No longer do we all have to ice skate to SEPTA, and that means that heading out to the week’s tech events should be as easy as ever. Although, the weather gods seem to be brewing the next storm, so you’d best take advantage while you can.

First and foremost, Black Family Technology Awareness Week has a handful of remaining events this week, including the Changing Expectations Career Tour for anyone considering getting into tech.

On Tuesday, head on over to Liberty Plaza to learn everything you ever wanted to know about mobile programming. The next day you should come out to hear Technically Philly present its business plan to the Philly Startup Leaders and other attendees. Even if you aren’t into sustainable journalism (but, let’s be honest: everyone’s into journalism’s business models… right?), come out for $2 beers and $3 well drinks. And lastly, after work on Friday, TrendCamp will help us all discover the trends that will come to define 2010.

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

Tuesday, February 23rd: PANMA kicks off its extensive 2010 event calendar with a discussion about mobile programming. Chris Morrell of the wonderful Philly New Media Hub will be the featured speaker, ready to teach you about new mobile technologies as well as how to optimize your existing sites. 5:30 p.m. University City. DETAILS. [view more events]

Wednesday, February 24rd: Join us in celebrating our first birthday by dissect our business plan with Philly Startup Leaders at the University of the Arts. We’ll chat about our plans for making Technically Philly a sustainable source of news, and we hope you are there to offer your feedback as our readers and as entrepreneurs. Afterwards, stick around for discounted drinks at the Irish Pub at 12th and Walnut. 7:30 p.m. Center City. REGISTER. [view more events]

Friday, February 26th: *Camp season is well under way. First up: TrendCamp, a barcamp that focuses on “what’s next” for everything from our city to business. We can only hope that attendees universally conclude that Technically Philly is the next big thing. 6:00 p.m. Center City. REGISTER. [view more events]

If you have an event that you think we should be listing, email us or fill out our submission form for best results. We promise that no submission falls in to the contact form netherworld.

We know: it’s gonna be tough making it out to some of those events on our calendar this week unless someone’s carting a television along, or at least a mobile subscription to MLB.TV. After all, our boys play tonight, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

But we still have you covered. And it just so happens that the events are weighted on Tuesday. Coincidence? Major League Baseball-psychic-connection? We may never know. Hit the jump for the highlights. No, not a replay of that eighth-inning three-run Victorino homer. Event highlights.

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

Tuesday, October 20th: If there’s one thing we don’t quite see enough of, its merging the fields of technology and green energy. On Tuesday, TelecoWorks will host a celebration of green IT at the Academy of Natural Sciences. The sooner these two industries converge, the sooner we can cover it, and the sooner we’ll all feel a little better about the work we do and the world we affect. And I’ll remember to turn off my monitor when I’m not in the room. 6:00 p.m. Art Museum. DETAILS. [view more events]

Tuesday, October 20th: PANMA has P’unk Ave’s Geoff DiMasi discussing open source tools that P’unk helped prestigious Duke University create. DiMasi will take his experience in urban planning and offers how it can be applied to large, multi-branded organizations like Duke. See the guy that has been dominating our events coverage lately. 6:30 p.m. University City. DETAILS. [view more events]

Thursday and Friday, October 22nd and 23rd: Philadelphia Virtuosi Orchestra will perform free at Gallery East, this time showing off next-gen instruments that combine interesting physical design and robotic technology to fit right in with the strings. It’s different and that’s a good thing. Thurs., 12:30 a.m., Fri., 5:30 p.m. Center City. DETAILS. [view more events]

If you have an event that you think we should be listing, email us or fill out our submission form for best results. We promise that no submission falls in to the contact form netherworld.

There’s much ado about the future of Philadelphia’s technology scene.

Active discussions are taking place about how Philly can become a hub of technology innovation on the popular PANMA new media listserve.

Subscribers have been debating whether or not Philadelphia can become the Silicon Valley of the East coast. There’s even a few mentions of a “Philacon Valley.”

Earlier this week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Technically Philly that the city met all the criteria for a tech renaissance.

Except, instead of championing Philadelphia’s long list of suburban tech companies, he suggested that tech hubs tend to grow best in urban centers.

“Do you think Schmidt understands that when you get down to brass tacks, it’s the Philly tax situation that’s keeping [Center City] tech entrepreneurship artificially suppressed,” responded one reader on the PANMA listserv.

It seems that policy makers are conscious of taxes that affect business in Philly proper.

City Council approved a compromised budget today that would increase sales tax by 7 percent to 8 percent for five years, reports the Philadelphia Business Journal. Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. called it the “preferred alternative” to other business taxes.

There were other concerns about Philadelphia entrepreneurial dichotomy voiced on the listserv.

“I agree that Philly could certainly become the East Coast Valley, but until there are investors here willing to support the ecosystem and the local startup scene, it isn’t going to be that way,” wrote Jameson Detweiler, CEO of Konnect.me.

