New Mango Blog Theme: Company Blue

Yes, we coded another Mango Blog theme.  This is the 2nd of what will soon be many themes to be made from the almost forgotten folder of designs we stumbled upon.  This design is called Company Blue and is available for anyone to download and use/change freely under the Creative Commons.

The Company Blue theme has a little bit more style to it than the last theme.  This validated XHTML theme is very professional looking site and is great for any small business.  It is fairly search engine optimized and easy to work on.  It has space for a big promo image on the front page.  It also has a site search tied into every page, making it easier for people to find things on your Mango site.

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Raymond Camden - Twitter Jedi Master?

In the world of ColdFusion, Raymond Camden is definitely a Jedi Master. His ColdFusion blog is one of the most popular websites for CF developers, not to mention his blog engine (BlogCFC) is one of the most popular CF apps out there. He writes books about ColdFusion, gives seminars about it, makes his wife speak to him in backwards ColdFusion...the guy does it all. Now he is Tweeting about ColdFusion.

Twitter, the ridiculously popular microblogging site, has allowed CF developers from around the world to collaborate. So, it comes as no surprise to know Ray has amassed a large and loyal following on there, too. Not only is he Tweeting about ColdFusion, @cfjedimaster is harnessing the power of the Jedi to thwart any web nerd that comes even remotely close to putting #coldfusion in the same tweet as *gulp* a negative word.

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Phoenix OpenCoffee Club

If you're an entrepreneur or investor in Phoenix looking to meet with like-minded people over great coffee, then come out to Phoenix OpenCoffee. OpenCoffee is a weekly meetup intended to bring together talented entrepreneurs and local investors in the informal setting of a coffee shop.

The OpenCoffee Club was started to encourage entrepreneurs, developers and investors to organize real-world informal meetups to chat, network and grow. It originated in London by Saul Klein, a venture partner at Index Ventures. Since then it has expaned to over 80 OpenCoffee Clubs worldwide with the PHX version starting this past April.

Since the startup Community is beginning to sprout here in the Phoenix area, Curtis Miller at Flatterline thought bringing OpenCoffee to Phoenix would be a great idea. Curtis was inspired by a recent trip to Boulder, CO, where he attended an OpenCoffee Club get together. Seeing the Boulder startup community embrace such a vibrant event to discuss ideas, share problems, give advice and listen to each other made him motivated to bring this type of event to Phoenix.

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Lighting a fire under the Valley with Ignite Phoenix

Coming up in about a month is a somewhat new event in the Phoenix area known as Ignite Phoenix. Ignite Phoenix is an information exchange organized as a way to help foster and inspire Phoenix’s creative community. At the event, you hear 18 passionate speakers talking about their favorite topics or projects for just 5 minutes each. The lineup of presenters for each event is unique, and presentations will educate and inspire you, not to mention maybe make you laugh.

This event is for anyone who wants to hear new ideas and gain a new insight on what is going on in the minds of your fellow Phoenix residents. The presentations are informative for companies and entertaining for individuals. This event is an opportunity to hea ideas from outside of your normal sphere of influence. By mixing it up, new and exciting things can happen to not only you, but Phoenix as a whole.

Our Chief Nerd at Brice Cheddarn Development, Bret, has submitted a topic to Ignite Phoenix in the hopes of being selected as a presenter at the upcoming Ignite 4. His topic: The Nerd Hierarchy. With any luck, Bret will help Phoenix see the web through the eyes of a nerd.

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Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference Wrap-up

The AZ Entrepreneurship Conference was designed to help build the entrepreneurial community in Arizona. It is a way for entrepreneurs and investors to meet each other, connect with resources, and gather information. Some of us nerds attened the event and were very impressed with the people and energy, and that's a hard thing to admit for an anti-social computer nerd.

The format was no different than any other conference, but the energy and optimism floating through the air were. The conference was a refreshing change of pace for this nerd, and for the city of Phoenix as a whole. Despite all the economic doom and gloom headlines floating around these days, it was clear that everyone understood that there was no way to jump start the economy without the people that gathered at this conference and we all accepted that responsibility with open arms.

#AZEC featured several awesome speakers who crushed it in every single way. The first stand-out presentation was by Bill Reichert from Garage Technology Ventures. Bill talked about the 10 rules for entrepreneurs and investors, and I felt compelled to write them down. 1) The point is to Create Value, 2) establish a brilliant team to work with, 3) create a Mantra instead of a mission statement, 4) Get Going; get going as soon as possible, 5) Bootstrap it, 6) have a Global Strategy from day one, 7) be a Fast Adapter, not a first mover, 8) Everyone Sells, 9) Change Takes Time, progress is slower than you think, 10) People Trump Technology. Bill was an amazing source of information, and helped to get everyone pumped early on.

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