Local comic artist takes on Engadget: The Comic

Philadelphia comic book artist Box Brown is being commissioned as one of a rotating cast of artists that will be filing strips for Engadget: The Comic, published by the popular consumer electronics news site. We wrote about Brown, who relies on social media and a blog to get his message and work out, back in January.

The weekly comic strip focuses on developing tech news and the funny stories therein. See the comic here.

Friday Q&A: Mike Harris CEO of AnySource Media

Malvern-based AnySource Media thinks it has a good guess about the future direction of online video. The company, founded in 2006, provides software to TV manufacturers that allows consumers to pull their favorite Internet content directly to their television.

If you had AnySource’s technology on your TV and hooked-up to the Web, you could order movies, browse your favorite video content and even purchase products without getting your computer involved.

The company, started by former Ravisent Technologies employees, recently closed a $3.2 million funding round provided entirely by local investors and is anticipating its debut and first revenue later this year. We sat down with CEO Mike Harris to discuss how his company makes money without charging TV makers, what he thinks of Boxee and his fight against the West coast. Oh yeah, and he’s hiring.
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Comcast and Sony open consumer electronics store

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Photos by Andrew Thompson for Technically Philly.

Comcast and Sony have opened Sony Style Comcast Labs, a retail store and electronics destination featuring Sony products and Comcast services, in the lower-level concourse of the Comcast Center in Center City.

Sony laptops, televisions, music players, and more are on sale in the store, with promotional ties being made to Comcast’s Internet, cable, and phone services.

But given the global economic slowdown, is this the right time to open a retail store with high-ticket consumer electronics?

“They have low-end to high-end, and the goal of this store was more of an experiential type of thing for Comcast and for Sony,” Comcast spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook said.

“From a Comcast perspective, you can just as easily walk out with one of our economy packages as you can with one of our high-end HD packages.”

However it turns out, one thing is for sure. Customers won’t be walking out with one of several devices on display that are not currently for sale to home entertainment geeks. The devices in Comcast Labs instead offers consumers a chance to see what the companies have in store for the future.

Story continues with photos from Technically Philly’s visit, after the jump.

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