Today marks New Englands first ever Tech Gives Back day. We’re proud to help organize and host the day alongside Boston Cares and Technology Underwriting Greater Good (TUGG). 40 of Boston’s leading innovating companies have teams volunteering at a dozen non-profits in and around Boston — with a total 500 volunteers participating.

Following this tech citizenship day is an after party from 5pm to 9pm at the Citi Performing Arts Center (former Wang Theater). You can still register for the after party if you weren’t able to participate in projects with a $25 ticket. All ticket proceeds going to the startup non-profits that TUGG funds every year, and it provides you with free food and drink (wine, beer and Avion — the tequila featured in popular HBO television series Entourage), live band entertainment, and obviously Boston’s brightest innovators as company.

Thank you to all the tech and creative companies in the Boston area for taking a day away from their product roadmaps, launches, partnerships, and otherwise to give back to the community. We look forward to seeing you tonight! On Twitter, the hashtag for the days festivities is #TechGivesBack.

Companies giving back today include:

Advanced Electron Beams, Atlas Venture, Bit9, Brown Rudnick, InsightSquared, Caisson, Celtra, Charles River Ventures, Chase Technology Consultants, Communispace, CSN Stores, DataXu, Ernst & Young, Fama PR, Flybridge Capital, General Catalyst Partners, GrandBanks Capital, Grove Street Advisors, Harris William & Co, Help Scout, InnerCity Weightlifting, Kel & Partners, Lucky Labs, Lynx, Merrill Lynch, Newmark Knight Frank, Nexage, Openview Venture Partners, Performable, Polachi & Co, Siemens, Silicon Valley Bank, Simple Tuition, Swellr, Vela Systems, Vertica, Volition Capital, WHERE / PayPal, Wilmer Hale, Winter Wyman, Young Entrepreneurs Alliance

Today several members of Boston-based venture capital firm, OpenView Venture Partners, joined over 50 local firms in TUGG’s first annual “Tech Gives Back” along with BostInnovation and Boston Cares, in a volunteering effort for the Boston area. A total of over 500 people participated in the event participating in events at 12 local charities or sites.

Tech Gives Back has three over-arching goals:
1. Catalyze a movement: 500 individuals from the tech start-up ecosystem contributing in a day of celebrating and giving back to Boston.
2. Bring attention and visibility to the community efforts of the tech ecosystem: Mayor and Governor support, local/national press, and an integrated social media strategy.
3. Build camaraderie and fun: A setting for people to meet, greet, work and party alongside other start-ups, entrepreneurs, VCs, execs and local non-profit organizations.

The OpenView team specifically volunteered alongside other corporate groups at Boston Greater Food Bank to sort and package food and grocery items for local pantries and soup kitchens. Both groups sorted over 7,100 pounds of food, making about 4,370 meals possible.

Participating in events such as Tech Gives Back fits within OpenView’s overall mission to be the best firm in the industry by building great companies, delivering top investment results, developing outstanding people and teams, and being great community citizens.

“We are excited to participate in Tech Gives Back and to provide help to the community that we do business in. We are always striving to become solid community citizen and give back in ways that truly better the community. Tech Gives Back is a great opportunity,” said Brian Zimmerman, managing director.

About OpenView Venture Partners
OpenView Venture Partners is an expansion stage venture capital fund with a focus on high-growth software, Internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives, who collectively bring several decades of technology and management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies with quickly ramping up Product, Go-To-Market, and Organizational and Operational functions to best practice levels. The firm was founded in 2006 and has a total capital under management of approximately $240 million. OpenView Venture Partners is based in Boston and invests on a worldwide basis.

About TUGG
TUGG is catalyzing and spreading social entrepreneurship in New England. By harnessing the power of the region’s technology ecosystem to source, screen and fund social innovation, TUGG helps young people to realize their full potential through entrepreneurship, education and life experiences. TUGG funds 12 – 15 non-profit organizations/initiatives per year with a maximum of $20,000 per grant. For more information, visit www.tugg.org.

