PA Tech Awards deadline extended to tonight at midnight; Vote [Links]

• Organizers tell us that the deadline for nominations for the PA Tech Awards, which we covered last month, has been extended to midnight tonight. Vote Philly!
• Spot the most defibrillators in Philly, win $10K! [SciStarter -- An interview with Penn Prof. Raina Merchant, who is behind the effort we covered
• Hedger pausing on print [New York Post] — Randy Smith, who owns nearly a third of the company that publishes Philly.com and the newspapers, is trying to sell, reports the paper. More from Poynter.
• SAP will add 500 jobs in Newtown [Delaware County Daily Times]
• AstraZeneca to cut 7,300 more jobs amid fourth-quarter profit drop [Inquirer]

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InterDigital stocks tumble after soaring after acquisition talk [Links]

• A look at Cipher Prime’s ‘Splice’ [Inquirer] — Geekadelphia’s Eric Smith pens a column
• New Jersey man turns campaign stint into software success [Inquier] — “Together they spent 20-hour days devising a social-media tool – a “game-changer,” the nonpartisan New Organizing Institute has called it – that maximized efforts by the campaign’s field offices and led to the prodigious get-out-the-vote initiative that proved key to Obama’s success.” On NationalField from Aharon Wasserman.
• Open Question to our Readers [Hive76]

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New location for NextFab Studios, computer center in Frankford [Links]

• Soapy: an even better anti-SOPA browser plugin [boingboing] — From West Philly’s Griffin Boyce
• NextFab Studio is expanding from University City to a second location on Washington Avenue in South Philadelphia, NakedPhilly reports.
• Mayor Nutter Opens New Computer Center [City of Philadelphia] — in Frankford through Philly Rising program
• Former FM ‘pirate’ works to change rules [Inquirer] — an FCC win for Prometheus Radio
• The Final Buzzer [Philly Sports Daily] — the nearly year-and-a-half old daily local sports site is closing its doors
• A City Is A Startup: The Rise Of The Mayor-Entrepreneur [Tech Crunch] –No direct Philly mention

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Novotorium accelerator in Bucks County welcomes first company, Zuppler [Links]

• Top 10 in 2011 Philly public figures with most entertaining Twitter feeds [Metro]
• Software helps identify anonymous writers or helps them stay that way [Bits: New York Times] — Coverage of the Drexel research we reported on here.
• Novotorium accepts first tenant: Zuppler [Philly Tech News] — The Langhorne accelerator has accepted Zuppler, the restaurant e-commerce platform, as its first company

Joystiq’s Fishtown editor Chris Grant is leaving [LINKS]

• Nurturing a nascent video game industry in Philadelphia [NewsWorks]
• This Is Philly [Hidden City] – The 2012 Maskar Philly Calendar and Almanac shipped. We covered the effort last year.
• Azavea app for travelers finds nearest emergency rooms [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Thomas Scientific gets $12M laboratory supplies deal with military [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• This is a Goodbye Post [Joystiq] — Fishtown’s own Chris Grant, who has kept one of the country’s best known video game blogs rooted in Philadelphia, is moving on to other challenges.
• Exton-based Scala sees 20% growth in 2011, fine tunes leadership team for future growth [Philly Tech News]

SEPTA fifth most mentioned transit agency in country in December [LINKS]

• Twitter holiday travel info graphic [Mashable] — SEPTA was the fifth most mentioned transit agency in the country in the lead up to the big holiday travel days.
• Geek of the Week: Greg Lobanov, Young and Talented Game Designer [Geekadelphia] –  Drexel student Greg Lobanov
• Topping Off the Year [GSK blog] — GlaxoSmithKline puts in place the final steel beam in their soon-to-be Navy Yard headquarters
• Philly area IT consultant’s post on Forbes creates controversy [Philly Tech News] — Suburban consultant Gene Marks had a lot of push back on a Forbes column he wrote about recommendations for poor urban blacks.
• As has been reported widely this week, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have decided to not pursue an acquisition of DT’s T-Mobile mobile network after the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against the companies for antitrust issues.
• 3rd Ward Philadelphia coworking space announces restaurant RFP [3rd Ward] — Says the coworking space due to open this summer: “We’re looking for qualified restaurateurs who’ll help us create a vibrant cultural hub in this great neighborhood. The selected restaurateur will get up to an $80,000 capital improvement budget, a private entrance, indoor/outdoor seating and storage, and a built-in audience of 3rd Ward Members, students and guests,” said spokeswoman Jessica Tom.

Video by Skout Media.

