First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman is interviewed by Sammantha Ettus and Gary Vaynerchuk of ObsessedTV

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. When it comes to ultimate economy metaphors, it’s time for car talk. Philadelphia is only experiencing a tank of bad gasoline, not a shot transmission, Inquirer Business Reporter Mike Armstrong said Wednesday. Of course, we only kid. It’s good news for Philly, which ranked 37th strongest of 100 major U.S. metros in a quarterly economic health report issued by the Brookings Institution. Hell, times ain’t rough for Delaware-based online advertiser eZanga. Fortune Magazine ranked it as one of the 15 fastest-growing marketing and advertising companies in the U.S., despite Internet advertising taking its first downturn since 2002 in the first quarter, reports Delaware Online. But do you know the problem with too much good news? Not enough drama. After the jump, how First Round Capital is ditching Philly for our lesser-neighbor up North, why social networking and work don’t mix, and gosh darnit, more proof that no one can fix that Philly budget deficit. Plus more goodies. In order of importance for your ease.

• Seems like First Round Capital is spendin’ a little too much time in the Big Apple lately. Last week, founder Josh Kopelman did a breezy interview on Obsessed with Samantha Ettus, a Web show created with North Jersey’s wine connoisseur and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk. Wednesday, First Round announced that it was launching a startup mentoring program in the New York region, reports Peter Key of the Philadelphia Business Journal. Ouch. Don’t drink the Kool-aid, Josh, it’s probably a Pinot.
• Employers are stressing about workers who talk smack about their companies on social networks, McClatchy Newspapers reports. We’re down with firing food service workers who posted YouTube videos sneezing on pizza, or amazingly enough, bathing in a stainless steel restaurant sink, but we’d be damned to say we haven’t complained about co-workers on Facebook. Maybe city employee Latrice Bryant, who took heat last fall for calling Fox 29 racist for reporting that she allegedly used company time for personal business, should take note. She’s recently been criticized for several postings on her Facebook account: “Would you sell your soul to the devil for 90k?” she wrote as her status, before deleting the message. Bryant earned $90,000 from the City of Philadelphia last year, the Daily News reports.
• A taxi driver that hit a woman riding a bicycle in South Philadelphia and sped off seemingly doesn’t have a chance of getting away with it. The cabbie musta forgot that every taxi is fitted with a GPS device that inspectors at Philadelphia Parking Authority are tracking, MyFoxPhilly reports.
• No one can balance that damned Philly budget. Of 3,000 users that participated in the Economy League’s Philadelphia Budget Challenge that we reported on in April, nearly 60 percent ended up with a deficit.
• Remember MaBell? No? Hit up your Encyclopedia Britannica (or Google, for you new heads). Well, even if you’ve forgotten, PhillyOfficeRetail.com hasn’t. The developers are collecting old-school call centers, including an 84,000 square-foot former Verizon Corp. building at 7200 Chestnut St., and others, reports PhillyDeals’ Joseph DiStefano. To think: someday someone will be collecting antiquated startup offices that moved up and onward.
• Newspapers ain’t doing all that bad. Malvern’s AnySource Media, which we covered in our Friday Q&A in April, has struck a deal with The Associated Press for the content provider to distribute a 24-hour on-demand news platform on the TV box, according to a press release. Oh wait. That’s actually no good for newspapers.
• Our Most Trafficked Story of the Week: Ten Philadelphia tech organizations that should have Wikipedia entries but don’t.

Every Friday morning we make sure you didn’t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

In a restricted budget season, you have to make your case for survival.

Pennsylvania’s Ben Franklin Technology Partners program has earned the state $3.50 for every $1 invested, according to an independent study by the Pennsylvania Economy League for the years between 2002 and 2006, as cited in a Morning Call Op-ed.

In 25 years, the program’s Southeastern Pennsylvania branch — based at the Naval Yard in South Philadelphia – has provided more than $130 million to grow more than 1,600 regional enterprises, but still, lingering in the state Senate is a bill that would cut 60 percent of the body that funds the statewide BFTP program.

“This is an extremely challenging year for the state budget, and difficult decisions must be made,” wrote R. Chadwick Paul Jr., the president and CEO of the Northeastern Pa. arm of BFTP, in the Op-ed in the Call. “But decreasing funding for Ben Franklin would reduce Pennsylvania job creation and job retention, and result in a net revenue loss for the commonwealth.”

Innovation groups westward have taken up the cause, too.

