Friday Tech Roundup: The Bulletin trashes Silicon Valley, Wawa on Facebook and More

In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun.

Because that’s what we do best.

• The Bulletin, no seriously, the Bulletin reports on why it would make a lot more sense if the hub of the country’s technology community was Philadelphia, not the Silicon Valley.

• NBC10 reports that the Great Wall of China is as much as 1,000 miles longer than originally thought. The Four Corners landmark, which long offered tourists the chance to be in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah all at the same time was some 2.5 miles off. In both cases, technology proved time-trusted cartography techniques were off, which makes us think maybe Northeast Philadelphia never needed to secede; the maps got it wrong, it was never part of the city.
• The Philly Ad Club reports a Delaware company is helping Wawa brand its best-known items on Facebook. If you send me a hoagie that I can’t eat, I’m pissed. Now that’s a convenience store on its tech — they recently got AT&T on all its IT.
• Bloomberg News reports that Oracle will buy Sun for $7.4 billion. That may not sound like local news, but try to follow this: The Oracle move was seen as chance to garner control over Java, and considering that’s at the heart of its enterprise software products, it means bad news for IBM and SAP, which has Newton Square, Delaware County offices. Rumors are a-blustering that IBM and SAP could hook up, which would, yes, make BI MAPS, cartography for the curious.
• Metro reports that SEPTA is planning on adding its train schedules to Google transit. File that in better late than never.
• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Lawrenceville, N.J.-based Edison Venture Fund has sent $5.6 million in follow-on venture financing to Health Market Science, a King of Prussia company that keeps a database of health care provider information. That makes $17 million of total funding that has exchanged hands.
• AdExchanger.com has a Q&A with InviteMedia CEO Nathanial Turner, and no, they were not on fire this time.
• The Inquirer reports that Center City ain’t getting beaten down as badly as the rest of the country. It might help that the Center City district is following through with a host of projects, as the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. Inqy Business columnist Mike Armstrong was all over Economy League reports on how Philly citywide is faring in the recession.

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