12 iPhone apps by Philadelphians, for Philadelphians

Great news for all the iPhone-addicts out there: Philly’s ever-increasing number of techies has been up to more than just taking up all the seats at your favorite Wi-Fi café. They’ve been busy developing truly Philly-centric apps, from the genius (SETPA travel, local concert information and traffic reports) to the just-for-fun (zombie braining and saving kittens).

Some of these Philly finds may take a little digging through the app store, and with tens of thousands of apps to choose from, who has time for all that? Well, we do! Get those downloading fingers ready for these 12 awesome iPhone apps by Philadelphians, for Philadelphians.

Read the rest at Philly Post.

Disclosure: Trainboard, an app on the list is one of Technically Philly’s sponsors.

$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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Event Highlights: August 8 – August 13

With 15 events on Wednesday and Thursday alone, this week’s events calendar is likely too full for even the most ravenous tech junkie.

If you want to save a little time for other things (you know, like sleep), you may want to pick and choose this week. To help you out, we’ve chosen three events you won’t want to miss.

We’ve built up your anticipation, and DreamIt Ventures Demo Day is finally here. Check it out on Wednesday, along with the first-ever Philly WordPress Meetup. Then join Philly Startup Leaders on Thursday for their first annual TECH Cocktail Philadelphia.

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Event Highlights: August 1 – August 6, 2010

If you can manage to pry yourself away from the gut-wrenching saga that is the 2010 Phillies, this is a great week to be out and about in the tech scene.

This week stretch your creative muscles at the Guitar Effects Study Group on Monday, learn to “connect the dots” with social media at Philly Net Tuesday and chat about venture capital at the Philadelphia Union game on Thursday (a little break from baseball may be good for your sanity, anyway).

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StartupCorps helps city youth launch restaurant, record label

We already know that Philly is a hot spot for new startups, but we may see a whole lot more entrepreneurial action in the coming years, thanks to StartupCorps, an emerging youth entrepreneurship program.

Finishing its first academic year in June, StartupCorps has given away $3,500 in startup capital to Science Leadership Academy students, says founder Christian Kunkel.

Kunkel, originally from Harrisburg, has always had Philly in his blood, and when he dreamed up the idea for StartupCorps, he knew just where to take it.

“I’ve always been a Philly fan, and I moved to the area with the explicit intent of executing StartupCorps,” Kunkel says. “Historically there have been so many problems in the Philadelphia education system. Now they actually have a lot of innovative things going on, and there is a lot of flexibility to grow the program.”

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Event Highlights: July 25 – July 30, 2010

Before you begin contemplating popping the cap off of a fire hydrant, consider this week’s tech events calendar. This week is packed with events you won’t want to miss. Although we can’t promise anything, there will likely be free air conditioning, too.

This week get the low-down on what’s hot and new in Mac on Tuesday, check up on the folks at Hive76 on Wednesday and join Technically Philly at the Supernova Forum 2010 on Thursday and Friday.

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ShareUrMeal gives back with every click

The next time you watch someone at a restaurant whip out a cell phone to take a picture of their meal don’t be so quick to roll your eyes, it could be for a good cause.

The person might be using ShareUrMeal, a Philadelphia-based service that allows users to post picture of meals. For every picture shared, one of ShareUrMeal’s sponsors donates one dollar to hunger relief causes through the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“As people lose their homes they lose their kitchen tables,” says founder and Philly-native Devon Perry. “I really like the idea of neighbors helping neighbors, and, through ShareUrMeal, you can help your neighbor by simply sharing a picture of your dinner and at the same time stay grateful for the food you have.”

The idea for ShareUrMeal blossomed out of a Perry family tradition, and sharing snapshots has become a mealtime habit for over 300 ShareUrMeal members since the site launched in October of last year.

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Event Highlights: July 19 – July 24, 2010

Summer is in full swing, Philadelphia. In the whirlwind of carnivals, neighborhood barbecues and family vacations, don’t forget about this week’s events calendar. It’s chock-full of events you won’t want to miss and deciding which one to attend is tricky, so let us help.

We have your busy summer schedule in mind, dear reader, and we’ve chosen this week’s top three events to ensure you’re always in the loop. Kick your week off right with a summer bash hosted by Philly Startup Leaders. Then, chat about social networking and get all your health insurance questions answered.

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TicketLeap and Social Media, a match made in heaven

In the highly competitive world of online ticketing, it’s often the little things that set a company apart.

This is no news to Chris Stanchak, CEO of the rapidly growing Philly-based ticketer TicketLeap.

When he founded TicketLeap in 2003 as a student project, Stanchak had a vision of providing professional-grade ticketing for events too small to attract the attention of ticketing giants such as Ticketmaster.

Since then, the company has saved bicycling in Philadelphia, raised capital and has completed a drastic redesign of the company’s homepage and changed its business philosophy.

“Before [the redesign] we were focused on being a destination site for people trying to find tickets to events near them,” says Stanchak. “But with everything happening in social media, the idea of a destination event website is kind of going away.”

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Event Highlights: July 5 – July 11, 2010

It’s back to the daily grind after a weekend of barbeques and fireworks, but the good news is there are plenty of great tech events to move your week along.

You’re in luck if you’re taking a long holiday weekend, as most events are later in the week. As always, there is some overlap, and since you can’t be in two places at once, we’re here to help get the week’s agenda together.

This week, finally get your podcast off the ground, brush up on your PHP and learn how to ask for money.

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