Event Highlights for February 8-14, 2010

Update, 2/8 9:37 a.m.:Refresh Philly will be held at Avencia’s office at 340 N 12th St Suite 402, not the Comcast Center.

Still recovering from that Super Bowl party you went to last night?

Well, get some coffee and shake off that headache. Our event calendar is packed with worthy events and it would be best if you paid attention.

Start your week off right, and head to Callowhill to see the the map-happy geniuses at Avencia talk about their Walkshed project and the company’s entry into the NYC BigApps contest. On Thursday, Hive76 hosts the Philly robotics meetup and cap your week off by taking PhillyCHI up on its offer of design-focused quizzo.

And, if you’re still feeling some withdraw from football, click through for your event highlights. This time with 60 percent more sports references.

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

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Event Highlights for November 2 – November 8, 2009

Updated @ 11/2/09 12:20 p.m.: A private event was incorrectly listed here. It has been removed.

Philadelphia Business Journal’s Peter Key nailed it on the head last Thursday when he compared Philadelphia and New York’s tech scenes.

“[Philadelphia] is really a tight-knit group of people [who] are having regular meet-ups,” an outside observer told the veteran tech reporter.

True again this week, as we see the regulars, like PhillyCHI and Philadelphia Linux Users Group, doing their monthly thing. Refresh Philly is still at it, as is First Round Capital, which you’ll see in our highlights after the jump.

As you may have noticed, we here at Technically Philly are trying to get involved too, doing what we can to work with local organizations to help spotlight the future of media. That’s why we’ve partnered with Temple University and others this week for PhIJI, the Philadelphia Initiative for Journalistic Innovation. Excuse us for the shameless self-promotion for an event that’s not free (but is affordable). Truly, we want you to be involved. There’s no better time to help shape the future of media in Philly and beyond, and we can think of no one better to help than our technology community.

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Event Highlights for October 5-11, 2009

Our events calendar is still free, free free. But you know this, oh Philadelphia tech events wayfarer. You’ve never had to pay for the events that we list, and we like it that way.

The downfall of this philosophy is that when an interesting event pops up that costs cash, we can’t give as much attention to it as we’d like.

Take Innovation Philadelphia’s Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit or some of the happenings in the two-week NXTUP Philly calendar (Look for our extended preview of NXTUP Philly later today).

But this ain’t the venue for it. Nope. Not our Monday morning highlights. This is here for you, readers. After the jump, dig into free events from Philadelphia Standards Organization, Philly Startup Leaders, PhillyCHI and Tyler School of Art.

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

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Event Highlights for September 21-27, 2009

While we can’t absolutely guarantee complete satisfaction from this week’s events (we just don’t have the lawyers for that, yet), we can say that we’re willing to bet there’s something here you’re going to like. A lot.

We’ve got mobile. There’s city government. Design superstars? Check. Linux hacking? Mmhmm. Oh, and some 8bit art and music, to boot. That about does it, am I right?

We don’t normally pick faves on the calendar, but we admit our biases when we spot ‘em: We strongly believe that the future of Philadelphia’s technology opportunities lie in furthering broadband adoption, and One Web Day Philly’s Broadband Policy Panel is a great start. Here’s your chance to hear (and jeer) policymakers who are manning the helm. Panel includes City Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank, City Councilman Bill Green, Media Mobilizing Project Co-founder Todd Wolfson and Derek Pew, chair of Boathouse Communication. We’ll be there in an old-timey fedora-adorned journalists’ outfit. Say hi, and read our comprehensive coverage for a leg up.

On, uhm, Monday, we’ve got Mobile Monday, the well put-together Mid-Atlantic chapter of the global organization trying to connect the industry. The focus is on Mobile in the Enterprise; making sure businesses are getting BlackBerries and iPhones in the hands of employees, and how to leverage the fact that afterward, they’ve got instant access to them 28/8. That sound you hear? Yup, that’s your social life waving goodbye to the rest of your day.

PhillyCHI has invited Happy Cog East to talk about their growing and well-known Web design firm. Philadelphia Linux User Group has forged a partnership with Hive 76, and sponsor their first monthly event together. We’re expecting some neat collaborations coming from the Poplar neighborhood, and a whole lot fewer Blue Screens of Death. Last but certainly not least, the chiptunes READY>RUN art and music exhibition started Saturday at University City’s Esther M. Klein Art Gallery, and you’ve got little more than a month to see it. You’re already running out of time. Go. Now.

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

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Event highlights for the week of August 24 – August 30, 2009

We’re sick of this friggin’ humidity. Can we get an Aaa-men on that?

But it’s fine, really, because there’s plenty of indoor events with satisfying air conditioning on this week’s calendar—which brings joy to this farmer’s tanned writer—and plenty of ice cold brewski to go with it.

Often featured, always entertaining Duane Swierczynski will be signing autographs for his new comic at McGillan’s Tuesday, because Swierczynski made the Center City pub part of the story line. We’re crossing our fingers that if we keep posting about him, he’ll write us into his next comic. Pretty please?