Guest blog by Scott Maxwell, OpenView Partners.
Scott is the managing partner of OpenView and has introduced Scrum everywhere in the venture group and the portfolio companies. See Take no Prisoners: How a Venture Capital Group Does Scrum.

Ret­ro­spec­tives, and their close cousin After Action Reviews (AARs), are sim­ple prac­tices that offer you a quick, easy, and efficient way to con­tin­u­ously improve. They can be for­mal or infor­mal, can take place after any action/project/initiative or on a reg­u­lar sched­ule, and can be eas­ily adapted to meet the needs of your organization.

Lack of buy-in and/or com­mit­ment from the top, which will make your employ­ees believe that it is not a pri­or­ity. Com­mu­ni­cate to employ­ees why you are doing this and the ben­e­fits you expect to achieve. Allot the proper time for ret­ro­spec­tives. Ensure that teams are stay­ing dis­ci­plined with the prac­tice and not rush­ing through the process.

Peo­ple may per­ceive that reflec­tions are about indi­vid­ual per­for­mance and assign­ing blame, and there­fore become overly self pro­tec­tive. Rein­force that ret­ro­spec­tives are about team per­for­mance, not indi­vid­ual per­for­mance, and about find­ing ways to improve. A key ben­e­fit is that when done right, reflec­tions make teams stronger, not the reverse.

For many dif­fer­ent rea­sons – some cul­tural, some man­age­r­ial, some inter­per­sonal – peo­ple won’t say what is truly on their minds. It takes time to build a cli­mate of trust. But if the team mem­bers fail to speak the truth, the improve­ments will never be as good as they could be. If there are cer­tain peo­ple you know are not being hon­est, take them aside to talk in pri­vate about their concerns.

The meet­ings get off track. The facil­i­ta­tor should set and enforce ground rules. The meet­ings should be struc­tured to pre­vent team mem­bers from ram­bling and going off topic. Facil­i­ta­tion is both a skill and an art; facil­i­ta­tors need train­ing, but they also should have a nat­ural gift for communicating.

No ideas for improve­ment are offered. At Toy­ota, even if a project is suc­cess­ful, a hansei-kai (reflec­tion meet­ing) still takes place. They have a say­ing that “no prob­lem is a prob­lem,” and believe that no mat­ter how good some­thing is, there is always some­thing that can be improved. If the team is stuck, the facil­i­ta­tor can uncover prob­lems by ask­ing “why” many times over while dis­cussing how a project or process unfolded.

Ideas for improve­ment are given, but are not spe­cific enough. The facil­i­ta­tor should get the team mem­bers to make spe­cific state­ments. For exam­ple, a gen­eral state­ment such as “we need faster ser­vice from our proof­reader,” could be reframed as “our proof­reader needs to e-mail the marked up proofs to John within 24 hours.”

Too many ideas for improve­ment are offered. Team mem­bers should choose 3 areas to focus on and imme­di­ately imple­ment. The facil­i­ta­tor should put the addi­tional ideas into an idea back­log for fur­ther dis­cus­sion at the next retrospective.

BodyMedia, the pioneers in body monitoring devices, is on the cutting edge of the mobile device app trend with the announcement of a developers’ API (Application Programming Interface). Through the API announcement, BodyMedia is unleashing the power of its technology to encourage developers to explore and discover new applications that will help more people know their bodies and change their lives.

The goal of the API, which is being executed in partnership with Mashery, a leader in API management and strategic services, is to create new apps, either within the existing lifestyle management platform or to apply the unique BodyMedia technology into new spaces. The data can open the door for endless possibilities like gaming, fitness, entertainment or social network integrations. The BodyMedia FIT™ system, which has been clinically proven and validated for accuracy, collects hundreds of millions of data points per day. The API gives developers the ability to interact with this minute by minute lifestyle data for users who have granted them access.

“We want to take our unique data right from the Armbands of our consumers and put it directly into the hands of developers to discover new uses and markets,” stated Ivo Stivoric, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, BodyMedia, Inc. “Our goal is to enable more people to leverage the powerful BodyMedia tools to expand the positive impact of body monitoring.”

