Global 250 Top Private Companies | 2009

A list of the 250 most innovative (and disruptive) companies has been announced. Previous winners of the top award include Google and Twitter.

This year's overall winner is Quantcast, a company that helps bring marketers and publishers together.

California leads the list with 126 companies followed by New York with 21. The Boston metro area placed 14 companies on this year's list.

Boston Area Innovators

Innovative companies are looking for innovative people to help them grow. Check out the following 14 companies, listed by category, for business opportunities. Click the "in" icon to identify your LinkedIn connections into that company.

Cloud & Infrastructure

• Pixily | Waltham
• Visible Measures | Boston ★★★
  
• VKernel | Portsmouth, NH

Consumer Internet

• Viximo | Cambridge

Digital Education

• 8D World | Woburn
• Eduventures | Boston
• SimpleTuition | Newton
  

Enabling Tools & Devices

• EveryZing | Cambridge [ Category Winner ]

Greentech

• GreatPoint Energy | Cambridge
  
• Premium Power | North Reading
  
• Wilson TurboPower | Woburn

SaaS & Enterprise

• uTest | Southborough [ Category Winner ]
• HubSpot | Cambridge

Wireless

• Skyhook Wireless | Boston [ Category Winner ]
  

The complete list of 250 companies can be found at the AlwaysOn Network (AO) website.

★★★ Visible Measures is the local sponsor of the upcoming Boston leg of the Summer of Social Good networking event tour.

[ NOTE: Beantown Web is now on Facebook. Facebook Fans gain instant access to an interactive map of the 14 most innovative companies in the Boston area. Become a fan today! ]

Summer of Social Good | Six City Tour

The Summer of Social Good is the first large scale charitable campaign designed to raise funds strictly online through the power of social media. A six-city tour has been organized to promote the campaign.

The Organizers

Mashable - The Social Media Guide has teamed with Hyatt Hotels and various local sponsors to promote the tour under the banner Mashable’s #Hyatt4Good Tweetup Tour.

The Charities

Charities will receive 100% of funds raised during the campaign. All proceeds will be split equally among the following four charities:

• The Humane Society
• LIVESTRONG
• Oxfam America
• WWF

The Cities

The tour will visit the following cities:

• New York | Monday, July 27
• Chicago | Tuesday, August 4
• Denver | Thursday, August 6
• San Diego | Friday, August 7
• Washington, DC | Thursday, August 13
• Boston | Friday, August 21

The style of each event will be an informal mixer for the social media community. A local sponsor will help cover some food and drinks and a cash bar will be available. Registration is required and a donation is suggested.

Readers are encouraged to spread the word about the Summer of Social Good through the social media of your choice.

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Web Innovators Group | WebInno 22

If you are interested in previewing the latest innovations on the Internet and mobile devices, check out the next gathering of the Web Innovators Group.

This 22nd installment (WebInno22) will feature the following presentations:

Main Dishes

• Planet Cazmo | a virtual world set inside an alien solar system who have been inspired by music, hip hop and other earth cultural phenomenon


• Thunder Thimble | Who’s talking about your product or business? What are they saying? Thunder Thimble monitors brand mentions and allows you to respond in real time.


• BuySellAds | an advertising marketplace for small to medium sized website owners/publishers

Side Dishes

• Shareaholic | simply the quickest and best way to share, e-mail, tweet, bookmark, and blog links


• Muzzy Lane | creating great games and innovative Sandstone technology to build and deliver them


• Localytics | focused on giving mobile application developers the tools they need to improve their businesses


• Fluent Mobile | a pioneer in mobile content organization and delivery


• Tor Project | a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet


• CaptureCode | a transaction processing company focused on helping merchants increase their return on marketing investment

Details

Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 6:30 pm

Royal Sonesta Cambridge

Registration is FREE and the networking could prove invaluable! Check out the Attendee List of more than 800 hundred pre-registrants to determine if this networking event is right for you.

Registrants are also encouraged to join the Boston Web Innovators Group on LinkedIn and connect with more than 900 members.

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Boston Market | July 2009

More employers are expected to hire full-time staff in the third quarter than fire workers according to one recent job survey.

Listed below are the trends for the past three quarters.

Plan to increase the number of full-time employees:

• third quarter | 15% (expectation)
• second quarter | 18%
• first quarter | 13%

Plan to reduce the number of full-time employees:

• third quarter | 10% (expectation)
• second quarter 17%
• first quarter | 26%

So, job losses are expected to slow, but job creation is not expected to grow. According to the survey,

". . . we're not likely to experience significant movement in job creation in 2009. Jobs will be added, but overall, businesses will continue to be conservative in their hiring and maintain focus on existing human capital."

Q3 2009 U.S. Job Forecast

Job growth in the Northeast is expected to be higher in the third quarter than any other region of the United States, except for the South. Eighteen percent of employers in the Northeast are expected to add full-time staff vs. 15 percent nationally. Four job sectors are fueling hiring in the Northeast:

• government
• education
• healthcare
• defense

The quarterly survey, conducted in late May and early June, polled more than 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals. A press release of the Q3 2009 U.S. Job Forecast is available for review. For a more detailed summary of the findings, conducted jointly by CareerBuilder and USA Today, download a free six-page report.

Boston Technology Market

Overcast or rainy skies hovered over Boston for 22 out of 30 days in June (source). Rain makes things grow and apparently the Boston technology job market was one beneficiary.

A review of the Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston reveals that 11 of the top 12 technologies experienced increases in job listings since early June. Job postings for workers who can demonstrate proficiency in these technologies are up an impressive 22 percent in the past 30 days.

In general, Boston area employers are looking for technical expertise in the following skill areas:

• databases
• programming

This combination bodes well for Web developers. The biggest movers of the month include Microsoft-centric Web development skills:

• Web Services 56%
• C# 43%
• ASP.NET 41%
• SQL Server 29%

One simple training opportunity for July would be to learn more about Web Services. W3Schools.com offers a FREE introductory Web Services Tutorial.

A complete listing of the Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston appears in the right-hand column along with links to local job postings.

[ NOTE: Beantown Web is now on Facebook. Facebook Fans gain instant access to an expanded listing of the Top 50 Web Technologies in Boston. Become a fan today! ]