Trying to connect with Sacramento's tech scene? Below are my "best bets" this week for those involved in Sacramento’s technology startup community (or those who want to be). There’s a new (technology) kid in town! Elk Grove Tech Connect is a new group focused on bringing technology professionals together to discuss, learn and socialize with other technology professionals. Their first event is Wednesday, February 20 from 6:00-8:00pm and features Kevin Spease, CISSP, an Internet security expert, who will present an “Internet Security Threat Assessment.” (Flashback -- remember those 90s internet “horror” flicks—The Net and Hackers? We should have a movie night!) We’re clean, we’re green, we

As we have seen, our culture is on a technological fast track that redefines the way business is done. Ash Roughani believes the innovation process in business can be applied to government through "design thinking." His new non-profit organization called Public Innvovation is set up to bring people together through civic meets and public discussions. Ash launched the resource last August and will present a video called "Design & Thinking" for its third civic meet on February 21 at the Urban Hive. Tickets are available here.  Ash believes that the process known as "design thinking," which has helped many modern companies achieve their goals of pioneering ground-breaking products, can be us

It's about time! Sacramento now has its own edition of the world-famous StartupDigest (famous in startup circles that is and powered by the Kauffman Foundation). And the first edition hits inboxes everywhere Monday, February 4 (not subscribed yet? Just click “sign up” on the Sacramento page). StartupDigest was founded in 2009 around the belief that life is too short to work at a boring company and that it should be easy for anyone to join the tech startup world. On October 3, 2012, it was officially acquired by Startup Weekend to combine forces and scale StartupDigest to the 300+ cities Startup Weekend covers. StartupDigest now publishes hundreds of newsletters that help thousands of peop

Wednesday October 3rd the local Sacramento Groovy Users (sacgru.com) group will be hosting Andrey Breslav, lead language designer working on Project Kotlin at JetBrains.  Additional information can be find at sacgru.com or on google+ or the hacklabs meetup group.  The talk will be from 6:30 until 9:00-ish at Quilogy/Aspect:1300 National Dr Suite 180 Sacramento, CA 95834. Kotlin: Making the Java Platform a Better Place - Andrey Breslav Abstract: Kotlin is a modern statically typed language targeting JVM and JavaScript and intended for industrial use. The main goal behind this project is to create a language that would be a good tool for developers, i.e. will be safe, concise, flexible, 1

The Sacramento Area Technology Alliance (SARTA) and UC Davis today were notified by the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) that they are receiving a $1 million i6 Challenge Grant to create an AgTech Innovation Center that will help farmers and ranchers grow their businesses. SARTA and UC Davis received one of only six grants awarded nationally. It is the only grant awarded in California. SARTA, one of 12 California Innovation Hubs, will create and manage programs and deliverables accounting for nearly half of the total scope of the grant. As part of its deliverables, SARTA will create AgStart, the third of its industry-cluster-focused programs, joining the already establis

Entrepreneurs and impresarios unite! Hacker Lab, Sacramento’s patented start-up incubator, is hosting its inaugural Fundraising Party this Friday, September 7th. Transplanting to 10,000 sq. ft. of fertile hacking space, Hacker Lab intends to make good on its mission to “educate folks and seed startups”. With the advent of their new location (on 17th and I), Hacker Lab hopes to facilitate further hackathons, educational events, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the Sacramento and surrounding communities. A veritable trough of talent; come experiment, edify, and be enlightened! Think donating is for dummies? Minnick Web Services, (a Hacker Lab affiliate) will be giving away a limited n

The Google Developer Group (GDG) Sacramento is having a DevFest on Septebmer 22, 2012. If you are interested in various technologies, please join us and hack on Anroid, Google TV, and AngularJS projects. For more information, please visit: http://gdgsacramento.org

Sacramento launched a new smartphone application Thursday that will give residents a way to notify the city about some of the most frequently reported service issues and problems such as potholes, missed garbage cans on collection day, illegal dumping and stray animals, according to a press release. “The app allows us to increase our capacity to take more calls, be more responsive and improve accountability,” City Manager John Shirey said in the press release. Currently, 22 full-time city employees handle approximately 1,300 calls and 75 emails each day through the city’s 3-1-1 call center, according to Department of Transportation Spokeswoman Linda Tucker. The service is always availabl

Union Pacific Railroad today unveiled an advanced experimental locomotive at its J.R. Davis Yard in Roseville that will test three emissions-reducing technologies including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC), and diesel particulate filters (DPF). Years in development, UP 9900 will be used for operations in northern California ranging approximately 200 miles from its base in Roseville. UP 9900 is the signature unit in a series of 25 locomotives that Union Pacific is analyzing as part of a broad test of various emissions-reduction techniques in northern and southern California. This is the latest step in the company’s ongoing effort to design, build and test te

There’s a lot going on around town for Sacramento entrepreneurs this month and next — especially those with a technology focus. It seems like every time I turn around (or check my twitter feed), I hear about another cool gathering or seminar for those who are leading the technology revolution here in the Capital City corridor. Well, maybe it isn’t exactly a revolution just yet, but the troops are starting to rally and you can be a part of it! Why should a busy (and broke!) entrepreneur make time for rubbing shoulders with other entrepreneurs and investors?  Can it really impact your success? Geoff Sakala, organizer at UpStart Sacramento, a newly formed group focused on fostering a richer

