web site, trailing only the wildly popular South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. So hot that the Bagdad ran out of pizza.”
  • Ignite Portland Mercury video
    “I’ve no !dea whether Ign!te Portland actually has an exclamation mark in its brand!ng, instead of an ‘i’. But it should do. Because it’s young, and hip, and edgy, and the Mercury’s video chap, V!ncent Caldon!, was there last night, with a video camera, along with 750 other people” (I’ll add this to the SplashCast player in the Ignite Portland video post, as well.)
  • Ignite Portland recap
    “One of my favorite parts of the evening was meeting people. Some of the people I met I’ve been following on Twitter. Twitter has contributed to a sense of community in Portland’s tech and creative circles that I haven’t seen before. It’s a wonderful thing.”
  • Ignite Portland 2 rocked the Bagdad
    “There were so many great volunteers who helped make Ignite Portland 2 a success; we could never have pulled it off without their help. The sponsors also made this possible by providing the funds required to buy food, the use of the Bagdad Theater, insurance, etc. A huge thank you to everyone who helped, sponsored, took pictures / video, and more to make this event so much fun to attend.”
  • Why Deutschland loves David Hasselhoff
    “This was all his idea, and I applaud him for pulling it off. I’d be nervous as hell, as I’m sure he was, but after seeing him kill it, I’m considering being a presenter in the future.”
  • Ignite Portland
    “We were proud to sponsor last night’s networking and speaking event, Ignite Portland. We were proud not only because it’s a really cool event, but also because our very own Technical Support Lead, Kelly Guimont spoke at the event.”
  • Ignite Portland: The Talk!
    “I had SUCH a good time. Here’s an odd sentence to everyone but me: I got to meet a lot of my friends for the first time. I got to talk about pepper for five minutes. It was a lot of fun after the fact, before and while I talked I was SO nervous, it was hard to stand in front of seven hundred and something people and talk about anything.”
  • Make Connections
    “One of the reasons I had gone to Ignite Portland was to network. I wanted to talk to people about Treasurelicious. Frankly, after making swag bags, smiling, answering questions and such I was just too tired to network.”
  • About Last (ig)nite
    “So… I will just observe that I realized how many more people I ‘know’ now than I did at the first event, three short months ago, many of them mostly virtually, and that seems amazing to me, and makes me feel all in love with the place we have chosen to live.”
  • Our Super Tuesday fun
    “It was the second Ignite Portland event and John’s employer was a sponsor, we are so glad we went and look forward to many other events like this…. What a cool city we live in.”
  • Ignite Portland in one word: WOW!
    “I didn’t think that the first Ignite could be out done. I mean the first Ignite had just under 300 highly enthusiastic people who heard about it via word of mouth, twitter, and the blog scene. But this time the organizers, Legion of Tech, promoted the event through the Oregonian and on local radio.”
  • Ignite Portland
    “I presented, claiming that it is time for Portland to start some great companies. I felt a bit like a mime at a comedy night with my business focused presentation wedged in between Why Deutschland Loves David Hasselhoff and How to be an Undercover Hooker. If you are in Portland you need to go to the next Ignite.”
  • Ignite Portland
    “It was very entertaining. I’ll definitely try to attend again. I’m also going to try to present there as well. I find the restrictive format (20 slides, 15 seconds each, auto-timed) to be an interesting constraint to work in…. The only complaint I have is that the intros and housekeeping…. They should have been done in the same 15-slide Ignite format.”
  • Ignite Portland was a great event!
    “Of course, nothing it truly free, and the one downside to the event was that you had to listen to the long list of sponsors [like Silicon Florist] at the start of the event. It’s kinda like Google search: it’s free, but there are some ads in your results.”
  • Ignite Portland was a huge success
    “I drove past the theatre at 4:45pm and there was already a line. The 500 person seating limit was filled while there were still people waiting in line. I slipped in with the 250 people that were allowed to stand around the edges before they had to start turning people away.”
  • Ignite Portland 2
    “I don’t know what it is, but there is something pushing my buttons about the creativity I’m rediscovering in PDX. The arts, the crafts, the web, the social fabric that is such a part of Montavilla, Mt. Tabor, Hawthorne, Sellwood, Garden Home, NoPo, St. Johns, Macadam, Multnomah, and on and on and on…”
  • Ignite Wrapup, Things to Come
    “Wow, this Ignite Portland was fantastic — 750 enthusiastic people, a sold out crowd at the Bagdad Theater. I had a great time, and thanks to the organizers for putting together a great show.”
  • Ignite Portland 2 was a blast!
    “I met some cool people at Ignite Portland. I saw some women I had previously met at a pdx geekchix lunch. One of them told me to check out Code ‘n Splode, a group of (mostly women) programmers who get together to talk about whatever they’re working on. I met a guy (Justin maybe?) who told me about beer and blog, a newly formed group that meets every Friday at the Lucky Lab to talk about blogging.”
  • That’s Entertainment: Politics as theater in Campaign ’08
    “Ignite Portland takes place as presidential primary voters go to the polls in 24 states in what is being billed as “Tsunami Tuesday.” But what could be the decisive day for both the Democratic and Republican 2008 White House hopefuls arrives even as the transformation of American politics into theater is almost complete.”
  • What would Dr. Seuss say about online communities?
    “It was a lot of fun to prepare; I got to sit in the children’s section of the library reading Dr. Seuss books for a few hours, which is always a good time! I also had a great time giving the talk – complete with a Cat in the Hat, hat!”
  • Ignite Portland… a recap?
    “I had meant to liveblog the event last night, but I felt I was too far away to take good photos and typing on my new cameraphone just isn’t that fun. Then, with all good intentions, I had planned a post for last night, but the transit ride home took a lot out of me. Woe is me, I know. IgnitePortland was a blast.”
  • Lessons from Ignite Portland
    “There’s a good lesson here for Eclipse projects: we all want our projects to expand our projects to new communities and new users. But before we do the outreach to bring in those new people, we have to make sure that the basics of our projects are top-notch.”
  • Flickr photos tagged “igniteportland”
  • Live tweeting of the event using #ip2
  • More tweets on Ignite Portland
  • Ignite Portland on the Bagdad marquee
  • BONUS: For you history buffs, here’s the tweet from Josh Bancroft that started it all, and my URL-purchasing-addict addled response

(I’ll continue to build out this list as write-ups become available. Am I missing yours? Add it to the comments below, and I’ll make sure to link it up.)

BarCamp Portland 2008 dates announced

Rick Turoczy on February 1, 2008

It’s still three months off, but I’m happy to report that BarCamp Portland, our local BarCamp gathering, has announced the dates and location for the 2008 event: May 2-4 at CubeSpace.

Tech + Geek + Culture. The event for the Portland tech community, produced BY the Portland tech community. Interesting topics, cool people, and great networking opportunities. Always free to attend.

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants.

The name BarCamp was inspired as a complement to FooCamp.

BarCamp Portland is managed by the Legion of Tech (the same great folks behind Ignite Portland). For more information, visit BarCamp Portland. To RSVP, visit the BarCamp Portland on Upcoming.

Additional BarCamp Portland coverage can be found on Dawn Foster’s Fast Wonder blog.

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