From Our Consumers’ Arms To Developers’ Hands

BodyMedia’s Data API exposes RESTful services for the retrieval of the data collected within the BodyMedia FIT Activity Manager application.

• Read only access to all user data stored in the BodyMedia FIT Activity Manager:  calories burned (energy expenditure), number of steps taken, minutes of moderate and vigorous activity, nutritional information as tracked by individual users’ logging or daily caloric estimates, user reported weight and sleep information (time spent laying down, asleep and over-all sleep efficiency)
• Ability to retrieve user related information including body statistics, preferences,  and goals for users who have granted access to the third party application

“Lifestyle and wellness management apps are gaining momentum. The BodyMedia API offers developers a chance to capitalize on this trend by gaining access to extensive real-time data for personal use,” said Delyn Simons, Director of Developer Outreach, Mashery. “Partnering with developers will allow BodyMedia to reach their customers anywhere they want to be connected.”

Early Adopters Yield Cutting Edge Results

Several unique product offerings already in the works illustrate the expansive opportunities that can be created through collaborations with BodyMedia.

Utilizing BodyMedia’s data, developers from Gist Innovation, a start up technology firm that specializes in social and entertainment apps, have begun creation of fitness gaming apps that encourage users to accomplish various fitness challenges like hiking mountains and the ability for users to interact through social networking integrations and set-up virtual fitness competition or groups.

Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) is using the BodyMedia technology to address one of the nation’s serious epidemics, childhood obesity.  ETC prototyped a fitness gaming app aimed at encouraging children to stay more active and burn more calories than they consume – which is an example of how the BodyMedia FIT Data API could be used commercially.

Another example of the versatility of the data is the upcoming summer launch of the BodyMedia app for Panasonic’s line of VIERA Connect™ IPTVs.  This app for Panasonic’s VIERA™ integrates body monitoring technology with the TV to enable real time health and wellness management.  Merging data returned by the API with the real time information from the Bluetooth® enabled Armband BW, the app will allow users to watch their information update in real time while they watch TV or play video games.

“Working with the BodyMedia technology allows us to offer consumers an exciting new feature on our VIERA Connect-enabled HDTVs that will truly elevate the role of the TV to a whole new level,” said Panasonic Corporation of North America Vice President Merwan Mereby, who oversees the development of Panasonic’s rapidly expanding connected TV features and products.  “The BodyMedia app will encourage people to get up and move while enjoying TV programs at the same time.  The ability to interact with accurate and validated BodyMedia data will allow us to enter a new market for our Company’s flagship IPTV products.”

The API announcement is part of the BodyMedia expansion strategy, which will focus on exploring new opportunities and applications for its product offerings through developer partnerships.

Developers who are interested in collaborating with BodyMedia using the API can visit http://developer.bodymedia.com to lean more.

About BodyMedia, Inc.

When your body talks, BodyMedia listens. BodyMedia has been unlocking and deciphering secrets of the body since 1999. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, BodyMedia is the pioneer in developing wearable body monitoring systems designed to help people lose weight, improve performance, and lead healthier lives. Our patented multi-sensor technology provides continuous body-monitoring that tracks physical activity levels, calories expended and sleep patterns.  What sets BodyMedia technology apart is our validated accuracy, our clinically proven outcomes and our FDA status as a Class II medical device. For more information, visit www.bodymedia.com.

About Mashery

Mashery’s API management tools and strategic services help companies connect with customers and partners in a changing digital world by extending reach across devices, markets and the Web. Mashery leads the industry with a holistic approach for API initiatives — from setting platform strategy and measuring business objectives to the heavy lifting of providing and managing infrastructure to facilitating relationships with our 95,000 strong network of Web and mobile application developers. Having worked with over 100 leading brands to power more than 25,000 apps, Mashery’s knowledge, experience and proven strategies enable companies to focus on their core business while driving sales, building new revenue channels and realizing faster time-to-market for innovative applications. Mashery was founded in 2006 and has built an impressive list of clients that include Best Buy, Netflix, and The New York Times. For more information, visit www.mashery.com.

