• 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.”

• University City Science Center program to award $200K  [Philadelphia Business Journal] “The University City Science Center    opened applications Monday for the fifth round of its QED Proof-of-Concept Program…The QED Program will award up to $200,000 to up to four projects. In addition, 16 projects will receive guidance from market insiders and business advisers. To date, QED has committed $2.4 million in awards since 2009 to a total of 12 projects that have leveraged the Science Center support into nearly $9 million in private follow-on technology investments. Five of the projects to date have resulted in technology options or licenses.”
• InstaMed raises another $14 million [Philly Tech News] “InstaMed, the heavily UPenn connected (I mean its management & investors, not the school) healthcare payments processing platform based in Philadelphia, has just announced it has raised another $14 million. The press release did not name any investors, but only said that “the new capital included funding from five funds, including one new fund, and angels” and that more than 90% of previous investors participated.”
• PHLocal.com [PHLocal vis EventsFilter] This new film and visual art events calendar has come to our attention.
• A Hall Monitor salute to our budding City Council archivers (and a quiet rebuke of the city for the fact that we need them to) [Citypaper]
• PhillyTechNews’ Tom Paine [Philly Deals]
• Janssen Healthcare Innovation Announces Discharge Decision Support System (D2S2) Winner of the Janssen Connected Care Challenge [Janssen]
• Philly Inc: USA Technologies faces second proxy fight in three years [Philly.com]
• Pennsylvania firm pioneers rapid medical tests [Inquirer]
• ToonUps Launches a Video Update: “A Dream for a Better World” [ToonUps]

• 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.”

• Introducing Denver’s Beautiful Streets [Place Matters Blog/Code for America tumblr] “We saw an opportunity to take an experiment done in Philadelphia and apply it in Denver ahead of our summer hackathonto generate a test case for simple engagement methods and generate a large amount of data.”
• Why a 2500-seat theater dropped Ticketmaster, hired TicketLeap [Philly Deals] “Last year the group used Ticketmaster to sell seats. “But this year we recommended TicketLeap,” of Philadelphia, to operator Mount Productions, said Dan Mita, project manager for O’Neill. Brian O’Neill himself suggested the switch (and no, he’s not an investor.) Why? “Ticketmaster’s markup is 3 to 4 percent of the ticket price,” in some cases; “TicketLeap fixes it at a flat rate,” $2 or $4, for tickets ranging R$30 up to $100, Mita told me. “It’s cheaper for us, easier for the consumer.”
• Together Turning the Page, in 3 Acts [Dangerously Awesome] “With the decision to grow Indy Hall comes the difficult decision to end my time on the Wildbit team. It goes without saying that there’s been nothing but support and love from the Wildbit team as we made the decision for me to transition away from my daily role on the team.  We will continue collaborating on ThinkStrapped, though, and I’m looking forward to meeting the founders and teams of the 10 companies we recruit early this summer.”
• Philadelphia is a hotbed of robotic frames that help paralysis victims walk [Inquirer]
• SEER Interactive is Phila.’s only Inner City 100 firm [Philly.com]
• Scientist was cheated out of recognition, book says [Inquirer]
• Bentley Acquires InspectTech [Citybizlist]
• Dell Boomi Wins 2012 CODiE Award for “Best Web Services Solution” [Dell Boomi]
• With protesters nearby, Corbett sticks to message for Phila. Chamber [Inquirer]
• News from SAP’s SAPPHIRE NOW 5/16/2012: SAP demos huge HANA setup; launching QlikTech-like product? [Philly Tech News] — A wrap up of SAP news
• The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Appoints Michael Conti as Interim CEO [Citybizlist]
• Growing e-commerce firm O3 World hiring, moving to Fishtown [Flying Kite]
• Qspex Technologies, with James Grootegoed on Board, Closes $1 Million Offering [Citybizlist]
• USciences to Sign MOU with Korea’s Far East University [USciences]
• Neat Wins Technology Company of the Year Award [Neat]

• 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.”

