A client (thanks Leah) turned me to a great keyword/adword resource called SpyFu. It allows you to search competitor keywords, adwords, organic words, advertisements, click spend and total keyword budgets, among other things. Most of this is free. The site is fantastic and can really provide some valuable information for emerging companies looking to evaluate competitive marketings and carve out a niche. You can get super-detailed reporting and information if you're willing to spring for the service, but the initial information is pretty darn useful by itself. Do yourself a favor, check out the site and get some market intel!! Then you can drop some sweet facts at your next dinner party, like:

"Hey Charlie, did you know Google has a daily ad budget between $354 and $390? Pass the salt."

"Hey Rachel, did you hear, Sprint's monthly online keyword budget is $19k. Doesn't that blow your mind?"

-posted by Justin

On Monday, M2E Power announced the development of an external mobile device charger. Big news in the gadget world and green verticals. To support this news, VOXUS has been busy working with press. Our efforts have paid off big time! Props to the entire team!

To cap it off, today the news ran on Business Week. Check it out.

Here's a little picture:

In addition, articles also ran in more than 100 other outlets including these feature articles:
-Wired
-Gizmodo
-DVICE
-Inhabitat
-GigaOm
-Daily Green
-Coolest Gadgets
-Gadget Insight
-EcoTech Daily
-Gadget Crunch/Tech Crunch
-EcoFriend
-Cellphone Beat
-Tom's Guide
-Technology Today
-CNET
-Idaho Business Review
-Gadget Guru
-Good Clean Tech
-Earth2tech
-ZDNet
-Game Shout
-Clean Technica
-Wireless Week
-CleanTech
-Headline News
-NPR
-Smart Planet
-and more, and more and more!!!!

-posted by Justin

As our client M2E announces a new external charger for mobile device on 8/25, we thought we'd post this little video that explains the innovation behind the technology. This video podcast was created for the R&D 100 awards.


M2E video

-posted by Justin

Yes, there were hiccups. Yes, I cursed profusely at my MacBook, then at iTunes, then at my iPhone, then at the USB cable connecting my iPhone to my MacBook, then at my dogs (just because that's how I roll)....then I collapsed in exhaustion and shed some rare tears. However, after the 6 hour ordeal ended, my iPhone was updated with the new 2.0 software and I was downloading my first application (celebrating with some interpretive dance and the running man). The whole experience was so traumatic, I couldn't blog about it until today. My phone was actually a brick for 5 hours -- how do you recover from that. What if I missed a call from Barack Obama thanking me for my $5 contribution!!!

Okay, so I know what's on your mind. What was my first application? Wait for it, wait for it: Big Canvas PhotoShare of course, duh. Now why would I download that application first (before the hailed iPhone Light Saber app)? Well, to be honest, they're a client and I wanted to jump right in and start using it. And, I have to say, it's "da-bomb" (not my term, but a cultural phrase used to express mucho satisfactiono). Why is it "da-bomb" Justin (that's right, I also roll in the third person now)?

Well Justin, the best way to describe this apps value, is to tell a little story. So, here goes. Last Saturday night Justin attended a 30th b-day party at Lucky Strike (a chi-chi high-end bowling alley in Bellevue where a beer costs $8 and all the waitresses are rude, two thumbs down). Some other friends couldn't attend, but wanted to get updates on how it was (couldn't attend, sure, I'm a little sick, cough, cough). Enter PhotoShare to save the day!!! With this app, Justin was able to take pics during the event and immediately post them to my PhotoShare website. Justin's other friends could then access for immediate real-time photo-logging (that's right, new term for photo blogging, absorb it, feel it, wrestle with it, now embrace it)....or people at the event could access them later to get some pics. Best part, no one has to register to see them. A couple quick touches on the iPhone screen and the pics were up and posted. Soooooo easy (queue "heavens open" music and "hallelujah" chants). Justin can't wait to go on vacation and send back constant reminders to co-workers that he's in a tropical location and they're not. End of story.

Net/net, you should all go get this application and join the PhotoShare community. 2,000 people are downloading that application daily and they have more than 10k users since the launch last week!!!!

And, BTW, the Light Saber application – while not a productive app – is pretty much every StarWars geek's wet dream (Justin drops mic, yells "peace, I'm out" and walks away from his desk.)

