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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Event Highlights for February 8-14, 2010

Update, 2/8 9:37 a.m.:Refresh Philly will be held at Avencia’s office at 340 N 12th St Suite 402, not the Comcast Center.

Still recovering from that Super Bowl party you went to last night?

Well, get some coffee and shake off that headache. Our event calendar is packed with worthy events and it would be best if you paid attention.

Start your week off right, and head to Callowhill to see the the map-happy geniuses at Avencia talk about their Walkshed project and the company’s entry into the NYC BigApps contest. On Thursday, Hive76 hosts the Philly robotics meetup and cap your week off by taking PhillyCHI up on its offer of design-focused quizzo.

And, if you’re still feeling some withdraw from football, click through for your event highlights. This time with 60 percent more sports references.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.

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Event Highlights for February 1-7, 2010

We dream of the day when artists, forward-thinking nonprofits and public safety tech professionals get together for some seriously game-changing innovations. For now, we can only hope that each of these communities’ spots on our calendar this week will result in some cross-pollination, and perhaps some collaborative brainstorming.

Law enforcement officials from hundreds of organizations
are in town this week for a three-day, 1,500-attendee conference covering technology in public safety. Big Brother, where art thou? Oh, the Marriot.

On Tuesday, NetSquared will continue to amplify issues in nonprofits’ use of social media to achieve goals. They’ve gathered some thought-provoking organizations that have used the Twitters and the Facebooks out there to help propel their mission.

Wednesday, Hive76—which has basically owned this events highlights space since it re-opened, with its valuable events—has partnered with artist coalition PositiveSpace to bring the art and hacker communities together, at last.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.

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Event Highlights for January 18-24, 2010

You’ve spent the last two weeks getting back in the swing of things, and you’re hoping to close out January as a strong first month. Jump on a couple events this week as the year continues to open up.

On Monday, stretch those learning muscles at Life Sciences 2010, a mid-day event focused on taking a look at how global collaboration is good for the quickly-changing field. It’s something different, but we know there are a lot of smart noggins in this community that can do some great innovation in that sector.

Wednesday, TVBGone creator Mitch Altman heads to Hive76 to help folks build the infomercially-sold TV-ridding kit. We were way into keeping our sets off with a product like this… until HD got cheap. D’oh!

Finally on Friday, join the University City Science Center as it unveils Next Fab Studio, its high-tech, membership-based prototyping lab. We talked to Next Fab founder Evan Malone last week, and the assortment of equipment at the shop seems drool-worthy. UCSC President Steve Tang let us know about his excitement for the lab, too. We’ll be stopping by the new shop later this afternoon, so stay tuned for our preview. If it’s not posted by 6:00 p.m., your dinner is on us!

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Event Highlights for January 4 – 10, 2010

Updated: Added Technically Philly’s Wednesday meetup.

Still recovering from those weekend hangovers? We feel you. There’s not much going on this week, so rest up, friends. It’ll be time to get back in gear soon enough.

Monday, Hive76’s Jack Zylkin will host a guitar effects course, teaching the electronics behind amplifier hacking. Too much Twitter? Facebooked out? Worried that we just made “Facebook” a verb? On Tuesday, NetSquared will help you measure the success of your social networking push. See the deets, after the jump.

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Friday Q&A: Far McKon of hacker space Hive76

Far McKon, seated right, helped create hacker space Hive76, which recently moved into new, larger digs | Photo: Technically Philly

After moving into a new, larger studio down the hall from its original location in the Poplar neighborhood, DIY hacker space Hive 76 is celebrating.

“We had a good year. We were nonexistant to a big space and now we have a huge crew of people,” organizer and “instigator” Far McKon tells Technically Philly.

Founded in March, McKon says that Hive developed organically to 12 full-time members, slowly building with the space’s weekly free-to-all open house, to find itself in its new 40-foot by 30-foot space that is three or four times the size of its previous location.

The group’s weekly events and occasional classes—like Jack Zylkin’s upcoming Guitar Effects 101 class—compliment its normally laid back atmosphere, witnessed first hand by Technically Philly recently.

We had a chance to sit down with McKon to talk about what the hacker space movement is all about, the group’s innovative MakerBot platform and Hive’s falling out with the Hacktory, after the jump.

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