Grow black entrepreneurship: better education, more opportunity and higher profile role models to make technology scene look more like Philly

Bruce Marable is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of Defined Clarity. Photo by Brian Dzenis

When TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien ‘I don’t know a single black entrepreneur,’ the snippet of the fourth installment O’Brien’s “Black in America” documentary set off a firestorm of debate about race in the cradle of America’s tech community, Silicon Valley.

In Philadelphia, among some black entrepreneurs in and around technology, Arrington’s comments were not a surprise.

“Something could be so normal or commonplace that you don’t even know something is wrong,” said Tayyib Smith, the founder of two.one.five magazine and Little Giant Media. “I don’t begrudge him for saying that because that’s how he feels, it just proves the lay of the land in Silicon Valley, so it was a good thing and it got people talking.”

The documentary, which originally aired on Nov. 13 and was screened locally soon after, followed eight black entrepreneurs: their struggles and perspectives in developing investment and user interest in the competitive world of high technology.

“Personally, I think it’s an accurate depiction of what the technology scene looks like, especially here in Philadelphia,” said Bruce Marable, the co-founder and chief marketing officer for Northern Liberties web development shop Defined Clarity. “When I go to any local organization meetings, happy hours or anything going on within the technology community, it’s primarily young Caucasians, some Asians and maybe an Indian person. There’s hardly any African Americans.”

“There’s a lot of times when I’m the only African American around,” he added.

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MacBUS: the Macintosh Business Users Society has talked Apple since the 1980s

Chris Urban, the president of MacBUS, speaks at a meeting held in Connelly Auditorium in the University of the Arts.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

While most tech groups around Philadelphia were founded in the 21st century, the Macintosh Business Users Society, known as MacBUS, has been around since the Macintosh 128K computer in the 1980s.

Once a month, businesspeople, lawyers, engineers or retired persons convene to discuss the latest happenings around the Mac world and exchange tips and tech support from a business angle. The group usually meets the last Tuesday of the month in Center City. Membership is encouraged.

“MacBus was always specifically geared toward business users, it’s not so much for people who used their Mac for drawing, painting or writing, it’s for people using them professionally,” Chris Urban, the president of MacBUS, said. “They were doing pre-press, design, photography and anything else you can imagine using a Mac for professionally.”

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Improv Everywhere: Youtube prankster Charlie Todd speaks at Drexel University [VIDEO]

Drexel University mp3 experiment led by Improv Everywhere's Charlie Todd, a Drexel alumnus. Photo Will Tanksley

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

Since 2002, Charlie Todd has been making a name for himself by starting flash mobs.

Charlie Todd

They’re meant to be the good kind of flash mobs, which Todd organizes as the creator of Improv Everywhere. The prank collective based in the 67th Ward performs large-scale stunts and publishes videos of said stunts on YouTube, where some of his handiwork has received tens of millions of views.

As part of Drexel University’s Comedy Week, Todd visited University City where he conducted an mp3 experiment where some 250 participants performed pre-recorded instructions from Todd as a flash mob-esque stunt. See video from the Inquirer of the prank below.

Todd was brought to the school by student group Urban Playground and its founder Ari Melman, a junior business student at Drexel. It was Todd’s and the group’s first time in Philadelphia, he added.

After the outdoor  Todd, gave a behind the scenes look at how Improv Everywhere got started, how it operates today, and he held a question and answer session with the audience.

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Android Alliance October meetup features Green Life Software, Squiggles and others

Android developers Jason Cox and Corey Leigh Latislaw speak at the October Android Alliance meetup last week.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

The Android developer scene in Philadelphia may be smaller than others, but it’s a community willing to share ideas and tips with one another.

This was the case with Android Alliance’s latest event at the Comcast Center last week. The Android Alliance, led in part by Corey Leigh Latislaw, is a group that focuses on convening local Android developers, who see it as a platform to compete with Apple’s iOS, organizers say.

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Freedom Rings Partnership: what it is and how public-private partnerships fuel its success [VIDEO]

Philadelphia residents prepare for a basic computing class at VICA Technologies LLC at 42nd Street and Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

Elaine Skoczylas said she knows how to type. It’s just the other things that are tricky.

“I’ve never really learned Microsoft Office. I don’t have a computer at home, but I had one in my job that I was using, I really didn’t need to know that other stuff,” Skoczylas said. “I knew how to type on our own system, so I got let go and now I’m trying to apply for jobs and I haven’t applied for jobs in 39 years.”

She’s trying to find a job now and has realized that just knowing how to type isn’t going to be enough.

“That’s why I’m trying to learn this.” she added.

