Well, well, well. The long wait is over. That’s right folks. It’s that time again. Time to see the best and brightest sharing their burning ideas on stage at Ignite Portland 4.
As always, I want your Ignite experience to be as fun and rewarding as possible. So whether this is your 23rd Ignite event or your first, here are some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Ignite Portland 4.
First, the venue info:
Bagdad Theater
3702 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Ticketholders get in at 5:30 PM
General Admission at 6:15 PM
Admission is always FREE
Here are some “Do”s and “Don’t”s that will help you get the most out of your first, second, third, or fourth Ignite Portland experience:
Need more tips? Right this way, my friend. The Legion of Tech has a list as well.
Looking forward to seeing you there. And best of luck to tonight’s presenters:
I really hate to do this, but again, I feel obligated to say something. As unfortunate as it is to report, newly transplanted Vidoop has had to cut back some of its staff. No word on how many or whom. CEO Joel Norvell states:
Portland’s gracious and enthusiastic welcome to Vidoop has been terrific for all of us at the company. Here less than two months later, the economic reality facing companies everywhere seemed remote, given our momentum and the exciting projects we are working on. But today, we had to face that reality, and tell several members of the Vidoop family goodbye.
I have to commend Vidoop for the public admission. They continue to remain a class act. I’m sorry to see them having to go through this. But they will survive.
At this point, I’m more concerned about the folks who have been let go. Vidoop is doing what they can, but additional help, I’m sure, will be welcome.
If you’re a recruiter, there is some very, very good talent on the market as a result of this. I encourage you to act quickly.
And I know I speak for the Portland startup community when I say if there is anything we can do to help, please let us know. Please feel free to contact me at siliconflorist@gmail.com, via Twitter, or by commenting below.
Create a myVidoop account and start using it to sign in to all your favorite websites using a single username. You control your own experience and... [more]
We're all familiar with the "more information" popups---like Snap Shots---that blanket popular Web sites, these days. So why would be excited that another one has entered the market?
Two reasons: 1) This one is from Portland and 2) This promises a much more relevant collection of information.
Meet Panels, a multitabbed information popup that provides company details like basic company and contact info, URL, logo, and summary; a full preview of the home page, stats, tags and other goodies about the actual web site/blog; a place for geographic data; headlines, blog posts, news, press releases and more from a variety of sources; and employment listings.
That's a lot of information for one little box. But Craig Barnes, one of Portland's more well-konw serial entreprenuers, is looking to make it work.
We’re going to start testing it out quietly on a handful of selected blogs and websites in various markets before making a lot of noise or turning on the ability for it to “go viral” - which we hope and expect it will. Not all of the features are in yet, but the panels are already quite useful, and delivering a rewarding user experience and improved metrics by any measure.
Panels is currently in private beta. For more information on the product or to register for the private beta, see Craig Barnes' post announcing Panels.
SplashCast, the immersive and interactive advertising technology that allows traditional advertisers to participate more thoughtfully within social media, has announced a partnership with Clearspring that should guarantee continued adoption.
What does the partnership provide?
Clearspring account tools are now automatically available to all SplashCast advertising clients and content partners. At the same time, SplashCast provides Clearspring and their clients the best in viral broadcasting and social advertising application tools.
Clearspring is the leading provider of widget creation, distribution, tracking and monetization services, used by the world's largest media companies, advertisers, and widget developers. We help publishers and marketers extend their reach to the leading social networks, start pages and blogs and to respond to growing consumer demand for a more personalized desktop, Web, and mobile experience. Clearspring is privately funded and based in McLean, Virginia.
SplashCast is a Portland, OR based start-up that is bringing the power of media syndication to everyone. Using proven technology in development... [more]
Without a doubt, one of the quiet juggernauts of the Portland tech scene is Digital Trends, a site that profiles gadgets and geek topics to the tune of 40 million readers per month.
Clearly, their success is reaping rewards, because Digital Trends has just appointed a new CFO, Nathan Bell.
According to a recent press release:
Prior to working at Digital Trends, Bell served as the Chief Credit Officer for Native American Bank in Denver Colorado, and has held positions at TransUnion, Commercial Federal/Bank of the West, and Nationwide Funding. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Computer Systems from Bradley University and an M.B.A. from DePaul University. Prior to moving to Portland, Bell served on the Board for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Risk Management Association, and was the founder and chapter leader of the Denver DePaul University Alumni Chapter.
Bell replaces the previous CFO, John Gaul, who will remain on staff in an advisory role.