• Eyes on the Street: Online bike registration pilot program launched in South Philly [PlanPhilly] “The South of South Neighborhood Association (SOSNA) safety bommittee, Bicycle Coalition and 17th Police District have teamed up to pilot the new online bike registry for the neighborhoods within Lombard and Moore streets and Broad Street and the Schuylkill River. Residents can now fill in the online registration form and within two weeks of doing so visit the 17th Police District to have a designated serial number etched into their bicycles.”
• StartFast Venture Accelerator Announces Startup Teams for Summer 2012 [MartketWatch] Mozzo Analytics holds down the Philadelphia representation with a cofounder from the area.
• Brooks Brothers Partners with Monetate to Increase Ecommerce Conversion Rates [PR Web/SF Gate]
• First Round Capital Closes Fund IV [Citybizlist]
• myYearbook parent Quepasa reports solid growth in first full quarter of combined operations [Philly Tech News]
• NextDocs Wins Emerging Technology Company of the Year at PACT Enterprise Awards [Business Wire]
• InterDigital Announces New $100 Million Stock Repurchase Authorization [Business Wire]
• InterDigital promotes CFO, names new one [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Fifty Organizations in 18 Countries Using QlikView Through Change Their World Grant Program [Business Wire]
• Cloud Reality: Improving Efficiency & Scaling in the Cloud Environment With TechinMotionPhilly [Geekadelphia]

• 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.”

• O3 Runs the Tough Mudder for the Travis Manion [o3 World] “Fast forward to late February, we began a website redesign project with the Travis Manion Foundation. As we began to get into the project a simple conversation between Justin Handler, one of our Project Managers, and our client turned into a full fledged sponsorship from the Foundation to back our dedicated group of lunatics in their personal challenge to conquer the Mudder. The way it works is the Foundation provides support along with the names of Fallen Heroes for each person running the event. We in turn will compete to raise awareness about the sacrifices of the military community, and we will challenge others to do the same.”
• After 2 Years Of Pivots, ShowMe Finally Has A Sticky Product — 500,000 Lessons Are Being Added Every Month [Business Insider] “ShowMe has been growing quickly. Since last summer, 1.5 million whiteboard lessons have been added to ShowMe. They cover everything from 15-minute calculus classes to 30 second music tutorials. Kim also raised $1 million from SV Angel, Betaworks, Lerer Ventures and others.” –A DreamIt graduate
• Select Greater Philadelphia Named among the Nation’s Top 10 Economic Development Groups [GPCC]
• Introducing our newest product, GeoTrellis [Azavea]
• Philly Fed Firms Continue to See Expansion [Business Wire]
• Philadelphia Web Marketers to Speak @ the SEOMoz Meetup at the Search Church [Geekadelphia]
• Checkpoint Systems faces severe downturn, makes change at top [Philly Tech News]
• QlikTech discusses quarterly earnings; Radnor-based company now at over 1100 employees and growing [Philly Tech News]
• Fifty Organizations in 18 Countries Using QlikView Through Change Their World Grant Program [Business Wire]
• Why We Chose Fishtown [O3 World]
• PlaySay gamifies language learning with speech recognition app [VentureBeat] — They left Philly for D.C. and then took off for San Francisco.
• Help us win an office makeover [Wildbit]

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.

