Inquirer launching interactive presentation to commemorate 180th anniversary Sunday

The Inquirer will unveil a special interactive presentation Sunday commemorating its 180th anniversary.

In case anyone forgot why newspapers matter, the Philadelphia Inquirer will give the public a subtle reminder this weekend.

Philadelphia’s paper of record will launch a special multimedia presentation online Sunday to commemorate its 180th anniversary, which Technically Philly was given a sneak preview of yesterday, and which we promised to share yesterday.

According to Inquirer Executive Online Editor Chris Krewson, a team has been working on the project for several months.

“Credit goes to Frank Wiese, our Online Projects Editor, and Cynthia Greer, an artist in our graphics department,” Krewson said in an e-mail statement.

“Frank and Cynthia had collaborated before on the Please Touch Museum interactive book, which won a national Headliners Award for Journalistic Innovation,” he said.

Sure, call us media geeks�But after digging into the special presentation, we’re impressed. Follow the jump for more details of the special presentation, or see it on Philly.com.
Read more

Friday Q&A: Snipi CEO and Founder Andre Golsorkhi

Due to editorial limitations, we’re running our Friday Q&A a day late. Our sincerest apologies.

Three years ago, Midtown Village-based design firm Omeda Design + Technology, led by CEO and Founder Andre Golsorkhi sat down to a brainstorming session that led to an interesting new online shopping tool.

Snipi which lets users share products, videos, photos and more through an attractive drag and drop interface is attempting to finish what Digg and Delicious started: building consumer profiles created by analyzing the gap between customer purchases online.

“Take ‘X’ user, currently looking for a product for a niece or nephew. They buy it, and then what?,” Golsorkhi asks in a telephone interview with Technically Philly. “They’d drop off Snipi and then two weeks later they’d come back looking for the next thing. But they’re not inactive online.”

Snipi launched a public beta in early May and though growth has been modest the company has seen more than 5,000 registrations since, Golsorkhi says it is steady.

For consumers, Snipi is an attractive service, though a bit buggy and still in beta. Its slick interface more than makes up for the hiccups, and with a wide offering of platforms, which include a Firefox toolbar, an iPhone app and more to come, it seems a promising endeavor.

Technically Philly spoke to Golsorkhi to see what the service was all about, what’s in store for Snipi, and why he thinks Philly is a great place for startups.
Read more

Philadelphia Inquirer will launch a paid-content model for Web

5/31/09 – 10:38 a.m.: Updated.

The Philadelphia Inquirer will launch a paid-content model on its Web site before the end of the year, according to a commemorative online package that will appear Sunday.

Philadelphia’s paper of record will debut the special multimedia presentation on Philly.com to commemorate its 180th anniversary, which Technically Philly was given a preview of today.

See our sneak peek at the project here.

The presentation includes a news story attributing the mention of paid content to Brian Tierney, Philadelphia Media Holdings Publisher and Chief Executive. Further details about the plans were not provided.

Inquirer Executive Online Editor Chris Krewson could not confirm the time line or the decision, but said that Tierney has spoken publicly about the possibility.

“In the past three months it’s been pretty clear from Brian’s statements that there will be a move to paid content on the Internet,” Krewson said in a telephone interview with Technically Philly.

“It would not surprise me at all to see us do something with paid content by the end of the year.”
Read more

Technically Philly now easier to reach than your mama’s kitchen

Excuse this brief station message.

We heard the suggestion and went shopping. So you can now reach Technically Philly by our Twitter handle, TechnicallyPHL.com, and, if you’re way lazy, you can also now use TPhilly.com.

Get at us:

• TechnicallyPhilly.com
• TechnicallyPHL.com
• TPhilly.com

And while you’re at it, get an RSS subscription here, follow us on Twitter here and learn about reading us on your mobile device uninhibitedly here.

This domain addition was spurred on by some advice from the community. We’re better for it. So, if you have any advice — even a half-baked idea — let us know about it by dropping a line here.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Friday Tech Links: Archer Group is tracking eyes, the city’s radio system upgrade 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. See others here.

Wilmington, Del.-based Web marketing and design firm the Archer Group is using new-age computer-user tracking systems to see what you’re looking at. That’s the same Delaware company that recently helped Wawa brand its products on Facebook.

As the Web has matured and its users have too, the group’s “Eye-tracking Usability Lab” is meant to give its designers insight into how computer users, with years of Internet-browsing behind them, are digesting the Web today, as Delaware Online reported. [Full Disclosure: Sean Blanda loves Delaware].

