Ten Philadelphia Web sites then and now

Web designer in 1999

As the first decade of the 21st century closes, the Internet continues to change everything it touches.

Ten years ago, the Web was still working its way into everyday life of everyday people in Philadelphia. Now, it’s finding even more crevices of existence to transform. So, using the Internet Archive, we thought it might be a hoot to look back at the Web sites from ten Philadelphia technology institutions from the end of 1999.

It’s another in our completely irregular Top Ten Tuesday department.

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Temple University launches ergonomic computing pilot

A wave keyboard and trackball mouse are among the new ergonomic devices that have been installed in the TECH Center. Photo by Kelly and Massa Photography

Computer keyboards can be so much more than flat and cramped.

Temple University, boasting among the city’s largest IT infrastructure, has launched a pilot program to introduce ergonomic computer equipment and accessories to their students, faculty and staff, according to the college.

“Project Ergo” has brought 100 joint-friendly computer pieces, including wave keyboards, trackball mice, arm rests and large monitors, to the school’s sprawling 75,000 square-foot Main Campus TECH Center.

Students, faculty and staff are asked to use the devices through the end of the academic year to provide feedback on what pieces would be most used and liked.

The details of some items being used to make computing a more comfortable affair on North Broad Street, after the jump.

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Google Zeitgeist shows top Philadelphia search queries; colleges and SEPTA reign in ‘09

Let me Google that for you, Philadelphia.

The search giant has released its 2009 year-end Zeitgeist, a list of its users’ most popular search queries, a reflection of cultural phenomenon from Google’s rear-view. Studying aggregation of billions of searches, Google yearly tries to capture a “spirit of the times.”

This year, Philadelphia-specific searches were listed, in a city-by-city collection of queries.

We’re not sure what it is, but colleges—Penn, Temple and Community College of Philadelphia, specifically—were the most often searched, appearing eight times in a top ten list. It’s proof that yes, these kids certainly know how to Google, and they’re having a hard time remembering URLs for sites they visit often.

The SEPTA strike and the transportation authority’s Web site were the second and fourth most searched topics respectively, and given the short lifespan of the strike, it’s apparent that Google’s servers were hit hard and fast by the contract negotiations, as were commuters.

No mention of the Phillies, Free Library shut-downs or Arthur Kade, amazingly enough. Not even Comcast, with its expected merger with NBC Universal, was able to crack the top ten.

There’s always next year. Full list after the jump.

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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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Links: World Series tech scene match up, city stimulus management in “disarray” and More

DEFINITE READS

• Philadelphia Business Journal’s Peter Key shares two interviews and their comparisons between the technology startup communities of Philadelphia and the 67th ward.
• The Inquirer’s Mike Armstrong reports on a rash of more ugly numbers related to employment and Philadelphia’s business tax burden.
• Inquirer City Hall reporter Marcia Gelbart reports on a fairly startling amount of “confusion and disarray” by the city government and its management and pursuit of federal stimulus dollars.

After the jump, more World Series economic impact math, you’re going to be hired in health care and ten more stories to chew on, including our best read piece of the week and a video pick me up.

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Shop Talk: Temple University’s Computer Recycling Center

Temple University Computer Recycling Center Assistant Director Jonathan Latko stands in the 5,000 square foot recycling center located in the university's Tech Center.

When the Computer Recycling Center at Temple University first launched in 2003, a cleaner environment wasn’t its only priority. It was developed to address an internal problem.

“In order for people to prevent having to pay Facilities to come pick up [old computers], they were just taking computers and throwing them in the dumpster,” Chief Information Officer Tim O’Rourke said in an interview with Technically Philly Tuesday. [Full Disclosure: TP's founders are Temple alumni.]

Yet just last month, the innovative program was awarded a Mid-Atlantic Environmental Achievement Award by the Environmental Protection Agency, an honor picked from a pool of more than 60 candidates, Computer Recycling Center Assistant Director Jonathan Latko says.

