Free Library considering more self-service checkout kiosks

You might soon be able to checkout books using automated self-service kiosks at more branches of the Philadelphia library system.

Library Automation Technologies President and CEO Oleg Boyarsky said that the company has been discussing the possibility with representatives of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

“Because of the economy, the demand for free services that the library provides has drastically gone up, and it’s very difficult to hire additional staff,” Bovarsky said in a telephone interview.

Sandra Horrocks, Free Library of Philadelphia’s vice president of communications and development said that the organization is considering the benefits of more self-service kiosks.

“We have self-service kiosks in some locations, and we’ll definitely want to get more,” she said in a telephone interview. “It’s a service to the patrons. We’re 111 positions down right now through the library system. We don’t expect additional staff anytime soon.”

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Chaka Fattah supports Stephen Colbert’s choice for NASA module

Comedian Stephen Colbert so owes our boy Chaka Fattah.

The U.S. Congressman who grew up in the Overbrook neighborhood in West Philadelphia has gone to bat for the star of Comedy Central show the Colbert Report in his bid to choose the name of a NASA space station module.

Colbert received the highest number of votes in an open naming contest, boosted by his calls for support on his show. Still, NASA has reserved the right to choose its own name, despite the comedian’s choice of “Colbert” getting the most votes.

Fattah is clamoring for justice to be done.

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Technically Not Tech: Open Chefame debuts tonight

Anyone who has ever went drinking with friends has probably stumbled across this exact scenario: someone posits a “wouldn’t it be cool if …” idea to which everyone commits to.

For most people, the excitement of the idea only lasts until the next round, but the creators of Chefame aren’t most people.

Indy Hall co-founder Bart Mroz, Srcasm‘s Jesse Middleton, musician Louis Brice and corporate finance worker Evan Kaplowitz have put their heads together to combine their love of food and karaoke to create an open-mic night for chefs.

Open Chefame (pronounced “Chef-A-Me“) does to food what karaoke does to music. The event takes an amateur chef, and gives them the kitchen of a local restaurant for a night to cook whatever they wish. The amateur chef serves a meal to attendees who are free to comment, praise, critique and heckle the work of the amateur. It may sound like a new reality show on the Food Network, but the pie-in-the-sky idea that began as a joke among friends four weeks ago has since blossomed into a sold out event.

While you won’t be able to attend tonight’s Open Chefame at Langostini Restaurant, the group has ambitious plans about upcoming Open Chefame events.
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Events highlights for the week of March 30 – April 5, 2009

Entrepreneurs are holding the biggest event on our events calendar this week. Join the city’s diverse range of entrepreneurs Thursday night -including more than 40 that have signed up to talk or show off their products – for an evening of thought-provoking business innovation with the Philly Startup Leaders at their Entrepreneur Expo. You’re guaranteed to set that brainstorming into overdrive, and who knows, you might meet the investor that will change your life.

The rest of the week, Bloblive is back and more “open” and “mic”-y than ever. SEO Grail will see what they can do to help get your Web site to the top of Google, but don’t expect miracles, people. Last, the Hacktory‘s Open Hack! is back after complications last month.

Events listed in our highlights are free to attend. Please check our Events calendar for more information and read more after the jump.

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Friday Q&A: RedLasso CEO McGowan and President O’Kane

Last year, to the dismay of bloggers everywhere, the popular RedLasso video sharing service – which allowed users to search, customize, and embed video clips from national networks – was forced to shut down after Fox and NBC filed suit against the company.

On Monday, the Center City-based company announced that it had reached a licensing agreement with Fox Television Studios allowing users of the online video sharing platform to syndicate online customized clips from 27 of Fox’s regional television stations.

Technically Philly sat down with RedLasso CEO Al McGowan and President Kevin O’Kane Thursday evening to discuss how the deal went down, where they’re looking for funding, and what Philly entrepreneur Pat Croce has to do with the video sharing company.

Transcript of interview was edited for length and clarity.