-posted by Justin

Well, Interop Las Vegas is once again a wrap. As usual, VOXUS was on hand to offer client support -- primarily for AirMagnet, although D2 and Netreo were also in attendance. AirMagnet had some big show news. The company debuted their new WLAN tools for 802.11n, an industry first. The VOXUS team arranged more than 15 meetings at the show and had three camera crews stop by the booth for filming (InformationWeek TV, TechEvents TV and CXO.TV). In addition, AirMagnet won the Best of Interop Award for mobile and wireless (the AirMagnet 11n Suite), making it a two-peat – last year the company won the award for their Vo-Fi Analyzer. Overall, attendance appeared to be down for the show, but there was no shortage of booth gimmicks and tricks (if you were there, how can you forget the screaming monkey). Here some pictures from the event, enjoy:




Dave Berlind of InformationWeek interviews Wade Williamson, director of product management at AirMagnet.



Chris Roeckl, VP of marketing at AirMagnet, gives an interview to CXO.TV.




AirMagnet's Best of Interop Award.



Yes, those are bikes being ridden around in a circle....



Trapeze Networks....oh, the value of a clown!

-posted by Justin

With all the data loss and identity theft around these days, you'd think the term "flash drive" would make IT professionals, especially security professionals, cringe. BUT, apparently not – do these folks live in an alternate reality! A new survey conducted by SanDisk reports that companies around the world are unaware of the extent to which unsecured flash drives are used in their organization.

Check out these stats from Sandisk:

- 77 per cent of corporate end users use personal flash drives for work-related purposes, but, when asked to estimate what percentage of the workforce uses personal flash drives, corporate IT respondents reckoned only 35 per cent.

- According to SanDisk, people use flash drives to hold customer records (25 per cent), financial information (17 per cent), business plans (15 per cent), employee records (13 per cent), marketing plans (13 per cent), intellectual property (6 per cent), and source code (6 per cent).

- Approximately one in ten (12 per cent) of corporate end users reported finding a flash drive in a public place. And when asked to pick the three most likely actions they would take if they found a flash drive in a public place, 55 per cent said they would check out what was on it.

- Almost half (44 per cent) of end users revealed that, to their knowledge, their organization did not have a policy forbidding the copying of corporate data on personal USB flash drives.

- 41 percent of corporate IT managers report they are at least 'somewhat uncomfortable' with the level of USB flash drive usage in their organizations, revealing a significant level of potential risk.

-posted by Justin

These days, almost everyone has a mobile device, laptop or MP3 player. And we all know, these device aren't cheap. In the back of our minds we're always worried about them being stolen or lost. I'm willing to bet this has already happened to a large portion of users -- it's happened to me! Well, you can worry a little bit less now. There's a great new technology from our friends down in Portland, OR -- Gadget Trak. Gadget Trak has designed a new software that sits on your device and if stolen or lost, it basically reports back home.

Here's how it works, in general. You lose or have your device stolen. The next person to use the device activates the software, which then reports back to an email address (specified by you). It provides a variety of information -- where the device is (IP address, network, etc.), it takes a picture using the device phone (if you have a camera), forwards new number information if it's a phone, etc.. It can even render the device useless by locking it down if you so choose. There are obviously a variety of different flavors available and each one has slightly different features. But all in all, a very cool and inexpensive solution (starts around $20). You can then take the information to the police, and BAM, order in SWAT.

The company has been getting good traction. They been featured on MacWorld TV, FOX News, Dateline NBC -- and in Wired, NewsWeek, MSNBC and more. They're available on the MacStore, company web site and a variety of other places. They're even being bundled with Packard Bell computers.

-posted by Justin

The perception of the casual gaming space never ceases to amaze me. The phrase "casual gaming," while really applicable across any platform or game, has commonly been associated with lower-end games such as Bejeweled or Cake Mania that you can play online or through a mobile phone (cost, below $20). The developers and publishers that traditionally ruled this market (PopCap, Sandlot (our client), WildTangent, etc.), grew it from its infancy, established the general definition of what a casual game is, built a consumer model that actually worked, and started turning a nice profit. And for all that hard work, what did they get? Exactly what you would expect -- a veritable who's who of big time gaming companies that are trying to muscle in on the market (and possible redefine what a casual gamer is). If you have a minute, check out this new article on MSNBC. It talks about the great race to grab market share and the challenge to define a casual game. What's really interesting is that the writer opted to speak only with the larger companies, not the smaller developers that created this space. Whoops!