 

Among the first healthcare providers to have money in the bank — thanks to the federal government’s electronic health record (EHR) incentive program — are two Texas hospitals, Stamford (Texas) Memorial Hospital and Hemphill County Hospital, Canadian, Texas.

Both Stamford and Hemphill quickly moved from paper environments to electronic records to achieving meaningful use to be among the initial 37 hospitals nationwide, including 13 hospitals in Texas, that received their incentive checks in late May.  This is significant since hospitals that had implemented EHRs well in advance of the government’s unveiling of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2009 were expected to be the early recipients of the funds.

To become part of this elite group, both hospitals relied on ChartAccess® Comprehensive EHR from Prognosis Health Information Systems, to overcome the cost, speed of implementation, and usability obstacles commonly cited as impediments to electronic records success. A shared web-native EHR system delivered via a “cloud computing” model, ChartAccess software applications are made available as a service over an encrypted health information network.

Both hospitals went from system selection to utilization quickly. Clinicians at each hospital then leveraged the EHR to meet meaningful use requirements between January and March – and participated in the attestation in mid-April before receiving checks from the federal government.

“We were able to fast track our EHR efforts by choosing a powerful EHR system that was engineered for speed and by pulling together a leadership team that could teach all of our clinicians and staff members how to leverage the system to meet meaningful use criteria,” says Rick DeFoore, CEO at Stamford.

“Our users began using the system immediately because it fits right into their workflow.  The Prognosis EHR includes a ‘meaningful use’ dashboard that made it possible for us to continually monitor where we stood with respect to meeting the government’s requirements.  So, we were able to quickly leverage the technology to hit the meaningful use milestones,” says Patrick Murfee, director of information systems at Hemphill.

Most hospitals are currently focused on meeting meaningful use requirements in order to receive incentive funds from the government, but the substantial clinical, operational and financial benefits of the Prognosis EHR will continue for years to come, according to Ramsey Evans, CEO of Prognosis.

“We are proving that our approach and technology can take providers from zero to implementation to meaningful use in record time. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. By working with our technology and our team, healthcare providers can expect to continually improve care, making it possible to provide outstanding patient care today and well into the future,” Evans says.

About Prognosis Health Information Systems

Prognosis Health Information Systems, Inc. (PHIS), Houston, aims to improve the quality and safety of patient care through ChartAccess, a certified Comprehensive EHR. Designed to be fully operational in less than six months at a predictable, affordable cost, the solution enables hospitals to meet meaningful use and improve patient outcomes by leveraging built-in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) milestone and quality measure tracking functionality. PHIS uses 21st-Century technologies to offer small community hospitals a pure browser-based system that can run on-premise or in the cloud. For more information, go to www.prognosishis.com.

Normandy Real Estate Partners has signed five leases totaling 51,056 square feet at 281 and 321 Summer Street in Boston, Mass, both of which were purchased by Normandy in 2007.

The CB Richard Ellis /New England team of Bill Crean, Senior Vice President/Partner, Ogden White, Senior Vice President/Partner, and Tim Howe, Vice President, represented the landlord in all transactions.

Space with a Soul has signed a lease at 281 Summer Street, a seven-story 173,241 square foot office building. The non-profit mission accelerator occupies 14,592 square feet. Space with a Soul was represented by Deb Stevens, Principal of The Stevens Group.

The four other deals were inked at 321 Summer Street, an eight-story 93,964 square foot building.

– AisleBuyer LLC, the creator of mobile self-checkout software, occupies 10,813 square feet on the eighth floor; Landmark Real Estate Advisors’ Principal, Eric Solem, and Partner, Robert Elmer, represented AisleBuyer LLC.

– Zmags, the online publishing platform provider, is moving into 10,635 square feet on the third floor; Zmags was represented by Graham Allison , Assistant Broker, and Mark Cote, Managing Director/Co-Founder, of T3 Advisors.

