With HomeField, players no longer need to cram into ill-equipped screening rooms to watch game film
As web startups continue to reshape the way we live our lives, I’m always wondering what the next application is going to revolutionize. If you are or were ever an athlete in college or high school, then this one’s for you: Meet HomeField, the new web application that changes the way coaches, players, and fans access and interact with team sport video footage.
HomeField mixes YouTube-style video uploading with social networking features, resulting in an interactive platform where sports teams can watch game footage, tag specific parts of the game, and discuss the videos in a private forum.
It used to be that a musty locker room and a TV-DVD combo was the only way for coach to give you pointers on the last game, or to size up the competition for the game coming up. Reece Pacheco, HomeField’s CEO, played lacrosse at Brown and later for the Boston Cannons, so he knows all too well the inconvenience of having to pile the whole team into a room for film study Read more…
Thursday, March 11 marks the first day of the brand new Tech Hub Foosball League. If you haven’t heard, it’s an awesome new endeavor BostInnovation is spearheading along with Boston-based startup Pinyadda and Cambridge-based communications firm EchoDitto.
It’s part of a new initiative to promote social activity among the best and brightest in Boston’s tech and startup scene.
While the big tournament, which promises serious foosball action and prizes, isn’t for another six weeks, BostInnovation and Pinyadda are kicking off the project tomorrow with beer, food and foosball.
Here’s a list of companies being represented by teams at tomorrow’s practice round: Read more…
Who has the hottest mobile companies, Boston or London?
We’re obsessed with all kinds of things here at BostInnovation; robots, Twitter, YouTube videos, augmented reality, foosball, and especially our cell phones. We’re an office full of mobile users, texting, photo uploading, and gaming, and we’ve taken our mobile activity to a whole new level this month because it’s Mass Mobile Month.
On Monday March 8, the BostInnovation team attended Mobile Monday Boston, a quarterly event that allows companies specializing in mobile products and technology to present their products to a huge local audience.
Organizers Matt Gross and Kate Imbach put on an impressive event last night or should I say “battle?” That’s right the lines were drawn between the U.K. and the U.S. to see who had the coolest mobile companies. It can’t really get much geekier then that, can it?
In case you missed the event, here is quick a recap of the companies who presented and a look at what they do: Read more…
Need a Tech Job? You can find it in Boston, and The Career Combine will help.
Recession. Lack of investment. Weak retention of Boston-educated workers. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Two local organizations providing resources to the tech, innovation and entrepreneurial communities are sick of these terms, and they’ve stepped up to the plate with an answer.
Greenhorn Connect and MITX announced today that they not only believe there are enough companies hiring here to keep some of Boston’s best college students in the area, they’re actually doing something about it:
The Career Combine, happening April 13 at the Back Bay Events Center, promises to bring local students and recent grads together with a whole slew of companies, big and small, in an effort to “connect great talent with innovative companies.” Read more…
I’ve always been fascinated with Craigslist as a website — mostly because it’s one of very few sites these days that is extremely popular while also being extremely ugly.
If, say, high school is any indicator, that’s typically not how it works. With virtually no aesthetic value, Craigslist gets by on raw practicality – lots of it.
How else could it drive over 10% of U.S. page views? Since its formation in the late 90s it has grown to provide a virtual bulletin board for the entire U.S. and much of the world. In the world of need-based online connections, it’s a God. So when I heard about another bulletin site called MyHometownLink.com that specifically serves Wellesley, Needham, and Weston, Mass., I had to wonder – why bother? Read more…
Admittedly, I expected to hear a good deal of hemming and hawing about a lack of funding in the state government, but what I got was an earful about what the local government is doing to encourage innovation in the region by way of man-power and communication. Bialecki was well-informed and frank about what the state is facing, as well as the time line he expects to see real change become apparent (some ten years for much of it, even though that’s not what voters may want to hear).
He was honest about the lack of available budget for these initiatives, but communication seems to be improving as a result of the state’s efforts.
The whole thing was about as refreshing and transparent as it could have been, given the condition of the state’s budget. Read more…
It's arrived. But what's worth checking out from Boston?
I’ve been rounding up some of the hottest things that are happening on Twitter and Facebook for you these past couple of months, but I have to admit I’ve been playing favorites; YouTube has been neglected. Now that it’s the equivalent of the second largest search engine, I felt it was time to give YouTube some more props.
But we’re not just giving YouTube a high-five, we’re recognizing some Boston companies for making themselves known in the video social networking world. What better way to get your company’s out there than an awesome three-minute film that can be viewed so easily these days, from desktop computers to mobile phones. Boston’s going viral baby, here five companies that are making it happen. Read more…
We recently brought you an interview with HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan detailing the company culture at the Cambridge-based startup. During the same interview, I had a chance to pick Halligan’s brain about why HubSpot is and ever will be a Boston company.
HubSpot seems to be in the midst of finding truly explosive interest from consumers and Internet influencers. This growth has “enticed” other Boston-born companies like HubSpot — ones with a pair of legs and a beating heart — to Silicon Valley in recent years.
Halligan assured me that HubSpot is going to stay in the Boston area, but he also admitted to taking solace in one key difference between S.V. and Boston: California has put stops in place on non-compete agreements, but Boston has not. Companies are free to spin off and compete in the Valley, but in Beantown, internal collaboration seems to be the focus. Read more…
Tim Yandel has been a tech recruiter for nearly 7 years in Chicago, San Francisco and Boston. He currently heads up Workbridge Associates, a nationwide technology staffing firm located in Boston’s Back Bay. His office specifically places developers in the Boston Metro area on both a permanent and contract basis. Tim lives by the mantra that relationships truly matter in recruiting. Get in touch with Tim by emailing him at timothy.yandel@workbridgeassociates.com. You can also find him on Twitter @tyandel.
Tim runs the show at Workbridge, a local recruiter
The news is constantly reminding us how the U.S. economy is in a state of recovery. For that reason, this seems to be an employer’s market. The attitude most hiring manager’s seem to take is that they could throw a quarter out the window and find someone qualified for whatever position they’re hiring for. So why is it so hard to find a software developer in Boston?
Take five minutes to scan the room at the next local tech networking event you’re at, and you’ll certainly see name tags that read, “I’m Hiring Devs.” Call any startup founder in the city and you’ll hear the same. There’s no doubt, if you’re a developer in Boston, demand flows the other way, and you’re the one throwing the quarters and hitting hiring managers on the head.
But what are they really worth and why are they so hard to find? Read more…