Some quick facts:
-currently an estimated 56 million casual gamers worldwide
-in 2008 the market is estimated to gross $1 billion
-casual gamers make up about 1% of the $20.5 billion game-software market

-posted by Justin

Our client Sandlot Games has rolled its flagship game (and the most downloaded casual video game of 2006) Cake Mania onto the Mac!!! Now Mac enthusiast can take a crack at this wonderfully addictive little game and see what 40 million other people were so obsessed about. That's right, it's not a typo, more than 40 million people have downloaded Cake Mania.

Sandlot already offers a couple of its games on Mac, but after speaking with the CEO, Daniel Bernstein, it looks like they have an internal initiative to migrate most of their great selling games onto the Mac. This, could be an industry shift in casual games. The Mac community is starved for casual games right now, but the emergence of the iPhone perhaps has developers and publishers foaming at the mouth a bit.

If you use a Mac -- especially if you have kids -- try the game out for free. If you like it, it costs 20 bucks! It's a great family-friendly game for the entire gang. I happen to be a pretty hardcore gamer (yes, I got my copy of Halo 3 the second it was released) and Cake Mania is still a great challenge, just a different genre. You can check it out here.

What is Cake Mania?
Cake Mania follows the culinary adventures of Jill Evans – a young entrepreneur. Cake Mania is a time management game where players help Jill open her own bakery, bring in customers and earn enough money to re-open her grandparents' troubled business. Gamers can upgrade and customize their shop to attract new patrons and meet daily sales goals. Jill's world is populated with interesting locales and hilarious characters that make the game engaging and visually appealing for all ages. Players keep the hungry grannies, blushing brides, and picky food critics happy with hundreds of possible cake combinations.

-posted by Justin

Well, I would be remiss to not do a blog posting on a new game being released from one of our clients, Sandlot Games. Cake Mania 2, follow up to the most downloaded casual video game of 2006, will be available to the public on 8/27. More than 40 million people have downloaded this game and the new release is set to carry the momentum forward. You can check out the mini-site that will launch on Monday, or hit up Sandlot's newly designed website to download the game.

In the meantime, here are some exclusive pics from the new game, enjoy...

-posted by Justin

The best way to validate technology is to show examples of customer implementations. What better way to do that then have the nation's largest supplier of tradeshow networks use your product. Check out this recent release from AirMagnet, the leader in WLAN security and performance solutions:

(Read More...)

With so many of today's vendors releasing survey research, the question remains: Is vendor research objective? I'd like to say the answer is yes, but I'm sure there are instances of companies stacking the deck. A recent article from Jai Vijayan at Computerworld reviewed this topic and the information is very interesting. If you're a company thinking of releasing survey information as research data, or a agency advising clients regarding this topic, you NEED to read this article:

The Security World According to Vendor Surveys
6/8/07
By Jai Vijayan, Computerworld

-posted by Justin

Every once in a while we like to head back down memory lane and revisit past relationships. This week, Rumblefish, the ubercool online music company designed for big business. In brief, the company licenses music for use by business, kind of like stock photos, but with music. They've signed thousands of bands and now have a very impressive catalog, not to mention some impressive clients, such as Adidas, North Face, Pabst and Red Bull. Back in the day, they weren't quite ready for a PR agency, but now it appears their business model is finally going platinum. Check out this recent new story on CNBC.

-posted by Justin

AirMagnet's wireless security and performance troubleshooting solution, Laptop Analyzer, outperformed the competition in Network World’s recently released Clear Choice Test of WLAN analyzers (WLAN analyzers come of age, 2007, Network World). Laptop Analyzer received the highest score in all test categories – including features, identifying security and performance threats, documentation, reporting capabilities, management and ease of use, installation and set up – overshadowing products from Fluke Networks, Network General and WildPackets.

Here's a little text bite from the review: “After subjecting the latest products to several problem-identification tests, we found that AirMagnet Laptop is still the one to beat, as it excels at 802.11-specific analysis. Its rapid analysis and accuracy is clearly at the top of the list,” according to the Network World review. The entire review is available here.

-posted by Justin

Check out this funny new campaign from our client Centennial Software: www.usbglue.com. "From the people who brought you the Super Security Sticker™ comes the latest in endpoint security technology. USB Glue™ is the leading endpoint security adhesive on the market today. Our formula is scientifically designed to provide the ultimate blockage of USB ports on today’s computers, giving IT administrators the ultimate endpoint security solution in a tube!"