• How Three Temple Grads Aim to Make Philly the Next Big Tech Hub [Philadelphia Weekly] “Last year, the inaugural Tech Week drew more than 4,000 attendees, 30,000 visits to its website and a flood of coverage in both new and traditional media. City Council even passed a resolution declaring Philly Tech Week an official citywide celebration. That success paved the way for an even bigger event this year, complete with big-name sponsors like AT&T, Comcast and Microsoft, in addition to a long list of local businesses, tech startups, universities and media partners.”
• SnipSnap App wins another contest  [Philadelphia Business Journal] — On Switch Philly
• City Hall spawns digital-focused partnerships during Philly Tech Week [Metro] “The reasoning behind these new public private partnerships is clear: in a budget strapped city that still wants to have an impact on digital access, local nonprofits and for-profits provide complementary, tech-oriented missions and a pre-defined audience.”
• Philly Tech Week begins celebration of technology [Daily Pennsylvanian] “Though the week is only in its second year, Wink predicts that between 7,000 and 10,000 people will attend at least one event this week. Wink wants the technology community to be more recognized within Philadelphia.”
• Tech Life: Shooting hoops at the ‘bot expo [Inquirer] “Robotics teams haven’t quite replaced football or basketball at schools in the area. But the technology and the social forces driving the discipline — including a growing national emphasis on “STEM education” to promote the study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — are plainly leaving their mark.”
• Philly Gears Up For a Tech Takeover [NBC 10]
• Full Schedule: Philly Tech Week 2012 [NBC 10]
• The city’s digital move-makers return to the spotlight during Philly Tech Week 2012 [Newsworks]
• Philly Tech Week promises ‘more events, more attendance, more impact’ [Newsworks]
• ‘Philly Tech Week’ Kicks Off Friday  [CBS Philly]
• 2nd annual Philly Tech Week kicks off this weekend [AP]
• Nerd vs. Nerd  [Daily News]
• Urban Technology Partnership Tech Week kickoff breakfast photos [Flickr]
• City’s digital divide can be squeezed [Inquirer]
• As Philly Tech Week kicks off, long-range plans are made [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Start Planning For Philly Tech Week [Daily News Gizmo Guy]
• Science Festival Picks [CityPaper]
• Philly Tech & Science On Tap Today [Daily News]
• Robot expo aims to prove Philly more than sports, cheesesteaks [Newsworks] “Now in its second year, PRX was created by Technically Philly and Central High School’s RoboLancers robotics team coach and physics teacher Daniel Ueda. Ueda and Philly Tech Week share a dream, “to make Philadelphia somewhere famous for not just cheesesteaks, the Phillies or the Flyers but also technology and science,” said Ueda.”
• What Tech Week Gives Philadelphia [Metro column penned by Chamber of Commerce CEO Rob Wonderling]
• KYW column by Fels Institute director David Thornburgh

What the Tech?: Philly Robotics Expo [NBC 10]

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

Work That Tech Tonight/Tomorrow [Philly.com]

Pitching apps at Philly Tech Week event [Inquirer]

Robotics Expo [Philly.com]

Tech Festivus Tonight [Daily News Gizmo Guy]

Low Lives 4 [Citypaper]

Eye Grabbers at Entrepeneur Expo [Daily News Gizmo Guy]

Patrick Kerkstra writes about Philly’s emerging technology community and the City support behind it in a Page 2 Inquirer column. [Inquirer]

Fast Company covers the growing technology community with Philly Tech Week 2012 as a time hook.