– Apperian, a mobile application management firm, moved into 8,903 square feet on the first floor; Apperian was represented by Matt Godoff, Advisor, and Karyn McFarland, Senior Vice President, of Grubb & Ellis.

– Architecture firm isgenuity LLC will take 6,113 square feet on the fourth floor. Boston Realty Advisors’ Adam Schneier, Managing Director, represented isgenuity LLC.

The two historic office buildings in South Boston’s Fort Point Channel Seaport District, dating back to 1910 and 1911, have undergone major renovations to update the lobbies and install new HVAC systems, electrical service, windows, roofs, sprinklers and elevators.

Both are accessible via public transportation and nearby highways. They are located in a vibrant and upcoming neighborhood that features several cultural, retail and business attractions. Developers, together with the City of Boston, are turning the district into a 24-hour neighborhood, which should help expand nearby attractions and public amenities, as well as increase the appeal and value of its real estate.

A university in Fredericksburg, VA has begun its move to a new open source, SaaS-based learning management system. Several instructors at the University of Mary Washington have started using Instructure Canvas in place of Blackboard software for their summer courses. The campus, whose Blackboard contract ends in August 2011, will move fully to Canvas in the fall semester.

An LMS committee of faculty and students had been meeting since spring 2010 to evaluate alternatives to Blackboard. The college had been running version 8, which was initially released in early 2008. Finalists under consideration included Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Moodlerooms, and Instructure. In January 2011 each vendor gave a two-hour presentation, in which they were expected to enter a syllabus, upload and manage media, control course and guest access, use built-in and third-party tools, and demonstrate other aspects of the applications. Instructure was announced as the winner in February.

Canvas is an open source LMS delivered as software as a service. A major draw of the browser-based application is its integration with multiple popular Web 2.0 services, including Facebook, Google Docs, and Twitter, as well as email and RSS. Discussion posts can include audio and video. The program also integrates features that simplify instructor administration, such as assignment grading and tracking learning outcomes. A built-in notification system can be configured to send certain types of messages to the teacher’s phone. An integrated web conferencing system is available to set up group meetings.

Although the product has migration tools, U Mary Washington is advising its instructors to recreate their course materials.

Exinda, a global provider of WAN optimization solutions featuring Unified Performance Management (UPM), will showcase the new Exinda Edge Cache™ at Educomm 2011 at Hilton Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida from June 13 – 15. Visitors are invited to experience live demonstrations of Exinda’s WAN Optimization solutions, which have been chosen by educational facilities around the world to improve the performance of applications on their networks.

“The demand for video applications that enhance learning and facilitate administrative functions is growing rapidly. Sites such as YouTube have moved beyond the realm of social media, as organizations have come to rely on video to deliver content,” said Kevin Suitor, VP of Marketing, Exinda. “With the Exinda Edge Cache, network administrators can ensure a high quality user experience with video traffic on the WAN, without impeding the performance of other critical applications.”

The Exinda Edge Cache enables single-sided caching of Internet-based content, including web objects, videos and software updates with a single Exinda WAN Optimization appliance at the branch office or data center, enabling a superior user experience and reducing WAN utilization costs.

By eliminating the repetitive download of content over the WAN, the Exinda Edge Cache dramatically improves the speed and performance of internet applications. Added Suitor, “Our customers have seen as much as 80% reduction in http traffic over the WAN, and more than 35% reduction in video and other content. By reducing the consumption of valuable WAN resources, organizations can maximize their existing network spend and use the savings to fund innovative projects that further reduce cost.”

About Exinda

Exinda is a proven global supplier of WAN Optimization and Application Acceleration products. The Exinda Unified Performance Management (UPM) solution encompasses application visibility, control, optimization and intelligent acceleration – all within a single network appliance that is affordable and easy to manage. Founded in 2002, Exinda is headquartered in Andover, MA and has established regional offices in Canada and the United Kingdom to support the growing global demand for its products and services. Exinda is a 100% channel business with products being distributed by a worldwide network of solution partners who offer local support and services. For more information, please visit http://www.exinda.com.