Thanks to our weekly sponsors

Technically Philly is made possible by advertisers and sponsors that are important to Philadelphia’s technology community. This week we’d like to thank:

Springboard Media – Springboard Media is a certified Apple Specialist and retailer based in Center City and now, in Exton. They’ve got a ton of accessories and a great trade-in program that can score you up to $1,500 when you’re ready to upgrade.

Volpe and Koenig, P.C. — Since 1987, intellectual property boutique law firm Volpe and Koenig has provided guidance on matters relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, e-commerce, technology joint ventures, non-disclosure agreements, technology acquisitions, licensing and litigation. Whatever your intellectual property law issue… Volpe and Koenig bring law to your ideas.

Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce – The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to promoting growth and economic development, advocating for sound public policy, and serving its members with outstanding programs and benefits. GPCC is the premier advocate of the region’s business community, representing members in 11 counties across three states with one voice.

Caffeine Fish – Caffeine Fish develops the Trainboard iPhone app and offers iPhone development consulting in the Philadelphia area.

Towerstream – Towerstream is the leading 4G service provider in the U.S. and is setting up shop in Philadelphia. Contact Towerstream to find out how, in less than a week, you can have first-class 4G service for your business.

Eight Eleven – The folks at Camden-based Eight Eleven do it all. Branding, communications, marketing, advertising, Websites, Web content management, user-experience (Web & software) and public relations. And they also do it for a lot of tech companies, of all sizes, to boot. Heck, they even customized a media kit just for you. Hit ‘em up.

NextFab Studio — NextFab is a membership-based, high-tech workshop and prototyping center. Our facility provides comfortable, clean, and safe workspaces with hand tools, 3D printers, computer controlled machine tools, software, and electronics workbenches. Expert instructors and a community of collaborators are on hand to help you problem-solve and achieve your vision. NextFab Studio has everything necessary for you to invent, repair, create, and innovate!

Interested in joining these organizations and individuals in supporting Technically Philly? Check out our ad packages and contact our Ad Sales Manager. Can’t find something that fits? We’ll customize a package for you.

Frank Eliason formerly of @ComcastCares talks customer service and moving on

In the pantheon of social media, Frank Eliason is certainly something of a celebrity.

He was the start of a social media craze from Comcast, chasing down and responding to online complaints from customers. In the history book of social media, Eliason, who popularized Twitter handle @ComcastCares, will be among the forefathers of the movement.

After beginning in September 2007, his role was buffeted with a team of Comcast tweeters and blog readers and outreach specialists.

Nearly as well known as complaints about Comcast service were the signs of that Eliason’s team was listening. It was a strange juxtaposition, an attempt to move a mountain of negative perception with a relatively small team of persistent web-based professionals.

And Eliason was at the start of what has become accepted as the norm.

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DreamIt Demo Day: more photos and videos

The crowd disperses after the conclusion of Demo Day.

Sitting in the front row, Technically Philly took lots of photos and video that didn’t quit make it into our post yesterday.

After the jump, see over 40 more photos and seven presentation videos.

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Links: NuPathe goes public, more on Code for America

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that biomedical startup NuPathe, whose CEO and founder Jane Hollingsworth we interviewed in September, has made its company public and plans to move on selling its migraine patch in 2012.

Urban Omnibus has a Q&A with Jennifer Pahlka, the founder of Code for America with whom we spoke in April about Philadelphia’s project.

The Philadelphia Business Journal also has a story on a legal battle between lawyer Arthur Alan Wolk and legal blog Overlawyered.com.

Every Friday morning, we make sure you didn t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

DreamIt Demo Day 2010: And the winner for best company is…

DreamIt Partner Steve Welch introduces Mind Snacks

This was no ordinary graduation.

Their summer over, the 14 companies incubated in DreamIt Ventures no longer have the luxury of seed money, free office space and daily mentorship and must now strike out on their own. Despite the celebratory nature of Demo Day, the work of the 2010 Dreamit Ventures graduates has only just begun (read more about each company in our three-part Demo Day Preview series).

But first, each company was given seven minutes to present its business models, team and funding needs to a packed house of investors, entrepreneurs, lawyers and others with the hopes of netting investment, more customers or advisers. Each company then fielded a small number of questions before handing the microphone over to the company next in line, making the presentations move like DreamIt itself: quickly and efficiently .

