Kicked off yesterday, Philly Tech Week features a pair of events about the cloud, including one for nonprofits, the future of music technology, the much hyped Printer Smash, the second installment of Switch Philly and plenty more.
After the jump, get a list of every PTW event today. For the entire schedule, head on over to http://PhillyTechWeek.com/events and be sure to follow @PhillyTechWeek on Twitter.
In case you weren’t convinced yet that Philadelphia’s technology community is being courted, that it’s value for the future of this city and the region is widely known, look no further than City Council Resolution No. 110218.
Introduced by City Councilman Bill Green and supported by his 16 colleagues, the resolution officially marks April 25-30, 2011 as Philly Tech Week.
Philly Tech Week City Council Resolution Details
When: Thurs., April 07, 10 a.m.
Where: City Hall Room 400, City Council chambers (enter in the northeast corner with photo ID)
Why?: Let’s have a Philly tech presence in the audience
Are these resolutions a little silly? Yes. But darn it if it isn’t another small step in showing the collective power of our communities. So let’s please show it.
This Thursday, April 7, at 10 a.m., the lead organizers of Philly Tech Week — yes, the same jerks behind this news site — will be receiving an official copy of this resolution to mark the effort, but we all know that, at best, we’re a small voice of this big community. So, we’re inviting any all of you to come. What, you’ve never sat in on City Council? Well, consider this a perfect reason to follow a democratic duty. Check out Council digs and watch the briefly awkward group photo.
Below, check out the resolution (or find the PDF here). While we couldn’t begin to include everyone, please note how we pushed to represent how diverse and broad the technology community in Philadelphia is. (We should add that some of the groups were cut for space issues, please know that we love you all!)
And we’re back.
One of the great parts of our job is constantly coming across interesting companies and products. However, we feel that many companies don’t get the attention they deserve. As a result we created Switch Philly, a rapid-fire demo event where five companies get seven minutes to show off the cool things they are working on.
Last time around Zecozi, P’unk Ave, Azavea, Myna Music and Packlate demoed to a crowd of 160 at the University of the Arts (watch the complete event here).
For the latest edition, the Spring 2011 Switch Philly will be held at Huntsman Hall at the Wharton School of Business in University City and will be one of the cornerstones of Philly Tech Week on Tuesday, April 26th.
We’re currently on the hunt for companies to demo. Our only requirements:
If you’re interested, please fill out this form and further information is available at SwitchPhilly.com. We promise to get back to you as soon as possible.
And stay tuned for demo videos from the Fall 2010 Switch until Philly Tech Week.
If you didn’t get the chance to make it to Switch, we have posted the complete event video on SwitchPhilly.com or you can watch it after the jump.
The speakers: From left: Deana Zelenka, Zecozi; Steve Barsh, Packlate; Geoff DiMasi, P'unk Ave; Josh Marcus, Azavea; Greg Wilder, Myna Music
We’ll make two promises to you, Philadelphia: One, to do the best we can to host events worthy of your time. And two, we’ll never again hold an event during a once-in-a-lifetime postseason performance.
In our first ever Switch, Zecozi, Packlate, P’unk Ave, Azavea and Orpheus Media Research showed off their products for an audience of over 160 people at the Levitt Auditorium. And, judging by some of the feedback, the companies won some new fans and maybe landed a few business deals.
TP readers even have two chances to win some shwag:
Many in Philadelphia’s technology community already know about CommonSpace. Josh Marcus wants you to know how the online mapping application came to be.
Switch Details:
When: TOMORROW, 10/6. 6 p.m.
Where: Levitt Auditorium, University of the Arts
Price: $9 ($11 with Ticketleap fees)
Marcus, 34, the lead developer for the project from Callowhill-based GIS development company Azavea, will be presenting CommonSpace at Switch, the demo event Technically Philly is hosting tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 6.
(Admittedly, we’re on shaky editorial ground here — we recently called CommonSpace one of the 10 coolest interactive maps of Philadelphia.)
Marcus expects much of the audience may have at least heard of the tool, which was developed in partnership with nonprofit technology consultant NPower, the Sustainable Business Network and a handful of other partners, including funding from the William Penn Foundation. So he’ll chart the path of why it looks the way it does and seek feedback on where it should go.
“It’s an opportunity for folks to shape a project trying to promote locally-owned Philly businesses and Philly as a great place for a sustainable lifestyle,” Marcus tells Technically Philly. “And we will sweeten the opportunity by announcing four $100 gift certificates to locally-owned Philadelphia restaurants to folks who give us feedback on our site.”
To Marcus, a long-time West Philly resident near Clark Park — “I am in ‘Squirrel Hill’,” he says, “although that’s not an actual neighborhood name I would normally use” — the project is a case study trying to answer two questions.
“Sure, we have cutting edge technology here in Philadelphia, but how do we build compelling applications with it, and how do we use it to promote our social goal of creating an economically and environmentally sustainable Philadelphia?” Marcus says, preparing to hit you with his firm’s new tag line. “And now is the time for next-generation location based services that go beyond simply putting dots on a map.”