Explain what’s been happening with RedLasso and the recent licensing deal

Al McGowan: When Kevin and I got together a few years ago, we said look, ‘This marketplace is changing. The way people are consuming media is changing. Let’s work with our friends in the media and figure out a way to help solve that problem for them.’ Kevin found some technology and put it on top of media, which allowed them to digitize it and extend the life of that content, especially on the news and information side.

Broadcast goes out on the air and right into the garbage can. Why not capture and digitize it and let it have another life on different platforms, like mobile and the Web. So we designed a platform that allows extending the life of that content to keep monetizing it. That’s the whole basis of RedLasso.

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Emerging Technology for the Enterprise conference rolls into Philadelphia

Unlike the last major expo to roll through the city, the Emerging Technology for the Enterprise conference was all business. The event, presented by Chariot Solutions, had a target audience of developers and IT managers, so serious businessman were rubbing elbows in the lunch line with young 20-something programmers in XKCD t-shirts. If you listened, you heard the names of management philosophies mentioned in the same breath as up and coming programming language, and yet, everybody was on the same page.

The day’s sessions were organized in “tracks.” Two of the five rooms were focused on development and programming. Another room was devoted strictly to topics pertaining to the AGILE development model. Cloud computing and management rounded out the other rooms. Until Technically Philly masters the art of omnipresence, we could only attend a few of the first day panels including the keynote by RedHat’s open source evangelist Michael Tiemann. We were also unable to swing by today for an anticipated keynote by Jascha Franklin-Hodge, CTO of Blue State Digital, which spearheaded Obama for America’s online initiatives. If you were able to attend, be sure to let us know your thoughts in our comments.

Our take on yesterday’s keynote and sessions after the jump.
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a war: Boost Mobile trucks crash Cricket party

It’s on.

Technically Philly reported Wednesday that Cricket had the world’s largest cell phone outside the the Shops at Liberty Place. Yesterday, Boost crashed the party.

Less than a half hour after Cricket’s promotional team set up its cell phone and surrounding activity for Thursday’s lunch-time crowd, a flatbed truck – depicted above – hauling a Boost Mobile advertisement and playing an endless loop of Boost boosting began circling the Market West corridor.

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Lockheed Martin launches rocket, trains foreigners

Two regional subsidiaries of Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, Maryland’s friendly neighborhood military logistics multinational corporation, got good news this week.

Yes, it’s another round of scary regional military tech innovation.

Their Newton-based space systems arm was part of the design and construction of a new global-positioning satellite that was rocket-launched into space on Tuesday, according to a company press release.

That came a day after the company’s maritime systems and sensors firm won a $10.7 million contract from the U.S. Navy, according to another presser.

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World’s largest cell phone can’t compete with obnoxious callers in Center City

We’d normally forward this off to our pals at Ripley’s Believe it or Not, but the geek deep within our hearts couldn’t pass.

Cricket Wireless and Samsung Electronics are at the Shops at Liberty Place showing off the world’s largest cell phone in a promotional campaign for Cricket, after launching its economical wireless service in Philadelphia earlier this month.

Visitors of the giant, freak-cell phone can actually place calls, although we would have preferred if there was someone hiding inside, pretending to take calls, responding with insults, and staying true to the spirit of this fine city.

If the technology behind the device is proportional to its 195 square-foot mass, we’re expecting it to be just as loud and annoying as any caller on a SEPTA train.

If this isn’t enough for you, you can choose to be ridiculed by the entire YouTube community after singing the promotional Cricket theme on camera or compete in a text messaging battle. There will also be other Cricket mobile phones on display—albeit strangely tiny, pocket-sized ones.

The gargantuan phone will be in the city at 16th and Chestnut until Friday.

RedLasso announces licensing deal with Fox, service to return in April

RedLasso, the popular online television video sharing platform forced to close its service last year pending copyright infringement litigation with several major television networks, has been given a major lifeline.

From one of the litigators—Fox Television Stations—nonetheless.

King of Prussia-based RedLasso has entered into an agreement with FTS that will give users of the video service the ability to syndicate licensed content from 27 of Fox’s regional television news programs, according to a press release from both companies.

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