Last week, as students at Temple University began their first week of classes, across town, Cherif Habib and Stephan Jacobs were putting finishing touches on the official launch of a six-month project before they, too, hit the books.

Sure, the two second-year Wharton MBA students might have planned the launch before they became brain-deep in business studies, but it’s more likely perfect timing for Kembrel.com, their online retail store aimed at the college student apparel market.

Kembrel sells clothing, shoes and accessories for men and women. It’s recently moved into the gadget market, too, offering add-ons for iPhones. Since a soft-launch in April, Kembrel has racked up 20,000 registered users through word of mouth marketing efforts. It’s also began promoting a “pop-up” shops at local universities where the team sets up a small merchandise shop and explains the site to students.

Founded in April, the company had early success during Wharton’s Business Plan Competition, and Kembrel received the $3,000 People’s Choice Award, as we reported in May.

Their success hasn’t been by chance— the pair both had a background as software engineers and with entrepreneurial backgrounds.

Habib founded and successfully sold equity stake of Canadian mobile phone acessory distributor and online retail store puremobile.com. Jacobs founded RealAcad, a nonprofit initiative dedicated to nurturing entrepreners worldwide.

But the apparral market is a new one for both business partners. As Habib tells us, flash sales companies like firewalled GILT, which promises young, East Coast professionals exclusive access to up to 70 percent off of luxury retail brands, are an inspiration.

Many flash sales sites approach brands with the pitch that their overstock product — apparral for which too much was ordered, is perhaps past season, or that a large retailer might have cancelled an order of — could be sold at discount, but better than not sold at all.

Kembrel is trying to tap into a similar model, yet with a twist. It pitches true engagement to its audience of the lucrative, yet hard-to-reach college demographic.

“These [students] are in college now and poor. But they’ll graduate in a year or two, they will make a lot of money and are going to continue using your brand. For that reason, [brands] give us good merchandise,” he says.

And the site activately engaging students where they are every day: on Facebook.

The company, which self-funded, even launched what it claims is the first ever private, retail sales store on the social network. The application allows customers to browse products and purchase with a credit card apparel within Facebook. And items added to the Kembrel Facebook shopping cart can be viewed later at Kembrel.com or vice versa.

Habib says the company plans to launch more social commerce solutions, offering ways to integrate its shop into Facebook profiles, for example, and possibly sharing a cut of revenue with customers during conversion on their pages.

Habib compares its reach to Red Bull’s often-seen convertible promotion. A souped-up Mini Cooper drives around town, a custom-fit icebox trunk full of the energy drink, stopping to give away free samples.

“Not every company—especially apparel companies—has that kind of reach, that model of reaching students. We figured we could be that lead gen and consumer acquisition channel for these brands,” Habib says.

In just a few short months, retailers like Original Penguin, American Apparel, C&C California, Laundy by Design, Life after Denim and iPhone accessory-makers Dxeim & iSkin, have come onboard.

“We don’t say, ‘This is a channel to get rid of your bad stuff. We really want to acquire new customers you didn’t have access to before. Those are magic words to any brand.”

This week get the low-down on what’s hot and new in Mac on Tuesday, check up on the folks at Hive76 on Wednesday and join Technically Philly at the Supernova Forum 2010 on Thursday and Friday.

Tuesday, July 27: If you need something to do in between waiting in line at the Apple Store, the Macintosh Business Users Society monthly meet-up is the event for you. Head down to Dorrance Hamilton Hall on Broad Street and get a speak-peak at new hardware and software. You’ll see product demonstrations of the hot new Apple stuff, often before their general release to the public. 6:30 p.m. South Philly. INFO [view more events]

Wednesday, July 28: Just like they do every week, the kind citizens at Hive76 are opening their doors to all of us this Wednesday. Drop by to work on hardware or software projects, or come early for the Hive76 planning, or “scrum,” meeting at 7:00 pm. Not that you need the added incentive, but they also have free pizza.  8:00 pm. Center City. INFO [view more events]

Thursday, July 29 – Friday, July 30: Join us at the Wharton School late this week for the Supernova Forum 2010: Perestroika. This two-day forum is jam-packed. Delve into graphic designs straight from Tokyo at the Pecha Kucha lighting talks, and check out their tech policy forum, featuring experts and policy-makers from Washington, DC including the CTO of Obama’s Open Government initiative. Technically Philly is sponsoring, and we hope to see you all there. Oh, and use the code “tp10″ at checkout to receive 50 percent off. All day. University City. REGISTER [view more events]

Timothy Allen of Wharton

The programmer and analyst with Wharton Research Data Services is something of a community organizer to boot and July is busy enough that Allen has to make sure that the record is set straight.

