Fred Wilson: we invested in DuckDuckGo for the ‘Internet anarchists’ [LINKS]

• DuckDuckGo Cooks Google’s Goose: Analyst [CNBC] “Weinberg is founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo, the itty bitty, Valley Forge, Pa.-based search engine that is becoming the business and finance search tool of choice. That, by the way, rewrites entirely the rules of what constitutes a threat to an online business.”
• Fred Wilson: We invested in DuckDuckGo for the Reddit, Hacker News anarchists [VentureBeat]
• Mapping Vacant Properties to Make Quicker Sales [Atlantic Cities] “Now the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) has come up with a package of tools it hopes will make the long, involved process of buying vacant properties easier for developers and residents. They recently enacted a series of policies with the goal of making the sale of publicly owned vacant properties easier. As part of the initiative, they created an online map (above) of city-owned vacant properties which includes a way to get the buying process started more quickly.”
• Philly Ranks a Low 41 on Forbes List of Best Cities for Tech Jobs [Citybizlist] “Cities that significantly lost their luster, falling to “roughly the national average,” included Philadelphia, which slipped to No. 41, and New York, which ranked No. 33.”

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RJ Metrics analysis of Google+ finds waning activity, engagement [LINKS]

• Exclusive: New Google+ Study Reveals Minimal Social Activity, Weak User Engagement [Fast Company] “Larry Page recently called Google+ the company’s “social spine.” If that’s the case, then Google‘s backbone might be much weaker than Page has been letting on, at least according to a new report from RJ Metrics. This week, the data analytics firm provided Fast Company with exclusive new insights on Google+. The findings paint a very poor picture of the search giant’s social network–a picture of waning interest, weak user engagement, and minimal social activity. Google calls the study flawed–we’ll explain why in a second–and has boasted that more than 170 million people have “upgraded” to the network. RJ Metrics’ report, on the other hand, is yet another indicator that Google+ might indeed just be a “virtual ghost town,” as some have argued.”
• Piercing insight: Man wears future on his wrist [Daily News] “When did technology go too far? Was it the Flowbee that pushed the edge? Did George Lucas invent some 5-D laser beam that replaced our memories with “Star Wars”? Or was it the guy from Gloucester County, N.J., who punched a few holes in his wrist last month and inserted some magnets so that he could hold his iPod Nano without some ugly-looking strap getting in the way? Yes, Earth, Dave Hurban did that to himself and it worked, and he has sharp metal objects and more elaborate plans in the works.”

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UPenn, Academy of Natural Sciences win $2M in grants from the National Science Foundation [LINKS]

• Two Phila. institutions, $2M in science grants [Philadelphia Business Journal] “The University of Pennsylvania and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will each get grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah’s office announced.”
• Philly Startup: Interview With The Student Founder Of Neo-Cover [Nibletz] “So what’s a neo-cover? Well the idea is so damn basic you’ll be asking yourself why didn’t I think of that? Well the reason you didn’t think of that or I didn’t think of that is because 22 year old Jake Frey did. Neo-Cover is a magnetic light switch wall plate.”
• Leading Payroll Provider Acquires Online Employee Scheduling Solution To Expand Service Offering [PR Web] “PrimePay, LLC, a leading provider of payroll, tax, HR and benefit services announced it has acquired ReadySetWork, a provider of online and mobile employee scheduling services. ReadySetWork gives employers a paperless solution to help them create, communicate and manage employee work schedules online and make time critical decisions. ReadySetWork was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania.”

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Josh Kopelman is country’s sixth most valued tech investor [LINKS]