Get ready for an infusion of entrepreneurship and software development that is now steadily growing in the Capital region. Early this year, Gina Lujan, a native of Sacramento, left the Bay Area to return home. After successfully creating a collaborative workspace environment for software developers in Berkeley, she decided to replicate the business model and expand the vision in Sacramento. Around March 2012, Hacker Lab signed a commercial real estate lease for 850 square feet of second floor office space above Pangaea Café, located at 2743 Franklin Blvd in Sacramento. The space was used to provide rented desks and/or offices for local software developers who wanted to work in a tech comm

Best known for his blockbuster hit "She Blinded Me with Science", Thomas Dolby has been a pioneer in the music industry since the early 80's debut of The Golden Age of Wireless. His unique style of blending technology and music made us all wish we could know Miss Sakamoto personally. Good Heavens! Dolby's innovative style and massive 80's hair kept our eyes glued to the screen whether he was teaching us about synthesizers or engaging in an epic synth battle at the 1985 Grammy Awards (warning: you can't un-see the hair). In 2001, Dolby began work as the Musical Director of the TED Conference - a mecca for thinking people, innovators, inventors, and generally smart and cool people. And whi

More than thirty technology companies headquartered, or with operations in the Sacramento area have been announced by the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA) as the region’s first Technology Flagship companies. The CEOs of these companies gathered at SARTA’s invitation for the kick-off of this program, which recognizes technology companies that are among the largest, fastest growing, most visible, and most recognized in the region – as a means to highlight their success and raise the prominence of the region as a hub for innovative companies. “This unprecedented gathering of the CEOs of our Technology Flagship companies is an indication of their commitment to the economic

Hacker Lab, located on the border of Curtis Park and Oak Park, is a tech work space founded in March. It facilitates bootstrapped start-ups and tech enthusiasts. Bootstrapping is when start-up businesses fund their own endeavors instead of seeking investment money. (See Wiki.) Tech enthusiasts can be anyone interested in technologies such as programming, web design, mobile and web development, hardware technology and software. Hacker Lab’s focus is to build a community promoting technology, education, job creation and entrepreneurship in the Sacramento region. Inside the facility, aside from other techies, you will find a hardware lab for building out prototypes, gadgets and gizmos. The

Mahil Keval is an entrepreneur. He left his engineering career to pursue his dream, the American dream of owning his own business. Sounds familiar right? Well, Keval’s story is a bit different to me. He was not struggling in a 9-to-5 and barely making ends meet. He was not down on his luck living on his last dime, needing to make “it” happen, which is the stereotypical story of the entrepreneur. Keval is a UC Berkeley graduate (BS ’09) with a degree in mechanical engineering. He had an awesome job working for McCarthy Building Companies as a project engineer building a 200,000-square-foot, $200 million biomedical research facility on the Berkeley campus. Quite impressive, to say the leas

  Chrometa is a Sacramento startup, and its founders’ story is one of the tenacity it takes to make a startup successful. With all the stories such as Facebook and Instragram, one may think that building the next big thing is not that hard, and that you will be instantly rich with a movie deal in the near future. Chrometa is automatic timekeeping software that quietly runs in the background of your PC, monitoring your actions such as working on software, writing docs, checking email and doing any other tasks related to the work flow. It tracks time down to the second and can automatically categorize time to the appropriate clients and projects based on keywords. Chrometa is an awesome

The 2012 Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance (SARTA) Med Tech Showcase on Tuesday, June 5, will feature a keynote address by Siemens Healthcare North America CEO Dr. Gregory Sorensen and presentation of the Claire Pomeroy Award for Innovation in Medical Technology. “This is the largest medical technology gathering in the Sacramento region and we’re excited about this year’s program. Anyone with an interest in our med tech sector should be there,” said Cary Adams, chair of SARTA’s MedStart program. With an anticipated attendance of 300, the full-day program at the Woodlake Hotel will also highlight specific new technologies recently adopted by the Sacramento region’s four major h

The Sacramento Google Technology User Group is holding its next meeting on March 8, 2012 at 06:30 PM. Please note that we have a new meeting location: VSP Vision Care 3333 Quality Dr Rancho Cordova, CA Agenda: Introduction to MongoDB (Thomas) Android Clinic (All) For more information, please visit: http://www.sacgtug.org   We will raffle off: One AnDevCon III Conference pass One Android In Action 3rd Edition (Manning)   Anybody is welcome to attend our meetings, which are free and open to the public. Thomas Amsler Sacramento GTUG Organizer 

SARTA MedStart is now seeking nominations for the third annual Claire Pomeroy Awards for Innovation in Medical Technology. The awards recognize individuals in the Sacramento region whose innovative and high-impact inventions, products or designs have transformed some important aspect of the practice of medicine or the delivery of health-care services by improving efficiency, safety, efficacy or accessibility. “The Sacramento region is establishing itself as a national leader in medical technology innovation and development,” said Meg Arnold, chief executive officer of SARTA. “This awards program recognizes not just individual company achievements but also the invaluable role that Dr. Pome

Local job search engine Sacjobs.com is expanding despite the economy and job sites such as Craigslist and Monster, and it launched Sackjobs.com Jan. 2, with plans to expand nationally. “We’ve got about 1,200 local listings right now, and then our next step is to focus on the Bay Area and Southern California, so we’re going to take our thrust from Sacramento and hopefully by next year take over the West Coast,” said Sackjobs.com owner Ian Coltoff, a 40-year-old Sacramentan. The site launched in 1999 as Sacjobs.com as an homage to Sacramento, and Coulter said he added the K to appeal to a national audience, with the tagline “Your next career choice is in the bag.” And to be clear – typing