Azavea’s Cicero API goes international, GIS firm launches new website

Beyond dots on a map.

That’s the new tagline of GIS software firm Azavea, which has undergone a branding overhaul since it changed its name in March following a disputed legal claim.

As part of that move, last month, the shop based in the Callowhill neighborhood unveiled a new look to its website, completing the shift from a decade-old Avencia name to its new Azavea brand. Read about their CMS here.

The new look coincides with news that Azavea continues to expand the map they go beyond.

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Philly Speaks back up, again, hit with malware insertion

The familiar warning image for Mozilla users that appeared when visiting Philadelphia Speaks over the weekend. The site should be safe to visit again.

We know something is up with popular web forum Philadelphia Speaks whenever the comments and emails start rolling in.

This past week, Philly Speaks was offering visitors a warning, declaring the site malicious.

As of this morning, the forum has been cleared and most browsers should stop offering the warning, according to an email from Philly Speaks founder Wil Reynolds.

“We had a malware insertion in vBulletin,” Reynolds wrote. “But we’re back up, just waiting to get back on the clean list for Google and Trend Micro.”

Part of the resolution included updating their VB forum software, which means a different look both in browsers and on mobile devices. More tweaks are expected in the coming days.

The forum was hacked back in May and has faced other set backs after replacing popular Phillyblog last fall.

Philly Startup Leaders picks new leaders

For the first time since its creation in 2007, Philly Startup Leaders is getting new leadership.

Announced on Monday, all but one of the startup community group’s seven executives will be replaced in a move that PSL has been orchestrating for months.

“These leaders will join the current team for a transition period of three to six months. Then some of the Philly Startup Leaders founders will ‘retire’ to the Board of Directors,” wrote former president and PSL co-founder Blake Jennelle. “Growing ‘startup old’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

After the jump, we take a closer look at the new executive board.

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Did Philly Mag exaggerate its VC story?

Remember when Philly Mag wrote a cover story about the city’s technology community, spotlighting Guggenheim Venture Partners?

According to PE Hub, the story was so riddled with exaggerations and inaccuracies that Philly Mag has taken the story down (read it on Google cache). Editor and PE Hub founder Dan Primack – and some of the story’s comments – take several issues with the story about the venture capital firm that is run with a military attitude:

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New Philly mapping app gives dazzling directions to local businesses

This piece is reported in partnership with PlanPhilly, a news site that covers planning, design and development in the region.

This afternoon, I made last minute plans to meet a colleague to discuss some pressing business. We both had a packed schedule. I’d be biking from University City. He’d be on foot from 5th and South.

Sure, we could go to a staple favorite in Old City, one that’s convenient for him and I both. But what about trying something new? I usually rely on word of mouth, but I had no new ideas. And as for search engine results—where’s the serependipity?

I decided to try CommonSpace — a web application which soft-launched Friday morning — a joint project between Callowhill-based geographic information system firm Azavea, nonprofit tech consultant NPower, the Sustainable Business Network and a handful of other partners, and funded by the William Penn Foundation. [Full Disclosure: PlanPhilly is funded by the William Penn Foundation through PennPraxis and the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.]

The glossy new mapping tool — which helps Philadelphians find under-the-radar businesses and events —is impressive.

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Local DeVry locations join in national open house for tech jobs

Kelley Taptich, senior director of admissions at DeVry University’s Fort Washington Campus, gave a presentation on career-focused degree programs offered at DeVry University that prepare students for in-demand career fields at the University's National Open House event held in Fort Washington, Pa., on August 7th.

These days, it seems it’s all about those growing career opportunities.

On Saturday, Devry University locations in Fort Washington and Center City were part of a national open house program focused on healthcare technology and information services careers, industries where job growth is projected.

In Fort Washington, the school offered 50 students and adult learners the chance to meet with faculty and staff around its college of engineering and information sciences program, organizers say.

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Duffels4Dignity4Devs supports child victims of domestic violence with sign up

Until midnight tonight, web developers have the chance to support children leaving homes of domestic abuse.

The Northern Home for Children, the historic Manayunk orphanage, is partnering with marketing shop Red Tettemer to raise money for their Duffels4Digitnity program, which accepts donations of any amount to purchase duffel bags of clothes, toothbrushes and stuffed animals. The bags are given to children, from infants to teenagers, who are relocated to foster care during late night domestic disputes — a more recurrent problem than we might want to imagine.

Alcatel-Lucent, the Paris-based telecommunications giant with offices in Murray Hill, N.J. and staff in Doylestown, has jumped into the fray with their “Duffels4Dignity4Devs,” a pledge to donate one dollar for every developer who signs up for their Open API Service. The platform gives access to network and third party technology through bundled API solutions without cost.

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Apple Store opening: video, photos and timeline

Two people -- and a police car -- wait outside the Apple Store at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 31, the day after its official opening and two hours before its second day opening.

Now we can finally drop the Apple Store watch.

As reported and expected, the Apple Store at 1607 Walnut Street near Rittenhouse Square opened Friday late afternoon and did so with much fanfare. Rather than recreate the coverage, we figured we’d offer you a spin through the best.

• Apple Store development timeline — Brownstoner
• Inside the Apple Store photos — Brownstoner
• The Apple of many an eye opening — Inquirer (Good perspective on retail effect)
• The Line for the New Apple Store — Daring Fireball
• That New Store Smell — John Gruber’s Flickr
• Philadelphia finally gets an Apple Store — Fortune (complete with a Philly dig or two)

Below, check out some videos of the opening.

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Apple Store still getting primed, to open this evening

At 9:30 this morning windows were being washed at the new Walnut Street Apple Store. Apple’s flagship Philadelphia store will open this evening at 5:00 p.m., according to reports.

Your morning Apple Store photo

Finishing touches continued to be added to the Walnut Street Apple Store Wednesday morning, set to open Friday at 5:00 p.m. We’ll keep these coming each morning through the opening.