Comcast Roundup: Net neutrality DOA until Nov. 3, the future of NBC Sports predicted and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• The Sports Business Journal makes five predictions about what will happen when Comcast runs the NBC Sports show. H/T LA Times
• The Washington Post reports that a decision on controversial ‘net neutrality’ rules has been delayed by the FCC until after the November elections.

Below, more angles on the future of online video, how Comcast exists in the news ecosystem and more.

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Where’s the best place to work in Philly tech? Send us your photos.

According to PBJ, Comcast has a great workplace. Do you?

Maybe it’s because we spend too much time working from home, but Technically Philly has seen some wonderful offices as we cover this community. Unfortunately, the Philadelphia Business Journal disagrees.

Our pals at PBJ have compiled a list of the 56 best places to work in the city and unfortunately, not many technology companies made the list.

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mychinoki.com gets businesses and consumers text messaging

Some time in between e-mail and Facebook, the viral social media of choice was text messaging.

But Matthew Balin seems to think the business of texting was never fully capitalized. In July, Balin launched mychinoki.com, a mobile platform that connects consumers and businesses for SMS updates.

It’s a chance for users to cherry pick what messages they want from what local businesses, which is why Balin chose a name he says is a Westernized translation to a Japanese phrase meaning ‘cherry picker.’

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Startup Roundup: PopTent’s viral Quiznos ads

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

Correction, 10:15 a.m.: The Nokia Blog is a news site that covers news about Nokia. The official Nokia blog is located at http://conversations.nokia.com.

MUST READS

Video viral ad creator PopTent, which connects brands with semi-pro video producers on the cheap, recently announced a series of ads created for Quiznos that is being aired on television. In related news, Nokia news site The Nokia Blog writes about its Poptent ads for the manufacturer’s new Nuron smartphone.

Baer Business Law’s blog publishes a column about the Blogger Tax, tying in a few other related and recent Philadelphia small business failures (ahem, it involves L&I and cupcakes). As Baer puts it: ” If the city doesn’t stop gargling its creative capital, those talented men and women will grab the first cupcake truck out of here.”
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Forget Snooki, Old City is overrun with techies

Philadelphia Magazine’s September cover story by Richard Rys documents an Old City in transition—and not a pretty one. A neighborhood once thriving with artists, entertainment and prominent restaurateurs turns into a bad episode of Jersey Shore on weekends, the writer contends.

But that’s not the Old City we know. By day, the historic neighborhood has become something of a Web development and technology startup haven. Earlier this year, as city technology leaders prepared Philadelphia’s bid for Google’s ultra high-speed broadband Internet pilot, it was Old City that was chosen as one of the city’s potential technology hubs, for the diverse technologists that live and work there.

Here’s our look at what still sparkles in Old City…

Read the rest at Philly Post.

VC Roundup: Mid-Atlantic Angel Group raises nearly $5 million

Welcome to the VC Roundup, where we’ll parse through venture capital news related to Philadelphia-based private equity firms and the companies they fund. Subscribe to the roundup as an email newsletter. If you have any VC-related news to pass along to us, please drop us a line.

DEFINITE READS

Mid-Atlantic Angel Group has raised $4.8 million for its second fund. The sneaky angel fund based in the Navy Yard said that it doesn’t have as many investors, but each individual investor has thrown in more cash this time. MAG primarily only invests alongside other companies and rarely leads a round.

The Inky’s Joe Destefano tells us what regular readers of the VC roundup probably already know: That First Round Capital averages a deal a week, ranking third-most among all VC firms. We’d give you more numbers, but we don’t want to steal Joe D’s thunder. Read his piece which includes other active Philly firms.

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PHILO makes TV more social, Penn grads drawn to other cities

The three founders of an application aiming to interject social media into TV watching got an education in Philadelphia but their addresses — and the buzz surrounding their startup — are in the familiar bi-coastal entertainment hubs.

As the web has buzzed for some time now, PHILO is a web and iPhone application that has its users ‘tune in’ to the TV programs they are watching in the same way Foursquare users ‘check in’ to physical locations, then pushing a conversation discussing shows in a “newsfeed-like conversation” as Mashable put it.

Like others before them, the three founders put time in at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in the 1990s but don’t call the region home. CEO David Levy, who also heads the Wharton Angel Network, and CTO Carter Page are in New York City, and Greg Goldman calls Los Angeles home.

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Azavea’s Cicero API goes international, GIS firm launches new website

Beyond dots on a map.

That’s the new tagline of GIS software firm Azavea, which has undergone a branding overhaul since it changed its name in March following a disputed legal claim.

As part of that move, last month, the shop based in the Callowhill neighborhood unveiled a new look to its website, completing the shift from a decade-old Avencia name to its new Azavea brand. Read about their CMS here.

The new look coincides with news that Azavea continues to expand the map they go beyond.

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Event Highlights: August 30 – September 5, 2010

We’re torn, Philadelphia.

On one hand, we dread Labor Day as we are enjoying this summer way too much to see it end. On the other, the unofficial start of Fall usually means more events and this post becomes much easier to write.

This week is all meetups so take this week easy guys, you’re gonna need it come October. After the jump, Mac users don’t leave their home, Hive opens up and Linux users gather.

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Friday Q&A: Dan McKinney of NextStage Capital

Forget the latest investment trends, NextStage Capital will do what it wants, thank you very much.

The firm was founded by Rob Adams and Dan McKinney -two ex-Safeguard Scientifics employees – and Terry Williams, a former recruiter during the post-dotcom boom year of 2003. Then, most investors were running away from early stage technology investment.

“There can be opportunity when people are fleeing markets,” says McKinney,  a managing partner.

It  firm has invested in 12 companies with four exits, mostly in the mid-atlantic region going as far west as to Pittsburgh. However, since its founding the firm has taken pride in being the contrarian, and has not made any new investments in 2010, choosing instead to reinvest its dollars in current portfolio companies.

After the jump, McKinney promises us that we will be hearing a lot from NextStage in the coming months and gives his take on the age-old debate about whether Philly needs more investment dollars.

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