Startup Roundup: WantsThis launches, Laan Labs is better than our Abe Lincoln app joke

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

We’ve run into founder Peter D’Orsi III at a few tech events over this past year, and we have to say that his new Web wish list startup WantsThis looks pretty sharp. Of course, he’s got some tight local competition with $1.4 million-funded wish list aggregator Snipi.

Duck Duck Go’s Gabe Weinberg – who promised to pen at least 100 posts on his blog this year – writes about some of the features he’d like to integrate on the startup search engine, including O’Reilly Paragraphs, more topic sources, strong documentation and an instant message search service. Weinberg has also interviewed DreamIt Ventures’ Steve Welch in a 30 minute video. That’s alotta Welch.

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21st century Abraham Lincoln iPhone app and Web site

Updated 5/7/09 10:43 a.m.

The allure of Abraham Lincoln, graffitied brightly with wispy hair on a wall in Houston is startling.

The 16th president was born more than 200 years ago, but he continues to take new 21st century forms.

The Rosenbach Museum and Library has launched an Abraham Lincoln iPhone and iPod Touch application as part of its 21st-century Abe project, according to a press release from the half-century year-old historical organization in Rittenhouse.

The app is said to be the first by a Philadelphia cultural group.

The Bobble Abe app, which is available for free in the iTunes store, personifies old Abe as a bobble head that can be shook by users, along with humorous Lincoln aphorisms as recorded by Northern Liberties comedy theater company 1812 Productions, with actor Nathan Holt as the voice of Abe.

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Abraham Lincoln loves technology and Philadelphia

Today is President’s Day, so why not tip your hat to perhaps the most technology-loving president in our nation’s history.

No, not iPod-tripping, Zune-dismissing, social media-loving Barack Obama, but Abraham Lincoln, who was born 200 years ago and has a particular affinity to Philadelphia, which has more monuments to Honest Abe than anywhere else.

Despite his image as a backward country bumpkin, turns out Lincoln was incredibly interested in technology, particularly for his time, access and education.

Find out how after the jump.

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