DigitalTrends.com is the first stop for everyday readers, working professionals and gadget enthusiasts alike looking to make sense of how gadgets, games, home theater components and other tech-related products fit into their everyday lives. Products covered include MP3 players, PDAs, digital cameras, computers and peripherals, home audio, automotive electronics, videogames and systems, multimedia projectors, televisions, satellite services, personal video recorders, cell phones and office furniture. Digital Trends also provides news about trends in digital entertainment, home connectivity, VoIP and other telecommunications services. For more information, visit www.digitaltrends.com.
Digital Trends helps people make the most of the hi-tech lifestyle by providing sneak peeks, one-of-a-kind reviews, editorials, buying guides,... [more]
Iterasi, the browser-based service that allows you to save any Web page---in its current state---forever, unveiled a new release of its service, last night. [Full disclosure: Iterasi is a client of mine.]
It's hard to say what the most anticipated part of the release is, but it's between native Mac support---Mac support is provided for Firefox 2 and 3---and a new scheduling tool that allows for recurring captures of the same page over time.
What makes iterasi different than other bookmarking tools? Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb puts it this way:
What makes Iterasi unique is that, unlike other bookmarking tools that just save a link, Iterasi captures a web page at a particular moment in time. This makes Iterasi ideal for saving pages that change over time or pages that disappear after you navigate away.
And iterasi isn't stopping there, according to the iterasi blog:
We hope you like the features we’ve added in this release. The Mac version is way overdue and I apologize for the delay. The Scheduler offers individuals the ability to monitor and archive the Web in ways they’ve never been able to before. It also offers a platform for further features that we will release over the next few months.
Iterasi is now available in public beta. To try iterasi for yourself, register and download the browser plugin.
At iterasi, we love the Web. So much so, that we want to keep it. Forever. That's why we're taking steps to move beyond traditional bookmarking.... [more]
Location is one of the latest features—or central focus—of many of today’s social networking apps. And so, it seems that location-based services appear to pop up every day.
The Apple iPhone’s spate of location based apps is a perfect example.
But when was the last time you found a location-based networking service that was focused on your community?
Enter Shizzow. A location-based social networking service for Portland, Oregon. And only Portland, Oregon.
Shizzow provides the technology for you to notify your friends of your location, with as little effort as possible, so you can spend more time hanging out with your peeps and less time trying to coordinate bringing them together through phone, email, SMS and IM.
Currently, in private beta, Shizzow promises to provide a more simple and straightforward way of finding friends and acquaintances:
Shizzow is designed to understand where you are—and to tell people where you are—as simply and easily as possible. And I’ve been duly impressed by how hard they’ve worked to make sure that the database of locations is as deep and intuitive as possible.
For more information, visit Shizzow. Or to get a beta account of your own, show up to Portland Lunch 2.0 on Wednesday, where Shizzow will be handing out beta accounts to Lunch 2.0 attendees.
Over the past few months, Vidoop has worked on amassing some very interesting employees. At the same time, they have worked on launching some compelling projects to further the adoption of OpenID.
But all of this has been happening in a seemingly ad hoc way.
Now, Vidoop has formalized their research and development efforts under the moniker of Vidoop Labs:
[A} central place where we will be showcasing existing and future technology projects that we are investing in for the future of unified identity and dataportability on the open web.
A modern day Skunk Works, the Vidoop Labs will serve as the home for continued R&D on the DiSo Project, Emailtoid, and EAUT, as well as some undisclosed projects still under wraps.
Today, Jive Software announced impressive customer growth over the past year, increasing its customer base by 25%---which includes working with 15% of the Fortune 500. And that growth has led to other positive changes for Jive, most notably the hiring of a CFO.
Jive named Bryan LeBlanc as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. LeBlanc brings nearly 20 years of finance experience at public high-tech and software companies to Jive, and will be responsible for all finance and administrative functions of the business.
In other news, Jive has announced the launch of Clearstep, a community dedicated to fostering the conversations about Enterprise 2.0, the adoption of social media technology to improve work within more traditional corporations.
Ever wish you could find someone working on social media or Enterprise 2.0 efforts at other companies, same as you? Wish you could pick their brain about how the heck they justified the implementation cost? Found that elusive ROI? Tricks to get employees to use it? Best way to communicate your new online community to your brand fanbase?
For more on the news, see the Jive press release. Interested in connection with other Enterprise 2.0 types? Register for Clearstep.