There are three events — “very exciting events” Allen clarifies — happening at Wharton in the coming weeks. These clusters often happen on campuses when most students are elsewhere.

In addition to the East Coast debut of the famed decade-old Supernova conference that, for full disclosure, Technically Philly is co-sponsoring at the month’s end, in two weeks, Wharton is also home to two events dedicated to innovation in education.

Allen says that has something to say about Wharton and what the relationship of the city’s technology community to education can mean for the region’s future.

The paid, two-day Wharton Higher Ed Web Symposium takes off July 21, which includes keynote addresses from Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things and Cory Ondrejka, a co-founder and the first vice president of technology for Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life.

Then, the second annual free, un-conference HigherEdCamp Philly will be held the Friday directly following, on July 23rd. We talk to Allen about what the end of July means for Wharton.

As always, edited for length and clarity

Does this education innovation conversation represent a reputation Wharton wants to have?

As with many academic institutions, the Wharton School continues to experiment with technology to enhance the educational experience. By engaging our students in a true blended learning process, we intend to continue as a leader in business education. We have shown with our Learning Lab the kinds of ideas that serious games and simulation inspire in our students, and are excited of the future of technology in education.

Tell us a bit more about the ‘blended learning process’ and its role with technology.

We always have had a technical advisory board made up of students with strong interest in technology who help shape the future of technology at the Wharton School. This has led to using a wide array or teaching methodologies, which combine to make a blended learning experience. We intend to keep abreast of the continuing evolution of technology and be a leader in technology in education across the board, from undergraduate to executive education.

What about Wharton’s Learning Lab, tell us a bit more about that, particularly related to the gaming and simulation being used.

Through research simulations and serious games, we have learned that interactive, participatory education can be more engaging that traditional lectures. It also has the advantage of allowing students to experiment in low or zero-risk situations similar to those they will face in the business world.

Why should we make it out to the free HigherEd Camp July 23 if we’re more tech heads than education buffs? What’s special about this event? What’s different from other BarCamps?

After a more traditional conference on July 21st and 22nd, it will be a great opportunity to discuss the future of technology in education in a more relaxed atmosphere. Last year, it was great to see so many academic institutions represented, excited to share their ideas. We know there are a lot of us excited about education here at the Wharton School  and having a chance to share ideas with our counterparts at other institutions is a great opportunity.

What is the school’s connection to the technology community?

Wharton has made a distinct effort to engage the local technology community, to share ideas to continue to improve education. The people here are passionate about technology and realize it is important to the future of the Wharton School. We host these yearly events, but also regularly host groups from PANMA, Philly.rb, PhillyPHP and PhillyCFUG throughout the year to keep the excitement of technology present.

Technology, education innovation and Wharton’s business reputation come together to form a rosy picture. Do any of these conversations — and events — relate to retaining the talent from Wharton here in Philadelphia? Are there more related steps that can be or are being taken?

The answer is yes, in several ways.

We continue to become more of an event hub to show our students the diversity, passion and high level of talent of professionals in business in the Philadelphia area.

It allows us to have a campus presence showing what life in the Philly work force is like. We have made strong pushes to hire local talent with passion for the Philadelphia area. We will continue our outreach to Philadelphia across the Wharton School. Naturally, those of us in Wharton Computing will continue to be very involved in the Philly tech scene.

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Every Friday, Technically Philly brings you an interview with a leader or innovator in Philadelphia s technology community. See others here.

When Technically Philly pops into his office, the normally cheery venture capitalist is busy trying to figure out why First Round Capital’s email service is down.

“They say six minutes of downtime,” he says. “but they’re way over that.”

After a brief phone conversation (he would later blog about the downtime) he immediately returns to his normal upbeat demeanor and for good reason: Kopelman is one of four founding partners of one of the most active early-stage investment companies in the country. The firm has become as much of a brand as the companies it invests in, boasting the most-visited VC site on the web.

Located in a small, nondescript office building in West Conshohocken, the firm has expanded to San Francisco and will open its New York City offices next week, giving it a headquarters in two of the largest technology communities. The firm is setting a new standard in investment by making a high number of smaller, early stage investments while nurturing companies from the ground up.

First Round, however, is just the latest chapter in the Wharton grad’s career. Kopelman, a New York native, started Internet information company Infonautics while still in college and almost didn’t stay in Philadelphia.

