PA Tech Awards deadline extended to tonight at midnight; Vote [Links]

• Organizers tell us that the deadline for nominations for the PA Tech Awards, which we covered last month, has been extended to midnight tonight. Vote Philly!
• Spot the most defibrillators in Philly, win $10K! [SciStarter -- An interview with Penn Prof. Raina Merchant, who is behind the effort we covered
• Hedger pausing on print [New York Post] — Randy Smith, who owns nearly a third of the company that publishes Philly.com and the newspapers, is trying to sell, reports the paper. More from Poynter.
• SAP will add 500 jobs in Newtown [Delaware County Daily Times]
• AstraZeneca to cut 7,300 more jobs amid fourth-quarter profit drop [Inquirer]

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InterDigital stocks tumble after soaring after acquisition talk [Links]

• A look at Cipher Prime’s ‘Splice’ [Inquirer] — Geekadelphia’s Eric Smith pens a column
• New Jersey man turns campaign stint into software success [Inquier] — “Together they spent 20-hour days devising a social-media tool – a “game-changer,” the nonpartisan New Organizing Institute has called it – that maximized efforts by the campaign’s field offices and led to the prodigious get-out-the-vote initiative that proved key to Obama’s success.” On NationalField from Aharon Wasserman.
• Open Question to our Readers [Hive76]

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Let’s allow crowd-funding to help entrepreneurs: op-ed from Wharton lecturer

An op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle caught our eye:

With surprisingly little fanfare and even more surprising bipartisanship, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a crowd-funding bill this month that would allow startup companies to sell securities by way of social networking and crowd-funding websites.

In essence, crowd-funding affords the public at large the opportunity to provide small amounts of incremental funding to entrepreneurial companies. Think of it as charitable giving for startups, although the return comes not in peace of mind or a tax deduction but in the form of equity in the company.

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Patrick K. FitzGerald is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and MBA lecturer on entrepreneurship at the Wharton School of Business.

StaphMeal.com: ‘hate-filled’ local food blogger Joshua Scott Albert profiled by Phillymag, Daily News

Joshua Scott Albert. (Photo: David Maialetti/Daily News Staff Photographer)

The months-old saga of local restaurant scene blog turned personal attack-laden rumor mill StaphMeal.com has reached the point where Technically Philly feels compelled to acknowledge it.

In September, former restaurant worker Joshua Scott Albert outed himself as being behind the blog, as Grub Street reported, following a libel suit from noted Le Bec Fin owner Georges Perrier. Ah, how the internet can be twisted in ugly ways.

With seeming reluctance, Albert was profiled this week by the Daily News and, in the December issue, by Philadelphia magazine.

Mayor Nutter signs tax relief bills from Council [LINKS]

• Nutter signs business tax relief bills  [Philadelphia Business Journal] — The bills were passed by Council here
• Master Grief [Bygone Era] — An essay from Geekadelphia’s Eric Smith, who describes how a broken heart caused him to get that full-sized Halo character costume we told you about.
• NuPathe CEO: Getting migraine patch OK’d shouldn’t be headache [Philadelphia Business Journal] — Conshohocken CEO Jane Hollingsworth had its Zelrix migraine patch turned down by the FDA in August, but they’re regrouping to resubmit in the first half of 2012
• NextDocs Establishes Asian Presence with New Office in Tokyo [NextDocs blog]
• Transit Hackers Take Philly for a Ride [Programmable Web] — On the Apps for SEPTA event we sponsored

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FactCheck.org launches spoof site to combat lies in politics [LINKS]

• Bentley Systems buys 2 software companies [Philadelphia Business Journal] — Bentley “has bought an English software company and an Australian software company for sums it did not disclose.”
• Aweber announces enhanced web form integration for WordPress [Aweber] From the suburban startup. More here.
• NextFab Studios Giveaway: Win Some Handmade Speakers From Jesse Gerard [Geekadelphia]
• The State of OpenData in Philly [Open Knowledge Foundation Blog] — Written by Voxeo Labs hacker Mark Headd
• Pass Me Another One of Those Hive76s [Hive 76 blog] — The hacker space stars as an energy drink in a computer wallpaper
• FlackCheck.org: using comedy to combat lies in politics [Newsworks]

