Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Work has changed a great deal, this century. Partly because of the Internet. Partly because it simply needed to change.
Coffee & Power is one example of that change—enabling independents to work and sell their services in a common marketplace. With coffee. And power. Read More
Portland is often recognized for its culture. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s bad. But whatever the case, it’s a town driven by culture—no matter how fleeting.
But culture can also be a key ingredient for startups. From hiring to preventing burnout to getting the most of your work, concentrating on culture can help startups reap any number of benefits. But how? Read More
Urban Airship CEO Scott Kveton recently sat down with Robert Scoble and talked about what Urban Airship does and where the world of mobile app development is going. If you’re interested in mobile, it’s well worth the watch.
So, yeah. You hear me blather on and on about Portland’s Urban Airship. And how they’re doing this. And how they’re hiring so and so. And how they’re getting funding. And how they’re pushing stuff.
But what is it that they really do? Well, Urban Airship CEO Scott Kveton recently sat down with Robert Scoble and talked about what Urban Airship does and where the world of mobile app development is going. If you’re interested in mobile, it’s well worth the watch. Read More
But the guidance on how to build a startup in 21 days has been all laid out for you in a new book from the founders of Bac’n: From Idea to Web Startup in 21 Days: Creating bacn.com.
[HTML4]Remember that whole Bac’n thing? That Portland startup that sold bacon on the Internet? Did you know that the entire project—concept to launch—only took 21 days? What the…? How the heck do you build a successful startup in three weeks? Furthermore, is this entire post going to be written in the form of questions?
Well, I can’t answer that last question. But the guidance on how to build a startup in 21 days has been all laid out for you in a new book from the founders of Bac’n: From Idea to Web Startup in 21 Days: Creating bacn.com. Read More
Back when I first mentioned the Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) a collaborative project between Wieden + Kennedy and some folks in the Portland startup scene details were admittedly nebulous.
[HTML4]Back when I first mentioned the Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE)—a collaborative project between Wieden + Kennedy and some folks in the Portland startup scene—details were, admittedly, nebulous. And understandably, to some, it seemed as if the folks at PIE were being intentionally vague. So I promised to keep providing more details as time went on.
Well, now some more folks involved in the experiment—like Renny Gleeson of W+K, Scott Kveton, and Jason Glaspey, all of whom are helping head up PIE—have provided some of their thoughts on what PIE is trying to accomplish. Read More
The new Software Association of Oregon president gets this whole Portland tech startup scene and Twitter to boot. Meet Matt Nees, the new SAO president.
There’s nothing like good news to start the week. So how about this: the SAO has found a new president. And that’s triply good news.
Why? First, it’s good news for the organization, itself, which has been hard at work to become more relevant for the changing Oregon tech industry. Second, it’s good news for Scott Kveton, who just received confirmation that his interim SAO presidency would indeed be as brief as promised. Third, I think it’s good news because this new president gets this whole Portland tech startup scene—and Twitter to boot.
Portland-based Urban Airship is taking flight at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in hopes of providing similar support to independent Apple iPhone developers. And just like their Web app predecessors, the impact could be huge.
[HTML2]While everyone points to the prevalence of open source as the primary reason for the renaissance of the Web affectionately titled “Web 2.0,” there are two particular components of Web development that have played a critical, albeit under appreciated, role. Those unsung heros? Frameworks, a means of simplifying common development tasks that allows developers to focus on the apps they want to build rather than the stuff they have to build, and Web services, a means of extending functionality and infrastructure by using services in the cloud.
Those two things have empowered small independent development teams which, in turn, has created the Web we know today.
Now, Portland-based Urban Airship is taking flight at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in hopes of providing similar support to independent Apple iPhone developers. And just like their Web app predecessors, the impact could be huge. Read More
Last Sunday, a group of folks representing the Portland open source, mobile, and coworking community got the chance to sit down and chat with Portland Mayor Sam Adams. Among those in attendance were Rubyist and Calagator lead Audrey Eschright, CubeSpace’s David Komisky, Software Association of Oregon Interim President Scott Kveton, the Mayor’s Economic Development Policy Advisor Skip Newberry, CubeSpace’s Eva Schweber, General Counsel at Extreme Arts & Sciences J-P Voilleque, and Small Society’s Raven Zachary.
