Entries from the 'Seattle' category
BarCampSeattle 2008 coming June 14/15th
BarCampSeattle is happening this coming weekend on June 14th and 15th at the Adobe Conference Center. BarCamp is going to be different than the SeattleMindCamp which was delayed and seems to be working on a new location/venue.
Last month the BarCampPortland was a great experience, with many people gathering in CubeSpace and exploring different topics. As an unconference, you get out of the conference, based on what you bring to the conference. Being willing to bring some idea to talk about and share can make all the difference.
The topics have ranged widely from detailed discussions of Drupal or of the semantice of Rails, to things as far ranging as knitting, Women in Science Fiction and PeakOil discussions.
Seattle Barcamp is using Pathable.com to register people for the event
Take a friend or two with you when you go to the event and bring something interesting to talk about. The depth of skills in the room has impressed me, I think it will impress you too.
WhitePages.com Buys SnapVine
Online directory WhitePages.com has purchased Snapvine, an online service that lets users add their voices to social networks and websites.
WhitePages.com’s database has grown to include 180 million names and it recently launched the ability for users to post their cell phone numbers.
But what exactly does this acquisition mean in terms of increased functionality? The WhitePages.com blog reports:
Using Snapvine’s VoIP technology, we have plans to allow consumers to create a free, private voicemail box where others can leave messages without disclosing the recipient’s personal home or cell phone number. And similarly, we also plan to launch text-based relay services based on email and SMS.
No confirmation yet, but rumor has it that the deal went through for $20 million (John Cook’s Venture Blog). We’ll see if WhitePages.com can really create synergy to exploit its newly acquired technology.
Seattle nPost meeting to have huge turnout
Nathan Kaiser at nPost is running a startup event in Seattle today. At this point over 170 people have signed up to come with more signing up as I type. You can find details on the NPost Wiki.
There will be 5 companies that will be demo’ing the work that they are doing. They are new startups that are reaching out to the marketplace:
TalentSpring is looking to use the startup community as a way to build an example to use when talking to other groups. Take a look at the website and see if your startup activities could help with the process of exploring their system.
It seems like a great show is planned.
NW DrupalCamps all coming up fast, Seattle avoids the crush
This weekend SixHourStartup is working on building another website in an afternoon. In preparation for this, a small group gathered at SaturdayHouse last weekend to get a tour of Drupal. Drupal is a content management system that is trying some new and exciting things.
On May 10th, the Portland Drupal Users Group will gather to talk about all things group in a fest called DrupalCampPDX. At the same time, the Vancouver BC Drupal users group will also gather for Vancouver DrupalCamp. June 26th and 27th, the Seattle Drupal Users Group will gather for a DrupalCamp Seattle.
The BarCamp process of bringing together interesting people and cooperating to come up with a good plan works well and is generating a lot of buzz. It makes for lots of opportunity to find people who are interested in similar things.
It is too bad that the time frames were not more distributed, so that Portland, Seattle and Vancouver Drupalites could visit each other more directly. I have learned a lot when I have gone to BarCamps in other cities.
Perhaps the issue is a organizational. when you go to the main BarCamp site, the first thing you see is a time ordered list of the BarCamp events across the world. I wonder what it would take to get a list of all the DrupalCamp events across the world?
Farecast couldn’t have predicted this
Seattle’s John Cook is reporting that Microsoft is the mystery buyer of airline fare predictor Farecast. Microsoft issued this statement after Cook’s paper inquired:
We are pleased to announce that we have acquired Farecast, a Seattle-based smart travel search engine, and we welcome them to the Microsoft family. Farecast has been a partner of ours on MSN Travel and we look forward to working closely with the Farecast team to incorporate and apply its technology in new and interesting ways.
The purchase price has not been confirmed but it sounds like it will be in the $75 - $125 million range. Since being founded in 2006, Farecast has received $20 million in funding from Madrona Venture Group, Par Capital Management, Greylock Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures.
Seattle Start-Ups - 277 and Counting
Marcelo Calbucci’s Seattle 2.0 Start-up Index was updated today for March and there are now 277 Washington State start-ups on the list. This month’s index includes a new start-up that everyone will notice as it debuts at #3 - CarDomain.com. Calbucci notes that CarDomain is now considered a start-up as it recently re-launched as a social network for car lovers thereby resetting it’s odometer to zero.
