Shop Talk: NPower PA ITWorks graduates first class

Last November, the trains that normally shot South in regular intervals on the Broad Street Line were at a standstill.

But as SEPTA’s transit workers—at strike over wage and pension issues—were busy on the picket lines, nothing was going to stop Eric Harper, bound to a wheelchair, from making it to class. Harper, living in North Philadelphia, trekked more than 40 blocks to Drexel University.

Harper is one of ten students that graced the stage at Drexel’s Mitchell Auditorium Tuesday morning to receive his diploma for ITWorks, an Information Technology job-training program for disadvantaged young adults. Harper is a member of the first graduating ITWorks class, a program put together by NPower PA, a nonprofit that does IT work for other local nonprofits.

Through a collaboration with the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, NPower helped identify a need for a cost-free training program to help young high school or equivalency graduates that were neither employed or seeking post-secondary education, whom were getting by on part-time work. It was as much an opportunity to to support the community and it was to support NPower’s partner organizations, who were seeking more hands in their IT departments.

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Ten Philadelphia iPhone apps that don’t exist but should

The iPhone application news has to be getting a little tiresome, no?

Google says the mobile application collection is a fleeting concept. The iPhone store is completely flooded with more than 36,000 and few are making money or much worth the time.

Still, they keep coming. We reported that Comcast has its own new iPhone and iPod touch mobile app. Educational software company Blackboard and freakin’ Harry Potter have apps. Newspapers on occasion have them, but big ones like the Wall Street Journal and USA Today are trying to figure out how to charge.

Philly has many apps made by Philadelphians, like one about old Abe Lincoln and a righteous one for Philly concerts, but they are hardly comprehensive.

So why doesn’t Philadelphia, rife with culture and on the cusp (and perhaps in need of a bit) of a technology renaissance, have more of their own?

That profit problem, of course. Because, really, with rare exception no real money is being made, so it isn’t likely that a crush of Philadelphia-specific iPhone apps are going to be made anytime soon. But it sure is fun to indulge.

So, after the jump, find the 10 Philadelphia iPhone (or Windows mobile) apps that should exist, but don’t and probably never will.

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SEPTA opens Google Transit data to third-party developers

SEPTA passengers and city programmers alike have reason to celebrate.

The region’s transportation organization announced today that it has integrated its trip planning services with Google Transit and that it will give third-party developers access to location and scheduling data, as reported earlier.

The first phase of SEPTA’s Google Transit offering provides route planning automated by Google for its Regional Rail, Market Frankford El, trolley routes and Norristown high-speed services. Users can enter a start point and a destination and are quickly returned directions that utilize Philadelphia’s public transportation system.

“Google Transit will help us introduce SEPTA and the convenience of using public transit when visiting our destinations in the city and the region,” SEPTA General Manager Joe Casey told members of the press on the Mezzanine level of SEPTA headquarters on East Market Street earlier today.

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Google Transit and SEPTA finally play nice

A screenshot of SEPTA's new integration with Google Maps

Let’s face it — SEPTA isn’t exactly quick on adapting new technologies.

It took a group of determined Web developers and some HTML scraping to make the delightfully useful iSEPTA iPhone application, SEPTA has repeatedly delayed the implementation of smart cards and many stations (*cough* Tioga *cough*) still do not sell tokens or make change.

But for all of its feet-dragging and delaying, the area’s transit system has finally accomplished its long-requested integration with one of the Web’s most used tools for travel planning.

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City launches Web site to track stimulus spending

The City of Philadelphia has launched a Web site dedicated to keeping track of Philly’s stake in the federal economic stimulus package, according to an update posted to the city’s Twitter account.

Much like the state’s stimulus accountability Web site announced in March, the city will identify projects and initiatives that it is potentially eligible for, keep citizens informed with news and publicly post how money is being spent.

“We are committed to making all recovery information available on this Web site so that you can follow exactly how we are using every dollar of this unprecedented investment,” Mayor Michael Nutter said in an embedded YouTube video.

Watch Mayor Nutter’s announcement and learn about some of the 29 federal funding opportunities being planned by the city – including CIO Allan Frank’s $100 million Digital Philadelphia broadband initiative after the jump.

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Friday Tech Roundup: The Bulletin trashes Silicon Valley, Wawa on Facebook 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.

Because that’s what we do best.

• The Bulletin, no seriously, the Bulletin reports on why it would make a lot more sense if the hub of the country’s technology community was Philadelphia, not the Silicon Valley.

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Smart fare cards for SEPTA transit delayed again

SEPTA was going to put out requests for proposals on a smart fare card system — in December 2007. Then, last June, the delays came again.

One more time, Philadelphia.

Plans to accept a proposal for a system are once again being pushed back, due to unclear expectations.

This comes on the heels of a flurry of exciting news for a transit agency, including that SEPTA’s spending of its share of the federal stimulus could create more than 5,000 jobs in the region.

Also, according to the Federal Highway Administration, January’s average driving mileage declined – both nationally and locally – marking the first time in 27 years that such travel dropped in consecutive Januarys.

Some because of a rise in unemployment, but the opportunity to increase transit ridership cannot be ignored.

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TrainLogic.net wants to make your SEPTA experience better

Yuriy Yakimenko isn’t from Philadelphia but the graduate student at Rutgers University has joined a growing class of tech heads in the region who have launched products they say make using SEPTA easier.

There was SEPTA Made Better, then the widely trumpeted iSEPTA, and now Hamilton, N.J.-based TrainLogic.net is celebrating the one-year anniversary of TrainSchedule, an application that can plan train trips on SEPTA and other mass transit agencies on your mobile device.

While SEPTA schedules came online last spring, the Philly version has matured and represents well the site’s mission of hastening the transition of transit to a friendlier, paperless world. Not bad for a student from New Jersey.

“I did all this in my free time, mostly during the winter and summer breaks,” Yakimenko said.

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SEPTA adds AT&T cell phone service on Broad Street Line

Edit: SEPTA gave us a call to clear up some details

Continuing their subterranean domination of the city, AT&T and SEPTA have recently announced that AT&T customers will be able to receive cell phone signal while riding the Broad Street Line. The service is available between the Walnut-Locust and Fairmount Erie stops.

If I were SEPTA czar, first I would worship my Barack Obama poster for all of the recent stimulus money that came my way. But then I would use the new service to encourage advertisers to include text messaging in their promotions. Or maybe send out text alerts when trains are running late.

Last year AT&T and SEPTA announced a similar deal that rolled out coverage on the entire Market-Frankford line. According to spokesman Felipe Suarez, the idea to give cell phone service to riders on the subway lines originated when AT&T approached SEPTA. SEPTA never put the contract up for bid to other networks.

While we’ll stay out of the debate on whether having more opportunity to yak on a cell phone is a good thing or not (the R5 even has a quiet car), kudos to SEPTA for thinking of ways to improve their service.