• Philadelphia Venture Capitalists Kopelman and Oliva Make Forbes Midas List of Top Tech Investors [citybizlist] “Two Philadelphia based venture capitalists were named to Forbes Midas List of Tech Investors, which aims to single out the top 100 venture capitalists that provide “the best returns for their investors, while helping create the most valuable and impactful technology and life science companies.” Josh Kopelman from First Round Capital ranked 6th overall while Adele Oliva from Quaker Partners came in at 97th.”
• Philadelphia Sets Sights On Becoming America’s Next Big Tech Town [Fast Company] “Brotherly love, however, has found its way back into Philadelphia over the past few years thanks to a determined community of nerds building technology companies.”
• Introducing DuckDuckHack [Gabriel Weinberg's Blog] “Checkout the tutorial at DuckDuckHack.com for the what, why and how specifics. You can watch for new plugins on Twitter and get help on the mailing list or on chat.”
• Philly Inc: For Sunoco, an ‘everything must go’ deal at last[Inquirer] “It took three years, eight months, and 22 days for Sunoco Inc.’s leadership to complete a 180-degree strategy turn. So Monday’s announcement that a Texas pipeline operator with the exciting brand name of Energy Transfer Partners L.P. would acquire Philadelphia’s Sunoco for $5.3 billion was not unexpected.”

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Philly Tech Week 2012 coverage [LINKS]

It’s the tail-end of the second annual Philly Tech Week presented by AT&T, so why not take a look at some of the wider coverage of 10 days celebrating innovation, creativity and craft in the region? If we missed any, please let us know.

Legacy Media

• Philly Tech Week: Panels, policy talk, and play [Inquirer] “A driving concept behind both Philly Tech Week and its organizers is the idea that just as technology helps knit together people and institutions globally, it can also help strengthen a local community — and not just in a tiny handful of high-tech corridors.”
• Philly’s tech scene is bubbling [Inquirer] — A bigger picture look from Patrick Kerkstra.
• This Week in Small Business: The Cookiegate Special [New York Times small biz blog] “Philly Tech Week has a busy schedule this week,” says the very buried, very small mention of the week.
• Philly Tech Week Turned Fidget Space Into An Experimental Electronic-Minded Music Laboratory Last Night [Philadelphia Weekly] “Sure, technology’s always played a part in music; when guitars were electrified the world changed, then came synthesizers, turntables and GarageBand. But there are still even weirder ways that artists can use plugs and computer programs to make the wildest sounds from the simplest of devices. Every performance from last night’s experiments necessitated a computer, and it’s more and more common these days to find a computer on stage amongst keyboards, guitars, and drums. However, computers weren’t just playing loops and samples last night. They were bugging brains out and expanding our collective sense of how music is made.”
• Philly women are joining the ever-expanding technology party [Metro] “Of the 80 events on tap for Tech Week, more than a dozen are dedicated to communities often overlooked in technology, the female sect included, and many others are being organized by women.”
• Daily News’ John Takiff on Switch Philly and other demo events this week
• NBC10 covers the Content Strategy Philly: Behind the Eagles Draft.

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Dueling apps: CityHall app rivals Philly311, CityEats challenges OpenTable [LINKS]

• Tech Life: OpenTable’s rival to launch here [Philly.com] “What distinguishes CityEats from OpenTable? Truth to tell, far less than what they share — except, of course, that CityEats went live here this week with about 30 restaurants and OpenTable claims more than 600 in the region and more than 230 in the city itself.” Here’s the full press release from MarketWire.
• City is too app-happy [Daily News] “When it comes to city services, there should only be one app for that.” Technically Philly covered the overlap between Philly 311 and CityHall app here.
• High-tech won’t revive city alone [Inquirer] — interesting op-ed from Jonathan Zimmerman
• Stop Looking For A Technical Co-founder [TechCrunch] “Most quality software engineers today have offers of amazing work environments and 6-figure salaries from the likes of Google and Facebook. Few are crazy enough to say no to that. Those that do typically have their own ideas, aren’t sure they need you, and have heard enough cliche pitches to ignore you by default. Your odds are bad. If you don’t have a strong track record, your odds are terrible. Not a startup-is-a- mosquito terrible, ‘waste of your time’ terrible. So stop looking for a technical co-founder.” This story was written by PennApps founder and computer science senior Alexey Komissarouk.
• Exploring Gamification at the Inaugural Philadelphia Grassroots Game [Pew Center for Arts & Heritage] “The conference will explore the role that games have played in an increasingly wide array of fields, from business to education to art.”

