Philly regional entrepreneurship lagging, says annual Kauffman study

The Philadelphia region is home to the fewest, least confident entrepreneurs of the country’s 15 largest metro areas, according to an annual report [PDF] on new business ventures from the Kauffman Foundation.

New business formation increased nationwide in 2008, mostly for the “lowest-income potential” startups, according to a press release from the Kansas City organization.

The survey does not include only tech-related ventures, but all new launches.

National entrepreneurial activity has remained steady in each year of the 12-year-old study, despite the status of the economy, as Wall Street Journal blog Venture Capital Dispatch reported.

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Editorial: City government calls for tech support

Allan Frank, city CIO

Here’s a test.

Just how innovative and influential, forward-thinking yet practical is the technology community in Philadelphia? Because you’re being challenged.

We’re still reeling from a presentation that Allan Frank, the city’s chief information officer, gave at a meeting of Refresh Philly Monday night.

The Nutter administration is investing $100 million during the next four years into city technology, including a complete overhaul of Phila.gov, as he told 75 mostly professional, tech-savvy 30 and 40-somethings in a modern, white-walled conference room on the 45th floor of the Comcast Center yesterday.

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isNSFW shortens URLs for pervs, actually makes work safer

If you must send that naughty link at work, at least use protection.

Toad Software, a software consulting agency based in virtual offices outside Reading and in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, has created a get-out-of-jail free card for soliciting thin-skinned co-workers with dirty Web sites behind shortened URLs.

Well, kinda.

isNSFW is a URL shortener that allows users to submit links and classify them by four levels of obscenity: offensive, gore, nudity and XXX (pictured above).

“Everyone’s doing these URL shortening services, but you have no idea what you’re going to when you click one. You have to rely on the person,” Co-founder Eli Gassert says.

“We wanted to provide a URL shortener but give them a heads up, a professional courtesy, if it’s not safe for work.”

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City CIO’s $100 million Digital Philadelphia vision

PhillyCHI chair Dave Cooksey and human-computer interaction PhD holder Kellie Rae Carter open Refresh Philly session before city CIO Allan Frank takes the stage.

The Nutter administration will invest $100 million during the next four years in city technology, according to plans unveiled tonight by Philadelphia Chief Information Officer Allan Frank.

How they will is far less clear.

Frank unveiled his vision for a Digital Philadelphia Monday evening in front of a crowd of more than 75 members of the Refresh Philly design and developer community, as rain mist drifted past wall-length windows on the 45th floor of the Comcast Center.

The CIO hopes to employ a strategy that would procure federal broadband stimulus dollars to fund a longterm initiative overhauling the city’s technology infrastructure and its Phila.gov Web site.

“I basically want to blow the damn thing up,” he said to members as they clapped in support.

Frank said he’ll be open to input from the Philadelphia tech community leading up to a rough deadline to submit a proposal for federal stimulus dollars on August 15.

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Ignite Philly 3 photos

Photos from Saturday’s Ignite Philly 3 held at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown. We recommend viewing the photos in their natural habitat on Flickr. Click on the photo for the caption.

Photos by staff writers Sean Blanda and Christopher Wink.

Technically Not Tech: Joystiq

It may seem that Joystiq is located in some fancy tower in some far-off city with a staff of a dozen writers. After all, the blog is owned by the largest media company in the world, is the 18th most popular blog on the Web and is one of the largest video game blogs in the world. And, as one look in Google Reader would tell you, they produce a boat load of breaking news, reviews and industry rumors that put traditional video game media outlets to shame.

But Joystiq is the result of a team of telecommuters from all over the world led by Philadelphia’s own Christopher Grant, who plugs away at the site in his Fishtown home with the help of his staff. Two staffers, Ben Gilbert and Dave Hinkle, live in and around Philadelphia as well.

While most large multi-author blogs do not have a true “headquarters,” Philadelphia has long had its impact on Joystiq. The man who Grant replaced and the site’s first editor, Vladimir Cole, was a graduate student at Wharton.

We chatted with Joystiq’s Editor-in-Chief about his climb to the top of Joystiq and found out who was lucky enough to receive four boxes of free video games from him.
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21st century Abraham Lincoln iPhone app and Web site

Updated 5/7/09 10:43 a.m.

The allure of Abraham Lincoln, graffitied brightly with wispy hair on a wall in Houston is startling.

The 16th president was born more than 200 years ago, but he continues to take new 21st century forms.

The Rosenbach Museum and Library has launched an Abraham Lincoln iPhone and iPod Touch application as part of its 21st-century Abe project, according to a press release from the half-century year-old historical organization in Rittenhouse.

The app is said to be the first by a Philadelphia cultural group.

The Bobble Abe app, which is available for free in the iTunes store, personifies old Abe as a bobble head that can be shook by users, along with humorous Lincoln aphorisms as recorded by Northern Liberties comedy theater company 1812 Productions, with actor Nathan Holt as the voice of Abe.

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Events highlights for the week of May 4 – May 11, 2009

Can you be in ten different places at once on Tuesday to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

Sure you can.

While this week’s events are weighted on Tuesday when ten local tech organizations will celebrate the Mexican holiday, there’s some exciting things happening the rest of the week.

Don’t miss the city’s Chief Information Officer Allan Frank tonight at Refresh Philly. While we know philly.gov phila.gov has a few, uhm, design issues, take it easy on Mr. Frank. He has feelings too, you know.

Tuesday’s a mouthful. Say it with me now: PANMA, Philly ALT.NET, Philly PRSSA, Philly Net Tuesday, Ideablob, Philadelphia SPIN, Central New Jersey Drupal meetup, Philadelphia Standards Organization. Phew! That’s a lot of Philly (and a little bit of Jerz).

Tinker with the Hacktory‘s Open Hack! on Saturday or learn a little Cocoa with the launch of IndyHall-U. While we don’t normally include paid events on our calendar, Technically Philly is watching the launch IndyHall’s new education center.

All this week’s eventy-goodness, after the jump.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.
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Ignite Philly packs Johnny Brendas … again

Ignite Philly 3 packed Johnny Brenda's to near-capacity.

Edit: Added and edited links.

On a beautiful clear night in May, listening to a lecture is the last place many people would want to be.

Tell that to the 250 people crammed into Fishtown bar Johnny Brenda’s for the third Ignite Philly. The kinda-sorta biannual event featured sixteen presenters lecturing on topics ranging from making our power grid smarter to music made by laptops to a camp that teaches young women how to form a rock band. And that’s without mentioning Viddler’s proposed cure for male-pattern baldness.

The Ignite format gives speakers five minute slots where their twenty PowerPoint slides must rotate every fifteen seconds. The result makes it hard for any presenter to belabor a single point, and audience members get a taste of a vast array of topics in a short time span.

After the jump we hand out some awards, give a small hint of the 45,276 pictures we took and tell you how comedian Mitch Hedberg was involved.
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BCNIPhilly Roundup

A week ago today, Technically Philly co-sponsored its first event, BarCamp NewsInnovation Philadelphia.

We were all glad to see members of the Philadelphia community out, and we thank those of you who volunteered your time to help keep the event running smoothly. To see the world’s reaction to the event, head on over to the official BCNI Philly page for a running list of all of the blog posts, photos and videos.

Technically Philly presented on starting a community-based niche news site and offered tips on how attendees could start their own. We talk about why we love Philebrity, why being part of the community you cover is important, and our plans to make this our day job.

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