“Once you have 17 people in the company with mortgages and me without, that pressured me to stay,” he says, “Then I grew attached to the area, built networks and planted some roots here and started Half.com.”

Since then, Philly has treated him well: Kopelman and his partners sold Half.com to eBay for $350 million in 2000, giving Philadelphia one its biggest tech “wins” in the Web 1.0 times. After starting and selling Turntide to Symantec in less than a year, Kopelman switched from entrepreneur to investor, making Philadelphia home to one of the most influential Internet investment firms in the world.

We sat down with Kopelman to talk about his take on Philadelphia, what kinds of companies he looks for and why Philly (and every other city) has no comparison.

As always edited for length and clarity. To read the complete interview transcript which includes three times as many questions, follow this link.

What would it take to have First Round located in Philadelphia as opposed to West Conshohocken?

My sense is that I don’t think we’ve lost any deals in the city because we weren’t willing to travel there or the entrepreneur wasn’t willing to travel here. So for me its just about quality of life in terms of ability to get home for dinner, get back to the office and go back and forth. You know we work on two time zones: the east coast and the west coast. If [the office] was further away I might not be as productive.

Is that the struggle for First Round? Because now there’s a Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York office and there’s four of you?

I might actually argue that while I have a strong network in Philly, my network is Silicon Valley is just as strong if not stronger. So when I’m trying to help an entrepreneur on the West Coast I feel like I can be extremely helpful in terms of recruiting and strategy.

And I’m out west enough that the proximity challenge isn’t insurmountable. So we’ve had to invest to do that. We’ve had to build an office in New York, we’ve had to build an office in the valley and we’ve had to build a team in all of those areas and build a footprint. We view ourselves as four partners that just happen to be working out of whatever office they are at right now.

You are almost the ideal Wharton grad for Philadelphia. You come from out of the area, you go to Wharton, you contribute jobs to the local economy. So I wonder many Wharton grads don’t decide to stick around.

My path was more of the exception.

Why do you think that is?

Had I not started a company right out of school and not had any employees, I don’t know if I would have stayed here.

Let’s try to take a different metaphor. I’ve come to see Philadelphia as a place that has a lot great theaters. And there are 70 schools in this area one of the highest densities of schools out there. There are a lot of people at these schools that want to be actors or actresses. And what I’ve seen though is that if you are a graduating student and are an actor or actress not one of them says “I want to be king of the Forrest Theater.”

They move to Broadway. And that’s where the ecosystem that they play in is [established]. I’d say that Philadelphia, as a tech hub, there are definitely bright spots and it is getting brighter. The fact that Technically Philly exists and it didn’t 18 months ago is telling. You have Philly Startup Leaders and Indy Hall. There’s a lot of groups. I think that’s wonderful and I think that’s improving the Philadelphia start-up scene… but I think it’s still hard to compete with Hollywood.

Maybe its an uphill battle, or maybe its misguided? Or maybe we should just try and play to our strengths of pharma?

I’m a big believer in Philly. I’ve started several companies here that have been successful, I’ve invested in companies that have been successful and I’ve met lots of quality of entrepreneurs here. I would not want to discourage anyone from trying to improve on Philly’s tech scene. But I also don’t know if you even need to compare.

New York has a great Chinatown, Philly has a strong Chinatown and they’re good Chinatowns. But stop trying to compete with China.

Most of our readers have lived here since 2002, 2003, not really part of that first generation of online startups like you were. So what have you’ve seen is the biggest difference from the CDNow and Half days versus now?

We’ve invested in almost every major tech market in the country, so one of the things I’ve seen when we compare Philly is that we tend to think we have a really good start-up generation right now. But for whatever reason, the past generation isn’t as engaged.

There’s not that institutional memory from the first round?

We are seeing a lot of first-time entrepreneurs in the region, which is great. But this is the seed-planting stage. You are going to see 100 of these entrepreneurs, ten of them might have some level of success and they might have management teams of five people, so they are new entrepreneurs that will go out and plant. It’s takes some time to move.

Basically, you’re sitting here with your first generation of seed planting, whereas out west you have the redwood forest.

What are the characteristics you look for in a entrepreneur when funding them?

For a start-up, I like to fund a heat-seeking missile. It used to be that, 30 years ago you, had to aim missiles. From the moment you launched it, you press go and you have no ability to change the course of that missile one you launched it.

But the heat-seeking missiles are a modern invention that you launch and it adjusts and looks for the heat signature it looks for the target. And if the target is moving it changes. It can start off heading north and then head west or south.