Blogs

• Penn State Settles With Paterno Estate [The Philly Post] “You Don’t Have to Be a Computer Genius to Be Interested. With events on the schedule like the Robotics Expo, a multimedia music show, and a session called “Behind the Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft,” this annual geek-up isn’t just for techie-type developers and entrepreneurs.”
• little berlin + Philly Tech Week [little berlin] “Members of little berlin will give virtual ‘gallery tours’ of our most recent group-curated exhibition titled FLASHFL00D which is embedded in ‘Dead Drops‘ all throughout the city.  Digital artwork from the show will be displayed and the artists and curators will be on hand to share information and create context for this Philly-grown alternative curatorial project.”
• Attn. Smart People: This Week At Philly Tech Week [Philebrity]
• iPad cartoons by Angie Jordan from Signature Event [Flickr] — Sponsored by Novotorium
• SmartPlanet covers Mayor Nutter’s open data Executive Order announcement this week, as does Newsworks here
• Northeast takes part in Philly Tech Week with Frankford’s free computer training workshop [NEast Philly]
• April 23-28: Plannerly picks for Philly Tech Week [PlanPhilly]
• Philly Tech Week 2012 Set For April 23-28, A Celebration Of Technology And Innovation In Philadelphia [Uwishunu]
• Join me: Blogging about Philadelphia’s Creative Spaces [A Silk of Souls]
• News Post – Tech Week creativity, Croquis Cafe, Ingrid Schaffner at A.I.R., opportunities and more! [The Art Blog]
• TicketLeap CEO Speaking at #PhillyTechWeek: What You Need to Know About eCommerce [TicketLeap]
• Phillly Tech Week April 20 to April 28 [Examiner]
• Our Picks for Tech Week April 21-28 [The Hacktory]
• Philly Tech Week Spotlight: WordPress for Beginners & Intermediates [Geekadelphia]
• Drink Your Way Through Philly Tech Week, April 20-28 [Drink Philly]
• Are you ready for Philly Tech Week? [I-SITE]
• If you need to find a slew of nerds, we know exactly where they’re hiding out this week [Rittenhoused]
• Using technology to help build a better Philadelphia [Knight Blog]
• Philadelphia Hosts Women in Tech Summit [Dealerscope]
• Philly Tech Week 2012: Startup Weekend recap April 20 –22 [Examiner]
• Philly Tech Week: A Burning Ring of Entrepreneurial Fire [Flying Kite]
• What I Learned During Philly Tech Week [Alli Blum]
• Philly Tech Week: KEYSPOT Solutions Session [two.one.five]
• Philly Tech Week Signature Gala [Hive76]
• RJMetrics Round-Up (5/01/2012) [RJMetrics]
• eCommerce Highlights from Philly Tech Week [03World]
• Social Inspiration at Philly’s First Women in Tech Summit [AlliedPixel]

Press Releases

• KEYSPOT promotes InternetFAST before Philly Tech [Urban Affairs Coalition]
• Women in Science: Does the Glass Ceiling Extend to the Lab? [MarketWatch]
• Drexel University highlights that it has hosted six events during Philly Tech Week
• Philly WordPress Community has just donated $1,000 to Nonprofit Technology Resources in Philly [Wordpress Meetup]
• Philly Tech Week: A Different Type of Digital Divide [New America Foundation]

• 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.”

• InterDigital eyes Delaware [delawareonline] “A wireless telephone technology company with an extensive patent list is looking to bring 74 employees to Delaware with the help of a state job-development grant. InterDigital Inc., based in King of Prussia, Pa., makes wireless technology used in mobile devices, networks and services. Most of the employees would be relocated from King of Prussia, but some would be new, the company reported.”
• Water company to open solar farm near Phoenixville [Philly.com] “Aqua Pennsylvania Inc. will open its second large solar farm on Friday when Gov. Corbett and other officials dedicate a $6.5 million, 1.5-megawatt photovoltaic facility at the company’s Pickering water treatment plant near Phoenixville. The solar farm will reduce Aqua’s electricity purchases by 2.3 million kWh a year, generating $207,000 in energy savings and other revenue from relieving congestion on the regional power grid.”
• Spring-Ford Schools Ask Students To Report Bullying On New App [CBS Philly] “Officials at the Spring-Ford School District unveiled a new link on their school district website that will allow students to anonymously notify them when a student needs help, whether because of bullying, drug and alcohol abuse or other reason. The FriendWatch app was developed by Jay Niblick, a Spring-Ford parent who owns a technology firm that creates software”
• Philadelphia Streets Department Recognized for Innovative Practices [City of Philadelphia] “The City of Philadelphia Streets Department has been recognized for “innovative community and government initiatives” by the Corbett Administration for the implementation of BigBelly Solar compacting litter baskets and recycling containers. The baskets have saved the City a million dollars in annual costs by reducing the trash collection rate per trash can from an average 17 times per week to 2.5 times per week.”
• Startup utilizes Philadelphia roots, taps into Penn network[Daily Pennsylvanian] “When most startups receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding, they move to Silicon Valley or New York. But not Quewey, a startup created by two Penn graduates that wants to leverage its Philadelphia roots and tap into the Penn network.”
• Dreams Inc. to be acquired by Fanatics Inc. [MarketWatch] The hat tip goes to Philly Tech News who added this insight: “Fanatics Inc. is a part of GSI Commerce founder Michael Rubin’s Kynetic LLC, which is based in Conshohocken. Deal values Dreams Inc. at $183 million including debt.”
• Poptent Launches World’s Largest Video Production House for Major Brands and Agencies [MarketWatch] Hat tip to PTN again. Technically Philly previously covered Poptent here.
• Philly’s “Next American City” Wants To Bring Longform Journalism Straight To Your Inbox [Fast Company] “Lind says the new strategy will help alleviate a sense of content overload by both cutting through the noise and allowing more time for reflection between articles.”
• Monetate’s Record Growth in Q1 Fueled by Drive for the Ultimate Online Experience [Digital Journal]
• Inside SEPTA’s “Nerve Center” [Hidden Philly] A photo tour.
• Insider: SAP Booted Its North American President For Missing One Quarterly Target [BusinessInsider SAI: Enterprise]
• icueTV launches DropWallet, a new mobile eCommerce platform for publishers; Time Inc.’s Real Simple first user [Philly Tech News]
• Revitas Named to IDC’s 2011 Top 10 Vendor Watchlist for Life Sciences [BusinessWire]
• Lockheed Martin won’t get $70M bonus from Air Force for GPS work [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Weekly Kickstarter: The Switched-On Garden [Geekadelphia]