-posted by Justin

Good news, one of our clients – Centennial Software – was named a Hot Company for 2007 by Info Security Products Guide. The company was selected from a list of more than 500 prominent info security vendors from around the world. The judging process evaluated entrepreneurial spirit, executive leadership, security market expertise, emerging market opportunities, revenue-growth models and planned expansion strategies.

This comes on the heels of another award for best endpoint security product (silver medal) by SearchWindowsSecurity.
Centennial Software received the Hot Company 2007 award in recognition of DeviceWall, the company’s acclaimed endpoint security product, and Security.Advisor, a newly released vulnerability assessment product. DeviceWall allows IT managers to secure data access points and centrally manage all mobile device connections to a corporate network, striking a balance between information access essential to an employee’s job function and network security. Security.Advisor leverages Centennial Discovery, the industry’s most comprehensive network discovery solution, to detect and prioritize network software and firmware vulnerabilities.
Click here to view the complete list of winners of the Info Security Hot Company 2007 awards.

-posted by Justin

Enough already!!! Did you hear, iPhone can cure cancer, heat your home and serve as a mediator for the middle eastern peace process. Okay, not really, but the media machine sure has hyped this little device. Maybe it's warranted. Perhaps it is the first seed of a new generation of mobile devices -- at least that's what the analyst community is claiming. Hell, after watching the demo and reading all the reviews, I'm ready to go buy one. Apple has done a great job of convincing the entire industry to drink the koolaid. Since its debut at CES, it's all my boss can talk about. Every day a new feature is unveiled and every day we talk about it. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic when technology sparks true intrigue and giddiness. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when cell phone service providers went through the bidding process for exclusive phone rights. For Cingular, or is it AT&T, this should help cover up the fact that their coverage area sucks and their network constantly drops call. With analysts predicting sales in excess of 1.6 billion in the first year, we'll soon see this phone everywhere. I can see it now, people praising the phone, and cursing the provider.

-posted by Justin

For all you network managers at SMB who struggle to centralize and simplify management, we might have a solution that will answer your prayers. Last month Netreo announced a new network management application that is SaaS-based (software as a service). This is the first SaaS network management product designed for SMBs, with all the bells and whistles associated with an enterprise-class product. Called OmniCenter OnDemand, it's based on the widely-deployed appliance-based OmniCenter technology and breaks significant new industry ground by delivering the features and tools of OmniCenter in an easily-deployed suite. This allowing SMBs to enjoy complete device management, configuration management, performance management and real-time fault management without having to purchase or install new hardware and software.

If you're an IT manager reluctant to implement a network management solution for fear of a workload spikeage, you owe it to yourself to check out Netreo. In addition, there should be an in-depth product review at Network Computing in early February.

-posted by Justin

Good news -- our client, Centennial Software, was given the Silver Medal for SearchWindowsSecurity.com annual "Products of the Year" Awards. They gained this accolade in the "Endpoint Security" category for Centennial DeviceWall. Centennial was the only software vendor that controls the use of portable storage devices on a corporate network to be given an award. Together, the Awards span 28 product categories and single out nearly 70 new products that enterprise IT professionals should consider adding to their "A" lists of products to evaluate.

The products were judged by the editors of each Web site in conjunction with teams of users, industry experts, analysts and consultants. Judges evaluated more than 200 products that were introduced, upgraded, and first shipped (depending on the product category) between September 30, 2005 and October 1, 2006; after October 1, 2005 and before November 1, 2006; or after October 31, 2005 and before November 1, 2006.

To see the entire list of winners, click here.

-posted by Justin

InfoWorld reported a great story on Friday concerning the recent data theft at AT&T. Here are the facts:

-AT&T website hacked
-Perpetrators get personal data on 19k customers
-AT&T shuts down site and contacts authorities
-Perpetrators use information for phishing scam and contact most of the 19k via email
-AT&T decides to notify customers several days later via email about the theft

Ted Sampson of InfoWorld makes a good point here about email: "Real nice, guys. Sending such an important message to your customers via e-mail, which could easily be confused as spam or, hey, a phishing attempt, is simply irresponsible. Rather, I think the company should have been forthcoming and let the media do its job in helping alert customers to what was happening to their data. Yes, it would have taken some lumps in the process, but now, I'd say it's in for a few more."

