Women entrepreneurs and technologists: a growing community more welcomed here than Bay Area, other tech hubs [VIDEO]

Kate Krauss, a sometimes entrepreneur, has been involved in startups in both San Francisco and Philadelphia and says the tech scene here is more welcoming.

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.

Kate Krauss did not anticipate getting involved in technology when she moved to Philadelphia 15 years ago. When she started working in communications for a friend’s Bay Area startup this past year, she noticed how female-friendly the Philadelphia tech community is compared to that of the male dominated tech scene in Silicon Valley.

Having lived in San Francisco for 10 years directly prior to relocating to Philadelphia, Krauss said she has seen a difference between the two cities and the way they treat the technology community.

“It’s not just the groups that are focused on women, it’s the whole community in Philadelphia that is really different,” Krauss said, suggesting that comes from a feminist attitude ingrained in the city years ago.

“It comes from friendliness and a charm that we have here in Philadelphia, and it kind of sends a mutual aid that I think comes out of our Quaker background. Whether you’re Quaker or not, it’s in the air here,” Krauss said. “We have hundreds of years of tradition of egalitarianism, and it influences everything we do. It’s in the water, it’s in the air, and it’s in the startup culture.”

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ElectNext CEO and Princeton grad Keya Dannenbaum: smarter voters make smarter communities

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.

Too many voters feel overwhelmed or unprepared to cast ballots on Election Day, so they either choose candidates randomly or never vote at all.

This was Keya Dannenbaum’s concern that fueled the idea behind ElectNext, a startup that was formally launched at the TEDx Philly event Tuesday at the Performing Arts Center at Temple University. Technically Philly first told you about the DreamIt Ventures startup, but now that the dust has finally settled on Philadelphia’s latest municipal election, we thought it worth hearing more.

Featured by TechCrunch and NewsWorks, ElectNext is a website-based matching platform that helps voters vote well down their ballot.

“People go out to vote, and they know who they want for president, or whoever is at the top of the ticket, but they walk into that ballot booth and they are confronted with a ballot three pages long, filled with people and offices they have never heard of,” said Dannenbaum, the startup’s CEO and founder.

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Play Eternal waiting on major release to become first AAA video game studio in Philadelphia, VGI update

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.

Mike Worth and Lou Tranchitella realized the need for a big-budget video game studio in Philadelphia, and in February, co-founded Play Eternal.

Now they’re just waiting for their big break.

The duo, along with more than a dozen other members of their team, have a prototype in the hands of major publishers to fund what could be on Xbox Live Arcade or the Sony Playstation Network. If that, or another of a handful of major projects come through, a nearly three year effort to build out the city’s video game development culture will reach another height.

There are steps to go, but the movement has inched forward since early 2009.

With the growth of Worth’s Videogame Growth Initiative movement and a local technology community here, along with excellent video game development programs at Drexel and Penn, the absence of a “Hollywood-level quality” shop, called a AAA studio, seemed unwarranted to Worth and Tranchitella.

“There are studios in lots of different states, there’s no reason for it not to happen here. Philadelphia seemed like a great place to do this,” Tranchitella said. “The technology is here.”

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Corey Leigh Latislaw: co-founder of Android Alliance and advocate for women in technology

Corey Leigh Latislaw is the co-founder of the Android Alliance group. Latislaw is a Mobile Software Engineer at Comcast Interactive Media and believes women should play a larger part in the tech scene. 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.

As Corey Leigh Latislaw sat at a table in a small coffee shop near Rittenhouse Square surrounded by her laptop, phone and tablet, it was evident that technology plays a huge part in her everyday life.

Latislaw is not only a Mobile Software Engineer for Comcast Interactive Media, but is also the co-founder of Android Alliance, a meetup geared toward getting local Android developers to gather together and share ideas.

“[I] realized the need for a meetup in the area,” said Latislaw, a Tallahassee, Fla. native who moved to Philadelphia with her husband after working for Cisco Systems in Knoxville, Tenn. for two and a half years. “This emerging market didn’t really have anywhere for people to collaborate, to share, to make new apps together.”

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Gamification is best for ‘influencing and impacting behaviors:’ Wharton panel event

Gamification panel, from L to R: Frank Lee of Drexel Game Program, Margaret Wallace of Playmatics, Ethan Mollick of Wharton Management Department, Jesper Juul of NYU and Eric Goldberg of Crossover Technologies. The first Gamification event at UPenn's Wharton School on October 3. The panel talked about the issue of gamification and what it means for the future of businesses. 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.

Gamification has become a topic of much discussion when it comes to the meaning of the word and its existence outside of video games. So much that it commanded the attention of an engaged audience at the Wharton School Monday.

“[Gamification is] basically the idea of adding gameplay elements, including badges, levels and points, to business websites, marketing and other initiatives that aren’t really about games,” said Nathan Solomon, the founder of Philadelphia Game Lab, a nonprofit group in the works that is aimed at creating a collaborative space for local creative minds.

This Gamification event, co-organized by Solomon and celebrated Wharton Professor Kevin Werbach, welcomed students, game developers and those who are interested in gamification to discuss the issue with talks led by a panel of five who gave some insight to whether or not gamification will work, or if it will hinder the productivity of businesses.

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GrownManTV: vodcasting duo takes serious turn for energy healing Reiki [VIDEO]

Juan Vasquez sets up audio equipment in Kelly's home before filming a short, humorous video about Reiki. 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.

Fueled by the minds of two quick-witted friends, GrownManTV has provided the Internet world with comical videos through its website and YouTube channel since 2005.

Ryan Kelly and Juan Vasquez, a well-matched pair of friends, are the brains behind the operation. Kelly, who lives in Exton, Pa., and Vasquez, who lives in Fishtown, met while in high school at West Chester East.

Kelly, now 29, said that Vasquez, 28, could get him out of class with the excuse that the two had projects to film. They would film intros for the school’s news channel, and some short comedy sketches.

“A lot of people knew about [Kelly’s] wild personality, and it worked out that I had these film classes, so we filmed some sketches. We had a positive response to it, so we kept doing that little by little,” Vasquez said.

Kelly and Vasquez agreed the main reason GrownManTV was started is because they wanted to make themselves and their friends laugh. But a new venture of theirs will take a slightly more serious note: educating the world, in their own unique way, of energy healing Reiki.

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Ignite Philly 8: women take the stage, money goes to Hybrid X

Ignite Philly gives organizations a chance to share ideas, and spark a flame of inspiration in all who attend.

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.

As Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown began to fill up with people last night, an excited buzz filtered through the venue.

The eighth Ignite Philly event was set to start just minutes later, and the amount of energy and enthusiasm shared by the more than 200 attendees was already at a high.

It’s something we’ve seen there before. Seven times before.

Just after 7 p.m., emcees Dana Vachon, David Clayton and co-founder of the Philadelphia Ignite branch Geoff Di Masi took the stage to kick off the event and set the mood with their lighthearted, quirky attitudes.

“We’re here to celebrate everything that’s good in Philadelphia,” DiMasi said.

As has become our tradition, we hand out some playful awards below and offer the full set list.

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