Comcast launching Skype video calling for $9.95 month [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 an email subscription for our weekly Comcast roundup or other news updates.

• Comcast’s NBC Bets on Comedies to Boost Last Place Schedule [Bloomberg]
• Comcast’s Non-Denial Denial On Traffic Prioritization And Net Neutrality [TechCrunch]
• Comcast fires back over Xfinity TV on Xbox 360, says no way, no how it’s violating net neutrality[Engadget]
• Comcast Launching Skype Video Calling for $9.95 a Month [PCmag]
• Shots fired: NBC Sports Net shoots back at ESPN’s Skipper [NBC Sports] — “The simmering rivalry between ESPN and the new NBC Sports Network is flaring up a bit.”

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“55,000 people have visited ElectNext over the past three months:” Mashable

Mashable covers DreamIt graduate ElectNext, the OKCupid for political candidates (which recently hired a Code for America fellow):

The idea is simple: First, users are asked to pick three issues that are most important to them. Choices include immigration, abortion, foreign policy and nine other categories. Next, users have to answer at least 10 additional questions to find their political matches — the more questions answered, the more accurate the results.

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UberPhilly passcode to get $26 toward 1 ride you take this weekend in Philly

Lavar Burton, at left, with his Uber driver last weekend.

In celebration of Lavar Burton, of Reading Rainbow fame, using Uber locally last weekend, the on-demand car service that has soft launched in Philly is sharing a discount code with Technically Philly readers.

• Use the code “UberRainbow” and get $26 towards 1 ride you take from Friday through Sunday at 5pm in Philly.
• When using the Uber mobile app or the SMS tool, use the code and summon a driver.

More from the Uber blog here.

PublicStuff: NYC firm with Philly ties wins long-delayed city 311 app contract, due Labor Day, with real-time API

The City of Philadelphia has chosen New York City-based PublicStuff as the vendor to produce its long-delayed 311 mobile application, and its release will include a real-time API.

The deal is a $18,000 one-year contract and is scheduled for an initial release by Labor Day.

Why choose a NYC shop for a Philadelphia project? Two reasons, says city 311 project manager Tim Wisniewski: PublicStuff, which has a client list of more than 110 smaller cities, “provides the most intuitive user experience of all the apps we tested” and no Philadelphia firm applied.

“The company was chosen through a competitive process by a working group comprised of representatives from the Office of Innovation and Technology, 311 and the Managing Director’s Office,” said a city press release, noting that four proposals were originally received. Typically, all city contract work must be posted online, though if no local firm applied, a hole in communication between the city and a technology community may be gaping.

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Comcast will sell ‘substantial’ equity stake in A&E cable network [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 an email subscription for our weekly Comcast roundup or other news updates.

• Comcast to Sell ‘Substantial’ Equity Stake in A&E [Bloomberg] — “Comcast’s NBC Universal entertainment business exercised an option to sell a “substantial” portion of its equity in A&E Television Networks, owner of the Lifetime and History cable channels. “
• Senator Al Franken questions Comcast on Xbox 360 [TG Daily] — “Comedian-turned-Senator Al Franken wants the FCC to look into the way Comcast is offering streaming video on the Xbox 360.”
• Comcast offers ESPN via iPhone, iPad [Inquirer] — “Comcast Corp. made available to its cable-TV subscribers the WatchESPN service for iPhone and iPad devices, part of the TV Everywhere initiative.”
• 7 ways Comcast is killing the cable killers [Gigaom]

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Aweber developers discuss ‘return on integration’ and Kanban project management [VIDEO]

Huntingdon Valley-based email marketing company AWeber Communications aimed to put on display its 40 person development team during the second annual Philly Tech Week presented by AT&T.

As a member of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Aweber staff took root in a Chamber conference room on South Broad Street to host two conversations on its work, followed by a Happy Hour at Center Ciy microbrewery Nodding Head. Fortunately, the firm filmed both presentations.

[Full Disclosure: Aweber was also a Philly Tech Week sponsor.]

First, above, marketing manager Nick Moore talks to 20 attendees about how AWeber has focused on ‘return on integration,’ or funding its application development. Next, below, Ethan McCreadie and Philip Cristiano discuss with 35 attendees AWeber’s use of Japanese project management system Kanban.

KinderTown: app store for kids expands ages, doubles users

Launched in November from DreamIt Ventures co-founder Steve Welch, news from KinderTown, the curated app store within the app store for kids, hits TechCrunch news:

KinderTown, the startup behind the educational iOS app store for parents (and honestly, a personal fav) is expanding its focus today. According to feedback from its users, the number one complaint was that KinderTown wasn’t available for older children. Now that changes, as the service will bump up its supported age range from 3-6 to include children ages 7 and 8 as well. To kick off the launch, 125 new apps aimed at older children have been added to service, and more will be added every week.

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Bootstrappers Breakfast: Mike Krupit of Novotorium brings national meetup to Philadelphia

The kickoff Philadelphia Bootstrappers Breakfast at Elephant and Castle in Center City during Philly Tech Week

Entrepreneurship and investment need not be inextricably linked.

That’s something of the bailiwick of Mike Krupit, the seasoned suburban entrepreneur who is now the general manager of Langhorne-based incubator Novotorium.

Krupit kicked off the Philadelphia Boostrappers Breakfast with a chatty group of 30 entrepreneurs at Elephant and Castle in Center City during Philly Tech Week. The meetup will take place the fourth Tuesday of every month — next time will be May 22 — and the first had a waiting list, so get it on your calendar.

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Uber Philly: on-demand car service soft launches with ‘Rider Zero’ Josh Kopelman

First Round Capital managing partner Josh Kopelman, who invested in Uber Philly, is the service's first local rider today. Photo provided by Uber.

Fast-growing Uber, the on-demand car service that lets users nab rides using SMS or its mobile apps, has soft-launched in Philadelphia today.

To quietly kick off its local research mode — where it rolls out cars and finds a local charge rate for its dynamic pricing — the team had First Round Capital managing partner Josh Kopelman, who invested in the service, serve as its first local user. Philadelphia will be the ninth city.

Sign up here. Download the app here.

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Sheltr.org mobile add-on, LGBTRights.me star at ‘News’ Hackathon during Philly Tech Week

In 1979, then-Inquirer reporter Tom Ferrick was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Three Mile Island disaster. Last Saturday, the respected columnist was part of a hackathon project.

Six projects made it to the judging phase at the end of the fourth annual BarCamp NewsInnovation, which like last year again featured a hackathon focused on informing communities, particularly underserved ones.

A mobile add-on to Sheltr.org, a web resource for accessing Philadelphia social services that had been built at a previous hacakthon, won top prize and was built by Azavea developer Adam Hinz.

More than 40 developers and journalists worked on tools that had a mobile focus and a news spirit. The hackathon happened conterminously with BCNI, which welcomed 120 reporters and news media thinkers from throughout the East Coast.

Check out the participants below and photos of the event on Facebook here.

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