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NextDocs: “We want to establish how a larger company can thrive in the Philadelphia area”

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with NextDocs, the growing King of Prussia-based company that provides compliance solutions to life science companies.

In the past few months the company has ballooned to 126 current employees and is moving to a new office in Conshohoken that may or may not have a slide.

“We intend to make it the best place to work in software in Philadelphia,” says Satwik Seshasai VP of Product development. Seshasai recently joined the company after spending nine years in Boston working for IBM.

We ask Seshasai how Philly compares to Boston, NextDoc’s ambitions to double in size and how Philly uniquely allows engineers like him to have a greater impact.

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General Assembly: NYC coworking outfit to launch classes, workshops in Philly

New York City coworking and technology education outfit General Assembly will be holding its first workshop at the University City Science Center on May 30, 2012.

The $20 business development workshop will be the first in a series of classes and other workshops GA will hold at the Science Center and other locations throughout the city, founding partner Adam Pritzker told Technically Philly. The educational programming will be similar to what GA already offers to individuals

To register for the workshop, click here.

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Where can a 30 minute public transit ride take you in Philadelphia?

The light yellow ameoba-like splotch in the map of Philadelphia above represents the distance you’d be able to travel on public transit in 30 minutes.

The map, along with those of many other cities, was created by a website called Mapnificent that overlays transit data on Google Maps to show you how far you can travel in any given time, as the Atlantic Cities reported.

To compare Philadelphia’s 30-minute travel distance to those in 19 other cities, click here.

RJ Metrics analysis of Google+ finds waning activity, engagement [LINKS]

  • Exclusive: New Google+ Study Reveals Minimal Social Activity, Weak User Engagement [Fast Company] “Larry Page recently called Google+ the company’s “social spine.” If that’s the case, then Google‘s backbone might be much weaker than Page has been letting on, at least according to a new report from RJ Metrics. This week, the data analytics firm provided Fast Company with exclusive new insights on Google+. The findings paint a very poor picture of the search giant’s social network–a picture of waning interest, weak user engagement, and minimal social activity. Google calls the study flawed–we’ll explain why in a second–and has boasted that more than 170 million people have “upgraded” to the network. RJ Metrics’ report, on the other hand, is yet another indicator that Google+ might indeed just be a “virtual ghost town,” as some have argued.”
  • Piercing insight: Man wears future on his wrist [Daily News] “When did technology go too far? Was it the Flowbee that pushed the edge? Did George Lucas invent some 5-D laser beam that replaced our memories with “Star Wars”? Or was it the guy from Gloucester County, N.J., who punched a few holes in his wrist last month and inserted some magnets so that he could hold his iPod Nano without some ugly-looking strap getting in the way? Yes, Earth, Dave Hurban did that to himself and it worked, and he has sharp metal objects and more elaborate plans in the works.”

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City IT department doesn’t know where 10 percent, $4.8M of its stuff is: City Controller report

City Controller Alan Butkovitz

Philadelphia City Controller Alan Butkovitz says he randomly sampled 13 pieces of technology property from the city’s Office of Information Technology and could only locate five, raising concerns about potentially millions of dollars in missing, stolen, or otherwise unaccounted for property.

The audit findings were released as part of the FY07-09 Division of Technology Auditor’s report, available here [PDF].

The OIT told the City Controller that it only tracked a randomly selected 10 percent of its $4.8 million in assets, despite the fact that city regulations require departments to physically inspect personal property, according to a press release from the City Controller’s office.

The OIT’s mismanagement is the most recent instance of government mismanagement Butkovitz has sniffed out. In December, his investigations uncovered that nearly half a billion dollars of taxpayer money was being managed by outdated, unsupported technology from 1996 in the city’s procurement department, as Technically Philly reported.

Following past complaints from the Controller, some in the administration have voiced frustration that Butkovitz’s hardline expectations — which mostly follow the City Charter — are out of line with current realities.

In this most recent case, the five missing items —laptops, monitors and hardware — from the OIT inventory are reportedly worth $11,000, said spokesman Brian Dries.