A chart detailing which DreamIt companies are at revenue (click to enlarge)

If there is a theme to DreamIt’s class of 2010, it’s the use of social media to add transparency to industries that badly need it. Giveloop adds accountability to donations, Vozeeme helps truckers fulfill inventory through an open bidding process and Easel uses the web to connect tutors to students, to name a few.

But with 14 companies, it can be tough to keep track of all of the presentations. So, as per tradition, Technically Philly has a few awards to hand out. After the jump, see who had the face the toughest crowd, which company necessitated ”your mom” jokes and, of course, our pick for best company.

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Comcast Roundup: Partnership with Blockbuster, net neutrality ‘trap’ and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• Zatz Not Funny reports on Comcast’s deal with Blockbuster to partner on DVDsbyMail to, you know, send DVDs by mail, and TechDirt wonders why.
• The New York Post reports that the FCC is readying a ‘net neutrality trap’ for Comcast.
• The Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez reports that Comcast has already spent $90 million on lobbying, advertising, lawyers and other costs pushing for approval of their acquisition of NBC.

Below, four months in prison for hacking Comcast, the most expensive rowhome purchase ever and more.

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Comcast COO makes most expensive Philly rowhome purchase ever

Comcast COO Stephen Burke is the new owner of the 8,120 square foot, brick rowhome that is blocks from Rittenhouse Square Park and has been heralded as becoming the most expensive such purchase in Philadelphia history.

Our friends at Brownstoner Philadelphia were the first to push out that the $5.85 million closing in May was marked as the city’s priciest. The 1817 Delancey Place property is listed as being owned by Stephen and Gretchen Burke, the COO’s wife, according to a 2009 Forbes profile. Another source confirmed on background that the new owners are the Comcast Burkes.

Burke has developed a reputation out of the proposed takeover of NBC Universal, as it has been asserted that Burke would help lead the uniting of the two companies and, as Reuters put it back in December, everybody loves Burke, even Warren Buffet.

In 2009, Burke’s total compensation package rang in at nearly $34 million, including a $2.3 million base salary, a $3 million bonus and $10 million in stock awards, according to Forbes.

In June, Burke’s boss, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, made news by reportedly looking at Manhattan real estate. It’s nice to see Burke keeping it local.

$500K award could lead to jobs, spike in green building

A worker learns how to retrofit a home at the Knight Training Center.

Thanks to a recent federal block grant and a $500,000 award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Philly green building industry is gearing up for a huge boom, meaning new jobs, an increase in manufacturing and a boost in the local economy.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors gave $500K from the Wal-Mart Foundation in June for the Philly Gears Up for the Green Economy program, designed to prepare high school students and incumbent workers to enter the green workforce.

Walter Yakabosky (photo credit: The Philadelphia Business Journal)

In collaboration with the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA), training will be provided by the James L. Knight Green Jobs Training Center in Fairhill, which is already one of the region’s leading trainers in weatherization and retrofitting, energy auditing and construction safety.

The city was awarded millions of stimulus dollars last year through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program that, among other things, will provide monetary incentives to property-owners looking to retrofit for increased energy efficiency.

These big incentive bucks will translate to an explosion in demand for certified workers, and certification will be much more attainable for many workers thanks to the Wal-Mart Foundation award.

“We are going to see a scramble for certified workers,” says Walter Yakabosky, Director of Training at the James L. Knight Green Jobs Training Center. “I just met with a contractor today who has expanded his business. He has to get his current work-force certified, and he needs to hire and train 15 additional people.”

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Startup Roundup: Vuzit goes social, WizeHive giving away $250,000

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

WizeHive is giving away $250,000 worth of accounts after Google announced that it is shuttering Google Wave.

Vuzit is going social. The company announced DocuPub yesterday, which provides better integration for social media framworks, it says.

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Local DeVry locations join in national open house for tech jobs

Kelley Taptich, senior director of admissions at DeVry University’s Fort Washington Campus, gave a presentation on career-focused degree programs offered at DeVry University that prepare students for in-demand career fields at the University's National Open House event held in Fort Washington, Pa., on August 7th.

These days, it seems it’s all about those growing career opportunities.

On Saturday, Devry University locations in Fort Washington and Center City were part of a national open house program focused on healthcare technology and information services careers, industries where job growth is projected.

In Fort Washington, the school offered 50 students and adult learners the chance to meet with faculty and staff around its college of engineering and information sciences program, organizers say.

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