U.S. Census Begins Releasing Raw Data | Development Seed
via U.S. Census Begins Releasing Raw Data | Development Seed.
Archive for February, 2011
Rob McCord, Pennsylvania state treasurer: Philly is one of country’s two best low-cost entrepreneurship spots
Rob McCord, your Pennsylvania state treasurer, wants you to have empathy for him.
Just about the highest ranking Democrat in state politics has an easy laugh and a friendly manner. But, he says, if you’re going to describe him, you ought to start first with his entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurs ought to stick together.
Since 1994, McCord, 51, served as a senior executive at Safeguard Scientifics and founded the Eastern Technology Fund. He co-founded Pennsylvania Early Stage Partners and, from 1996 to 2007, he led the Eastern Technology Council [Official bio here].
Gaming the Gaming Board
In recent weeks, McCord won a landmark case that ordered the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to allow treasury office representatives to sit in on their.
“The public service rendered by this is that I can see there are lawyers with the gaming board who are trying to keep outside eyes out, and there are members on the gaming board who appear to be trying to hide something or they wouldn’t have tried so hard to keep me out and my designee,” McCord told Technically Philly.
He’s a venture capitalist in background, a Harvard kid and a Wharton grad by education and now he’s in his first term safeguarding $120 billion in public funds. In that role, McCord is offering the office up to his base – whom he describes as “job-creating, technology-orientated entrepreneurs”– for advising, investing and as a potential client.
If nothing else, he thinks the Philadelphia technology community ought to know who he is. If only because he grew up on the Main Line, invested in tech businesses here and, well, because when it comes to statewide representation, Philadelphia could use a friend.
Fortunately, McCord is swearing by the position for now, despite prognostications to the contrary that suggest he is a sure bet to run for governor.
“I love being treasurer. People who watch me will know, it looks a lot more fun to be treasurer than in Congress, which was another option,” McCord told Technically Philly. “I plan to run for reelection [in 2012], and I do not take it for granted. So I’m obsessively focused on the treasurer’s office.”
In between calls on his Blackberry, McCord met with Technically Philly in a crowded Cosi in Bryn Mawr to talk his background, how he could have a big impact if only he had a billion dollars and illiquid assets.
Why more are calling Philadelphia home and other Links
- Phila. Soul says theirs is first mobile website in AFL [Philadelphia Business Journal] — See it here
- Why more are calling Philadelphia home [Inquirer] — A column from former Newsweek deputy editor Julia Baird
- Philadelphia 2nd annual Global Game Jam recap [Geekadelphia]
- Rendell to advise investment bank [Philadelphia Business Journal] — Fast Eddie has another new job, this one with Greenhill Investments
- Bursting Onto the Scene: Philadelphia’s Burst Online [Geekadelphia] — With the Center City gaming company
- CfA Hosts Lab Day in Philly [Vox Populi] — The Code for America fellows are in Philly (more on that next week), and today are hosting an event at IndyHall
- GPTMC launches its new Philly Te Ama online video series and social media campaign. Check the first video below, featuring Square 1682 Executive Chef Guillermo Tellez
Fox Chase Cancer Center begins posting clincal outcomes data
Philadelphia Business Journal on a data-driven sales pitch from the Fox Chase Cancer Center:
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:
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.
GOPromos Promotional Pens – GOPromos has great promotional items, like custom envelopes, for you to use with your company or for personal use. Get great products to give away!
OpenDesks – OpenDesks.com lets you monetize unused workspaces – a cubicle, a conference room, an office or a seat in the lunchroom – as long as there’s somewhere to sit and work, you can post it. Join OpenDesks.com‘s Founders Circle today for a low-cost lifetime membership.
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.
Empowerkit MLM Software – Empowerkit roots are in Philadelphia where it started as a company. It creates websites for Franchisees through powerful software solutions.
Optimized Cable Company – OCC is a distributor of high end electronic cable products, at a much lower price than most physical storefronts. Pick up some HDMI cables for your upcoming football parties today!
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.
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.
JT. Ramsay: “People need to get past ‘Rocky’ to see what Philadelphia really has to offer”
Introducing the Why I Love Philly campaign from Young Involved Philadelphia and Indy Hall. Tell the world why you love where you live by tweeting #whyilovephilly.
JT. Ramsay didn’t grow up in Philly like his father. Yet…
He has a fun, internet-based job with a big media company in Center City. He has a wife. He has a kid. He roots for both Philly baseball teams. And he owns a home in Philadelphia — no, not in the region, but in that Port Fishington neighborhood east of Frankford, north of Fishtown and south of Port Richmond.
For all the Exit Interview series insights, it was high time to note why somebody with a graduate degree from a Manhattan university would be toting a 19-month-old to the Memphis Taproom.
Ramsay, 33, Comcast’s Chief Blogger, seemed like a logical place to start.