John Cook of the Seattle Post Intelligencer asks aloud if anyone else finds it comical that a start-up that features photos and dialogue of cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? - is among the top Web properties in the State.
On a side note, Calbucci’s own start-up Sampa raised $1 Million last week.
Reachd visits Seattle’s Zillow.com
Vancouver-based Reachd is taking their SEO and Adwords Training Bootcamps on the road down to Seattle and have partnered with Zillow.com. On April 17th, real estate agents in the Seattle area can take in Reachd’s Google AdWords Training session at Zillow’s downtown office. The session runs from 9am to 12 pm and you can register online.
In addition to Google AdWords training, Zillow’s David Gibbons will provide tips on how to make the most out of Zillow’s EZ Ads. Since Zillow.com is one of the most-visited real estate sites on the Web, they have created their own self-service advertising platform - EZ Ads. The system allows everyone from real estate agents to homeowners to advertise on Zillow and it’s ultra-targeted as it’s based on ZIP codes rather that keywords.
Starbucks Social Network
John Cook of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer just reported some big news from Starbucks annual general meeting today. The coffee retailer announcing a slew of news including the acquisition the the company responsible for the Clover brewing system, a new customer rewards program, and a new social networking site.
It looks like Howard Schultz is serious about turning around the fortunes of the ailing coffee giant. The Clover brewing system is widely recognized as delivering the best cup of brewed coffee around and Schultz has committed to putting a Clover machine in every Starbucks location.
With regards to social networking, Starbucks hopes to extend the community created in-store online through the launch of a site called MyStarbucksIdea.com. The goal of this new site is to allow customers to share their ideas, engage in conversations and play a role in shaping Starbucks future.
This may not be such a bad idea considering there are currently 500+ Groups on Facebook with Starbucks in their name.
Dow Jones on Web 2.0
Earlier today Rick Turoczy mentioned a report from Dow Jones VentureSource that concluded that investment in Web 2.0 start-ups may be peaking. Rick reported that investment in Pacific Northwest Web 2.0 ventures was strong, growing from $35M in 2006 to $140M in 2007 with the total number of deals doubling. VentureBeat breaks down the report further and lists the 25 Largest Web 2.0 Deals in 2007.
Facebook is far and away the leader with $300M raised but there are some great stories out of Washington and Oregon that deserve a mention. Seattle’s Zillow raised $30M while a couple Oregonian companies made the list as well. Corvallis-based MyStrands raised a total of $49.5M and Portland’s Jive Software brought in $15M.
Speaking of Dow Jones, Victoria’s TeamPages is presenting at VentureWire’s Web Ventures 2008 conference in San Francisco today. President Mike Tan and CEOs from 70 other promising startups are pitching to audience that includes LinkedIn’s Co-Founder Reid Hoffman.
Marchex Committed To Local
Yesterday Seattle-based Marchex released a 23-page report titled 2008 Perspectives on Local Online Advertising and Content and it’s worth a read. Marchex is a local online advertising company and leading publisher of local content.
The Marchex-team written report is an overview of local industry trends with specific tactics for marketers, addressing areas such as local online advertising and localized search engine optimization. The report is available for free here.
In the report, Marchex identifies several trends that they believe will continue to accelerate the growth of the local market in 2008 and beyond:
- The adoption rate of online advertising services by small- to medium- sized businesses (SMBs) will continue to rise, driven by local sales channels such as Yellow Pages providers.
- National advertisers will expand their focus on local online advertising campaigns and will increasingly utilize local geo- targeting and tactics that encourage and measure offline purchases.
- The demand for call-based advertising services, such as call tracking and pay-per-phone call, will grow.
- For consumers, the local search experience will improve, delivering more accurate and actionable results that more effectively connect consumers with local businesses.
- The local market will be less fragmented due to consolidation, innovation, and partnerships.
Techvibes Media Inc. is also committed to Local and see it as the next major consumer-focused mega-trend on the commercial Internet. Techvibes.com has always been city-centric with a focus on local search whether it be tech suppliers, tech jobs, or tech events. The addition of our hyper-local blog takes that one step further and 2008 will see these elements merge into the ultimate local platform for everything Tech-related.
