Friday Tech Links: Unbreaded’s Ben Kessler could be leaving, Peter Key almost dies and More

In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun. See others here.

DEFINITE READS

• Geekadelphia launches its new Geek of the Week department with the co-founder of food blog Unbreaded, Ben Kessler, a freshly graduated Drexel University marketing major with brains, drive, personality and a total social media obsession. But here’s where it gets juicy. As Kessler implies in the interview, his hunt for work in Philly has proven unsuccessful. The word we’ve heard? That the first Geek of the Week interview from Philly’s premier geek blog is considering a move to the 67th ward. Guys, if we can’t retain someone like Kessler, we have a real problem here. Can someone do something about this?

• Philly Tech News reports that rumors have put Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s recent interest in acquisitions directly in Center City, namely in online advertising startup Invite Media, yeah the company whose offices were caught up in a fire scare in February.

• The Business Journal’s Peter Key, who, we’re telling you, in any other city would have a cult following, regales us with an admittedly strange story about how he was almost killed by Leap Wireless 20 years ago. The next time someone criticizes social media, just mention to them that blogging brought you the chance to read a Peter Key story in which he mentions Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

After the jump , video of a South Jersey Apple store robbery and more than 10 other Philly tech reads that you just might need to know about, including our best read story of the week.

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Technically Philly and Geekadelphia Section 8 release party crowds Tattooed Mom

"Is that a trident," asks Bianca Cevoli, the Geekadelphia contributor who snagged this photo of a portion of Wednesday night's crowd at Tattooed Mom for our Section 8 release party.

Above a relatively sleepy Wednesday night bar crowd on the first floor of Tattooed Mom was the noise of our first co-hosted event with culture blog Geekadelphia, held earlier this week.

The eclectic hipster grunge South Street institution played host to the Philadelphia release party for Section 8, the soon-to-debut  Timegate first person science-fiction shooter for XBox and PCs. A decidedly more 20-something crowd of 60 scenesters and geeks came for the party, sharing the bar’s tagged and multicolored upstairs with two dozen others who trickled in and out throughout the night.

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Shop Talk: Daniel Delaney of Vendr.TV

Daniel Delaney is sorry.

He just finished a bit of a rant about how zoning laws that govern where street vendors can do business are putting a stranglehold on Philadelphia’s food cart culture, and seemed startled when I said I assumed he was now based in New York.

“I didn’t mean that as an insult,” he says. “I just look at this stuff a bit scientifically.”

Indeed, Delaney, 23, is taking his food very seriously since launching in February Vendr.TV, a weekly podcast devoted to finding the best-tasting street food in the world. It was just picked up by a network funder, Delaney says, though he can’t yet disclose who.

While the University of the Arts alumnus has made that not uncommon trek up the Jersey Turnpike and his podcast’s stock is on the rise, he might have reason to remember where he first got his taste for food entertainment.

Read what goes into Vendr.TV and how he says our great food city could become a great street food city, too, after the jump.

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Ignite Philly packs Johnny Brendas … again

Ignite Philly 3 packed Johnny Brenda's to near-capacity.

Edit: Added and edited links.

On a beautiful clear night in May, listening to a lecture is the last place many people would want to be.

Tell that to the 250 people crammed into Fishtown bar Johnny Brenda’s for the third Ignite Philly. The kinda-sorta biannual event featured sixteen presenters lecturing on topics ranging from making our power grid smarter to music made by laptops to a camp that teaches young women how to form a rock band. And that’s without mentioning Viddler’s proposed cure for male-pattern baldness.

The Ignite format gives speakers five minute slots where their twenty PowerPoint slides must rotate every fifteen seconds. The result makes it hard for any presenter to belabor a single point, and audience members get a taste of a vast array of topics in a short time span.

After the jump we hand out some awards, give a small hint of the 45,276 pictures we took and tell you how comedian Mitch Hedberg was involved.
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IndyHall/Mashable event at Cavanaugh’s brings crowd

The early crowd, including, at center, Viddler's Rob Sandie, Mashable Editor Adam Ostrow (in tan jacket) and Mashable East Coast Events Director Brett Petersel. Bottom right see RedLasso CEO Al McGowan and President Kevin O’Kane among others. Photo by Sean Blanda.

In a mixed crowd of several hundred at Cavanaugh’s River Deck on Delaware Avenue last night, Mashable came to play with curious, if reserved, portions of Philadelphia’s tech community, including significant presences from our co-working scene and notable Web 2.0 players.

The event, held in conjunction with Independents Hall, the venerable Old City co-working brand, and Mashable, the social media blog founded in New York City, morphed with River Deck regulars and a crush of bar crawlers after 10 p.m. in the cool night.

The Mashable event is part of a big weekend. Tonight Ignite 3 throws down at Johnny Brenda’s in Fishtown.

Rain threatened and delayed use of the bar’s popular outdoor, deck seating, with a beautiful view of the Ben Franklin Bridge, but not longer than an hour after the 8 p.m. start, the skies cleared.

Read about who made appearances and see other photos after the jump.

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Ignite Philly 3 speakers announced

With the event only four days away, Ignite has published a list of the 16 speakers scheduled to present.

Included are several people who should be familiar to Technically Philly readers, including Andrew Rosenthal of Happier, Ben Kessler of Unbreaded, and Johnny Bilotta & David Martorana of Two Guys on Beer. All of the speakers have five minutes to present their topic of choice, and each presentation will have 20 slides that rotate every 15 seconds. The idea is to get a sampling of all of the great things happening in our fair city.

TP’s Brian James Kirk talked with organizer Geoff DiMasi, earlier this last month.

Ignite Philly starts at 7 p.m. this Saturday at Johnny Brendas. Admission is free.

Technically Not Tech: Unbreaded

Since Philly blog Unbreaded launched its sandwich crusade earlier this year, co-founders Ben Kessler and Jeff Vogel have been getting noticed by foodies all over the city. CityPaper’s MealTicket sought their sandwich sage, and Phoodie.info served them up a cold dish. When we called Kessler Sunday afternoon, we found that their stake (pun unintended but appreciated in hindsight) isn’t ending in Philly.

The co-founders are attracting interest from sandwich aficionados across the country, and have plans to expand to other cities. Unbreaded was featured on Philly’s Thrillist this morning, and the creators have been chatting with a national magazine editor; about what, Kessler won’t let on. But we can guess the conversation wasn’t about with-Whiz or without.

Kessler and Vogel got the idea for Unbreaded from sites like Digg, where user-submitted sandwiches that test the limits of white bread are popular, and Hamburger Today, a vegetarian’s worst nightmare. They liked what they saw—and not because they were hungry. They decided Philly’s sandwich culture needed a voice. And what better timing? As Kessler puts it, “sandwiches are the ultimate recession meal.”

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