My take: Is there irony here -- shouldn't a phone company have called its customers??? And perhaps Ted's a little too high on his horse. You couldn't pay me enough money to rely on the media to keep me informed with objective useful information. Sure, this article was great, after the fact. If AT&T officials had reported this to the press looking for a helping hand, what headline do you think would have snagged more readers (remember it's not about doing the right thing, it's about readership):

"AT&T Neglects Web Security - Loses 19k Personal Customer Records"

or

"Alert AT&T Customers - Your personal data may have been stolen"

-posted by Justin

One of our clients, Centennial Software – a developer of IT security and asset management solutions – has seen the demand for security information associated with USB threats rise dramatically since the arrival of new U3 applications to the marketplace. If you're not aware of U3, it's a self-activating technology that enables portable devices (flash drives, iPods, PDAs, etc.) to autorun applications the moment they are plugged into a PC. This drastically raises the level of risk associated with these devices on a corporate network. However, information on the risks associated with this new technology has been scarce.

Recently, Centennial posted information on its website related to the threats surrounding the latest self-activating U3 technology and the number of ongoing visitors has since risen by more than 200 percent (with approximately 16,000 unique visitors in the first 24 hours following the post -- which is AMAZING), and references in the blogosphere has sent the Centennial-based URL to number one on link-sharing site del.icio.us.

Centennial also ranked the latest USB hacks......drum roll please:

1. Slurp: a podslurping application that can copy vast amounts of company files in seconds
2. John the Ripper: detects and cracks weak passwords
3. Nmap: can explore an entire network and identify vulnerabilities or security technology
4. Ethereal: allows the user to see all traffic passing over a network – originally used for troubleshooting
5. Showtraf: continuously monitors and displays network traffic
6. TCPDump: enables the user to display and intercept TCP/IP addresses travelling across a network
7. Nemisis: intentionally to test intrusion detection systems, can enable the bypassing of security measures
8. Netpass: recovers passwords on various guarded areas of the network

If you want a great resource for data theft and portable storage device vulnerabilities, please visit www.watchyourend.com.

-posted by Justin

I was really excited when I finally reached the end of my 4 year contract with Cingular (and yes, in that time, I could have done another tour of college duty). So excited that I jetted over to Verizon to switch plans and get a new phone. I won't bore you with the details of why I despise Cingular....well, okay, maybe one or two for old times sake. I'm still disgusted over the AT&T/Cingular merger - if you were with AT&T, you basically got screwed and treated like dirt (i.e., migration costs, no rebates, etc.). Billing, billing, billing! My God, how many times can you mess up a bill. I was over charged five straight months to the tune of more than $300. Deep breaths. BUT, everything's gonna be okay now that I have "the Q" right? Ahh, I'm not so sure.

Likes: So I have to say, the phone is sleek, light and perfect for the pocket. The screen is clear, colors vibrant, sound is fantastic. Camera's great, video is great, MP3 player is great. Love the key board, love the sound quality and the speaker phone. Like the home interface with Windows Mobile.

Loath: The key lock function is wack. Once you lock the key board, the phone automatically shuts down after an hour or so. Volume!!! Apparently, you can only increase the volume while having a conversation...what's up with that. Sync with computer....unless you have a MAC. I was told I could download third party software, but have yet to locate it and have read some posts claiming the software is very buggy. Overall, the applications and features are just not granular enough.

I may need to jet back to the store and reinvest in a trusty Treo or RAZR.

-posted by Justin

Attention all restuarant fanatics -- Ruby Tuesday has selected Tripwire Enterprise to ensure that all credit card data is safe and secure.

-posted by Justin

MiraLink, a Portland-based expert in remote disaster recovery solutions, announced today free disaster recovery prevention tips as part of Hurricane Preparedness week. What are the tips? Well, you have to call a number or email support - go figure. Apparently hurricane tips are top secret these days and you need to be screened by expert personnel. At least that's what you're led to believe. Here's what I imagine happens when you call:

MiraLink: "Hello, thanks for calling the MiraLink Hurricane Hotline. Hit 1 to speak with a sales representative or 2 to get the hurricane tip of the day from a MiraLink sales representative."

ACME Corp. caller hits 2: "Hello, I need tips for helping my business during a hurricane."

MiraLink: "Well, there are lots of things you can do to prepare your business for a hurricane. However, we recommend you forgo the important things and purchase our MiraLink Disaster Recovery Solution. That's our tip of the day."

So I couldn't resist calling the hotline. Drum roll please. And guess what.....an automated system that's not really a hotline at all, but instead the company directory listing sales first, tech support second and so on!!!!!! I have run out of words to describe this......

