Startup Roundup: Philly Startup Leaders to reorganize executive roles

Update: edited PSL information

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. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

Philly Startup Leaders wants new blood. According to a blog post announcing a reorganization, the startup support group is accepting applications for President, Vice President, and six other positions with in the executive-level staff.

“Now it’s time for more fresh blood to transform this city all over again. It’s time for each of us who has built PSL to make room for the people who will grow this community in ways we could never imagine,” the group wrote.

Folks can apply for the positions until May 14 to gradually phase into the positions over three to six months.

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Links: Jeff Deeney on flash mobs, Arlen wants stricter privacy laws and more

• As we tweeted, Phawker contributor Jeff Deeney gives flash mobs his social-worker -experience treatment.
• The Inquirer reports that Sen. Arlen Specter is calling for stronger privacy laws after a Senate subcommittee hearing on technology and privacy, a result of the alleged use of a laptop camera to spy on a Lower Merion youth.
• Wait, what? Geekadelphia shows that it’s been included on a mural put on by one of the Philadelphia teams in that Ford Fiesta social media blitz contest.
• On his personal blog, Duck Duck Go founder Gabe Weinberg crunches some numbers on his successful use of reddit self-serve advertising.
• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports on the Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise conference that is “like the Woodstock of software development.” [Full Disclosure: The conference is a paid advertiser.]

Every Friday morning, we make sure you didn t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

Event Highlights for March 8-14, 2010

Can we all stop and agree how freakin’ nice it was this weekend?

And there’s even better news: everyday this week is slated to have a high of at least 55 degrees. So ditch your winter coat and skip the usual routine of heading home straight after work. Our event calendar is jam packed you have no excuse to miss out.

This week: the 140 conference strikes again, PSL get happy (and possibly political) and 8static throws down with a free show.

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Links: MC Hammer at Wharton, chatting Jimmy Wales and More

DEFINITE READS

• Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports that that city will put a bid in for Google’s announced ultra-fast Internet product.
• Keystone Edge has a Q&A with University of the Arts professor and tech-art entrepreneur Slavko Milekic.
• The Inquirer reports that MC Hammer will be appearing at a Wharton event, and, yes, TP will try to crash the party.

Below, Gabe Weinberg talks with Jimmy Wales, comic book classes and more.

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Philly’s favorite Web designs chosen by our readers

Last week, we announced a contest in partnership with Mogo Media to give one of our readers a free ticket to Mogo’s Adobe Flash training seminar on Fri., Feb. 26. Based on a random drawing, we’d like to congratulate Sarah Lindsay who we’re hooking up with that $129 ticket!

Don’t miss out. If you still would like to attend the seminar, Technically Philly readers get a special 10 percent discount if they register with coupon code “TECHNICAL” (case-sensitive).

After the jump, see some favorite Philly-based designs as chosen by Technically Philly readers.

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Links: What stories do we share online, SAP CEO not asked back and More

DEFINITE READS

• Cyberjournalist reports that University of Pennsylvania researchers found readers are more likely to share three types of stories online.
• PEHub is looking for votes on where it should host its next meetup, and Philadelphia is a choice. Vote here.

Below, zombies and geeks, SAP CEO leaves in a tornado of speculation and more.

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Friday Tech Links: SEO with Duck Duck Go, 8-bit music 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.

The blog from incubator DreamIt Ventures features some knowledge spilled at a lecture on search engine optimization by Gabriel Weinberg, the CEO of Duck Duck Go, the Valley Forge search engine we’ve covered.

After the jump, business leaders playing squash, video from the Philly Startup Leaders barbecue and six other tech stories, including our best read story of the week.

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Friday Tech Links: Big Brother in Lancaster, girls still hate tech and More

Lancaster security cameras on the streets are monitored by civilians working for a nonprofit group. They pan, zoom and call police if they see a crime. Linda Johnson / For The L.A. Times

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.

You’re probably being watched in Lancaster.

This city of 54,000 in the middle of a rural county of the same name just may be the most closely scrutinized place in the country, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.

As many as 165 closed-circuit TV cameras that will soon bring constant live surveillance of very nearly every street, park and other public space. That would be more outdoor cameras than cities as large as Boston and San Francisco.

Two more things are unique about the camera network, as the L.A. Times story suggests: it was built and maintained by a private nonprofit group and few seem concerned about the privacy implications.

The group, which hires civilians to move and follow the cameras and dispatch police to suspiscious activity, hasn’t found much public outcry.

“Years ago, there’s no way we could do this,” said Lancaster’s police chief Keith Sadler told the Times. “It brings to mind Big Brother, George Orwell and ’1984.’ It’s just funny how Americans have softened on these issues.”

There is some question as to the effectiveness of cameras, though. In what the Times report calls the largest U.S. study, US Berkeley researchers evaluated 71 cameras that San Francisco put in high-crime areas beginning in 2005. In December, they released a report that found “no evidence” of a reduction in violent crime, though it did note “substantial declines” in property crime near the cameras.

Hat Tip Philly Tech News.

After the jump, the continued spat over a state film tax credit, robot-loving high schoolers and eight more of the week’s tech stories you shouldn’t miss, including our best read story of the last seven days.

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Friday Tech Links: Startup double takes, Solar industry coming to town 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.

We found some redundancy in technology startup news this week.

Remember back in April, we introduced you to Stealth Rowing, which was constructing indoor training equipment for crew teams? Remember how you thought that was a novel idea and then forgot about it because no sensible person gets up at four a.m. to splash in the Schuylkill?

Well, maybe it wasn’t all that novel an idea.

As Inquirer business columnist Mike Armstrong reported late last month, two Philadelphia University graduates are rolling out the Benson rower, a piece of machinery that, yup, simulates rowing on open water. This city is silly with those silly narrow boats.

That isn’t it.

Callowhill-based Avencia has released two data-heavy, online mapping displays in recent weeks: on legislative data and election data. Well, there are other wonks in town. Mikey Armstrong, of Philadelphia Business Today fame, again introduced us to a player in startup bizarro world.

Center City-based neighborhood revitalization group the Reinvestment Fund has won some praise of late for its PolicyMap.com, a freemium-model display that maps block-by-block statistics on things like household incomes, foreclosures and employment.

The more the merrier, I suppose.

After the jump, Geekadelphia talks horror films, sex addicted principals on MySpace, the solar world comes to Philly and four other regional tech stories you need to read, including our most trafficked story of the week.

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Technically Not Tech: Joystiq

It may seem that Joystiq is located in some fancy tower in some far-off city with a staff of a dozen writers. After all, the blog is owned by the largest media company in the world, is the 18th most popular blog on the Web and is one of the largest video game blogs in the world. And, as one look in Google Reader would tell you, they produce a boat load of breaking news, reviews and industry rumors that put traditional video game media outlets to shame.

But Joystiq is the result of a team of telecommuters from all over the world led by Philadelphia’s own Christopher Grant, who plugs away at the site in his Fishtown home with the help of his staff. Two staffers, Ben Gilbert and Dave Hinkle, live in and around Philadelphia as well.

While most large multi-author blogs do not have a true “headquarters,” Philadelphia has long had its impact on Joystiq. The man who Grant replaced and the site’s first editor, Vladimir Cole, was a graduate student at Wharton.

We chatted with Joystiq’s Editor-in-Chief about his climb to the top of Joystiq and found out who was lucky enough to receive four boxes of free video games from him.
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