Startup Roundup: Judge backs anonymous flamers in USA Technologies case

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

A federal judge has struck down USA Technologies‘ attempt to silence anonymous critics online in a decision that backs First Amendment rights online. Flame on, folks.

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Startup Roundup: Comcast applies for patent to halt ad fast-forwarding, Duck Duck Go to accept sponsorship

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

Radnor’s Guideworks, a joint venture of Comcast and TV Guide, which maintains Comcast’s interactive programming grid—likely one of your daily-used UIs—has applied for a patent that will display “substitute media” when you fast forward through an advertisement. That’s right folks; your Comcast ad-skipping days will soon be coming to a close.

Viddler has opened its HTML5 beta, timed with some hot press from USA Today to boot. Like our coverage of Fishtown design shop WellFed last week, Viddler’s another local company effected by Steve Job’s anti-Adobe-ism, if that was a word.

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Startup Roundup: Newsberry launches new WYSIWYG campaign editor, DreamIT is everywhere

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

Old City’s Newsberry has launched a new in-browser WYSIWYG email campaign editor and is allowing users to test the demo. It’s a lot sexier than offerings we’ve seen elsewhere. We won’t mention any names ‘cos yes, we’re biased toward our region.

Philly’s NearVerse LoKast has reached 125,000 downloads in two months since launching at SXSW in Austin, Texas, two months ago, reports TechCrunch. Though the proximity-based and real-time social network was built with general use in mind, it’s quickly becoming a proxy for live music acts: a handful of bands were sharing exclusive content with users at indy rock staple festival Coachella, the publication reports. Pitchfork, get on this.

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Ten Philadelphia tech organizations that should have Wikipedia entries but don’t

Look, this is down right embarrassing.

Earlier this month we retweeted Viddler founder Rob Sandie. He was self-promoting, but damn it if we didn’t agree with him. Why didn’t the growing video-hosting service have a Wikipedia entry? Now that Google News has begun to link to the Web’s largest community-edited encyclopedia, it’s clear it’s bypassed mainstream and shot straight to influential.

So, it’s become something of shorthand for the importance of a subject, person or organization. But, as we found, Philadelphia generally and its technology and innovation communities specifically are dismally represented in the Web 2.0 powerhouse.

When someone answered Sandie’s call to create a Viddler Wikipedia page, it was deleted because, as one Wiki editor wrote, the article was “about a web site, blog, online forum, webcomic, podcast, or similar web content that didn’t assert the importance or significance of its subject.”

Sounds like a call to make clear the Philadelphia technology scene is significant. Below, we share our list of 10 members of our community that don’t have Wikipedia entries, but should, including Viddler.

We respect the mission of Wikipedia, so don’t consider this spam posting. Rather, we think our community is very underserved by the online encyclopedia. This, my friends, is basic stuff we need to get down. Who’s stepping up?

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Shop Talk: USA Technologies wants to take vending machines coinless

USA Technologies ePort cashless terminals let consumers pay at vending machines with credit cards and RFID or Near Field Communication technologies. Photo courtesy of USAT.

Have a pocketful of pennies and a hankering for a soda? Good luck.

Malvern-based USA Technologies (USAT) wants you to be able to pay with plastic or with a swipe of a cell phone at the vending machine.

The company, which manufactures payment systems that let consumers purchase goods with cards instead of cash, may be the next vending machine technology superstar you’ve never heard of.

Turns out USAT is a leader in the wireless, cashless payment market.

“This little Malvern company that’s in its infancy has a 90 percent market share,” USAT Chairman and CEO George Jensen tells Technically Philly.

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