Social Media Club gives back this week as it hosts a session on using tweets and fan pages for good. They’ve got some great speakers lined up who will share insight on using Web 2.0 for philanthropy, including representatives from Blame Drew’s Cancer, American Red Cross and Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Attending will be like the millennial version of helping an old lady across the street.

Wednesday, don’t miss Technically Philly and Geekadelphia’s first joint event, as we, along with TimeGate Studios, host a launch party for Section 8, a new Xbox/PC first person shooter at Tattooed Mom. Don’t miss it, if not for the free swag and cupcakes from Open Source Cupcakes, then for the tales I’m going to tell about missing just about every high school social event to play Quake2 with a 56k modem. I still say LPBs can eat it.

Later in the week, PhillyCHI is all about staying healthy and the Philly Chapter of International Game Developers Association hosts its August meeting. Details after the jump.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.
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Event highlights for the week of August 17 – August 23, 2009

Many of our events this week focus on the lighter side of summer. You know, that “drink beer and give blood” side. But please, not in that order.

Actually, you probably shouldn’t even think about doing those on the same day.

Medical disclaimers aside, this is your week to count all those job offers you received last week and go relax with your fellow techies. With three events to choose from, you might be motivated to speak only in alliteration.

Over at IndyHall the caring coworkers curate countless customers to contribute cruor. PhillyCHI and PANMA prepare a perfect picnic in a picturesque park. And PANMA and Center City Sips get together networking newcomers to nip nectar.

What does this all mean? Find out 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.
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Events highlights for the week of July 13 – July 19, 2009

For those about to party, we salute you.

Drop your networking plans. Leave your business cards at home. This week is about having fun. Saturday will see you through two geekified parties that are sure to be ‘off the hook,’ as those darn kids are saying these days.

Join 8Static for its first chiptunes and classic video gaming-inspired party since May. And if you’re not down to dance, Philly Geek Party launches its inaugural and hopefully monthly party for the nerds out there. Both should be a trip. That is, if the G Lounge just ain’t your style.

Earn that ‘five o’clock somewhere’ philosophy with a handful of other events happening throughout the week.

Wharton Small Business Development Center will host a conference call Tuesday afternoon to talk you through how it can help you launch your dream biz. On Wednesday, learn intuitive interfaces with a joint meeting of PhillyCHI and UsabilityNJ. Also Wednesday, Philly Startup Leaders will help refine DocASAP, an online doctor’s appointment scheduling platform that we covered last week, in one of its informative fishbowl sessions.

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.
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Events highlights for the week of June 15 – June 21, 2009

Yeah, so last week was a little thin for Philly tech events. You were bored, confused, even lost without a daily dose of tech goings-on.

Think of it as a savings account for all the cool stuff going on this week. You didn’t want to go out in that rain, anyway.

On Monday, hit up Philly.rb’s Pub Night and don’t even say you’re sorry that you once were down with Python. Can’t we all just get along? Central NJ Drupal will host an info session Tuesday to help you get involved with the Project. We call it the Project with a capital P because damn if they ain’t been working hard. Maybe it’s time to throw in your two cents.

Wednesday, Mike Welsh of Newgrounds.com and ActionScript coder for Xbox Live Arcade’s best-seller Castle Crashers will lead Philadelphia Flash Users Group’s discussion on AS3 game development. We never understood why Super Mario went 3D anyway, and we think Mike would agree.

We hate when this happens: a dozen blocks West, Philly Startup Leaders will host a second can’t-be-missed Wednesday night event. Neat Company co-founder Rafi Spero will give his “Unplugged” presentation on the blood, sweat, tears and scanners that went into the company’s successful receipt organization software.

Last but not least, PhillyCHI will host a happy hour to celebrate all things human-computer interaction. Why a happy hour? Because it’s 5 o’clock and someone’s got a bad UI somewhere, that’s why. More details on all of these events 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.
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City CIO’s $100 million Digital Philadelphia vision

PhillyCHI chair Dave Cooksey and human-computer interaction PhD holder Kellie Rae Carter open Refresh Philly session before city CIO Allan Frank takes the stage.

The Nutter administration will invest $100 million during the next four years in city technology, according to plans unveiled tonight by Philadelphia Chief Information Officer Allan Frank.

How they will is far less clear.

Frank unveiled his vision for a Digital Philadelphia Monday evening in front of a crowd of more than 75 members of the Refresh Philly design and developer community, as rain mist drifted past wall-length windows on the 45th floor of the Comcast Center.

The CIO hopes to employ a strategy that would procure federal broadband stimulus dollars to fund a longterm initiative overhauling the city’s technology infrastructure and its Phila.gov Web site.

“I basically want to blow the damn thing up,” he said to members as they clapped in support.

Frank said he’ll be open to input from the Philadelphia tech community leading up to a rough deadline to submit a proposal for federal stimulus dollars on August 15.

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Events highlights for the week of May 4 – May 11, 2009

Can you be in ten different places at once on Tuesday to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

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.
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