Comcast wants to put Netflix out of business, says Al Franken

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 subscri ption for our Comcast news updates.

• Al Franken: ‘They’re coming after the Internet’ [Politico] — At SXSW “The real end for Comcast is to put Netflix out of business entirely,” Franken said
• NPD: Netflix handles 61 percent of streamed movies [Digital Trends] — “Cable operator Comcast managed a distant second place with an 8 percent share during” January and Feburary 2011
• Cable’s top lobbyist, McSlarrow, to lead Comcast Washington office [Post Tech: Washington Post]
• Plaxo gives up on social networking, refocuses on address books [Social Beat] — “Comcast-owned Plaxo used to have a straightforward goal: It helped users maintain their address books. Over time, however, the site has wandered into becoming more of a general social networking tool with its Plaxo Pulse service. Now, chief executive Justin Miller told me Plaxo is going back to its address book roots”
• Xfinity TV app enticing but limited [Boston.com] — With video demo
• Comcast Provides Free Calls to Japan [Comcast blog] — Following AT&T, Sprint and Verizon as PBJ reported.

MindSnacks moved to Bay Area for the best environment to build a startup: Andy Mroczkowski

This is Exit Interview, a weekly interview series with someone who has left Philadelphia, perhaps for another country or region or even just out of city limits and often taking talent, business and jobs with them. If you or someone you know left Philly for whatever reason, we want to hear from you. Contact us.

Andy Mroczkowski tells an important story without meaning to do so.

“Honestly I’m not that critical of Philly,” says Mroczkowski, 31, who moved mobile educational game development startup MindSnacks. “I just had an opportunity for adventure, and we thought the Bay Area was the best place for our company.”

A theme in the Exit Interview series has been a lack of competitive advantage for business in Philadelphia. Today is the last in the weekly series, though we’ll always seek perspective from those who leave — and those who come. In a fitting close, Mroczkowski notes that he’s actually rather fond of Philadelphia, he and his team felt that to give themselves the best shot at success, they planned to migrate westward.

Mroczkowski, a South Jersey native and Drexel alumnus left in January. The founder of local Mac programming group CocoaHeads, he had worked for the Neat Company and freelanced out of Indy Hall.

Last week, TechCrunch reported that MindSnacks, a DreamIT ventures startup that now has five full-time staff, raised $1.2 million in funding on the West Coast. So far, the plan is working.

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Choosing Philly over Vienna: JavaScript experts Thomas Fuchs and Amy Hoy

Another in the Entrance Exam series, as part of the Why I Love Philly campaign from Young Involved Philadelphia and Indy Hall. Tell the world why you love where you live by tweeting #whyilovephilly.

People who specialize in JavaScript or front-end web development know Thomas Fuchs and Amy Hoy.

Thomas, born and raised in Vienna, created the script.aculo.us JavaScript library and was one of the core members of the Ruby on Rails development team. Amy Hoy, from Baltimore, is a web designer and Ruby on Rails expert,
known for her humorous and understandable way of explaining difficult concepts.

Together, they create slick web products (including time management software Freckle), run the always sold out JavaScript master class, and consult on various projects. This is also the pair behind the always viral Twistori display of emotional tweets on Twitter.

Recently, this internationally known and well-traveled couple decided to move from Vienna, Austria to Philadelphia.

Frustrated by Vienna’s lack of a supportive tech community, they decided they could be more creative and productive in Philadelphia. The couple is still in transition — spending a few months in Philly, then a few months in Vienna. They plan to be in Philadelphia full-time by the end of the year.

Comparing Philadelphia favorably to other cities in terms of green spaces, friendly people, and general optimism may seem unique, but the pair might suggest that people’s perceptions of Philadelphia are changing for the better.

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Links: Allan Frank gives budget hearing, Philebrity’s Joey Sweeney on flash mobs and More

DEFINITE READS

• The Daily News reports on city Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank‘s Tuesday budget hearing before City Council and his push to move the municipal government forward in areas like paperless time sheets.
• PlanPhilly has a piece on the importance of the 2010 U.S. Census to Philadelphia, particularly in a municipal services and business image perspective.
• Blake Jennelle, co-founder of Philly Startup Leaders, has hit the road promoting his missoneurship concept blending nonprofit missions and for-profit entrepreneurship, teaching at the European Creative Cities Conference and hosting meetups.
• The Inquirer has a piece on some of the sights and sounds of SXSW, including Center City-based mobile payment service Venmo.

Below, a study finds financial incentive gave GSK drugs positive treatment from scientists, Philebrity’s Joey Sweeney talks flash mobs and more.

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Philly invades South by Southwest

Indy Hall founders Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi lead "How Geeks Grabbed Philadelphia by the Balls."

AUSTIN – In the Courtyard Rio Grande Hotel, just across the street from the Austin Convention Center, BarCamp Philly organizers Roz Duffy and Kelani Nichole walked up the escalator with a burlap sack and hustled down the hall.

“It’s our bag of balls,” said Duffy with a smile.

Culminating Philly’s strong presence here (TP has seen our share of Phillies caps and jerseys) was the Saturday session “How Geeks Grabbed Philadelphia by the Balls,” a panel led by Indy Hall co-founders Alex Hillman and Geoff DiMasi that aimed to help residents from other cities foster a tech community.

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Event Highlights for March 15-21, 2010

The big event this week isn’t in Philly at all. But Philadelphia has quite a presence in Austin, Texas, this week for South by Southwest, for sure. Our reporter Sean Blanda is hot on the trial, chasing down Philly’s representatives. He’ll follow-up with a report later this week.

That said, there’s some great opportunities here in Philadelphia, too. Join Microsoft’s Malvern branch for its CloudCamp unconference to discuss the growing cloud computing industry and Philly Startup Leaders hosts a fishbowl of City of Philadelphia’s Digital Philadelphia vision with city officials.

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

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Links: hunting for DreamIT class, Sunoco looking to outsource Center City IT and More

DEFINITE READS

• As we tweeted, our reporter Sean Blanda is en route to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest. Drop us a line in the comments or otherwise to let us know you’re there or if you know someone else from the community is.
• Center Networks reports on the hunt for a new recruiting class at DreamIT in University City. H/T Philly Tech News
• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that Sunoco has hired a consulting firm to explore the possibility of outsourcing positions from several departments, including IT and mostly from its Center City headquarters. Will Bunch of the Daily News and his legions of commenters have something to say about this too.

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• The Drexel Triangle reports on the redesign of university-sponsored Web food publication Table Matters.

GIVE A GLANCE

• The Philadelphia Business Journal‘s John George primes for last night’s Pennsylvania Bio‘s annual dinner and award celebration.

Every Friday morning, we make sure you didn�t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

Your guide to Philly at SXSWi

So let’s just say you just (hypothetically) graduated from college and moved into new digs in the city. Then, let’s assume that you don’t (hypothetically) have the money to take a five day vacation to Austin, Texas and immerse yourself in the biggest tech conference of the year. Sure, that may be the story told by most of Technically Philly’s (hypothetical) staff, but we’d bet that not every reader is leaving us on a jet plane headed for SXSWi.

No worries. Technically Philly is here to give you the low down on all things Philly at the music/movie/tech festival that is South by Southwest. The “i” component of the festival, meaning “interactive,” is four days of panels, talks, parties and even karaoke. Plop down in your favorite chair, and read along about those with ties to the metro area who will make noise in Austin. It will be like you’re there. Sorta.

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