Checkpoint retail security firm celebrates one year in Center City with staff cuts: Links [VIDEO]

• Checkpoint slashes 3Q, annual outlook; shares dive [AP via Business Week] From Philly Tech News: Center City-based “company now plans 1,000 employee reduction vs. 200 in prior plan; CEO cites sudden downturn of business in Europe.” Checkpoint moved to Philly from Gloucester County last fall.
• Learn how we helped to fabricate the TEDxPhilly sign [NextFab Studio]
• Gift List by QVC [Tim Quirino's blog] — The QVC developer and Geekadelphia co-founder shows off the QVC’s new app
• Greater Philadelphia Chamber adds education focus [Philadelphia Business Journal]

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Devnuts hacker wants entrepreneurship to bring jobs back: Links

• Steve Jobs. Our economy. My suggestion. [John Fazio blog] — The co-founder of Northern Liberties hackerspace Devnuts writes about wanting to create smaller businesses to localize wealth.
• Who Are The Philadelphia Region’s Most Committed Small Business Lenders? [Multifunding blog]
• SEPTA sets a good example for open government, seriously [Daily News] — Excitement over the SEPTA hackathon we helped sponsor
• Solar firm to expand to N.J. [Courier Post] — California-based solar company Solmentum opened its east coast offices in Cherry Hill
• SunGard Availability unveils bigger data center [Philadelphia Business Journal] The new digs at 1500 Spring Garden St.
• MAYOR NUTTER ANNOUNCES CITY EXCEEDS 25 PERCENT MINORITY PARTICIPATION RATE [City press release] — Increase in minority, women and disabled businesses working with the city
• Design Philadelphia Picks: October 13-23 [Eyes on the Street] — It’s launched
• Freedom of the Word & Computer Security – An Activist Computer Security Workshop This Saturday  [Geekadelphia]
• Cephalon to be replaced by TE Connectivity in S&P [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Reality Television Show Seeking Philly Geeks For New Program  [Geekadelphia]
• Philly area companies on 2011 InformationWeek 500 [Philly Tech News]

Whipped Bakeshop launches a live ‘CakeCam:’ Links [VIDEO]

• SunGard in $14 million Center City expansion [Philly Deals: Inquirer]
• Quiet Time-keeping for Musicians at Curtis This Year [ATR website] — Bucks County-based ATR Systems installed more than 60 synchronized wall clocks at the new Curtis Institute of Music building in Center City
• Whipped Bakeshop’s New Website & CakeCam  [Geekadelphia] — Fishtown high-end dessert shop is trying something new, a live camera of their work during normal business hours.
• Spark Energy Launches New Mobile Website & App [Spark website]
• What data should the city release? [It's Our Money: Daily News] — The report on the OpenDataRace, which we told you about, and which also got coverage in GovFresh by developer Mark Headd.

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Groupon launches loyalty program in Philly to keep merchants happier: Links

• Now it’s time to have a party [Yikestopia] — Fishtown web dev firm Yikes Inc. is hosting an open house next Friday to check out its recently completed LEED-certified rehab on Girard Avenue, featuring Michael Nutter. Read our coverage here.
• Welcome to N3rd Street [Dangerously Awesome] — Alex Hillman thinks his section of Old City has something interesting brewing
• Groupon Rolls Out Loyalty Program to Try to Make Merchants Happier [All Things Digital] — Launching in Chicago and Philadelphia this month, notes Philly Tech News
• Kids Dungeon Adventure: An RPG for the Little Ones, Made Just Outside of Philly  [Geekadelphia]

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