Biggest tech community stories we covered in 2009

Happy New Year, folks.

It’s been an exciting year for us. Though we’ll be celebrating our first birthday in February, we’ve had a chance to take part in Philadelphia’s vibrant technology community for 10 months. We’ve seen the amazing things that this community offered in 2009. Coming up on our 500th published story about this community, we’re proud to be a part of it. And we’re ecstatic to see what lie ahead.

No, Technically Philly has not started its own Mummer troupe. We do, however, want to ring in the new year by taking a look back at our top stories of 2009. Our month-by-month perspective, after the jump.

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Links: State budget cuts mean less for startups, Penn president gets national bioethics nod and More

DEFINITE READS

• The Pittsburgh Business Journal reports that the Pennsylvania budget cuts mean less money for startups. H/T Philly Tech News
• The Green Skeptic and the Inquirer’s Mike Armstrong give their takes on Founders Factory from Philly Startup Leaders. See our review here.
• Dude from Philly Eco City wants to try a DIY car share and wants help.
• NJBIZ reports on a Camden startup focusing on cyber threats like flash mobs. H/T PTN

After the jump, CoTweet gets big name clients, Viddler video of Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose and more.

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Links: Google acquisition with Wharton ties, CoTweet trying paid services and More

DEFINITE READS

Gawker’s Valleywag blog profiles Omar Hamoui, who founded AdMob, the mobile advertising company Google recently purchased for $750 million, while at Wharton. H/T Philly Tech News

The Philadelphia Business Journal’s Peter Key gives IndyHall Labs the profile treatment. Can we just talk about this being the photo they were given?

As we first tweeted, WHYY’s It’s Our City blog reports that the Iranian state is expected to charge Elkins Park native Josh Fattal of espionage. As we earlier reported, he may likely be the son of a Chester County electronics industry magazine publisher.

After the jump, news on CoTweet, Sunoco shopping a move from Center City and five other stories, including our best read piece of the week.

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CoTweet: San Francisco scene has “distinct” advantage over Philadelphia

CoTweet's new offices in San Francisco are located in Pier 38 Maritime Recreation Center, the long building in the center of the photograph. Courtesy of pier38.com

It’s nothing personal, Philadelphia.

When we reported last month that once Central Pennsylvania-based CoTweet, a team-oriented, business-focused Twitter client, was moving West for greener pastures and bluer waters, we admittedly felt some Phillinferiority complex [Editor's note: We apologize for this unnecessary Philly pun].

But the company chose San Francisco not because it felt under-served by the Greater Philadelphia region, but because it wanted to be as close to its parent platform as possible, CoTweet co-founder Jesse Engle tells Technically Philly.

“There’s something to be said for being surrounded by other companies that are going through the same thing and are potential partners,” he says. “There’s a distinct and unique advantage that a place like that has.”

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CoTweet heading to Bay Area after $1.1 million round, rumors of Twitter “acquisition target”

After announcing $1.1 million in venture capital investments, once Central Pennsylvania-based CoTweet is moving to San Francisco, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The company, which develops a web-based application for Twitter that allows businesses to assign multiple team members to control commercial accounts, received funding from West Conshohocken-based First Round Capital and a handful of other non-Philly firms. [Full Disclosure: Technically Philly uses CoTweet for forward-dated Twitter posts]

According to two job openings recently added to the company’s internal job board, the company is headed for the SoMa neighborhood of downtown San Francisco, an area well-known for its roots in the dot com boom.

CoTweet executives are in the process of packing their bags, according to several messages posted to Twitter from company co-founders.

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