• 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.”

• Medical tech firm eResearch being sold for $400M [Businessweek] “Medical technology services provider eResearch Technology Inc. has agreed to be acquired by the private equity firm Genstar Capital LLC in a deal valued at about $400 million. The Philadelphia company provides technology and services that help medical device and drug companies interpret data related to cardiac safety.”
• U.S. Federal Reserve Beige Book: Philadelphia District [Bloomberg] “Overall, business activity in the Third District has continued to show slow, steady improvement since the previous Beige Book.”
• Taney Leaves Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney for Stevens & Lee [Philly Tech News] Technically Philly wrote about Francis X. Taney’s monthly office hours for entrepreneurs earlier this year.
• Philadelphia Police Prepare To Roll Out ‘iWatch’ App For Tips [CBS Phily] “In Dallas “I watch” tips lead police to 77 felony arrests in less than two years.”
• Daniel Rubenstein Has Joined Scala as Senior Director, Financial Sales [PR Web]
• Langhorne-based Novotorium incubates new businesses from the ‘burbs [Newsworks]
• Inaugural Princeton Tech Meetup Draws Enthusiastic Crowd [Philly Tech News]
• Devon IT may need to reboot itself again after Dell’s Wyse acquisition; Challenge also could create new opportunities [Philly Tech News]
• A members-only woodworking shop opens in Manayunk [Inquirer]
• SAP Lays out Plans to Become Big Player in Databases, Mobile [PC World]
• RES Software Signs $3.5 Million Deal with Fortune 20 Company [TMCnet]

• Is Philadelphia in Decline? New Report Shows a City with Marked Challenges [The Daily Beast] “The city’s unemployment rate is 10.5 percent, significantly higher than the country’s average. Its real-estate market has dropped substantially every year since 2005. And its K-12 enrollment has slowly receded, as more students turn to charter schools than ones run by the public district, but with fewer students in the city overall. Violent crimes have increased over the past few years, and the poverty rate—one of every four people—is now among the highest of the country’s.” The story was answered by an op-ed from former Inquirer city hall reporter Patrick Kerkstra.
• Local group to buy Phila. Media Network for $55 million [Philadelphia Inquirer] Later in the week, the New York Times and other outlets reported that Bill Marrimow, former Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer from 2006-2010 will return as Editor under the new leadership.
• Hack Philly: Deadline Extended to April 9th [Hack Philly] “Hack is an open call for technology-based projects. We are asking for a range of works: From 2D to 3D works, applications, wearable’s, installation, objects, and performances.” Hack will take place during Philly Tech Week.
• Ten States Where Green Jobs Thrive  [24/7 Wall St.] Philadelphia is number 8. “Green job growth in Pennsylvania is slower than the national average growth of clean economy jobs. Public mass transit is the largest green segment for employment in the state, employing nearly 25,000 people.”
• Philadelphia: Texting While Walking Is No Joke [NPR] “Philadelphia has installed a pilot lane for distracted pedestrians. The first of its kind in the world, the lane was installed on a city sidewalk just in time for April Fools Day. The lane will be up all week as a creative campaign to raise awareness on pedestrian safety. “
• Philly gets a credit upgrade — still, only Detroit has a worse rating [The Naked City: City Paper]
• Should an Eco Brand Put Money Before Mission? [Inc.]
• His mission: To rid Philly of ‘bandit’ signs [Daily News] — Using a website to crowd source solutions

