Center City fire forces Invite Media out of hiding

Last night’s fire in Center City did more than gut the first floor of a Chestnut Street office building, it launched online advertising startup Invite Media out of hiding.

Co-founder Nat Turner garnered some national attention from the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital by tweeting during last night’s fire on the first floor of Invite’s office building. Turner also posted regular Flickr updates of the blaze, far surpassing coverage in the local media, which, as best as I can tell, was non-existent. According to Turner, the entire first floor of the building is gone. His company, located on the 3rd floor, was spared any heavy damages.

The company’s Web site states that Invite’s goal is to “analyze and optimize online display advertising” and the company is “currently in stealth mode.” Something tells me stealth mode is no longer an option. Calls made to the Invite office were not returned.

Study: Ben Franklin Technology Partners funding creates more tech jobs that pay better

Local technology entrepreneurs should give serious thought to dialing up Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology Partners. According to a study released Thursday, early-stage tech companies funded by the network from 2002 through 2006 generated 5 more jobs each year and paid 33 percent better than similar companies who were not funded.

Given common job market fluctuation, the study also factored the duration of jobs created and concluded that 10,165 job years were generated over that time. That’s 10 job millenia, if we’re doing our math correctly. On average, funded companies paid $54,509 per year, while non-funded companies paid a meager $41,019.

Technology Partners is filling a void. Nationally, the total percentage of venture capital being distributed to startup and early-stage companies has remained relatively stagnant at approximately 20 percent since 2002. BFTP’s funding network has invested in 500 companies and institutions in Pennsylvania between 2002 and 2006, and the majority of funds went directly to entrepreneurs, and early-stage and established companies. [Pennsylvania Economy League via Philadelphia Business Journal]

Could Philly increase the city sales tax?

Photo by Christopher Wink

The City of Philadelphia is on, like, round eight or something on budget cuts.

There was the $1 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2009 that Mayor Michael Nutter introduced in November. Oh yeah, and there is another $1 billion shortfall looming for next year and spread for the next five years, Nutter says. He says the city needs to cut spending by $200 million.

That, you know, or we could raising the local sales tax rate.

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Comcast rolling out faster Internet speeds, but not in Philly

Comcast, our friendly neighborhood telecommunications giant, has announced it is rolling out faster Internet speeds, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

As you might expect, the Center City-based company is starting its transition from broadband to what it calls wideband in the heart of Philadelphia — South Jersey.

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Semiconductor company Ciclon sold to Texas Instruments

King of Prussia-based Guggenheim Ventures, the venture-capital arm of financial-services firm Guggenheim Partners, announced today it has sold Ciclon Semiconductor Device Corp. to Texas Instruments for an undisclosed total, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Ciclon, which is based in Bethlehem, makes semiconductors that aim to allow computers to use less electricity. Texas Instruments is based in Dallas.

Photo courtesy of Qdev.de.

Art mash-ups with The Hacktory and NEXUS/foundation gallery

On Thursday, NEXUS/foundation for today’s art will partner with The Hacktory to unveil “Unintended Uses,” an exhibition showcasing more than a dozen artists’ art/tech mash-ups. It wasn’t easy. The artists set to hacking, sawing, wrecking, and Frankensteining video games, electronics, kinetics, musical instruments, motion sensors, paintings, computers, circuitry and public spaces.

Our witty, nearly non-sensical preview of the show, along with the where and when‘s, after the jump.

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TracFone launches free cellular service to low income individuals in Pennsylvania

TracFone Wireless has launched a government-supported program to provide free mobile telephone service to low income households throughout Pennsylvania. Individuals qualifying for TracFone’s SafeLink Wireless service will receive a free cell phone, emergency mobile access and 68 minutes of air time monthly for one year. The service is currently being tested in Philadelphia and Delaware counties.

SafeLink is provided in part by Lifeline, a program founded by the FCC that provides discounts to qualified individuals for landline and cell phone service plans. Although government administered, the program is not funded by federal tax dollars. Contributions are paid by telecom carriers that collect a Universal Service Charge from all cell phone customers. SafeLink applies the subsidy to free wireless minutes for customers and pays for mobile handsets itself.

The service will be available to more than 260,000 eligible participants in Philadelphia and Delaware counties. Berks and Bucks counties have not responded to repeated requests for emergency compliance as mandated by the FCC. Although Montgomery and Chester counties are compliant, there has not been an announcement of immediate availability in those counties. [via philabustr]

Technically Philly: a soft launch

Welcome to Technically Philly, a blog covering the community of people who use technology in Philadelphia.

We’re launching in response to the Philadelphia region’s maturing Web-based creative economies. We aim to cover the trends, the news and the people that affect and the events that include this growing technology community. We will publish daily with updates, profiles, reviews and listings and follow technology-involved social organizations, venues, venture capital companies, start-ups, design firms and media in the broad region.

If you’re one of those, please contact us.

We want to be a portal for the Philly tech scene. Help us make it happen.

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