To try and rectify her situation, Skoczylas signed up for a free Microsoft Office training course at VICA Technologies LLC, which is located near 42nd Street and Lancaster Avenue. She was able to take part in the class thanks to the Freedom Rings Partnership, a collaboration between 16 different community organizations, nonprofits, universities and city government officials charged with the mission of giving Philadelphians access to computer technology and the Internet while also training them in its use.

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Podcamp Philly 2011 broadens focus, podcasting joined by more online media

Podcamp Philly registration table seen above. Photo by Theresa Regan.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

Online media beyond podcasting played a large role Saturday at the fifth annual Podcamp Philly, held in the Tuttleman Learning Center at Temple University.

“[The event] started out being focused toward podcasting and video podcasting and has really grown to encompass everything from blogging to social media tools,” Linda Whitney Hoffman, the director of operations for Podcamp Philly said. “It’s about teaching people to share information, not just online media.”

Graphic design, content strategy, business basics and the social media giants all were discussed in multiple sessions, among other topics that don’t directly touch podcasting.

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PennApps: how the University of Pennsylvania hackathon group started and what’s next [VIDEO]

Boris Treskunov, a Penn sophomore, puts the finishing touches on his project in the final hours of the PennApps hackathon on Sept. 18.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

The Dining Philosophers, a student computer science group at the University of Pennsylvania in its third year of existence, has become known for its hackathons.

The group’s flagship is the PennApps hackathon, which kicked off in 2009, was followed up in fall 2010 and this past spring, and celebrate this weekend its latest and largest yet.

The group’s signature competition attracts students from Penn and other local universities to build a piece of software or hardware in 48 hours for a grand prize. The field of participants has become larger with each successive event, welcoming some 180 students this weekend, but the purpose of them has remained the same: to give students an opportunity to learn and build on their skills.

That mission will push forward what the group will become.

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PennApps fall 2011: hacked microwave-driven video player wins $2,500

Varun Sampath, Teddy Zhang and Kevin Conley pose with their winning microwave on stage in the Towne Engineering building on Penn's campus.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

They hacked a microwave.

This was the buzz on engineering quad at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend as a team of four Penn seniors took home the grand prize of $2,500 and a chance to present their handiwork to Google engineers at the company’s New York branch. They had won the 2011 PennApps Hackathon.

The hackathon was a competition where 41 teams of around four people had to build an application between 6 p.m. on Friday through noon Sunday using all the coding and software savvy they could muster.

This was the third year of the twice annual hackathons.

While most groups focused on building apps for mobile phones, the winning team of Kevin Conley, Ben Shyong, Varun Sampath and Teddy Zhang added a hardware element into the mix.

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40% of Philadelphia households without Internet access, says Mayor Nutter: what’s being done

Mayor Michael Nutter and Comcast's David L. Cohen tape an edition of NBC 10's @Issue with Steve Highsmith, discussing access to the internet in Philadelphia and the new 'Internet Essentials' program. Photo by Mitchell Leff for City of Philadelphia.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

Forty percent of, or at least 230,000, Philadelphia households are without Internet access, according to a speech Mayor Nutter gave last week, introducing the Comcast Internet Essentials low-cost web offer to the city.

That disparity is concentrated in very specific areas: for example, just 10 percent of Kensington homes have Internet access while in Society Hill, the number is beyond 90 percent, Nutter said.

When the majority of residents in a given area do not have Internet access, the entire community is at a disadvantage. Web-enabled computers are among the most overwhelmed resources at Free Library branches, as residents seek and apply for jobs, students research and do school work and everyone tries to keep up with normalizing communication patterns.

For years, this divide has been on the minds of both city government and businesses both local and national, and a variety of initiatives have taken root recently.

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Internet Essentials from Comcast: Mayor Nutter, CEO Brian Roberts unveil low-cost internet option [VIDEO]

Mayor Michael Nutter praises the Internet Essentials program from Comcast. Photo by Brian Dzenis

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods program, the capstone class for the Temple’s Department of Journalism.

Internet Essentials, the low-cost broadband Internet program from Comcast, was launched in Philadelphia Tuesday, after first launching in Chicago in May.

Making good on another of the many commitments Comcast made to the FCC in seeking approval of its majority-stake acquisition of NBC Universal last fall, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Mayor Michael Nutter were on hand to officially announce the program at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center in Nicetown. The Internet Essentials program allows low-income families to obtain Internet service at a rate less than what Comcast normally charges.

In addition to Chicago and Philadelphia, Internet Essentials has launched in Georgia, Delaware and Miami.

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