IgnitePhilly organizers ask community to suggest presentations for third event

Have five minutes to spare on Saturday, May 2?

Consider stopping by Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown that evening to catch just one presentation at the next planned IgnitePhilly speaking event. Or take those minutes and give a presentation of your own. The third in a series of Ignites was officially announced yesterday in a blog post written by Geoff DiMasi of P’unk Ave, who says that organizers are currently accepting recommendations from the community for potential speakers, 15 in all, before the May event.

“Are you working on a rad project, have something interesting to say or know someone that is?,” he asks in the post. “We are looking for inspiring speakers that are doing cool things in Philadelphia.”

Ignite gives presenters a chance to fire off the details of their ideas or projects in five minutes or less with 20 backing slides. No sales pitches or shameless self-promotion accepted. Still confused? Just watch the video presentations from the first and the second Ignites. It’ll take much less than five minutes to realize the potential to learn, share knowledge, and grab one of JB’s frosty, craft-brewed beers while you’re at it. Beer may seem like a side note, but its an integral point of contrast to the university lecture setting that the organizers are trying to steer clear of.

We called DiMasi to glean some additional details and found out why he thinks Ignite is 2009′s answer to Fugazi, after the jump:

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Welcome to Comcast Town

Have you seen Comcast Town, yet?

It is part of a new ad blitz from the Center City telecommunications giant that includes commercials, an interactive Web site, a Juno-esque design theme and, yes you guessed it, social networking.

The campaign was designed by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, who are not located in Philadelphia, but San Francisco.

See an entire collection of the ads on AdFreak, or catch the most played one and some more after the jump.

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RevZilla can hardly meet demand after segmenting and interacting with its customers

Like many small businesses, RevZilla had humble beginnings. The company’s original “business plan” was written on the back of a napkin and discussed among three friends who were between jobs.

Two years later, RevZilla.com is a premiere online destination for motorcycle and dirt bike gear and the company is racing to scale with the increase in orders. Recently, the company has redesigned its Web site, implemented what it learned from the past behavior of customers, and incorporated social media tools into its marketing; all from a warehouse in South Philly where it’s located.

“Philly is an interesting town to start a start up in,” said co-founder Anthony Bucci. Bucci believes that the entrepreneurial culture in the city has taken off in the past few years, crediting First Round Capitol and Philly Startup Leaders as examples.

After the jump, learn how RevZilla finds its best customers through Twitter and discover why shoe retailer Zappos has more to do with dirt bikes than you may think.

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WiMAX mobile broadband coming to Philly this year

Clearwire Wireless has announced plans to expand its WiMAX mobile broadband network to eight major markets in 2009 including Philadelphia, according to a press release.

Currently, the service is available in Portland and Baltimore, and offers download speeds up to 4Mbps and upload speeds of 384Kbps. Unlimited browsing starts at $50 per month and on the lower end of its pricing tiers, a 24-hour pass is offered for $10. Clearwire has a number of devices that support its WiMAX network, including a modem for home networks and a USB modem for on-the-go use.

While we’re stoked about next generation mobile broadband access in Philadelphia, WiMAX faces tough competition from Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, another next gen mobile broadband solution. The battle between the two network technologies is the mobile equivalent of Blu-ray versus HD-DVD.

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Friday Q&A: Dr. Mike Steinberg of HouseCall123

After a beta launch at the end of 2008, Insomnia123.com, the first condition-specific Web site from Glenside-based Web start up HouseCall123 went live last month with new features and focus.

Dr. Mike Steinberg, who co-founded HouseCall123 last February, is the public side of the new Web franchise – not a small first foray into the Web world.

“Having my face across the internet is a strange experience,” says Steinberg, who is an assistant professor of medicine at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. HouseCall123 is a small operation of telecommuters that hasn’t focused on profitability, Steinberg says, telling Technically Philly he has “a personal interest in the mission of the project.”

But he is combining Philadelphia’s famed health care sector with its growing tech scene. We like it. Dr. Mike stopped curing what ails us long enough to talk about insomnia, recreating the family doctor house-call visit on your iPhone and why he’s technically Philly.

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Rendell unveils Web site to track stimulus spending

A graph on recovery.pa.gov breaks down how stimulus funds will be spent in Pennsylvania.

