DEFINITE READS

• Cyberjournalist reports that University of Pennsylvania researchers found readers are more likely to share three types of stories online.
• PEHub is looking for votes on where it should host its next meetup, and Philadelphia is a choice. Vote here.

Below, zombies and geeks, SAP CEO leaves in a tornado of speculation and more.

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• Keystone Edge has a Q&A with myYearbook founder Catherine Cook.
• i09 profiles the wildly successful Zombie screening that Geekadelphia held at the Troc in Chinatown.
• Peter Key of the Philadelphia Business Journal reports on Google seeking municipalities to try its broadband service. No word on in Philly is tossing its hat in.
• The Cadence Watch Company, which we covered in November before it was rebranded from Cadence Rowing, announced this week the winner of its watch design contest held during Design Philadelphia last October. Philadelphia University graduate student Josh Chadwick’s winning design will be manufactured and sold by Cadence in September.

GIVE A GLANCE

• AT&T’s regional office tipped Technically Philly that it has selected Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson as its infrastructure suppliers for its planned Long Term Evolution Network. It’s a step forward to creating the company’s next-generation 4G network, eventually here in Philadelphia.
• Philly Tech News has a roundup of the fallout surrounding SAP CEO Léo Apotheker stepping down — and more here.
• The Inquirer reports that “Philadelphia solar installer Eos Energy Solutions has been acquired by Mercury Solar Systems of New York.”

Every Friday morning, we make sure you didn’t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

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.

It was often a place for trivial discussions of various, loosely-tethered topics from the perspective of largely anonymous vistors who often identifited themselves as Philadelphia police officers, their family members and supporters.

But Domelights, the public yet registration-required online community forum targeted for Philadelphia police, also became known for viscous, ugly and arguably racist, misogynistic and homophobic comment threads. Facing a law suit from a black officers group, the site — which is run independently of the city’s police force — was taken down.

At time of writing, the site now features only a purple background with a single, small message: “Until further notice, all Domelights.com services (i.e. forums, galleries, blogs) have been suspended. Thank you. McQ.”

McQ, of course, is an unindentifed Philadelphia police sergeant at the center of the controversy, which follows a rash of allegations of racism against general police institutions. After these allegations, the city took swift action against the relatively low traffic site, denying access to the site on city and police computers, as the Inquirer reports.

The Inquirer also reports that Rochelle Bilal, the leader of the black police group — which is called the Guardian Civic League — has taken on a security force due to threats left on a Domelights forum before it was shut down. No word yet on what action the civic league may take now that it appears their wishes — to have Domelights taken down — have been answered.

[Full Disclosure: While I never posted a comment on the site, I did occasionaly visit it for sheer voyuerism]

After the jump, regional VC investment rebouds, a video interview on reshaping Philadelphia’s future and seven other tech stories you don’t want to miss, including our best read piece of the week.

Ordered by an incredibly complex algorithm rendering importance:

• The Philadelphia Busuiness Journal reports that the amount of venture capital investment rebounded in the second quarter regionally, as it did nationally.
• Peter Key of the Business Journal reports on the 25th anniversary of the first modern cell phone call in Philadelphia.
• The San Jose Mercury News reports that corporations are becoming silly with Web security in the wake of the hacking of Twitter’s company data. Philadelphia’s own of Daring Fireball didn’t take too kindly to Tech Crunch’s reporting of the Twitter internal documents.
• The Business Journal’s Jeff Blumenthal, ever the Eagles fan, interviewed Ron Jaworski for a piece on the former quarterback and current ESPN commentator’s new business venture but made sure to get one good piece of Big Green information.
• The Associated Press reports on a new Twitter account for Jerusalem’s Western Wall, which allows Jews the world over to send their prayers in 140 characters or fewer. Not to be outdone in the crossroad of religious and needless technology, McClatchy reports on a California teen who launches an iPhone application that lets users give out their own prayers and read those of others.
• Plan Philly reports that local and national planning experts will meet at the University of Pennsylvania next week to discuss the development of a comprehensive plan for shaping the city’s growth as an environmental and business friendly region for the future. Below watch their interview with Penn School of Design Dean Marilyn Jordan Taylor.

• Our Most Trafficked Story of the Week: Ten Philadelphia iPhone apps that don’t exist but should

Every Friday morning we make sure you didn’t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

A screenshot of DocAsap's homepage

Wharton student Puneet Maheshwari‘s child had an ear infection.

And, as any parent can tell you, hell hath no fury like a child sick. After combing through the Yellow Pages for the right doctor, Maheshwari was forced to go to the emergency room out of frustration and pay significantly more money than if he had found a specialist.

Like any good Wharton student, Maheshwari thought he could do better, and DocAsap was born.