-posted by Justin

According to a new endpoint security survey from Portland-based Centennial Software, 91 percent of businesses believe portable storage devices (iPods, USB memory sticks, etc.) continue to pose a large security risk to corporate and network integrity. However, only one third of companies polled have taken steps to address this problem: 66 percent of businesses have yet to implement a solution to prevent the unauthorized use of portable storage devices on the corporate network. Research also showed that 75 percent of those surveyed identified data theft as the primary risk associated with portable storage device usage at work, followed by virus propagation and productivity declines.

Next time you see an employee walk out the door with his/her iPod in tow, you shouldn't be thinking about the latest Pearl Jam album, but instead, your customer database.

-posted by Justin

Centennial Software, a developer of endpoint security and IT asset discovery solutions (and a client), announced the addition of six new customers in the banking market for its DeviceWall product. If you're not familiar with DeviceWall, the product enables businesses to secure and manage portable storage devices like iPods or PDAs in a network environment. The company has been having tremendous customer success in 2006 and this recent news is another reminder of that fact. The company also has a fantastic security blog on data theft, which was featured on MSNBC last month.

-posted by Justin

iovation, a device reputation authority for online authentication and fraud management, announced today that digital entertainment giant Bodog.com, the global leader in safe and secure online betting, has selected and deployed the ieSnare(TM) system, the world's first online fraud detection solution to use Device Reputation Authority(TM) (DRA) technology.

For those not familiar with this device reputation authority technology – which honestly, is most of us – it tracks the relationship of physical devices to the accounts created in an e-commerce environment. What does that mean? Basically, online retailers can now tie the identity of physical devices to any of the accounts that cyber-criminals create – or try to create. Then they can cross reference those accounts with a database to identify criminals. Slick stuff.

-posted by Justin

Some interesting news out of Beaverton. It appears Digimarc Digital Watermarking will be used to protect satellite images on the internet. More specifically, Microsoft will use Digimarc to communicate copyright information of tens of millions of images served up by Microsoft Virtual Earth. This announcement came after Digimarc and Script Software battled it out in the final round of the Watermark Deathmatch Championships in Redmond (picture a StarWars lightsaber battle, but with turn of the century manual watermarkers). Digimarc - 13 stamps, Script - 5. IN YOUR FACE SCRIPT!!!!! Oh well, there's always Google Earth.

-posted by Justin

Look out Portland - your city is home to the newest trade association fighting for interoperability standards and platforms in the communications industry.

Adtron, Artesyn, Continuous Computing, Diversified Technology, Inc., ESO Technologies, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, Intel, Kontron, MontaVista Software, Motorola, Nortel Networks, Pentair-EP, Pigeon Point Systems and Wind River (try saying that in one breath) today announced the formation of the Communications Platforms Trade Association (CP-TA). CP-TA is an association of communications platform and building block providers dedicated to accelerating the adoption of SIG-governed, open specification-based communications platforms through interoperability testing and certification.

Okay, I'll admit, there's a need for interoperability and open standards in this industry, but CP-TA. With all the marketing brainpower fueling these member companies, CP-TA was the best they could do -- how about Lazy Association of Marketing Executives (that's LAME, get it?). Blah.

-posted by Justin

Portland-based iovation is claiming it has leapfroged the 100 million transactions per year mark for device recognition and reputation transactions. Interested in authentication and Internet fraud management? Check out the release.

-posted by Justin

Kryptiq Corporation, the leading provider of interoperability and workflow connectivity solutions for healthcare, is hosting the third annual Healthcare Connectivity Summit, April 26th-27th in Portland, Oregon. This conference brings together thought leaders from across the nation to discuss public and private sector initiatives for achieving meaningful health information exchange.  Key topics will include practical approaches to regional health information organizations (RHIOs), redesigning electronic health record (EHR) usage for quality improvement and pay for performance and achieving interoperability with EHRs.

-posted by Justin

Want to buy a Mercedes C320 Sedan online or perhaps a six piece drum set? Well, you might want to head to SoldItLive.com. That's right -- eBay has a new competitor (as of April 3). And believe it or not, they're located right in Portland. To follow up their website launch earlier this month, SoldItLive.com, "the webs's hottest Online Auction and Virtual Marketplace site," just announced a new alliance with DropShipDesign.com. What does it all mean? They now have drop shipping services, which gives customers access to wholesale products, order fulfillment, order tracking, customer service, auction ad wizard, a customizable website solution.

