10 ugliest websites in Philadelphia — voter’s choice awards

We’re not one to question the look, feel and design of online presences, but sometimes it’s fun to let other people.

So, over the past couple weeks, we sought your opinion for the ugliest websites in Philadelphia.

South-Philly.com

Our nominator says: part of an empire of bad templates from a quick hit web design firm in town, as noted by other suggestions. Visit here.

As submitted privately.

WMD Hotsauce

Our nominator told us: “Actually had a convo w owner, “You don’t like my logo? I designed it myself!”" Visit here

As suggested by Danya Henninger.

Read more

10 coolest (mostly interactive) online maps of Philadelphia

This 1838 map of Philadelphia from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania didn't make our list of the 10 best maps of Philadelphia.

We love maps.

For hundreds of years, they have helped us better understand our world. That understanding has grown wildly with time and technology, but, still, maps help.

In a place as inwardly focused, we have plenty of maps in Philadelphia. You also may know that we have something of a technology community here.

So there are resources like the Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access, or PASDA, which offers just a wild glut of GIS shape files for mapping geeks. We’ve seen cool mapping tools that are of broader scope though Philly got some love: from the addition of bicycle directions to Philadelphia Google Maps to the Google Building Maker to mapping the homes of those in the U.S. armed services who died in the Mideast this decade and many more.

But we wanted to highlight the coolest maps made for Philadelphia of Philadelphia.

Taking into account our own map obsessions, suggestions and calling out our community, we took on the task of listing, in no particular order, the 10 best online maps of Philadelphia.

Read more

Links: Philly named ‘thinking’ city, four on Forbes’ richest and more

DEFINITE READS

• How Philadelphia’s Navy Yard could lead the way in energy efficiency [Smart Planet] — A Q&A with Hank Foley, the Penn State dean who will help lead the $129 project in South Philadelphia.
• Economists reveal Philadelphia’s economic identity as ‘thinking’ region [PhillyInc, Inquirer] — A report puts Philadelphia in the ‘thinking’ category, one of 12, along with cities like New York City, San Diego and Portland, Maine, as opposed to, say, the ‘innovating’ cities of Boston and Raleigh, N.C.

Below, NPR takes on Harrisburg university’s social media experiment, four in region make Forbes’ richest list and more.

Read more

10 Twitter users every Philadelphian should follow

Some people count how many friends they have, and some people count the value of their friendships. On social media — and the web generally — we have the same kind of experience.

We can count just about everything online, and so it should surprise no one that as social media has boomed, so too have the comparisons between Facebook friend counts and Twitter followers.

But there’s so often a nuance that raw numbers can’t show.

It’s easy enough to track who are the most followed Twitter users in Philadelphia, but everyone is trying to figure out how those figures measure in influence — or ‘resonance.’ Suppose we want to see who are the biggest Philadelphia voices in the Twitter conversation — not spam accounts with big follower numbers, but those people who you should be following, whose opinions matter and are being heard.

Simply, what Philadelphia Twitter users matter most?

Find the rest on the Philly Post of Philadelphia magazine.

10 most trafficked Web sites in Philadelphia (maybe)

Traffic estimates from Compete.com for Philly.com, NBCPhiladelphia.com and CBS3.com, likely three of the most trafficked websites in Philadelphia. Click to enlarge.

July marks the middle of the calendar year, quarterly reports and time to evaluate progress on yearly goals.

At the beginning of 2010, we looked at 10 competitors and their relative web traffic. With six months done, we wanted to make the first attempt at listing the most trafficked websites in Philadelphia, using monthly unique visitors as the metric of choice.

To make the comparison, we’ve used public traffic website Compete, but, by way of disclosure, we’ll always offer that any public web metrics are notoriously controversial. It’s also important to note that there is often a drag in such traffic estimates being pulled, so the surest figures are from the end of May.

So, consider this a comparative start and nothing more.

Read more

What if a 13 year old in 1996 made Philly Web design firm sites?

Web design firms — from the boutique to the satellite offices — abound in Philadelphia.

They’re into branding and functionality and crafting sleek, sexy, modern websites for the city’s businesses, nonprofits and groups. So, what if a 13-year-old in 1996 had designed their own sites?

We find out by using the meme-worthy Geocities-izer that has made its way around the interwebs lately.

Read more

Five city departments and agencies that could use a Web overhaul

In an informal partnership with Philadelphia magazine‘s new Philly Post daily news blog, Technically Philly will be offering our insight on Philadelphia technology to a broader audience of tech-interested individuals every Tuesday. As is true of so much of our effort, this is yet another opportunity to voice the triumphs and concerns of the community to a broader audience in the city and beyond.

Read this post on Philly Mag’s Philly Post.

The use of technology to transform government has been growing municipal concern in city halls across the country.

Here, the City of Philadelphia has announced its intentions to release a service orientated 311 iPhone application, is applying for ultra highspeed broadband from Google and is in hot pursuit of a funded team of developers and technologists to make our every government transparency dream come true.

The overtures are there, even if the substance hasn’t yet hit the pavement.

As such, a question or three remains as to where the priorities of the newly centralized city division of technology should be. The Web has no limits — of space or time. So we’d think every department’s site should be an open and transparent list of expenditures and salaries, but there are specific goals each agency could reach — and those we wish they could.

Below, we share our hopes for Web openness and effectiveness at five agencies or departments Philadelphians often loathe.

Read more

Ten most followed Philadelphia Twitter users

Roots drummer Questlove is Philadelphia's most followed Twitter user as of March 2010. Graph courtesy of TwitterCounter.com.

It’s tough to say just what it all means, but there’s some fascination with Twitter follower counts.

It’s a metric of some kind. Not quite popularity or power or purpose. Influence, yes, though many a spam account accrues tens of thousands of followers. So, take that as our warning. Twitter follower counts don’t necessarily mean jack, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

So we took a quick spin to meet who was out there representing Philadelphia in Twitter conversations. Who are the 10 most followed Twitter users listing Philadelphia as their home?

Below, you find out.

Read more

Thanks to our weekly sponsors

Technically Philly is made possible by advertisers and sponsors that are important to Philadelphia’s technology community. This week we’d like to thank:

Springboard Media – Springboard Media is a certified Apple Specialist and retailer based in Center City and now, in Exton. They’ve got a ton of accessories and a great trade-in program that can score you up to $1,500 when you’re ready to upgrade.

Alex Hillman – IndyHall‘s Alex Hillman has signed on as Technically Philly’s first “Philanthropist” sponsor. Be sure to check out his blog.

Nonprofit Technology Resources – Fairmount-based NTR refurbishes used computers and peripherals for families and individuals in Philadelphia who may not otherwise be able to afford to buy a computer. We urge you to donate to this great local cause.

Chariot Solutions – Long-time Technically Philly advertiser Chariot Solutions is host of the annual Emerging Technology for the Enterprise conference. This month, the developer and training partner is promoting the popular conference, which takes place April 8-9.

Interested in joining these organizations and individuals in supporting Technically Philly? Check out our ad packages and contact our Ad Sales Manager. Can’t find something that fits? We’ll customize a package for you.

Wharton MBA program ranked third best in world

The Wharton Business School MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania has been ranked the third best in the world by the Business Insider.

“Wharton is known for delivering talent who provide a strong strategic thinking perspective combined with exemplifying executive communication skills,” a General Electric recruiter told the New York City-based business and technology news blog.

Read more