Drakontas: Drexel University spinoff to launch collaborative, public safety DragonForce update

If you were a software engineer with Drakontas, the tactical, collaborative communications shop with offices in Glenside and Camden, you would be a licensed firearm owner. It’s part of the job — and they’re looking to hire someone else now.

When building tools for high-pressure units like SWAT teams, it’s of particular use for developers to know how the customer will be using each product, says Drakontas co-founder and COO James Sim.

“The software engineering team embeds with tactical teams for trials. We put on our pants and goggles and go out into the field,” he said. “Our people have been partnered with a sniper in the mud and freezing cold, getting shot at in simulations with flash bangs and tear gas. It’s a different kind of software engineering experience.”

Following military space research from Drexel University professors Moshe Kam and William Regli and other researchers, Drakontas was founded in 2004 by Sim and Regli’s brother and company CEO Brian.

With nine full time employees, the company is working to roll out in Q3 2012 the latest full version of its DragonForce team collaboration software, built for small tactical groups like SWAT or hazardous waste response or others in security, law enforcement or disaster management, said CTO Alan Kaplan.

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PredictiveEdge launches Proactive Parenting Network, new tool for child-safe browsing

"Who you going to call?" is what PredictiveEdge CEO asked when discussing how the Proactive Parenting Network compares to safety features on Facebook and other social media websites.

The following is a report done in partnership with Temple University’s Philadelphia Neighborhoods Program, the capstone class for the Temple Journalism Department.

Hanging from one of the cabinets of PredictiveEdge CEO Bill Thompson’s desk is a piece of paper that reads, “Parenting Problems? Who You Going To Call?”

Under the text are two pictures: the first of Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the second is the logo for PredictiveEdge’s behavioral social media program, called ‘the Proactive Parenting Network.’

With more than 500 million active users, children of all ages are increasingly influenced by Facebook and other social networking websites, many of which don’t go beyond basic safety features for users.

“The Internet’s not going away. Facebook’s not going away. It’s going to continue to become more and more dominant in our kids’ lives. We’re the generation that has to adapt to that,” Thompson said.

The newly launched Proactive Parenting Network serves as a resource for parents to better understand and protect their kids in the digital realm. It’s a package of resources to help combat the internet-age old problem of safe browsing for kids, including more adaptive and advanced tools like a keyword-driven firewall and more powerful browsing history and data collection.

But is it sapping away privacy?

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Comcast Roundup: Will Keith Olbermann be silenced, home security and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

DEFINITE READS

• An Award, Criticism and Perils for Comcast [New York Times] MSNBC Host Keith Olbermann is openly and regularly critical of, for example, Fox News Host Bill O’Reilly. Will things change when Comcast takes ownership of MSNBC, considering the company’s relationship with Fox and its owner News Corp.?
• Comcast-NBC Universal merger review hits FCC speed bump [Washington Post] — The FCC wants more information by Oct. 18.
• Alms for the Rich and Powerful [New York Times] — Comcast donates money to nonprofits supported from key legislators

Below, how the drop of net neutrality in Congress affects Comcast, offering home security and more.

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Links: Analyst take on municipal broadband, Rowan University buzz and More

• On MinuWireless broadband specialist Craig Settles offered his take on the recent news that the city purchased the rest of the municipal wireless network.

Below, Viddler video says happy holidays from around the country, a new iPhone comic and more.

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Shop Talk: Interphase Systems CEO John Biglin on Ready-IT BioPharma

A year ago, John Biglin, the CEO of Interphase Systems, was talking to the CFO of an emerging Center City pharmaceutical company.

The CFO, intent on keeping in order the financial house of his blue-chip invested life sciences startup, had a problem.

“Is it normal that sometimes you don’t get e-mails, or e-mails take a couple days to arrive or when you do get them, they come in triplicate?” Biglin remembers the CFO asking.

John Biglin

“Our IT has been cobbled together by an employee or by his nephew or uncle,” Biglin recalls the CFO and others in his position saying. “Someone just shows up in a truck and sets stuff up in our office. If the FDA came in here and we say we can’t produce this lab data or that, we are out of business.”

The CFO talked about multiple versions of contracts lost, emergency Best Buy trips for whatever hardware is on sale and documents that are never seen again.