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‘City leaders still tinkering at the edges’ of tax reform [Links]

• DN Editorial: STILL TINKERING: Despite 2 commission reports on taxes, no coherent policy [Philly.com] “The clear message was that comprehensive and strategic revision of the entire tax structure should win out over piecemeal tax amendments. So, why are city leaders still tinkering at the edges?”
• Growth spurt: City’s population rising, census shows  [Daily News] “Philadelphia has continued to grow since the 2010 census count, according to new data being released Thursday. The Census Bureau estimates that the city’s population on July 1 was 1,536,471, an increase of 10,465 or a 0.7 percent jump from the official census count taken two years ago. The new estimates show that the city’s growth spurt from April 2010 to July 2011 was mainly due to an increase in births.”
• Tech Life: Connect Philly’s aim is to do just that [Inquirer] “How hard is it to find a public-access computer in Philadelphia, or a place that offers free computer training, or WiFi access for the disabled? A lot easier than before, thanks to the launch of a new service, Connect Philly, that identifies more than 200 such sites throughout the city.”
• Tackling quality of life issues in Philadelphia [Newsworks] “Holly Otterbein and Juliana Reyes discuss vacant properties, stray animals, litter and other issues that are bothering citizens. They also talk about what folks can do when the city refuses to address neighborhood problems — and how apps might make a difference in those circumstances.”

One out of four in poverty: is Philadelphia really a city in decline? [LINKS]

Philly has 9th most social media savvy City Hall [Links]

• The 10 most social media savvy City Halls in America [PR Daily] Philadelphia ranks 9th, tied with Long Beach, CA. “A new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked the 75 largest cities in America by their government’s social media acumen.”
• Fresh food and “connectivity” coming soon to Front and Norris [Plan Philly] “A small grocery store and cafe with free wi-fi, take-out or eat-in American and Middle Eastern dishes and free community space is set to soon open at the corner of Front and Norris streets, beneath the Market-Frankford El. Mike Ahmad and Walid Mustafa will open the doors of their 5,000 square-foot establishment, called Liberty Choice, in early-April.”
• InstaMed another Phila. tech firm on the upswing [Philadelphia Business Journal] “Marvin said InstaMed is looking to add 10 people to its staff of 85.”
• New advertising software automates ad-buying – and cuts out workers [Joe DiStefano/Philadelphia Inquirer] “Jeremy Bloom – former Olympic skier, Philadelphia Eagle, and nonprofit-foundation boss – has been raising millions for his next career: replacing corporate ad-purchase professionals with automatic ad-view and spend-tracking software.”

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Philadelphia one of only two major U.S. cities with Chief Innovation Officer [LINKS]

• The Dawn of the Municipal Chief Innovation Officer [Atlantic Cities] “There are, by our count, just two major cities in the U.S. that currently have someone sitting in this role, and they’ve both settled in within the past six months. Adel Ebeid stepped into the job in Philadelphia after working as the chief information officer for the state of New Jersey.”
• Lose Your Phone? It’s Probably in a Coffee Shop in Philadelphia [Mashable]
• Mr. Mayor, Seal This Building [HiddenCity Philadelphia] “There was a small fire at the former Divine Lorrraine Hotel last night and we can’t say we’re surprised–people have been entering the building with ease for the last two to three months, maybe more.” Mayor Nutter pledged to move forward on the renovation of the  Divine at Chamber at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce annual mayoral luncheon that Technically Philly covered in February.
• Sunoco’s new CEO on a charm offensive [Inquirer] “Brian P. MacDonald, who was promoted March 1 from chief financial officer to chief executive, has maintained a full schedule of meetings with public officials and community leaders to explain Sunoco’s move to close or sell its Philadelphia and Marcus Hook refineries.”
• Small businesses, big challenges [Inquirer] “Into that pressure cooker Gregg Prescott and Steve Brodack plunged in 1997, leaving more secure lives as, first, employees of a big company, Motorola Corp., and then as owners of a distributorship for Motorola communications equipment. It was through the latter experience that the two South Jersey men got the inspiration for the small business they have co-owned for 15 years: Jan-Pro Cleaning Systems of the Delaware Valley.”
• Perzel sentenced to up to 5 years for Computergate [Inquirer] “The mastermind of a scheme to steal millions in taxpayer money for his own political benefit stood in a courtroom Wednesday and, in a low voice stripped of its old bravado, offered an apology.”

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