The service, much like what OpenTable does for restaurants, searches for doctors based on criteria you define and allows you to schedule appointments with them. For example you could search for pediatricians that take Blue Cross in South Philly and DocAsap would give you all of the eligible candidates. Currently, the site only reviews Philadelphia-based dentists, however the site plans to expand to other markets and more types of physicians.

“We should have a really good coverage ratio in the Center City area soon,” said co-founder Vicente de Baca. After filling out the Center City area, DocAsap will then branch to the suburbs and, if everything goes according to plan, nationally. And unlike many Wharton grads, the duo plans to stick around for a while.

“We are very focused on building the Philadelphia market and plan on sticking around to see the development of the site,” he says.

The initial response from doctors has been positive, says de Baca, though DocAsap is taking its time rolling out the site. The company started as a service for patients, but it soon realized that there was a real demand on the physician side as well. Many doctors have problems with no-shows from people who schedule too far in advance or who just simply forget to call and cancel.

The company estimates that 30 percent of all appointments go unused. For a health care system that has seen costs rise sharply in recent years, increasing efficiency by 30 percent is an intriguing prospect. And, the Wharton name doesn’t hurt either.

“Doctors in the city are very welcoming to the homegrown business,” says de Baca.

BOOTSTRAPPED

Currently, all work is done in exchange for equity and the company has no outside funding. Though that isn’t something it has ruled out entirely. De Baca says that they would certainly seek angel investments before going to an institution.

The site makes money by charging doctors based on a variety of factors, including the type and size of practice. Free clinics and practices with patients that are mostly publicly insured are charged less than primarily privately insured practices.

Earlier this year, DocASAP attempted to make the bootstrapping easier on the wallet when it was a finalist in the Wharton Business Plan competition, though it failed to place.

“We heard there was some tension in the judging room about where we placed,” de Baca says. A first place finish would have netted the company $20,000.

He noted that they are pleased with the response since the site’s launch on July 2nd, and are simply focused on cornering the market in Philadelphia.

Every Monday, Technically Not Tech will feature people, projects, and businesses that are involved with Philly’s tech scene, but aren’t necessarily technology focused. See others here.

You’re thinking, “I wish I could design a map using Twitter that was a good user experience and utilized Google Book Search.”

Well Technically Philly reader, you’re in luck! Our fair city has a diverse slate of events this week that will make your strange hypothetical dream a reality in no time.

Get started after work on Tuesday and join the pun-loving OpenStreetMap enthusiasts over at the Prohibition Tap Room for “Mappy Hour.” Although, you shouldn’t have too much to drink, as it is awfully hard to chart the trails in Fairmount Park when you can’t walk straight.

PhillyCHI (which is not a box score for the upcoming Phillies-Cubs series) is getting together Wednesday to listen to Kyle Soucy, their former chair, talk usability testing. This is the first time in weeks that the group has held an event in city limits, so you best take El out to University City if you have been meaning to catch PhillyCHI in action.

On Thursday, you can either continue the usability theme with the UX Book Club meeting over at P’unk Ave, or you can head to Center City for the June Philly Tweetup.

Round out the week on Friday as University City continues its Google obsession with a meeting about how Google Books and Google Scholar affect librarians. Librarians, whatever you decide, please leave the card catalog alone. That thing is awesome.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.

Tuesday, June 23: There are two kinds of events held by Philly’s OpenStreetMap group: the drinking kind and the mapping kind. This one is the former as the group is socializing and talking cartography in Center City. If you have a GIS (geographic information systems) itch to scratch, we recommend you show, as they are beginning to plan their next mapping party set for the end of the summer. 6:30 p.m. Center City. RSVP. [view more events]

Wednesday, June 24: If you’re new to the concept of usability testing read Don’t Make Me Think, then head on over to this week’s PhillyCHI meeting where Kyle Soucy will teach you everything the laymen needs to know. Demos will be available as Saucy covers everything from different testing techniques, to making sure you should be testing in the first place. And she would know, Saucy has had clients as large as the pharmaceutical company giant Pfizer and is the former head of PhillyCHI. 6:00 p.m. University City. RSVP. [view more events]

Thursday, June 25: Make it two days of UX in a row at the venerable P’unk Ave for a chat about the book Art and Fear with the UX bookclub. Kind of like Oprah’s book club, but less “Tom Cruise jumping on couches” and more “books about avoiding mission creep in design projects.” If you can’t make it out, or you haven’t read the book, next month’s pick is A Project Guide to UX Design. We expect a report on our desk by Friday. 6:30 p.m. Passyunk Square. RSVP. [view more events]

Thursday June 25: If user experience isn’t your cup of tea, this month’s Philly Tweetup should provide you with a breezy alternative. The city’s Twitterers will be gathering at McGillins, a bar that is easy to miss being tucked away on Drury Lane. We hope the city’s most popular users don’t all show up at once, lest the Center City cell phone towers crumble under the weight of a tweet every 3.4 seconds. 6:30 p.m. Center City. RSVP. [view more events].