Venture capital funding plunged in the first quarter, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers last month, but local investors tell Technically Philly that while the region’s investments are locked to national trends, seed-stage funding is still strong.

Other responders of the e-mail blast said that Philly stands on its own.

“We all were excited about the idea of a Wireless Philadelphia even though it didn’t work out as planned. University of Penn was where the ENIAC project was housed. We have some of the most wired campuses in the country where students have had the chance to work with computers and IT-centric careers for a good number of years,” wrote Mike Rosenberg of LeanServer.

“I think Philly has been in large part a major player in contributing to the new media and IT culture of the world.”

We throw it back to you, the reader. Is “Philacon Valley” in Philly’s future or are we defining the tech scene ourselves? Should the city do anything to lure tech companies into the city, or does Schmidt just not get our suburban culture? Let us know in the comments.

Well, save your SEPTA tokens, as Philly provides all of that and more this week.

First up is First Round Capitol’s office hours at the World Cafe Live. The event is an informal gathering to discuss all things startup with one of the region’s most well known venture capital firms and is modeled after a college professor’s office hours. If you are up for a short walk, stroll on over to the Cira Center afterward to PANMA’s Mobile Monday. There, listen to a panel stacked with talent discuss Mobile Marketing and Advertising.

If mobile isn’t your thing, make sure you can knock back a few brews with Phillyrb, the city’s Rails user group. We hear if you buy them a few they’ll talk about regular expression syntax for hours.

Continuing University City’s status as center of the tech event universe this week, PANMA is getting together at the Science Center to talk about SEO in 2009, which, we assume, does not involve the <blink> tag.

And lastly, Philly’s game developers are getting together at the Comcast Center to introduce themselves and talk about the future of the group.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.

Monday, May 18th: Conshohocken-based First Round Capitol is holding “office hours,” a casual gathering geared toward would-be CEOs who are curious about entrepreneurship. If you have even thought starting your own business, we suggest you hop on the El and meet a group who knows startups as well as any other. Plus, First Round brags that they had 50-60 attendees at the other cities they tried this event, so lets show them some hometown love at World Cafe Live. And, while you are there, compliment them on their awesome Christmas card. 3 p.m. University City. RSVP. [view more events]

Monday, May 18th: The registration page says it’s sold out, but we’d be willing to bet that a few of the 350 registrants don’t show up to Mobile Monday. If you are into mobile try to sneak in the Cira Center, as PhindMe’s CEO and a VP at AT&T will be on a panel discussing mobile marking and advertising. Even if you couldn’t care less about marketing, there will be a table for job seekers to talk with hiring companies. Wow, companies hiring people is so 2008. 5:30 p.m. University City. RSVP. [view more events]

Monday, May 18th: Formally Philly on Rails, Phillyrb is having a social gathering at T.A. Flannery’s Saloon. Grab a few beers and get acquainted with your fellow Web app developers in a relaxed atmosphere and talk about … well I seem to have misplaced my “Beginning Ruby” book that I never read. 6:00 p.m. Center City West. RSVP. [view more events]

Wednesday, May 20th: No one quite knows how Google’s magic algorithm works, but one thing is for sure: the tactics that worked two years ago probably could use some updating. Join PANMA and SEO expert Wil Reynolds for a talk about the new ways to bump up your page rank. Oh, and did we mention that the event (like every one on TP’s calendar) is free, yet pizza will be served? 6:30 p.m. University City. RSVP. [view more events]

Saturday, May 26th: Those who managed to make it out to Ignite saw Chris Jurney’s fascinating presentation about video game AI. We can only hope that Saturday’s meeting is half as cool as the region’s game developers get together at the Comcast Building. The event looks to be mostly a social one, containing introductions and discussing on the future schedule of the group. With the aforementioned Ignite presentation as well as Joystiq’s HQ in Fishtown, Philly could start to make some noise in the video game sphere. 2:00 p.m. Center City West. RSVP. [view more events]

Every Monday morning, Technically Philly will preview the best free tech events in Philadelphia and the surrounding region. See others here. Check our comprehensive events calendar here.

Sure you can.

While this week’s events are weighted on Tuesday when ten local tech organizations will celebrate the Mexican holiday, there’s some exciting things happening the rest of the week.

Don’t miss the city’s Chief Information Officer Allan Frank tonight at Refresh Philly. While we know philly.gov phila.gov has a few, uhm, design issues, take it easy on Mr. Frank. He has feelings too, you know.

Tuesday’s a mouthful. Say it with me now: PANMA, Philly ALT.NET, Philly PRSSA, Philly Net Tuesday, Ideablob, Philadelphia SPIN, Central New Jersey Drupal meetup, Philadelphia Standards Organization. Phew! That’s a lot of Philly (and a little bit of Jerz).

Tinker with the Hacktory‘s Open Hack! on Saturday or learn a little Cocoa with the launch of IndyHall-U. While we don’t normally include paid events on our calendar, Technically Philly is watching the launch IndyHall’s new education center.

