The robust, secure and simple way to use WordPress, WPEngine

A new Austin, TX startup company is born today. WP Engine opens its waiting list to the world. This is the only way to request an invitation to use WP Engine and experience this premium WordPress hosting platform.wpengine

What is it?

WP Engine is the right way to host your WordPress blog. This new Austin startup offers a robust and secure way to host your WordPress blog and it also takes care of the maintenance of it for you.

What else could you wish for? There are other solutions out there that offer WordPress hosting. However their offerings are not as flexible as WP Engine. Most of these providers have strict “rules” about the use of plugins, JavaScript, etc… WP Engine gives you complete control over customization and it also takes care of all the IT stuff, such as backups, security, scaling, performance, upgrades, etc.

The Features

  1. Fast
    You get all the goodies, caching, file minification, image compression, and the use of a content delivery network for your media… in the end what’s important is that WP Engine makes your blog fast.
  2. Secure
    Hardware-based intrusion detection that protects your site from Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks and rogue scanning. On the internal level, WP Engine protect everyone’s sites by limiting access to secure protocols and isolating each account from each other.
  3. Scalable
    WP Engine treats your blog like a web application rather than “just a blog”. You can get that TechCrunch coverage without fear of your site being taken down for a traffic spike.
  4. Plugins and Theme recommendations
    WP Engine’s team are WordPress experts, they will suggest the best themes and plugins based on their own experiences.
  5. One-Click Staging
    WP Engine keeps it simple. They will make a complete copy of your blog and save it in a separate area. This allows you to “experiment” with new plugins, new css, etc without worrying about messing up your blog. To use this feature, you’ll just have to click a button labeled “snapshot”, then the magic happens.
  6. SFTP Access
    Secure FTP access to your wp-content directory, you’ll be able to use your favorite tool to modify your HTML, PHP and CSS files. How convenient is that!
  7. Power Users Rejoice
    If you are a developer you’ll love this feature. While you are developing/testing a new plugin, you’ll have access to PHP error logs and web server activity logs.
  8. Easy to Try, Easy to Leave
    WP Engine does the right thing, they will lock you in a contract, they believe in their service. Here are some details about this from their site:
  • Complete backups of your blog (both database and files) are available right from your admin screen, so you can walk away with everything, any time.
  • Month-to-month contracts with no penalties for leaving.
  • No sign-up fees.
  • Move a copy of your blog to our service and try it before you switch.

The Team

Co-Founder: Jason Cohen
Co-Founder: Cullen Wilson
WordPress Shogun: Aaron Brazell
Advisor: Ben Metcalfe

I just recently switched to WordPress for my blogs, it is a great platform and I am excited to know that a robust, secure and scalable hosting solution is now available to host my blogs.

Would you like to try it? view details here.

Austin Technology User Groups and Organizations

Austin is a great town to live and work, there are many technology companies and organizations which make Austin, TX what it is, a great place for technology startups, companies and people looking to work in this industry.

I prepared a partial list of technology related user groups and organizations to help Austinites and newcomers become familiar with these organizations which can help you find that next great gig, network with people who share the same interest as you do and also help you shape up your skills. Most of this user groups have regular meetings, make sure you visit their site to learn more about them and join them as members and/or volunteers if you do desire to do so.

If you know of a user group or organization that should be in this list, please add the name and a link to their site for everyone to see. Thanks.

Austin .NET User Group
ADNUG brings Austin’s .NET community together with industry experts and guest speakers in a forum to promote an exchange of knowledge and experiences with the .NET platform, application development, tools, and practices.

Austin On Rails
Austin’s Own Ruby On Rails User Group

XML Austin User Group
The XML Austin Users Group promotes sharing of knowledge among local developers who use XML and related technologies. Our focus is on serious technical discussion among peers.

Austin Java Users Group
The Austin Java Users Group brings together Java developers in the Austin area to share ideas, discuss advances in technology and generally promotes the use of Java.

Austin Linux Group
ALG is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education about the installation, usage, and maintenance of the GNU/Linux operating system.

Austin’s Premier Macintosh User Group
Capitol Macintosh is a nonprofit organization founded in July of 1993 by Austin Macintosh professionals and enthusiasts to help fellow Mac users get more enjoyment and productivity from their Macintosh computers. Put simply, CapMac is friends helping friends learn about Macs.