• 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.”

• Smartphone App Makes It Easier To Locate Liquor In PA [Geekadelphia] “That’s right – a new free application, titled Fine Wine & Good Spirits, was released by the LCB at the end of February. The app provides searchable databases of alcohol and alcohol stores, a feature that allows people to search out nearby locales, shop for wines online, and get more information about a beverage in which they have interest. There are currently about 40,000 products included in the application.”
• Senate Passes Crowdfunding Bill With Added Protections for Nonaccredited Investors [All Things D]
• Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Communities Commend Congress on Passage of The JOBS Act [National Venture Capital Assocation]
• Kembrel’s Killer Business Model: A Pop-Up with Weekly Flash Sales [215 Magazine]
• University of the Sciences Names Dr. Helen F. Giles-Gee Its 22nd President [PR NewsWire]
• Shunra and Jamo Solutions Announce Integration Points For vCat and M-Eux [MarketWatch]
• Arduino Show & Tell @ The Hacktory in April [Geekadelphia]
• WTF is Michael Jordan Wearing: The Viral Blog With Philly Roots [Geekadelphia]
• Spotlight on NJ Tech Startups: Mount Laurel-based UFeud’s Jared Scherz [Philly Tech News]
• Bentley Donates Software to Engineers Without Borders – USA in Support of Volunteers’ Important Work Sustaining Infrastructure [BusinessWire]
• Oracle set to update analytics strategy, go after SAP customers  [NetworkWorld]
• Fitocracy Finally Exits Private Beta, Celebrates With A New iOS App [TechCrunch]
• Exporting America: Groverman Blazes Global Entrepreneurial Trail [Flying Kite]

• 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.”

• Philly Phorum 2012: A Conference On Cloud Technology [Geekadelphia] “Phorum, a new technology conference for business and IT executives, launches next Wednesday, March 28th.” Technically Philly is a media sponsor.
• Do you work for a good company? [Philly.com] “By using a basket of different measurements of employee feedback, customer ratings, and corporate governance, the Good Company Index tries to spread the message that the “way to create great results is to be a great company…”
• Ascentive Agrees To $9.6M ‘Scareware’ Settlement[Online Media Daily] “Software vendor Ascentive has agreed to pay $9.6 million to settle a class-action false advertising lawsuit alleging that it used pop-ups and other online ads to trick consumers into purchasing unneeded programs.”
• Do You Know What Your Current Location Looked Like 50 Years Ago? [Philebrity]
• AboutOne CEO Joanne Lang to Present at the BlogHer Entrepreneurs ‘12 Conference [SF Business Times]
• Philly Science Fest: STEM Education on the Parkway!  [American Health: More than Medicine]
• Discovery Labs plan stock offering to fund drug launch [Philly Inc]
• O3 World is Bringing Ecommerce to Philly Tech Week [O3 World]
• GPCC Testifies in Support of BPT and Wage Tax Exclusion Legislation [GPCC News]
• Are our city’s anchor institutions a revenue drag? [Plan Philly]
• Existing-home sales up 8.8% from a year ago [Inquirer]
• Exton-based Scala makes splash at Digital Signage Expo 2012 [Philly Tech News]
• Vintage Philadelphia Film Footage [phillywebmarketing] — Just cause it’s fun