This is a possible outgrowth of the tentative revolt of many eBay "power sellers" who are frustrated with rising fees, policy changes, added complexity, etc. Will it have an impact on the auction giant? Too soon to tell, but check out the news from SolditLive.com.

-posted by Justin

The InnoTech Oregon Conference wraps up today and I was lucky enough to have some time yesterday to listen to some session tracks and talk with some interesting companies. One of those companies is called futureRobotics. Still in its infancy, the company has designed software for autonomous navigation. The obvious application for this is of course robots, but during my conversation with the founder, Jonathan Fant, he explained how the software (and a bit of hardware) can be fitted to any number of objects for navigation. Imagine wheelchairs in an airport taking the elderly or handicapped from gate to gate, or forklifts in a warehouse loading and unloading without human drivers....sound crazy? Mr. Fant doesn't think so! As a matter of fact, Fant had Solo 1.3 at the show. Solo is a robot that can do a ton of tasks. He cleans, vacuums, serves as a security officer, can take people to items in stores, can restock shelves...you name it, he can pretty much accomplish it with a little programming tweak. Solo has a 10 inch touch screen where people can go through guided menus or simply tell the robot what they need. While I'll admit, the application of robots into customer service seems a bit hookie right now, autonomous navigation is no joke. The US Military is spending a bundle to get this technology in assault vehicles and planes.

So, interested in investing in Fant...simply send him check for 50, 100, 150 thousand dollars and he'd be happy to put you on the board.

-posted by Justin

In response to the recent data loss on a U.S. Military base in Bagram, Afghanistan, Portland-based Centennial Software is offering the military 25,000 free licenses of its endpoint security software, DeviceWall. Check out the entire new release here.

-posted by Justin

Oops it happened again – DATA THEFT. This time a huge breach in Afghanistan at a U.S. Military base. The payload: information on U.S. secret informants. Why mention this in the VOXUS blog? Check out MSNBC to see our client Centennial Software talking about this latest instance of data theft. And the headline above? Check out their blog.

-posted by Justin

It looks as though Portland is on its way to rolling out a city-wide wireless network. The network will be powered by SkyPilot and MetroFi (two CA-based companies), providing citywide public Internet access as well as new enhanced services for the City of Portland's public safety, public works, property inspectors and other field-based employees who will be equipped to wirelessly download and upload reports and data from the field.

-posted by Justin

The SMB buzz was thick at this year's VON (Voice on the Net) show in San Jose – although the crowds were a bit thin on the 16th. Not only did we overhear companies pushing their SMB VoIP strategies, but after speaking with numerous press and analysts (including Marc Robins, Jay McCall, Matthias Machowinski and Wil Stofega), it truly appeared as if the the show trend was SMB. Apparently everyone wants a piece of this $60 billion market. And why not!! At this point the SMB VoIP market is truly up for grabs - ADVANTAGE HOSTED PROVIDERS. While smaller providers with hosted solutions are making headway, larger providers are feverishly working to cultivate hosted offers or attempting to make on-prem equipment offers compelling. The real question is, what is the end-user adoption rate for VoIP in SMB and will it live up to all the hype. If the show is any indication, vendors and service providers think it will. Last year according to IDC, it was around 6% - lower than expected. However, a new end-user VoIP deployment research report is due out soon from IDC.

-posted by Justin

It's that time of year again -- the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Just like it sounds, this award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. Win this award and you're sure to be a corporate powerhouse in the next several years. After attending the launch meeting earlier this month, I walked away with some tidbits of information to share:

-Nominations are judged on Innovation, Personal Integrity, Strategic Direction and Financial Performance.
-To be eligible, you must manage or own a company, the company must be at least two years old, you must have an equity position in the company, and lastly, the company must have at least $5 million in revenue.
-Submissions are due 3/31.
-First time submissions rarely win, but lay the ground work for following years. Since it's free, submit anyway and get on the radar.
-E&Y does not judge the entries...they select impartial industry experts.
-Previous winners include: Amazon, Car Toys, CoinStar, ZymoGenetics, Starbucks and more. Keep in mind, they won the award prior to being the household names they are today.

If you'd like to submit for the award, you need to contact Tania Villalonga at tania.villalonga@ey.com. She'll then send you a link to the submission or overnight a paper submission. Keep in mind, the form is extensive and requires financial information (this information is kept under NDA).

Good Luck!!

-posted by Justin