That conversation last January set into motion the long-discussed plans for Interphase, which does 60 percent of its business in the life sciences, to develop a turn-key, managed IT platform targeted for small and medium-sized emerging pharmaceutical and biomedical companies that need top-level security, guaranteed disaster recovery, FDA compliance and flexibility. Biglin says that Ready-IT BioPharma, which launched late last month, just might be the only system of its kind.

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Friday Q&A: Business continuity with Ginnie Stouffer from IDC Partners

The holiday shopping season is again going to pack — our economy hopes — hordes of consumers into shops, malls and onto roads. The Liberty Bell is going to remain a practical militarized zone.

And while no one thinks the apocalypse is good for business, there is something to be said for having your business ready for disaster.

Wayne-based business continuity services company IDC Partners has built a business on that reality since 1991. They help companies prepare for the worst, and they’re using cool, local technology to do it.

Below, Ginnie Stouffer, vice president of consulting with IDC, takes her 15 years of industry experience to tell us about the cool technologies they implement to keep their clients ready for the worst and just what disaster movie is the favorite of someone who thinks plenty about disaster.

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Friday Tech Links: Big Brother in Lancaster, girls still hate tech and More

Lancaster security cameras on the streets are monitored by civilians working for a nonprofit group. They pan, zoom and call police if they see a crime. Linda Johnson / For The L.A. Times

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.

You’re probably being watched in Lancaster.

This city of 54,000 in the middle of a rural county of the same name just may be the most closely scrutinized place in the country, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.

As many as 165 closed-circuit TV cameras that will soon bring constant live surveillance of very nearly every street, park and other public space. That would be more outdoor cameras than cities as large as Boston and San Francisco.

Two more things are unique about the camera network, as the L.A. Times story suggests: it was built and maintained by a private nonprofit group and few seem concerned about the privacy implications.

The group, which hires civilians to move and follow the cameras and dispatch police to suspiscious activity, hasn’t found much public outcry.

“Years ago, there’s no way we could do this,” said Lancaster’s police chief Keith Sadler told the Times. “It brings to mind Big Brother, George Orwell and ’1984.’ It’s just funny how Americans have softened on these issues.”

There is some question as to the effectiveness of cameras, though. In what the Times report calls the largest U.S. study, US Berkeley researchers evaluated 71 cameras that San Francisco put in high-crime areas beginning in 2005. In December, they released a report that found “no evidence” of a reduction in violent crime, though it did note “substantial declines” in property crime near the cameras.

Hat Tip Philly Tech News.

After the jump, the continued spat over a state film tax credit, robot-loving high schoolers and eight more of the week’s tech stories you shouldn’t miss, including our best read story of the last seven days.

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Philly.com denies malware allegations

Philly.com is denying allegations that Philadelphia’s largest news portal is distributing malware that could potentially harm user computers.

“Philly.com takes seriously the online security of our users, and we go to great efforts to combat issues including malware,” according to a written statement issued to Technically Philly.

“We will continue to investigate all claims regarding Philly.com and stand by our pledge to provide our users with a safe and secure online experience.”

Earlier today, city blog Phillyist reported that one of its readers was issued a warning by an employer to stay off Philly.com because the site could contain malware.

Only one mention of the malware allegations appeared in a Twitter search, but it was posted before the Phillyist’s story and was not the blog’s original source. “Whatever you do, don’t go to Philly.com, it’s infected with Malware,” April Robinson wrote on her Twitter account a little after Noon.

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City Controller: Philly government IT asking, begging for a major hack

9:50 a.m.: This article has been edited to clarify that the City Controller’s press release indicates the possibility of password breaches throughout the city government IT infrastructure, not just the city Web site.

If only a hacker could manage to navigate the city’s Web site, the administration might be in trouble.

That log-in passwords are lax and that fired city employees can still access secure portions of the city’s Web site are just two claims of the 2008 General IT Controls Review of the city’s Division of Technology, released yesterday by City Controller Alan Butkovitz. The review found that some terminated employees and contractors still had active user IDs to one or more of the city’s systems.

�There�s a lack of communication between the DOT and the Office of Human Resources,� said Butkovitz, who is embroiled in a primary race.� �Once an employee or contractor is no longer with the City, all of their user ID and password information must be terminated immediately. The current practice exposes the City to substantial risks by allowing access to important financial data by unauthorized personnel.�

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