Links: Oil-based rent, NFL cheerleader turned NASA engineer and more

DEFINITE READS

• Philly Eco City reports that Mount Airy-based electric bicycle shop Philly Electric Wheels has pegged its store rent to the percentage price increases of a barrel of oil.

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• Science Cheerleader has a Q&A with a former Houston Texans cheerleader turned NASA aerospace engineer.
• Science Cheerleader also gives four (sort of) science-related mobile applications she likes — from mass body index to UV calculations.
• The Inquirer’s Joe DiStefano reports that Exton-based insurance-software developer iPipeline has seen sales jump sixfold since an $18 million investment two years ago.

GIVE A GLANCE

• Holly Otterbein Isiah Thompson at the CityPaper notes that Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has long had a blog — he just hasn’t posted anything on it.
• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the city’s tax amnesty program brought in $60 million, more than double what the city gave as its goal.
• The Business Journal also reports that Lockheed Martin announced the $24 million expansion of its Newtown operations in Bucks County.

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

Lockheed Martin developing smarter robotics in South Jersey

A major corporation’s subdivision in our region is becoming a leading innovator in “brain-inspired computing,” according to a Philadelphia Business Journal story by their technology writer Peter Key, who, our sources tell us, can rock a mean air guitar.

The Cherry Hill-based Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories has spent the last four years researching “brain-inspired computing” and is poised to make inroads in the science fiction-style technology, fueled by recent funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — which is credited for offering the initial funding for a little project that helped lead to the Internet.

Read more

Friday Tech Roundup: Cell phone driving ban, Police brutality spread on social media 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 Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the city’s cell phone ban is for real now. After passing City Council last week, it seemed doomed from statewide angst for a municipality creating a varying driving standard. It seems some state funding is still in danger because of the move.

Read more

Lockheed Martin engineers get a chance to play on Space Day

There’s something about Lockheed Martin’s Space Day plans that reminds us of the 1983 geekcult classic WarGames.

Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, which has offices throughout the region, including Cherry Hill, and is usually embroiled in our ongoing coverage of scary regional military tech innovation (yes, we’re considering a regular category), is doing something for the kids.

The company plans to ooh-and-ahh middle-schoolers by showing off human-computer interaction concepts with Nintendo Wii remotes, according to a press release.

The demonstrations will take place on May 1 at Lockheed’s Advanced Technology Laboratories locations in New Jersey and Virginia in celebration of the company’s international Space Day, its effort to scout K-12 geeks globally.

“Shall we play a game?”

Read more

Lockheed Martin launches rocket, trains foreigners

Two regional subsidiaries of Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, Maryland’s friendly neighborhood military logistics multinational corporation, got good news this week.

Yes, it’s another round of scary regional military tech innovation.

Their Newton-based space systems arm was part of the design and construction of a new global-positioning satellite that was rocket-launched into space on Tuesday, according to a company press release.

That came a day after the company’s maritime systems and sensors firm won a $10.7 million contract from the U.S. Navy, according to another presser.

Read more