Digest #15

Thanks for all the warm appreciation you've been sending my way. As always, I welcome your news, blog posts, and job posts.

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Thanks,

Sara Isenberg, Curator, producer, editor

Santa Cruz Tech Beat: http://santacruztechbeat.com

Fullpower leads the wearable revolution from Santa Cruz. We are looking for embedded and iOS / Android engineering talent to join our legendary team!

www.fullpower.com/jobs

ProductOps

City of Santa Cruz Economic Development

Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management

Fortyfive Creative

News:

Tonight: TechRaising Alumni: Where are they now? Find out Tue, Oct 29, 6pm, NextSpace
"After three TechRaisings, we saw over 30 teams form over the course of a weekend and create a project in 48 hours. So what happens after the weekend??? In this meetup we will catch up with two projects that have been busy for the last year and half building out their project."

Santa Cruz County broadband policy initiative becomes a model for California

"The effort to clear obstacles to better broadband infrastructure in Santa Cruz County was widely praised by local elected officials and telecoms company representatives from across California, at a two day conference in Sacramento ..."

Another day in the life: promoting the Santa Cruz tech ecosystem (Part 2)
Sound bytes from the Community Leadership Visit technology sessions held on Oct 27. Who said it?

"Santa Cruz is sticky."
"We need a Tannery for Tech."
"Our brand is our gut feeling."
"Notice that the people in this panel about building the tech ecosystem are volunteers!"

David Haussler selected as "Man of the Year" and NextSpace selected as "Entrepreneur of the Year"

The Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce Community Gala and Award dinner to honor these and other leaders will be held on Nov 15, 2013 at Cocoanut Grove.

City of Santa Cruz Economic Development Department woos tech startups
"... looking to support entrepreneurs whose vision for innovation matches the spirit of Santa Cruz. Eligible emerging tech companies must be investment funded, currently located outside of Santa Cruz County, and employ two to five people. Winners will get free office space for one year at NextSpace or Cruzioworks."

The Armada Group: How Mentoring Can Attract & Retain IT Talent

"As the candidate pool for IT talent shrinks, companies competing for great recruits will need to demonstrate that they can provide more than just a paycheck and profit sharing possibilities. More than ever, employees want to know where a new position can take them professionally."

Vic Desotelle launches portal to 50+ organic online stores
"... an eco store provider of products and services relating to the green marketplace through the selling of sustainable green product lines from over 50+ eco friendly companies whose focus is on manufacturing products using green materials and sustainable technology."

Lise Quintana and ProductOps launch Lithomobilus website
"When you are consumed by a story, you can never get enough. You want more characters, more details, more commentary, more of what makes that book addictive. Lithomobilus delivers it all without taking you away from your book." Watch video.

Civinomics to host civic engagement conference
"Called 'Civinomicon,' the three-day event will bring together county leaders and staff to generate and share ideas on a host of topics that impact that daily lives of county residents, including public safety, transportation, homelessness, water and education."

Plantronics Opens Wearable Concept Device to Developers at the Seattle Interactive Conference Mobile App Wearables Hackathon Oct 26-27

"Plantronics provides qualified teams at the Seattle Interactive Conference Wearables Hackathon with a wearable concept device built by PLT Labs (http://pltlabs.com) known simply as Wearable Concept 1, equipped with a low-latency, nine-axes sensor which tracks head orientation in three dimensions: heading, pitch and roll (the X, Y and Z axes). It also features tap detection and free-fall detection.... Sample applications can be found at the PLT Labs site."

Save the date: January 24-26, 2014 is Startup Weekend Monterey Bay at CSU Monterey Bay "Join more than 100,000 entrepreneurs in more than 400 cities in over 100 countries and over 8,000 startups by participating ... All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it's a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback."

Free Google Bootcamp App workshop on Fri, Nov 15 at CSUMB
"This pre-Startup Weekend technical bootcamp is a free workshop for 'non-computer geeks' interested in learning how to develop Apps ... Google Technology User Groups and Startup Weekend are joining forces to help developers and entrepreneurs become more successful."

Extra Creepy Minecraft Halloween at MakersFactory, Oct 31, 3:30-5pm, for age 9+
"Something wicked this way mines! Come to our Minecraft Halloween Special Event, where you'll experience never-before-seen Minecraft content, including a haunted Minecraft castle! Team up with your friends to take on the terrors of the towers... if you dare! "

Noteworthy, but not brand new

America: A Nation of Permanent Freelancers and Temps "The forces behind this sea-change are many: the rapid adoption of mobile technology, ubiquitous internet access, and a general sense of malaise powered by the vague yet nagging notion that we're just not meant to work all day sitting in a cubicle. Add to that the waste of time, energy and brainpower that commuting engenders, and it becomes apparent that our definition of 'workplace' will never be the same."

Got a noteworthy news item from the past? Please feel free to submit it.