Friday, June 26: As any journalist can tell you, Google can shake up entire industries and turn them upside down. Google Book Search has recently been catching heat from the publishing industry and the U.S. Government and Google Scholar has caught the attention of researchers. Affected by both, local librarians and publishers are gathering at Drexel to talk about the search giant’s role in their respective industries with Drexel’s iSchool. No word on whether a Bing session is planned. 9:00 a.m. University City. RSVP. [view more events]

Photo courtesty of Scott Spitzer of scottspitzer.com.

Put on your Sunday’s best and quickly plan a practical joke to be forever immortalized online; Google Street View is back in town. On Penn’s campus, at least.

Earlier today we reported that a Technically Philly reader spotted a Google Street View tricycle roaming the University of Pennsylvania campus Wednesday, and now we have confirmation from Google and the first reader photo.

This afternoon, a spokesperson for Google said that Street View has been peddling around the UPenn campus during the past few days in a promotional partnership that provides the search giant with access to Penn’s private walks.

“[We're partnering] with universities and colleges who say ‘this is a great chance to explore our campus in a different way,’” Sean Carlson, Google’s manager of global communications and public affairs, told Technically Philly in a telephone interview.

Carlson says that Google has recently partnered with San Diego State, University of San Diego and Penn State for similar opportunities.

Penn web designer Scott Spitzer was walking on the Ivy League’s campus earlier today when he spotted the unusual looking vehicle and snapped several photographs, one of which is pictured above. Spitzer told Technically Philly in an e-mail that representatives from Google answered questions as they rested near the trike. He was told that the Street View tricycles ride anywhere from one to 25 miles per day.

Carlson couldn’t confirm that the trikes would photograph Philly’s many street bike paths and off-road trails, but Google has been taking the well-equipped tricycle on public trails throughout Europe and in the U.S., as reported by USA Today.

Philadelphia was one of the first 15 cities in the world in which Street View was made available, five months after Street View was debuted as a feature for Google Maps globally.

There’s no word on when Penn’s Street View images will go live.

Image courtesy of CNet UK

At first glance, it seems that the Google Street View team is either trying to save the environment or dying to shed some pounds.

On Wednesday, a clearly-marked Google Street View tricycle was spotted heading East on Locust Walk through the University of Pennsylvania campus on the pedestrian bridge that crosses 38th street, according to reader Nick Sillik, a freelance Web and mobile developer.

“The group of college girls in front of me definitely recognized what it was and started dancing for it,” he wrote Technically Philly in an e-mail.

Sillik says he didn’t have a chance to snap a photograph, but says that the bike had the all the markings of the Google “Trike” (pictured above) that’s been making headlines.

The complicated-looking contraption is set on three wheels and houses a GPS and a three-dimensional setup of high-resolution cameras similar to the Google Street View cars that passed through our streets in 2007, according to a Google press release.

The camera setup snaps shots and geo-tags the photographs so users can have a street-level view of where they are going on Google Maps. The bikes were developed so Google could provide off-road access to landmarks, biking paths and places you just can’t park a car.

So far, only a bike trail in Monterey, California is live on Street View, but we have our fingers crossed that we’ll soon be seeing some Philly landmarks up-close.

Image courtesy of CNet UK.

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.

The Computerworld list gave Penn a glowing reference, a portion of which includes the following:

This Ivy League university wanted to improve security for its community following the tragic events at Virginia Tech. Toward that end, the IT group collaborated with the school’s public safety group to develop an “instant alert” system. The IT staff worked to find technologies to meet the university’s requirements, incorporated additional features, developed an infrastructure that does double-duty by also disseminating non emergency updates and hosted the system off-site with redundancy. IT also kept costs down by leveraging an existing technology.

Warm words for a university launching a three-year research initiative at the Buenos Aires School, which will examine issues surrounding closing the digital divide. The research will also document how using a technology-based curriculum can impact a school environment, student learning, and dynamics of school, family and community dynamics. The data will be used as a model for replication in similar settings elsewhere in Central America.

The list included other regional companies, including No. 43-ranked Lehigh Valley Health Network of Allentown, No. 67-ranked The Vanguard Group of Malvern and North Broad Street’s own Temple University, ranked 90th, as reported by Philly Tech News, including others that have a significant presence here.

Image courtesy of Slash Film.