Certainly, electronic waste has become a growing global problem, as Western nations ship containers filled with antiquated computer parts to developing nations like Ghana, an issue we’ve covered several times in recent months.

But it’s the computers that are saved that drives this story.

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Event Highlights for September 27 – October 3, 2009

It’s getting to be that time of year.

The weather is getting cooler, football season is underway and unconferences are sprouting up everywhere.

Before the year closes out, we’re due for the original BarCamp, FlashCamp, and BeerCamp. Kicking off the camps is the third annual Podcamp is happening at Temple University this weekend along with SearchCamp and Social Media Camp.

But first, head on up to the Franklin Mills mall to show the world that you always liked that PC guy in those Apple commercials. Join developers and IT-types as they gather to chat about all of the new features in Microsoft’s latest operating system, breakfast included.

Or, you can get suburban and attend the Main Line’s first ever Tweetup.

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

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TNT: The state of hyperlocal online news in Philadelphia

Updated: 8/31/09 6:17 p.m., source title

Sarah Lockard should take more walks.

Earlier this summer, the Wayne native was on a long stroll when she decided she should contact Internet craft supply marketplace Etsy about working with AroundMainLine.com, the online magazine startup she launched last fall to cover the famed, ritzy swath of Philadelphia suburbs.

It was on another walk — one amid the crowds of last September spring’s blue-blooded Devon Horse Show — that the former B2B magazine sales executive decided the Main Line needed community coverage online.

Sarah Lockard

Both “epiphanies,” as Lockard called them, seem to have worked out just fine. AroundMainLine.com has partnered with Etsy to profile artisan goods from regional crafts-makers and, while she declined to disclose monthly revenue or funding, her online magazine features weekly content, has a Web designer on staff, photographers on call and a sidebar etched with advertising.

Lockard, 34, boasts that hers was the first for-profit online magazine in the Philadelphia region. But she won’t be the last.

The hyperlocal Web outfit — tied by geography, focused on a niche community and online-only — is meant to be a great wave of the future, seen by MSNBC’s recent purchase of crime and news aggregator EveryBlock, partnerships with online news startups and product launches like Outside.In and Patch.com.

Philadelphia has its first wave of adopters, but their sustainability is far less certain.

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Friday Q&A: Longin Jan Latecki of Temple University Summer Research Program

Temple University computer science professor Dr. Longin Jan Latecki (center, facing camera) speaking about his research with colleagues and students.

If you ever want a robot to be able to get you coffee, they have to be able to see.

So, really, Dr. Longin Jan Latecki, a computer science professor at Temple University, is doing us all a favor. Latecki, whose research focuses on the half-century-old concept of computer vision, is one of 22 Temple faculty who are participating in the university’s inaugural Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP).

The program gives students the chance to earn up to a $4,000 stipend, funded by an equal match between the College of Science and Technology and the researcher’s grant.

Latecki is originally from Poland and is one of two professors working on more than one project for SURP. He came to Temple in November 2001, after stints at the Technical University of Munich and the University of Hamburg, both in the storied German university community.

SURP, which includes faculty from Temple’s CST, the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine, aims to bolster the research chops of Temple undergraduates. More than 270 students applied for the program, and some 150 interviewed with faculty for just 40 available positions during a university event held on March 31.

Below, Latecki, who is also leading a project on the interaction of light with matter, talks to Technically Philly about SURP, his computer vision research and what it takes to get a robot to get me some damn coffee.

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Penn: Top IT workplace bringing tech-learning to Nicaragua

Photo of Optimus Prime prowling Penn's campus from SlashFilm.com, as linked at bottom.

Technology lovers at the University of Pennsylvania had at least two points of pride this week, a ranking and an act of good works.

Computerworld released its annual 100 Best Places to Work in IT list, naming Philadelphia’s Ivy League school No. 4, ranking it the best for benefits and second for diversity.

It comes near a university announcement that researchers from the school’s Graduate School of Education plan to introduce laptop computers and a technology-based curriculum to students and teachers in a rural community school for the children of coffee-farm workers in Nicaragua, beginning in July.

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