Comcast joins Time Warner Cable over streaming content: Roundup
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 ane-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.
- Two Hints at Stepped-Up Media Rivalry in Online Streaming [New York Times] — In addition to the rumored Netflix-themed Amazon product, “Comcast and Time Warner announced an unusually comprehensive pact on Tuesday that covers the online streaming of channels like TNT, TBS, CNN and the Cartoon Network.” More from paidContent and the Comcast blog.
- NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke Drops Comcast COO Title [The Hollywood Reporter] — A move to show his focus on NBC
- Comcast’s Xfinity TV now streaming video to iPads [CED Magazine]
- Comcast Spent $4.2 Million on Lobbying in 4Q [ABC News]
- NBC Sports Execs to take prominent role in combined operations with Comcast [AP: Winnipeg Free Pres] More on sports restructuring from LA Times and Bloomberg
- Hoping Xfinity brand connects [Denver Post] — With regional customers there. H/T Philly Tech News
- Millions in Comcast Settlement Will Be Distributed to Customers [KEZI 9] — “As a result of a class action lawsuit settlement with Comcast, Oregon Comcast customers will be eligible to receive compensation for erroneous late fees. It is estimated that 500,000 people will receive a notice on how to file a claim to receive a portion of the money. Up to $23 million will be distributed to current and former Comcast Customers.”
- Comcast to feature videos of missing children [Crime Scene: Washington Post]
- Comcast Back-Burners SDV (Again) [Light Reading] — ‘Switched digital video’ for managing bandwidth.
Git Hacking, LaunchRock and Art Evolution: Philadelphia Startup Weekend’s three winning projects
Various teams at Philadelphia Startup Weekend finish up after 50 hours of working on projects at the Corzo Center. Photo by Sarah Schu
The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods Program, the capstone class for the Temple Journalism Department.
In a large, open, light and airy concourse in the University of the Arts Corzo Center on South Broad, more than fifty people stared into computer screens and nodded silently to their team members seated around small tables.
It is 50 hours into Philadelphia Startup Weekend, a 54 hour networking event that brings together software developers, graphic designers and businessmen and women. While Start Up Weekend is first and foremost a networking event, attendees are also encouraged to build applications and websites in order to form a tool for the masses and in turn a
credible business.
“This event is really about seeing smart people come together and create,” said Clint Nelson, a member of the judging panel, before teams presented their final products to a room of over a hundred attendees.
Startup Roundup: Startup Weekend edition
Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup parses 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 newsletter or RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.
MUST READS
Lots of news from what appears to have been a rather successful Startup Weekend, a report on which Technically Philly is expecting soon from our own reporters. A few thoughts from Melih Onvural: it was inspiring, energetic and fun. The startups stretched from art apps to parking spot finders, and much more, Onvural wrote. PhillyInc’s Mike Armstrong also made an appearance, noting that MealTik, LaunchRock, WishGenius, GitHacking, all demonstrated business models on Sunday. There were even Phillies tickets for a prize. Don’t miss our coverage, here.
Over at IndyHall, a game development-specific hackathon went on, the second annual Global Game Jam. Geekadelphia has the scoop.
Viridity Energy, which is working on a pilot project with SEPTA to store regenerative energy from train brake systems, raised $14 million in a series B investment earlier this month, TechCrunch reports.
And Aria Systems, based in Media, has raised a $20 million fund with InterWest Partners, Hummer-Winblad and Venrock, bringing its total funding to $34 million, TechCrunch reports.
Read more
What is Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank’s City of Philadelphia legacy?
Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank at the opening of Philadelphia Technology Park, a new technology firm creating 25 new jobs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Copyright City of Philadelphia. Photograph by Mitchell Leff.
No last-minute, top-level transitions of strategy or resources will need to be made today in the Division of Technology.
Today is the final, official day in which Allan Frank will serve as the City of Philadelphia’s first cabinet-level Chief Technology Officer, but the transition will happen quietly. After all, even though his leaving was only announced in November, Frank says his interim successor Tommy Jones, whom we interviewed last week, has been learning the big lessons since taking the deputy role at the end of 2009.
What will happen today is the official start of describing what the legacy will be for the first public leader of technology in the history of Philadelphia.
Frank served the city for two and a half years. He welcomed in an ‘unprecedented’ five-year, $120 million IT budget that is now being funded and oversaw the beginning of city IT consolidation, network infrastructure upgrades and serious moves toward releasing new data for third-party developers. But very little was actually accomplished, his critics cry: a pound of conversation for every ounce of completion.
“Technology touches every part of Philadelphia,” Frank says. “So let the people talk.”
So while Frank points to three primary accomplishments — that broad five-year, $120 million Digital Philadelphia vision, successful applications for federal broadband stimulus funding and the infrastructure improvements — others suggest Frank was more talk than action on all and many other other accounts.
Is Allan Frank the great initiator or the great procrastinator of technology in Philadelphia?