Come get inspired by Apostrophe and four other Philly innovators at Switch on October 6th at the Levitt Auditorium. Get your tickets today.
A big thanks to our sponsors: First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures, The University City Science Center,MCD Law Partners, VC Deal Lawyer, The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Corzo Center for the Creative Arts, and University of the Arts.
When we first started to ask around about the companies that should present at Switch, nearly everyone told us to check out this Apostrophe thing the guys at P’unk Ave are working on.
It turns out that Apostrophe is one of the premier content management systems built on the PHP symphony framework. The CMS is the latest baby from South Philly’s P’unk Ave, the same group that brought you Junto and Ignite Philly.
Apostrophe is meant to make website editing easy, especially for people with not much of a technical background. After logginging in, users can browse their site like normal and edit text and images from the frontend view.
The CMS is currently being used by Duke, Franklin and Marshall and the Philadelphia YMCA. The South Philly web development shop has promised us that it will be showing off the Apostrophe 1.5 for the first time at Switch, which includes additional features such better media management.
Come get inspired by Apostrophe and four other Philly innovators at Switch on October 6th at the Levitt Auditorium. Get your tickets today.
A big thanks to our sponsors: First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures, The University City Science Center,MCD Law Partners, VC Deal Lawyer, The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Corzo Center for the Creative Arts, and University of the Arts.
If you’ve ever hit the “next” button on Pandora, you’ve likely been wowed by the service’s ability to dig up music that you like based on the “seed” artist you give.
However, in order to draw connections between songs, Pandora relies on human beings individually tagging every song with metadeta. For movie studios and large music libraries, an army of metadata taggers isn’t a realistic (or cost effective) option.
Enter Myna.
“With Myna, we offer a digital solution for digital files,” says Greg Wilder, founder of the Indy Hall-based Orpheus Media Research.
Thanks to a wicked smart team of composers and technology, Myna can automatically scan a library of music tracks and make connections based on mood, “texture,” note pattern, instruments used and more to offer similar songs. No human taggers needed. (Get the nitty-gritty on Myna, then called “Clio,” in our September 2009 Shop Talk)
At Switch, Wilder said he is planning to show how Myna is used to help set the mood for movie soundtracks using example’s from movies like the Bourne Supremecy to make his point, and he may just get down and dirty in the program’s terminal.
So far, the music industry is catching on to Myna: Wilder has fielded calls from all over the world and while attending a recent industry event, he says that people from all over the country were familiar with OMR’s work.
“This is a big play,” he says, adding that he hopes Myna touches half the music we interact with by the end of next year.
See Myna at work in the video above. and come get inspired by OMR and four other Philly innovators at Switch on October 6th at the Levitt Auditorium. Get your tickets today.
A big thanks to our sponsors: First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures, The University City Science Center,MCD Law Partners, VC Deal Lawyer, The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Corzo Center for the Creative Arts, and University of the Arts.
If you’re planning a vacation in the next few months, your Switch ticket will likely pay for itself.
At Switch, not only will Packlate CEO and founder Steve Barsh show off how Packlate works, but he will also show us how to get a “screamer of a deal.”
“People always ask, ‘How can I really book this [house] without waiting until the last possible minute?’,” he says. “I’ll show you how.”
Right now on Packlate, you can book a three day stay in Cosa Rica for less than $250. Of course, that rate applies if you’re willing to leave in, say, the next six hours.
Being impulsive enough to take up such a deal is the premise of Packlate, a West Conshohocken-based website that helps private vacation homeowners fill unused inventory while giving flexible travelers a deal.
Started by Barsh, a former managing partner at DreamIt Ventures, Packlate has expanded quickly since we last spoke with the company. The site now allows users to book vacations in over 20 locations with more planned.
Come get inspired by Packlate and four other Philly innovators at Switch on October 6th at the Levitt Auditorium. Get your tickets today.
A big thanks to our sponsors: First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures, The University City Science Center,MCD Law Partners, VC Deal Lawyer, The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Corzo Center for the Creative Arts and the University of the Arts.
Geographic software company Azavea and sustainability tracker Zecozi will round out the slate at Switch – our biggest event yet that will feature five demos from five local companies. The late additions will join last-minute travel site Packlate, music technology company Orpheus Media Research and web development shop P’unk Ave.
A regular here at Technically Philly, Azavea will be demoing CommonSpace its new application that allows Philadelphians to easily determine the walking distance to anywhere in the city. We’re also proud to showcase Zecozi, a Good Company Ventures company that will launch its first product shortly before the event.
We plan on previewing each company in the coming weeks, but the best way to be inspired is to purchase a ticket. Not only will you get to see five great local companies, but we’re happy to announce that you’ll also get half off of drinks at the Tavern on Broad after the event.
A big thanks to our sponsors: First Round Capital, Genacast Ventures, The University City Science Center, MCD Law Partners, VC Deal Lawyer, The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Corzo Center.
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