Critical Path Project gives Internet access, e-mail, hosting for HIV/AIDS community

Bert Pannapacker used to be a business owner, but everything changed in August 1999, when he was diagnosed with AIDS. He went to Philadelphia FIGHT’s Lax Center, where he could be treated for free.

“I was a client since November 1998, and I still am,” Pannapacker said. “I still see my healthcare provider here.”

In 2004, Pannapacker began work as a part-time filing clerk for Philadelphia FIGHT’s AIDS Library. At the time, he had never touched a computer. Pannapacker took the computer classes offered in the AIDS Library to learn the basics. Today, he works as an administrative assistant and counselor at Philadelphia FIGHT. He uses a computer every day.

“Nobody knows everything about HIV,” said Pannapacker. “I try very hard to know as much as I can because I’m dealing with people who may have no information at all about HIV when they’re diagnosed.”

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Drexel to provide 5,000 laptops to PHA residents

In mid-September, the Freedom Rings Sustainable Broadband Adoption Partnership, a coalition of non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, private businesses and government organizations, was awarded an $11.8 million grant to increase Internet access in Philadelphia.

The grant was awarded to the SBA Partnership by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration through its Broadband Technology Opportunity Program.

On January 17th, 2010, Martin Luther King Day, the SBA Partnership will launch its services.

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DesignPhiladelphia gets technical with the Hacktory and Electronic Ink

Design is everywhere.

The clothes we wear, the cars we drive, and the buildings we work in all incorporate design in one way or another. In a society that has become increasingly dependent on cell phones, iPods and laptops, design is becoming a vital component of these and many other technologies.

Electronic Ink is an international design consultancy that is dedicated to improving the way users interact with technology by focusing on improving their design.

The firm has partnered with DesignPhiladelphia, an initiative created in 2005 to further the creative advancement of technology in Philadelphia and to showcase the city as one of innovation and vibrancy.

For 10 days, DesignPhiladelphia, which is partnered with the University of the Arts, is holding events, lectures and round table discussions to create opportunities for people to interact across a vast range of design categories.

“With 110 events happenings over 11 days, there’s really something for every type of interest,” said Beth Van Why, the programming director for DesignPhiladelphia.

Electronic Ink took part in the kick-off party on Oct. 7 at The Design Lot on South Broad Street to help celebrate the start of DesignPhiladelphia’s sixth year. The event played host to a few different exhibits, including the West Philly Hybrid X Team car, designed by high school students in West Philadelphia and Illuminating Graffiti, a LED light project created by The Hacktory.

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New Café Proves Seniors Can Be ‘Techies’

Members of the Philadelphia Senior Center help themselves to snacks at a VIP ceremony on Sept. 24.

This story is completed in partnership with Temple University’s journalism capstone class Philadelphia Neighborhoods. Students Tracy Galloway and Maria Zankey will cover technology issues through December.

Luvenia Black, 88, says the Philadelphia Senior Center is like her second home.

She wakes up every day and rushes to get to get to the Senior Center at Broad and Lombard streets “like it’s her job,” and has been doing so for 22 years. She participates in classes and even serves on the center’s eco-active Green Team.

But there’s one thing Black doesn’t do – use a computer.

“My daughter has tried to get me to do do it,” Black said, “but I just say I’m not interested. I don’t have a computer at home.”

Still, Black said she “promises to try a computer soon,” thanks to the Senior Center’s new GreenBean Internet Café, which officially opened Sept. 20 and held a VIP celebration on Sept. 24 for seniors.

The opening of the café, which also featured renovations to the center’s dining hall, unveiled 10 new laptop computers with Wi-Fi access to accommodate to the 55-and-older seniors who congregate in the cafeteria for more than 45,000 meals a year.

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Human Network Labs working on mobile social networking products at Enterprise Center

Human Network Labs CEO Carlos Garcia with interns Shu Wen Yang and Natalie Chew.

This story is completed in partnership with Temple University’s journalism capstone class Philadelphia Neighborhoods. Students Tracy Galloway and Maria Zankey will cover technology issues through December.

In the basement of the Enterprise Center, located at 45th and Market streets in West Philadelphia, Shu Wen Yang and Natalie Chew are working on a new technology that could transform the meaning of social networking.

Yang and Chew are interning for Human Network Labs, a company that has developed a new technology for localizing persons and objects without the use of the Internet.

“Human Network Labs has come up with its own technology and it is something really different from other companies that I’ve seen so far,” said Yang.

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