On Wednesday, Governor Ed Rendell announced plans to ensure accountability for the distribution of $16 billion that Pennsylvania will receive from the federal economic stimulus package. Gov. Rendell unveiled a new Web site to track how funds are spent, recovery.pa.gov, and said he would appoint a Chief Accountability Officer to oversee the process.

“The Web site we’re unveiling today provides a window to this process for everyone to see. The public will be able to track how every dime is spent and for what project and where. We’re committed to making this an open process for everyone,” Rendell said in a press release.

According to the release, citizens will be able to track expenditures that will be updated quarterly and provide input on how funds are invested. A sample template on the Web site shows that individual projects will be tracked by county, and provide details such as completion status, location, project schedule, dollar value of contracts, contractors, and the number of jobs created and saved. The site will be linked to Pennsylvania’s accounting system.

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TrainLogic.net wants to make your SEPTA experience better

Yuriy Yakimenko isn’t from Philadelphia but the graduate student at Rutgers University has joined a growing class of tech heads in the region who have launched products they say make using SEPTA easier.

There was SEPTA Made Better, then the widely trumpeted iSEPTA, and now Hamilton, N.J.-based TrainLogic.net is celebrating the one-year anniversary of TrainSchedule, an application that can plan train trips on SEPTA and other mass transit agencies on your mobile device.

While SEPTA schedules came online last spring, the Philly version has matured and represents well the site’s mission of hastening the transition of transit to a friendlier, paperless world. Not bad for a student from New Jersey.

“I did all this in my free time, mostly during the winter and summer breaks,” Yakimenko said.

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Indy Hall to expand, add educational element

It’s been just over two-and-a-half years, and things seem to be working out for Independents Hall: the community is thriving, the success of the business model has made Philadelphia a cornerstone for the coworking movement, and the Strawberry Street office is frequently packed with workers.

However, it is that runaway success that has forced Indy Hall to make some tough choices about its future. The coworking company has filled membership to capacity and there are eight more people on the waiting list. In an effort to take the next step, owners Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi called a “Town Meeting” last night to propose their plans to 40+ members of the community packed tight into the Old City office space.

In short, Indy Hall will likely expand into a space that is two-and-a-half times larger than the current offices, and there will be an effort to create an alternative education system powered by the community. See all of the details of the new plan, including the exact location of the new offices, after the jump.

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Can the Philadelphia general interest newspaper thrive with technology?

The news flew through Twitter like the California fire storm that helped bring the micro-blogging utility to mainstream consumption.

Before a newsroom meeting broke, Pulitzer-Prize winning phtographer Jim MacMillan tweeted that the Daily News was being folded into its older, more mature, less fun sister publication, the Philadelphia Inquirer. The message from MacMillan, formerly of the Daily News, was quickly clarified by Philly.com Editor Wendy Warren, a Daily News alumnae herself. Before then though, Inquirer online editor Chris Krewson had cleared the message for anyone who cared.

The Philadelphia Daily News will at the end of March be considered an edition of the Inquirer, though their staffs and competition will remain the same, for now.

Of course, what’s interesting is that the unsettling, if not undercutting, news of the People Paper first came to the masses via the latest fashionable social media, just the type of tool that newspaper executives seem to suggest could save the general interest urban daily. Well, that or kill it.

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Technically Not Tech: Unbreaded

Since Philly blog Unbreaded launched its sandwich crusade earlier this year, co-founders Ben Kessler and Jeff Vogel have been getting noticed by foodies all over the city. CityPaper’s MealTicket sought their sandwich sage, and Phoodie.info served them up a cold dish. When we called Kessler Sunday afternoon, we found that their stake (pun unintended but appreciated in hindsight) isn’t ending in Philly.

The co-founders are attracting interest from sandwich aficionados across the country, and have plans to expand to other cities. Unbreaded was featured on Philly’s Thrillist this morning, and the creators have been chatting with a national magazine editor; about what, Kessler won’t let on. But we can guess the conversation wasn’t about with-Whiz or without.

Kessler and Vogel got the idea for Unbreaded from sites like Digg, where user-submitted sandwiches that test the limits of white bread are popular, and Hamburger Today, a vegetarian’s worst nightmare. They liked what they saw – and not because they were hungry. They decided Philly’s sandwich culture needed a voice. And what better timing? As Kessler puts it, “sandwiches are the ultimate recession meal.”

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