All this week’s eventy-goodness, after the jump.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.

Monday, May 5: Refresh Philly has been trying to nab Philadelphia CIO Allan Frank for weeks, and kudos to their ability to do just that. Refresh organizer Roz Duffy tells Technically Philly that Frank is very interested in the meeting and has some progressive ideas for the city. He’ll be making an appearance tonight along with user experience practitioners Kellie Carter who’s garnered a PhD in human-computer interaction, and Dave Cooksey of PhillyCHI. 6 p.m., Center City. RSVP [view more events].

Tuesday, May 6: We have an inkling that most of the discussion Tuesday night� when ten organizations will host Cinco de Mayo festivities� will be less about technology and more about Corona.

That won’t keep 10 organizations from trying to keep things civil. Alex Hung, co-founder of New York’s ALT.NET user group wants to help get you started developing for the iPhone at Philly’s ALT.NET meetup. Philly PRSSA will attempt to Break Boundaries concerning social media and has able panelists to help do just that: Comcast’s Chief Blogger Scott McNulty, GlaxoSmithKline’s PR head honcho Michael McTique, Steve Lubetkin of Professional Podcasts and more. If that’s still not enough social media for you, Philly Net Tuesday will discuss nonprofits and Twitter. We’ll skip jokes about Twitter being a “nonprofit.” All evening, various locations. [view the complete listing on our calendar].

Saturday, May 9: The Hacktory throws down its normal Open Hack! event on Saturday after organizers there helped pack the house at Johnny Brenda’s for Ignite Philly 3 last weekend. 1 p.m. Fairmount. Details. [view more events]

Last, now that IndyHall has officially moved into new digs on Third and Church in Old City, its old space on Strawberry Street ain’t gonna collect dust. The old space has been turned into a dedicated events and education center and launches its first class on Saturday. Andy Mroczkowski of Neat Receipts (which just dropped a new Mac version of its document scanning solution) and organizer of PhillyCocoa will lead the Mac Programming Foundations Workshops on May 9 and 16. 1 p.m., Old City. Details. [view more events]

All week, the Empowerment Group‘s Entrepreneurship Week is chocked-full of great opportunities to learn about starting or super-powering your business. Be sure to read our highlights of the week-long event.

Philadelphia Standards Organization has three top-notch designers talking clean design and Web standards, and PANMA is hosting a discussion on the state of Web hosting in 2009, all on Tuesday. Thursday’s Junto is all culture, as several prominent artists, educators and organizations will discuss art criticism’s past, present and future.

Finally on Saturday, Technically Philly helps host its first event, BarCamp NewsInnovation Philadelphia. We hope all techies—journalistic or not—will join us to help change the news industry.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.

Tuesday, April 21: PhillyCHI‘s lecture with Bill Buxton is long sold out, but maybe you know someone who can sneak you in the back door; it looks like it’ll be a killer evening, considering the dude’s got a resume that would kill 20 trees if it was printed.

Luckily, Philadelphia Standards Organization is holding its “3×3: Design Edition,” lecture series. Happy Cog, Razorfish and Electronic Ink will all be talking Web design and whatever else is on their creative minds. Mmmm mmm tasty Web design. 6:00 p.m. Old City. RSVP. [view more events]

And if you’re still not hype on what to do, Philadelphia Area New Media Association (PANMA) is demystifying Web hosting—by breaking down cloud systems, rich-media content delivery, and all that stuff we leave to our (exceptionally talented) Web monkey. 6:30 p.m. Center City West. RSVP. [view more events]

Thursday, April 23: Junto-goers this month will discuss the past, present and future of art criticism. Representatives of UArts, the Philadelphia Art Blog, Vox Populi, and more—in collectivity admirable positions and with enviable talents—will discuss with the audience where Philly’s art discourse stands. “Can we transcend the magazine/blog?” the invitation asks. Go for it. Just don’t forget about us when you’re big and famous, mmmkay? 6:30 p.m. Center City West. Details. [view more events]

Saturday April 25: We hope you’ll join us for Technically Philly’s first sponsored event, BarCamp NewsInnovation Philadelphia. BCNI Philadelphia is the national conference of a countrywide effort to reinvent the news industry. This isn’t for journalists by journalists. Coders: tell us what’s wrong with news websites. Designers: make fun of news Flash applications. Media lovers: tell us you’re sick of hearing about the dreary state of the news industry. We’d love to see as many forward-thinking techies there as possible. Here at TP, we have lots to say about the state of all-things media, which we’ll save for our fourth beer at the kick-ass after party at National Mechanics in Old City. We sincerely hope to see you there. All day. Temple University. RSVP. [view more events]

Every Monday morning, Technically Philly will preview the best free tech events in Philadelphia and the surrounding region. See others here. Check our comprehensive events calendar here.