TechBoise

As many of you know, TechBoise was lovingly founded back in 2007 by Boise's tech juggernaut, Tac Anderson. That was 3 long years ago, and Tac has moved on to greener (literally) pastures in Seattle. Tac left TechBoise in somewhat capable hands (we hope), and we've been trying to bring you relevant, enlightening events, making his departure as seamless as possible.

In order to continue in this tradition, we're looking for a guiding statement. In particular, a statement by which to measure all of our ideas and insure they continue to be informative, engaging, and not lame. Or if you don't want them to be informative, tell us that too! We're open to ideas.

The two main questions:

Who are we?

What do we do?

We'll take all the information you give us, mull it over, see if there are patterns, and use it in any way we please. Hopefully we will have a better idea of what we mean to you.

So, please use the comments section below to offer suggestions, and there will also be a dedicated white board at this Wednesday's event. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

It's January! Are you stoked? Yeah, us either. There seems to be a general malaise about the City of Trees that can only be cured by one thing. We need a hero, folks.

And guess what - There's a little ray of sunshine in Boise's Tech scene. It's called Yaro, and it came out of November's Startup Weekend. Yaro's mantra, "Swimming in a sea of social media publishing? Get your ducks in a row with Yaro," was created to address the issues facing those of us using multiple social media platforms for personal and business "needs." Jana Briggs, CEO and Co-founder of Yaro (and self-proclaimed social media junkie), along with Karl Meinhardt, Yaro Board Member, will take us through Yaro's journey - from pitch to development and beyond - and let us in on where they now stand.

This will all happen on Wednesday January 27, 5:30pm, at the Watercooler. . (Link to map), 14th and Idaho. We're still looking for a sponsor, so if your company has a few bucks to pony up for drinks and pizza, we'll make it worth your while with plenty of love. Email techboise@gmail.com if you're up for it!

While presenting at the iPhone Developer Summit West in Santa Clara at the beginning of November, I met Lee Barney who was also presenting. Lee teaches at BYU Idaho, and Lee has a very cool open source product called Quick Connect (http://quickconnect.sourceforge.net.) Quick Connect allows you to write iphone applications(among other things) using javascript. But a recent post by @quickconnect on twitter makes QuickConnect something that is truly a game changer in mobile development.

The Treasure Valley has some outstanding web developers, both in small shops and large. It would be great to see some of you get recognition for that, and here's a great opportunity at the international level!

Plus, check out the advisory board for a familiar name...

Here's the full press release:

Based in Boise, "August Ventures is focused on renewable energy and sustainable approaches to reducing energy consumption. The fund is also focused on companies in the western U.S."

Read Glenn Michael's full post, 5 Minutes with Eric Hansen of August Ventures, on Highway 12's blog.