Caktus Blog

Caktus is happy to once again sponsoring and attending PyCon in Montreal this year. Year after year, we look forward to this conference and we are always impressed with the quality of the speakers that the conference draws. The team consistently walks away with new ideas from attending the talks, open spaces and working on sprints that they are excited to implement here at Caktus and in their personal projects.

It’s been a few years since we last updated our website, and we gave it a whole new look!

With the new site, it’s easy to see just what services we offer, and our processes for bringing our client’s ideas to life. The new layout allows for more in-depth reviews of our projects, and also highlights our talented and growing team. We also wanted to share more information on our commitment to the open source community and social good. And the updated structure makes finding out about events and reading our ever-popular blog posts simple.

For PyCon 2014, we’ve been working for the past few months on Duckling, an app to make it easier to find and join casual group outings. Our favorite part of PyCon is meeting up with fellow Pythonistas, but without someone rounding everyone up and sorting the logistics, we’ve found it difficult to figure who’s going where and when. Our answer to this age-old conference conundrum is Duckling! 

Caktus’ successful growth in mobile messaging applications overseas has been a wonderful point of pride for us. The work we’re doing internationally has real impact on burgeoning democracies, HIV/AIDs patients, and others where technology makes all the difference.

We’re pleased to announce that Caktus will be presenting Epic Allies, an mHealth Gamification App to improve ART drug adherence for HIV patients, at this year’s YTH Live in San Francisco.

After sustained growth that has us packed in six suites, we have spent the past year and a half seeking new space. We’ve found it! I’m pleased to announce that Caktus has bought a historic 1910 building with nearly 11,000 square feet of space in Downtown Durham. We’ll be right near five points at 108 Morris St. The new building will be completely renovated from top to bottom to create an open workspace that’ll make it even easier for us to collaborate and share ideas.

The Herald Sun covered Caktus’ planned move to a historic building in Downtown Durham.

Triangle Business Journal covered Caktus’ purchase of downtown Durham building.

Caleb Smith, Caktus developer, awarding the third place prize to TheRightFit creators Bipasa Chattopadhyay, Ping Fu, and Sarah Andrabi.

Many congratulations to the PearlHacks third place winners who won Sphero Balls! The team from UNC’s Computer Science department created TheRightFit, an Android app that helps shoppers know what sizes will fit them and their families among various brands. Their prize of Sphero Balls, programmable balls that can interact and play games via smart phones, was presented by Caktus developer and Pearl Hacks mentor Caleb Smith as part of our sponsorship. PearlHacks, held at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a conference designed to encourage female high school and college programmers from the NC and VA area.

Caktus is excited to further encourage young female programmers through our support of PearlHacks, a two-day hackathon and conference hosted by the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. This weekend, March 22-23rd, over 200 young women from local high schools and universities in Virginia and North Carolina will arrive for the conference.