Digest #20

Two weeks ago I introduced a Features section that will focus on original content news articles. Check out the two feature articles, below, one about South Swell Ventures' support for the local tech ecosystem and the formation of Central Coast Angels, and the other about Isentio, a bio-med company that has recently moved operations from Norway to the US with a Santa Cruz office. I invite you to share your news about goings-on the our Santa Cruz tech ecosystem. Launch a new product? Complete an interesting project? Attend an event? Please contact me.

Thanks,

Sara Isenberg, Curator, producer, editor

Santa Cruz Tech Beat
http://santacruztechbeat.com

South Swell Ventures

PLT Labs

ProductOps

City of Santa Cruz Economic Development

TEDx Santa Cruz

Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management

Features:

South Swell Ventures spearheads support for Santa Cruz tech ecosystem and organizes Central Coast Angels
"Our group is excited to be providing capital and mentoring to early stage companies along the Central Coast," Bud Colligan said. "There is a strong desire among our group to create companies and grow jobs here."

Isentio: bacterial DNA hunters
What if your doctor could more accurately identify the source of a complex bacterial infection in a few hours instead of the 3-10 days it currently takes? This is one of the questions Isentio asked.

News:

Events coming up:

New Tech Meetup, Wed Dec 4, 6:30 pm, at Cruzio
Think Local First Annual Mixer, Thu Dec 5, 5:30-7:30 pm, at KSCO Radio
Introduction to The Startup Challange, Tue Dec 10, 4-6 pm

The Startup Challenge will hold intro workshops Dec 10, Jan 14, Feb 11

The Startup Challenge, formerly called the Monterey Bay Regional Business Plan Competition, is an opportunity for prospective entrepreneurs, start-ups, and emerging companies to showcase their ideas and business concepts. The Challenge connects regional entrepreneurs to other entrepreneurs, funders, consultants, support programs, regional and local angels and venture capitalists.

Velvetwire smart charger reaches Kickstarter goal, still going strong with 8 days to go

Standard USB chargers recharge our devices, and frankly, that's about it. Unimaginative, boring - and wasteful. And when they're finished charging, they continue drawing power. Power that's wasted.

Modarri: The Toy Car Reinvented, 45 days to go in Kickstarter campaign
"It was a huge engineering project," said Silverglate. "This is the hardest project I've ever worked on, but it's been a lot of fun."

Santa Cruz Life lists 50 best local Facebook pages
Celebrating life in Santa Cruz, this list will help you know who to LIKE so you can follow local bloggers, news, tech, community, sports, outdoors, arts, and more. (Whew, fortunately SC Tech Beat made the tech section! Go see who else did.)

Plantronics named visionary award winner at WebRTC conference and expo 2013
Plantronics received the award for demonstrating how a range of WebRTC experiences could be enriched when used in conjunction with its advanced, contextually-aware prototype wearable device, Wearable Concept 1™.

Watsonville High School TEC students win award for app, head to Washington, D. C. The app, geared towards WHS students on the road to college, supplies a college glossary, financial aid information, counselor and university contacts, and more.

Bloofusion: "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up." AKA Please fix my rankings

Google is always reevaluating the ecosystem of where a site comes up for a query.

Music Wormhole offers colorful apps to help you learn guitar, ukulele, and piano music theory Founder Paul Noddings says his goal is to help as many people as possible play a musical instrument.

Noteworthy, but not brand new

New device harnesses sun and sewage to produce hydrogen fuel

A novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment.

Darren Odden: Stepping back to review the software development process

When Prototyping a website, there are some key assumption that are being made based on planning. These assumptions lead to a minimal viable product (MVP) that will help to determine whether the idea works or needs to change.