Startup Pittsburgh is calling for entrepreneurs to lobby their legislators in Harrisburg, as is the Pittsburgh Technology Council. In addition to the ‘burgh and Philly, BFTP covers the Lehigh Valley from Bethlehem and the Pennsylvania T from the safe confines of State College.

“Since 1983, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania alone has helped companies create 13,931 jobs and helped them retain 20,772 existing jobs. These are highly paid, sustainable jobs,” Paul also wrote. “Ben Franklin boosted the Pennsylvania gross state product by $9.3 billion.”

The deadline for the state budget looms at the month’s end; it has to be passed by July 1. No budget has passed on time since Gov. Ed Rendell took office in 2003. He recently warned state workers they will stop being paid if the budget fight goes late, again. In a particularly tight fiscal year, that fight is particularly heated, so no matter the importance of innovation, BFTP is, like most other groups, on the chopping block.

Does every group that receives state money have to take cutbacks in this economy, or is it foolish to think to slash any money from BFTP which is said to make the state a profit? Have you seen Philadelphia groups or organizations take a stand on this issue?

H/T Philly Tech News

Somebody please figure out this city’s budget shortfall so we can go back to prospering.

It can be Mayor Michael Nutter or city council or, Hell, maybe Larry West.

Maybe you can figure it out with a new, very cool online toy from the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the research and analysis nonprofit based on the Avenue of the Arts.

At EconomyLeague.com/Budget, users get a snapshot of the budget battle, by having to close a $200 million hole with 15 options.

“Through the Philadelphia Budget Challenge as well as the Mayor’s budget forums in February, citizens are getting a look behind the curtain at the real trade-offs city managers have to make,” said Allison Kelsey, a spokeswoman for the Economy League. “It makes for better-informed constituents and voters who can then be better advocates for themselves, their neighborhoods and their city.”

See what went into the project, read how I fared and share your own choices below.

Since its March 23 launch, some 2,000 people have taken the challenge, which was funded by West Conshohocken’s Lenfest Foundation, Kelsey told Technically Philly.

Steven Wray, the Economy League executive director, called the online tool a three-way exercise.

“To help people learn more about the city budget, and the second part was to make that learning experience fun, and then finally to also be able to collect some information about the choices people make,” Wray told KYW.

So the game, which focuses on short-term choices, might lack a bit of nuance for budget geeks out there, but a great deal of learning is to be had there.

The Economy League is sharing their results, suggesting the administration might take those perspectives into consideration — something it seems they surprisingly did do after those citizen workshops.

Kelsey said she doesn’t know if the mayor gave the online tool a go.

“Most Philadelphians are unaware of how much of the city’s total budget is already spent before the mayor and council have their say,” Kelsey said, directing users to see its breakdown of how the city used its $3.9 billion budget, which is seen below, and also how the city generated its revenue last fiscal year.

The Economy League hopes to update the tool annually, keeping choices nuanced and situation-based as the times change, Kelsey said.

The challenge has made a bit of a splash, in addition to outlets around town, the tool has gotten attention across the pond, too. It breaks our tiny TP heart, though, that not a single Philly tech head had a hand in the design of the challenge, according to the Economy League press release:

The Economy League licensed the prototype from Next 10, a Palo Alto organization that in 2005 created its “California Budget Challenge” to engage more Californians in the budget process. The original software was developed by Red Hill Studios, and additional development for the Philadelphia Budget Challenge was created by Rock River Star, Downingtown, PA. [Source]

The century-old Economy League offers a host of fascinating documents to help inform yourself on the process, including its budget roadmap. See the mayor’s five-year budget plan.

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[I couldn't help but share my choices, which still left the city $5.1 million over budget -- so maybe I'd go after the Eagles. This also serves some transparency into my view of the city structure.

I didn't touch the city's wage, sales and business privilege taxes -- doing otherwise feels far, far more dangerous than other proposals. I increased slightly real estate and amusement taxes and trimmed spending for the city's library spending and office of supportive housing.

I really didn't want to touch prison funding because we know the fist programs to go are the most helpful -- job training and the like -- but I did. Hoping to take seriously the politics involved in a budget proposal, I didn't touch police and fire department spending, though I did seek for a  reassessment of the city's pension fund.

My big cuts were 20 percent dips into the city's administrative and licenses & inspections departments and a big fat 30 percent slash of the city's fleet management (city employees should be using SEPTA, period.)

So, how did you fare?]