Event Highlights: August 23 – 29, 2010

If you like white space this is the week for you.

Not only are two of our highlighted events design-related, but our barren calendar features plenty of white pixels. As we near the end of Summer 2010, it looks like the event planning world is taking a break before we’re in Fall.

However, just because our calendar is bare, it doesn’t mean there aren’t quality events to attend. On Tuesday attend the first ever Force.com meetup in the city. Or, if your more of a front end person, read books with the UX book club instead and then swing on by the graphic designers meetup.

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Event Highlights: August 16 – 22, 2010

We’re almost though August, Philadelphia, so be sure to get in those last minute runs to the shore. Just save your trips for Tuesday or Thursday as those are the lone empty days on our events calendar.

This week is full of bar room meetups as both the Build Guild and Philly.rb plan on chatting over brews. Though If you’d like to stretch a bit, head on over to University City to watch a documentary about the women involved in the ENIAC, the world’s first computer developed at Penn.

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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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Friday Q&A: Jim Richardson of Electronic Ink, Philly’s “best kept secret”

Update: removed company names.

If you’ve ever kept a cheat sheet or post-it note by your desk to help you navigate your company’s bloated software, Electronic Ink wants to help.

“A lot of software is given to coders without any consideration of the end user and how they want to use the application,” says Jim Richardson VP of business development at Electronic Ink and a Temple grad.

Electronic Ink, located a stone’s throw from City Hall, is a design firm that helped IBM design OS/2 and helped Citibank create and design the first ATM machines.

“Think about it,” says Richardson of the design challenges posed by ATMS, “getting people to move from the bank lobby to the corner without any training [is remarkable].”

The company of roughly 100 employees specializes in helping businesses simplify applications and software, often through simple design tweaks to help end users stop from pulling their hair out and to help save companies money. The company has racked up hundreds of clients since its early days of ATM design.

We chatted with Richardson about making financial markets safer through design, saving one utility company millions and why his firm plans to no longer be Philadelphia’s best kept secret.

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After record attendance, Mobile Monday breaks for the summer

Half of the panel. From left: Jeannette Kocsis (Harte-Hanks), Steve Rockman (The Star Group), Drew Salamone (NBC) and David West (Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau)

Apologies for being a bit late on this one.

Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic, the local branch of the international mobile technology meetup group, held the largest event in the group’s three-year history this Monday at the Loews Hotel in Center City.

The event was the last of Mobile Monday’s fiscal year and attracted a diverse audience to hear a panel discussion on the night’s theme “Marketing and Mobile Technology - Bridging the Gap.”

The panel which included an impressive mix of technologists and content creators from places like NBC, Flurry and Mojiva, repeatedly returned to the topic of increasing fragmentation in the mobile sphere of platforms and underscored the importance of the mobile device in marketing.

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Event highlights for the week of July 27 – August 2, 2009

It’s true, folks. Media is no longer the empire it once was.

That’s why we’re psyched to see Saturday’s all-day DIY Days, featuring an impressive list of innovative speakers ranging from writers to filmmakers to musicians to game developers, all there to try to figure out the future. Represented organizations include Wired, Weathervane Music, P’unk Ave, Philly.com’s Phrequency and more. Hell, even the Blair Witch Project made it on the list.

Our guess, which is hardly a guess? All are secret techheads. Gadget geeks. Media monsters. Which is why you should be there. You’re thinking: this must cost like a million bucks, right? Two Grants? A Benji?

What’s that? It’s free? Gosh it’s good to do it yourself.

Another hot development? Looks like a group of gamers is getting together to explore the possibility of bringing a LAN Party biz to the city. The complaint is that there’s plenty of LAN locales in the ‘burbs, but nothing that you can bike or walk to (unless you’ve got Schwarzenegger legs). As always, we’re psyched to see some more developments in Philadelphia’s gaming community, including this one from Philadelphia LAN Party.

For the Web developers, Philadelphia Drupal Camp is sold out, but waiting for last minute cancellations. And maybe you know somebody, wink wink. If you can’t make it in, you can always sharpen up on the basics with HTML for Beginners.

A few other events and plenty of links to our comprehensive events calendar, after the jump.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.

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Event highlights for the week of July 20 – July 26, 2009

Philadelphia, you’re a city of routine, and we like that about you.

Even when the sun is shining and thoughts are drifting toward lounging at the Jersey shore, you aren’t afraid to grab a few drinks and stick to your meetup schedule.

Every event on our calendar this week is part of a monthly series, and most involve beer.

On Tuesday, grab a brew with Philly.rb at their pub night. We hear that they specifically hit on people using Ruby puns. And by “hear” we mean “hope.” The next day, IdeaBlob hosts BlobLive, its monthly open mic for entrepreneurs. Step on up and give an elevator pitch to complete strangers.

To close out the week, Philly Mapping and GIS host “Mappy Hour.” Talk cartography and get in on the group’s open source map project at a local watering hole.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.
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New features for industry social network i-Meet and PhindMe Mobile

Two high-profile, Web-based Philadelphia startups each announced more services to their products recently.

Center City-based, event-planning social network i-Meet.com announced today its partnership with PlannerNet, a service aimed at helping its nearly 10,000 member organizations to find, rate and contract for project-based labor.

That move follows a host of new add-ons to PhindMe Mobile, a mobile Web direct-to-consumer advertising company based at Drexel University’s Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship, which came earlier this month, according to a company press release.

The new service offered by i-Meet, the brainchild of 17th and Oregon’s own John Pino, is said to identify professional meeting and event skills that are available worldwide, helping to match planner experience and projects for event organizers. It’s a move Pino hinted at during an interview with Technically Philly in May.

“In this challenging, economic environment, companies are becoming more inclined to staff their events on a project by project basis,” Pino says in a company press release. “By connecting our worldwide social network to PlannerNet, we’re… delivering qualified talent”

PhindMe’s new features are more varied, ranging from native smartphone applications to Twitter functionality.

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If you call now, Microsoft will also throw in an ad agency

As we told you many a Friday Tech Link ago, Microsoft is looking to unload the Internet ad agency Razorfish.

The software giant is said to be courting five major ad firms with the help of banker Morgan Stanley.

To refresh your memory, Microsoft acquired the agency, which has offices in Center City, in 2007 when it purchased Razorfish’s then-parent company, aQuantive. Since, many suspected that Microsoft would eventually sell the Razorfish brand.

But, according to the Wall Street Journal and other sources, the lack of credit in the market and a potential conflict of interest for buyers are putting the prospects of a sale in serious doubt.
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Events highlights for the week of July 6 – July 12, 2009

Oh jeez, it’s Monday already.

All in favor of giving the city that can claim to be the birthplace of this nation an extra day off for Independence Day say “aye.”

Great. Now that we gave ourselves an extra day for the weekend, you’ll be delighted to know that this week’s calendar features BBQs, hacking and happy hours galore.

Refresh Philly is taking a short break from trying to solve our city government’s technology problems to get together for a happy hour at Triumph. Come for the fellowship, stay to measure the huge brewing equipment to see if you can fit it in your basement.

The happy hours continue on Wednesday with Center City district‘s Sips event. PANMA and various marketing groups will be on hand to help you join the association that is right for you on what is the self-proclaimed “happiest happy hour.”

You will have to finish working on your time machine by Thursday as Philly Startup Leaders host a BBQ (previous coverage here) at the same time the Philly Cocoa Heads hold their monthly meetup.

And on Saturday, cap it all off with relaxing stroll through The Hacktory at the group’s Open Hack event.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.
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