Austin Common Standards Revision Group
The Austin Common Standards Revision Group (CSRG) is a joint technical working group established to develop and maintain the core open systems interfaces that are the POSIX® 1003.1 (and former 1003.2) standards, ISO/IEC 9945 parts 1 to 4, and the core of the Single UNIX Specification

The Robot Group
They are a very active 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation which holds weekly meetings to discuss projects, show off our work, and meet people like you

Agile Austin
Agile Austin’s mission is to promote agile software development concepts such as those set forth in the Agile Manifesto (agilemanifesto.org), to create a public forum for the exchange of practice information, and to create opportunities for the professional development of members.

Bootstrap Austin
Bootstrap Austin is a community in the Austin Entrepreneurship Scene (#ATXentScene twitter hashtag and twitter list). In addition to supporting bootstrap entrepreneurs, we arecommitted to stewarding this vibrant scene so entrepreneurs ofall paths can find the resources and support they need to progress through all stages of the journey.

Austin High-Tech Online
door64 is community of thousands of Central Texas high-tech professionals. The goal of this community is to promote peer network growth in Texas technology professionals, enable both start-ups and established companies to amplify their local presence, and help all members to plug in and strengthen our local high-tech scene.

Austin Semiconductor Entrepreneurs Network
The vision of AustinChips is to develop a vibrant and cross-connected community of semiconductor professionals by bringing together entrepreneurs from large and small companies.

Austin Local Internet Society
The purpose of ALIS is to increase and encourage communication between people with interests in computers and technology on a real-time, physical, face to face basis. This includes you: programmers, writers, artists, consultants, cypherpunks, email fanatics, activists, hackers, usenet news readers, frustrated computer users, etc.

Austin Software Process Improvement Network
The Austin SPIN (Software Process Improvement Network) is a forum for the free and open exchange of software process improvement ideas and experiences. The organization serves as a source of educational, scientific, and practical information for its members, other SPIN organizations and the general software community.

Capital Area Central Texas Unix Society
CACTUS is a group of mostly computer professionals and students. The purpose of the group is to educate and connect people interested in Unix and Open Systems related topics

Society for Technical Communication (Austin chapter)
STC is an individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication

Technology Innovation Group
TIG creates public-private partnerships to establish technology-based enterprises that are critical for economic growth

Austin UX
User experience, interaction design and other design-related activities

UXBookClub Austin
The UX Book Club Austin seeks to enhance the abilities and knowledge of user experience professionals from information architects and interaction designers to visual designers and usability specialists to augment their understanding for excellence in UX practice, ixd design theory while building a passionate local community.

Launch your tech startup in Silicon Hills

The August 2010 issue of the magazine Entrepreneur, named Austin, TX as the most creative city in the United States, Brooklyn, NY and Seattle, WA where number two and three consecutively.

Austin is a great place to start a tech business, its entrepreneurial ecosystem built over the years, the steady pool of really young smart people from the University of Texas and great startup resources such as startup accelerators like Capital Factory and Tech Ranch help make this city a great place for startups, especially those focused in the tech industry.

Austin, TX also offers a low-cost of living with an average housing price of $270,ooo and a great quality of life. It is also a great place if you enjoy live music, college football and a funky lifestyle. SXSW Interactive Logo

Last but not least, there is South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) which is a really great party for tech companies, startups and entrepreneurs, and at the same time provides a great opportunity for hot startups to launch their ventures at this popular event. This is the event where Twitter received a lot of buzz back in 2007 and won the SXSW Web Award.

If you are looking for a great place to start your tech company, consider Austin, TX, it is an affordable city and it offers a lot of resources for tech companies, entrepreneurs and the like.

Applied Materials to hire 200 workers in Austin, TX

It’s been 3 years since Applied Materials Inc. added full-time jobs in Austin, TX.

The maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment said last Monday that it is adding more than 200 jobs over the next three months. About 100 of those new jobs are full-time positions and will be involved in manufacturing and logistics for the most part. This is great news for Austinites, especially for those in search of a job.

Another good news in the chip industry came from Samsung Electronics Co., which is adding capacity both in Austin and South Korea. The company has started work on a $3.6 billion expansion of its Fab 2 manufacturing plant in Northeast Austin.

Samsung’s job fair last Saturday attracted more than 500 job applicants.

Are you looking for a job in the chip industry? make sure you check out both Applied Materials and Samsung for your next great gig.