Eva has a great recap of how the meeting played out, including insight on the topics we covered from telecommuting to open source to mobile. [UPDATE] And Skip Newberry from the Mayor’s Office has posted his recap, as well. So I wanted to take a different tact. I wanted to find out how the attendees perceived the meeting and the Mayor’s willingness to engage this group in conversation.
Here’s what they had to say. Read More
[Editor: Let me preface this by saying that I know, full well, that Kveton hates it when I do this. But I think it’s newsworthy. And I thought I should let you know. For that, I’m willing to incur his wrath.]
Many of you know Portland’s Scott Kveton as one of the new board members for Software Association of Oregon (SAO), founder of the OSU Open Source Lab, the former chair of the OpenID Foundation, a Portvangelist, someone who spends more than his fair share of time at PDX, and the guy who helped bring Vidoop to Portland.
But it’s likely that far more of you know Kveton for one thing: bacon. Or perhaps more appropriately Bac’n.
And now, what began as side project—albeit a passionate one—has drawn Kveton into the world of consulting as a full-time gig.
But it’s more than just his passion for that wonderful magical meat animal. It’s truly a desire to help organizations understand how to better use technology and community to achieve business worthy ends—regardless of their particular focus.
It’s really hard to explain but selling bacon is honestly one of the most interesting/fun things I’ve ever done. Its not just technology-for-the-sake-of-technology. Jason, Michael and I created something out of nothing using off-the-shelf tools to make a solution that delivers real things to real people. And we did it all in less than a month.
Long story short, Kveton is taking the opportunity to do something he loves—and to make it a viable business. And given that that is something with which many of us struggle, I personally couldn’t be happier seeing him take this chance.
I know Portland will gain from this move. And I’m already seeing some local startups beginning to take advantage of his talent and guidance.
For more, see Kveton’s post on his new pursuit or follow Kveton on Twitter.
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I like to proffer that Portland, Oregon, is the hub of OpenID (whether it’s true or not). That’s why I love days like today that only add credence to my assertion.
Today, RWW Live—the podcast for ReadWriteWeb—will be focused on OpenID. As such, it will be pulling in a whole bunch of Portland connections to participate.
But just how much Portland-associated influence will there be on the show? Well, we’re lucky to have some of the heavy hitters from the world of OpenID—and Portland—in attendance. Brian Kissel of Portland-based JanRain, Scott Kveton of Portland-based Vidoop, Chris “@factoryjoe” Messina of Vidoop (who doesn’t live in Portland, but thankfully, travels up here on a regular basis), and David Recordon of Six Apart (who is originally from Portland). And, of course, Marshall Kirkpatrick, who heads up ReadWriteWeb content development, is a Portland resident, as well.
That’s a lot of Portland. And a lot of OpenID knowledge.
Today, the group will be discussing ideas for increasing adoption of OpenID, plans for the OpenID Foundation, and opinions on Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect. If there’s a topic you’d like to propose, visit the RWW Live post to offer it as potential discussion point or throw it out in the chat room during the call.
Speaking of chat rooms… it would probably be wise to tell you how to participate:
The show will be broadcast LIVE at 3.30pm PST Monday (6.30pm EST). We invite you to tune in and interact with us via the chat, by clicking here. You can also use the Calliflower Facebook app to listen and participate.
Can’t make the show? No worries. RWW Live is a podcast, after all. You can always listen to the discussion by heading over to ReadWriteTalk, the archive of all ReadWriteWeb podcasts.
So whether you’re saying “Open wha…?”, a staunch OpenID proponent, or an OpenID opponent, it would be well worth your time to swing by the podcast and hear these knowledgeable folks talk about the future of managing your identity on the Web.