Aide who made iOS game poking fun at School District may be fired [LINKS]

• City should be more open about property-tax values data [It's Our Money: Daily News] — More on developer Tim Wisniewski’s PhillyAddress.com, which was built at April’s Philly Tech Week hackathon.
• School aide who helped Ackerman’s secret projects now expects to be fired [Inquirer] — The same school aide who built this critical ‘Teachers of Philly’ iOS game.
• Cheaper way to deal with the waste heat at data centers? [Inquirer] — A Villanova research team is looking into more efficient ways of cooling computer processing
• Three Pennsylvania Universities Receive Awards to Bridge the Funding Gap  [Business Wire press release] — “Lehigh University, Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University were each awarded $200,000 in the fourth round of the University City Science Center’s QED Proof of Concept Program”
• New Co-Working Space Opens at Science Center Port Business Incubator [Business Wire press release]
• geekadelphia.com/2011/12/13/science-cheerleaders/ Science Cheerleaders: NFL & NBA Cheerleaders Turned Scientists  [Geekadelphia] — on the Science Cheerleaders group we’ve told you about
• Roving thermographer records evidence of heat loss from Philly homes [NewsWorks] — On the Mark Group, as we’ve covered in the past
• Philadelphia Technology Park Partners with Sunesys to Expand Connectivity Network in Southeastern Pennsylvania Region [Business Wire press release]

Drexel, Penn, Swarthmore college presidents among nation’s best paid [LINKS]

• Phila. Sustainability Workshop tries to reinvent the high school [Inquirer]
• Entrepreneurs Flock to last month’s Rutgers Entrepreneurship Conference [Philly Tech News]
• Internet Access and the New Digital Divide [New York Times]
• How the Internet Is Ruining Everything [Bits: New York Times]
• Area university heads among best paid [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Deadly streets: mapping road fatalities [PlanPhilly]
• Cipher Prime’s Fractal [Game Impressions] [Geekadelphia]
• Science Center opens the Bullpen for startups [Philadelphia Business Journal]

AJ Daulerio named Gawker editor [LINKS]

• What does Philadelphia spend? [PhillyDeals: Inquirer]
• A to-do list for city commissioners [Philly Clout: Daily News]
• Rob Stuart, 49, Phila. activist [Inquirer] — We sadly missed this, but the Center City activist, famed for lobbying for creating the Schuylkill River trail and consulting on nonprofit uses of technology, died at 49 last month. More here and here.
• Churchville native @AJDaulerio named new editor of @Gawker Being replaced @Deadspin by Tommy Craggs. [PhillyGossip on Twitter]
• Go Crowdless: Philly’s Neiman Group Making NYC Less Aggravating This Holiday Season  [Geekadelphia]
• Philadelphia Schools Invited to Exclusive Online Dating Website [Geekadelphia]
• Geek of the Week: Brad Guigar, Graphic Artist & Webcartoonist [Geekadelphia]
• Motorcyclist dies after crash at racetrack [Courier Post] — Michael A. Moore, tech lead and principal for Vanguard
•  Service Provider Offers TLM Application to Efficiently Manage Workforce [Press release] — “SaaShr.com Announces Partnership with ATR Systems”
• PHA to auction individual vacant properties [PlanPhilly]
• Forbes Names WebiMax One of America’s Most Promising Companies [Webimax]
• MRP Concert: New music and new sounds from a piano [LocalArtsLive]
• New Guinness World Record Holders: Biggest cheer for science! [Science Cheerleader] – In Trenton
• EDITORIAL: Pennsylvania crackdown on online sales tax sure to backfire [Lehigh Valley Live] — H/T PTN

AppsLabs founder Sashi Reddi seeking young engineers for software testing roles [LINKS]

• AppLabs founder Reddi back on startup scene in Phila.  [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Urban Outfitters Losing Investors With Failing Fashions [Bloomberg]
• Geek of the Week: Adam Schmidt of Drink Philly & Nation [Geekadelphia] — We told you about the nightlife blog’s expansion to other markets here.
• Peapod now delivering noms in Philadelphia [Geekadelphia] — Online grocery shopping by way of Giant, have supplies delivered to your home.
• CITY OF PHILADELPHIA TO COLLECT DELINQUENT TAXES FROM PENSIONERS [City of Philadelphia blog]
• QlikTech holds its first Analyst Day in New York [Philly Tech News] — “Radnor-based QlikTech, the rapidly growing Business Intelligence software vendor that went public in the summer of 2010, went to New York this past Thursday to hold what it called its first annual “Analyst Day” for people in the financial community who follow the company”

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