It’s what you’ve heard before: freaky pinpoint infrared sensors that follow eye movements as they bounce from whatever the tester spots. Get the deets and what Archer is doing with the work at the full story.

After the jump, Bussiness Week reports that one of one of our own seed-stage investment firms is saving venture capital, the city’s emergency radio system with Motorola isn’t “reliable” and seven other tech stories you need to read — including our best read story of the week.

Read more

Two IndyHall software projects featured in MacUpdate bundle

Does anyone get a little nostalgic when it comes to bundled software?

In the 90s it meant getting 25,000 games packed onto a CD or a complete reference library from researchers you never heard of: Mayo Clinique? Not so much.

But last night at midnight when MacUpdate announced its $49.99 Mac OS X spring promo bundle, it meant being able to grab licenses for two local Macintosh development projects along with nine other professional applications on the cheap.

Like, a $470 discount.

Included in the package, alongside well-known apps like Parallels Desktop 4 and Tech Tool Pro 5, is Old City’s own Multiplex and RipIt applications. By themselves, the companion DVD applications cost $53.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: How you can sell your Web product, fighting for $0 and More

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup.

Get your business plan ready.

In a bruised economy that has made kingmakers of those with spare cash, Sam Schwartz, who oversees mergers and acquisitions for Comcast’s digital group, told Peter Kafka of Media Memo that he’s shopping.

“I’m ready for pitches,” he said, in the interested video interview, which you can see below.

While previous purchases, like Fandango and Daily Candy, may have had technology motivations, Schwartz may be eying sites with large unique traffic in general. So what’s your idea?

The Media Memo video interview, the fallout from Comcast’s agreement with the NFL Network, why Comcast is threatening to cancel someone’s cable over a bill for $0 and four other Comcast stories you need to know to ace the test, after the jump.

Read more

South Philly’s Stoya: adult film it girl on DOS, social media and leaving Philadelphia

Adult film star and tech head Stoya in a South Philly cafe. Photo by Neal Santos. See more of his work at NealSantos.com.

It could be her, standing in the low light of a trendy South Philadelphia coffee shop.

There are maybe 10 people — drinking tea and working on laptops — most of whom are cute, pale-faced women with dark hair and a look. One arrived promptly at 4 p.m. and happened to be the biggest young thing in the entirety of mainstream adult film.

She was introduced as South Philly’s Stoya by CityPaper last November, but with more than six years of this city behind her and the heart of a profitable and exhausting porn career ahead of her, Stoya is leaving Philadelphia.

And she’s taking her Twitter account, T-Mobile G1 phone and MacBook Air with her. But the “Goth Girl Next Door,” who has catapulted to among the top names at porn powerhouse Digital Playground, says she isn’t a nerd — she was just raised one.

Read more

Four Philadelphia ‘inner-city’ companies called nation’s fastest growing

Stroll’s company mission is nothing short of bold. They want to bring their customers products that are capable of “transforming” their lives.

And the audio-book Web retailer, which saw its revenue triple from 2004 to 2007 and ships mostly self-improvement merchandise, is doing it from 12th and Callowhill.

For that, Stroll is getting some congratulation. Along with three other Philadelphia companies, it was named to the 11th annual Inner City 100, a competitive ranking of the fastest-growing companies located in the “inner city” of a U.S. metropolis, last week. See what constitutes an inner-city here.

Only Denver and Boston, each of which had five companies headquartered there, were better represented. See the complete list here [PDF].

The list comes from the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1994 by a Harvard Business School professor. The organization’s mission is to promote economic prosperity in U.S. inner cities through private sector engagement leading to job, income and wealth creation for local residents.

Read more

RJ Metrics makes a rap video and admits it

Jake Stein at left and Robert Moore at right of business dashboard firm RJ Metrics performing in their "Business Intelligence" rap video.

And now for something totally different.

You may be tired of the ironic rap video — we know we are — but sometimes an old idea can pass. Does this?

Jake Stein and Robert Moore, the two Ivy League-educated entrepreneurs behind the business intelligence dashboard RJ Metrics that opened up shop earlier this month, have broken from their cipher and put business on wax.

Stein, who lives in Center City, sings the hook and plays straight man to Moore in their single “Straight Outta Camden,” noting their recent move to the Rutgers University-Camden tech incubator.

Peep the video and score an exclusive download after the jump.

Read more