The City Controller’s audit also found the OIT failed to properly account for franchise fees, raising questions about money owed to the city.

MCD Law Partners merges with Baer Crossey to offer legal services to startups

Fort Washington-based MCD Law Partners, a boutique law firm oriented toward startups in the region, is merging with Center City-based law firm, Baer Crossey.

Baer Crossey, a relatively small firm itself, provides legal services to entrepreneurs in the area.

Christopher McDemus, the founding and only partner of MCD Law Partners, will join the three-man group as Managing Partner. You might know him as VC Deal Lawyer from his blog of the same name. [Full Disclosure: VC Deal Lawyer has been a past Technically Philly event sponsor.]

McDemus told Technically Philly that the merger came about as he was trying to figure out how to grow his practice, with just one full time partner — him — and one part-time of counsel, Rebecca Weaver.

“You reach a sort of tipping point where you have to consciously decide, “Do I keep growing this, and find a scalable way to do that, or do I keep it at the current size which is manageable for a solo,” McDemus said. “There’s risk in the latter and, frankly, sitting still isn’t really in my nature so I decided on smart growth.”

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DreamIt Ventures Philadelphia now accepting applications for Fall 2012

DreamIt Ventures begins accepting applications for the Philadelphia Fall 2012 program today.

Click here to apply.

The three month program is heading into its fifth Philadelphia class. Notable recent graduates from the program include the trio of media startups at the Project Liberty Digital Incubator: ElectNext, SnipSnap and Cloudmine, in addition to SCVNGR, Adapt.ly and several small exits.

Dreamit’s NYC summer program began on Monday, bringing companies from New York and Dreamit Israel together for the three month long program.

The early decision deadline for Dreamit Philadelphia is June 1, 2012, but the final day to apply is July 6, 2012.

Click here to apply for the University City program and here for a schedule of important dates relevant to Fall 2012 participants.

Comcast launching Skype video calling for $9.95 month [Roundup]

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 email subscription for our weekly Comcast roundup or other news updates.

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Startup Beach House now accepting applications for summer accelerator down the shore

It’s finally official. Startup Beach House announced today that it is now accepting applications online to spend a week building a business at the beach and have it recorded.

A couple things have changed since Technically Philly first reported on Startup Beach House. The house, as you’ll notice above, and it’s location are different. The new digs are located in Stone Harbor, N.J., not Avalon.

The Startup Beach House founders, Greg BerryMike Bianchini and Dave Drager will be looking to accept five teams to participate this summer in what is definitely the first startup reality series to hit the Philadelphia region and possibly the first to ever be done “down the shore.”

Participants are responsible for all meals and food, beach tags ($12 per week), linens and any other necessities, according to the web site.

Here’s a handy summary of the need-to-know criteria in order to apply:

  • Two team members: Only two team members may stay at the house, but other team members can work in the space during the day
  • Fee: $500 per person
  • Personal responsibilities: Food, linens and beach tags.

And the important dates:

  • Application due: June 9th, 2012 by 11:59 pm
  • Team interviews: Week of June 10th
  • Team Selection: June 18th, 2012

If you’re an entrepreneur who wants to start a business on camera, click here to apply.

Domino!: indie game developer Flyclops launches iOS version of a classic

In the world of classic games turned mobile apps, it seems as though every possible game had been digitized.

But FlyClops cofounder Parker Whitney found the Dominoes offering lacking, as Technically Philly reported, deciding that he should just build the turn-based version of Dominoes he’d want to play, himself.

Yesterday, Whitney and cofounder Jake O’Brien rectified the dearth of quality Dominoes situation by launching Domino! an iOS version of the game. In addition to featuring turn-based play with the computer or Facebook friends, the game also has a chat feature similar to popular apps like Words with Friends.

This reporter tested it out and found the experience smooth and easy to understand. The only feature noticeably missing was the ability to make long domino chains and knock them over when it’s not your turn.

The app is free to download in the iTunes store, but if you’d rather play without ad interruption, FlyClops is offering an ad-free version for $1.99.

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