What new trends and things are popping up that get you excited?

At the macro-level, I think there is a massive disruption that’s occurring.

In what way?

We are really focused on the cloud and software as a service, and we are very focused on mobile. I think geography and location-based services is [also] really important.

I think that the concept of redefining the data sets that are available online and their accessibility online is a big trend. Sort of what we have been calling the “implicit web”.

Sort of the API-azation of our lives.

Yeah. When you think about it, it used to be that all your data was offline. But as more and more started happening online you left more and more digital breadcrumbs. Like myself: you wanna know what TV shows I like? TiVo knows that. Want music i like? Apple knows that. What movies I like? Netflix knows that. Where I eat? Open Table knows that. What concerts I go to? Ticketmaster knows that.

So historically all of that data has been in silos… Now once those silos open up APIs and you connect things to them and through them, I think that is really powerful and transformative.

Every Friday, Technically Philly brings you an interview with a leader or innovator in Philadelphia s technology community. See others here.

DEFINITE READS

• Pittsburgh Tribune Review reports that that city will put a bid in for Google’s announced ultra-fast Internet product.
• Keystone Edge has a Q&A with University of the Arts professor and tech-art entrepreneur Slavko Milekic.
• The Inquirer reports that MC Hammer will be appearing at a Wharton event, and, yes, TP will try to crash the party.

Below, Gabe Weinberg talks with Jimmy Wales, comic book classes and more.

MIGHT BE OF INTEREST

• Geekadelphia promotes Kensington-based creative project space pterodactyl. Geekadelphia also announces its Little Big Philadelphia contest.
• Make gives some love for a pet project that came out of Hive76.

GIVE A GLANCE

• Dennis Moore asks whether SAP will be acquired.
• tweeted:
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Every Friday morning, we make sure you didn�t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

Update: Minor copy edits. Changed logo.

As reported in this week’s Venture Capital Roundup, Steve Barsh has had a busy week.

The DreamIt Ventures managing partner got his tons of national press for his latest startup, Packlate.com, from TechCrunch, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. The company, based in University City (though with plans to move to West Conshohocken) aims to be a last-minute vacation booking service and has received funding from ETF Ventures and First Round Capital.

“It’s not a rocket ship yet, but it is kind of jiggling on the launchpad,” says Barsh.

Barsh says the idea has been brewing for years as he mentored young entrepreneurs at DreamIt while maintaining vacation properties in Utah.

“You know the saying ‘Those who do, do. And those who don’t, teach? I like to do both,” he says.

Currently he says he is still dedicating ten percent of his time to DreamIt but says he wants to focus most of his efforts on his new startup. We spoke with Barsh about Packlate’s future, how DreamIt can survive with preoccupied management and when we’ll be able to book a Jersey Shore vacation with Packlate.

As always, edited for length and clarity.

How long have you been working on Packlate? This seemed to come out of nowhere.

I’ve had rental property in Park City, Utah for about ten years and I’ve had this idea for Packlate for the last five. I’ve been kind of doing it on my own for my two condos and when I was doing DreamIt this summer, talking to all these entrepreneurs about de-risking, I was working on Packlate as kind of my “20 percent time.”

A bunch of investors in the Philly area told me I cant de-risk it anymore without cash so they told me “Build it into a company and we’ll fund it.”

We started the company on September 1st. Within three months it was funded and within five months it was in the market. We went really fast… We just wanted to get it out there and see how people reacted.

Steve Barsh, CEO of Packlate

How are people reacting?

Traffic is surging because we keep getting PR. We keep bringing more servers online, so it’s a good problem to have. I said at our first board meeting this week: “If anyone was wondering, we are at revenue.”

So we are getting bookings and generating money. Not a lot, but its a great signal. We’re really pleased.

It’s only for the Rockies now?

[Advisor and StubHub.com founder] Colin Evans hounded on me this summer and said “If you launch nationwide, you’re going to be 3,000 miles wide and a quarter of an inch deep.” You won’t be a marketplace. It would be like walking into the Barnes and Noble and seeing two books in the fiction section. Which means you don’t have a fiction section.

We’ll expand in the spring and summer for other markets.

So I can book the Jersey shore pretty soon?

I hope so. There are a lot of markets we want to open up in.

To switch gears, are you involved in this year’s DreamIt class?

I’m not focused exclusively on Packlate but I am focused extensively on Packlate. I usually teach part-time at Wharton, I’m not doing that this semester.

With DreamIt it will be a very light participation, I’ll do some mentoring, I’ll do a talk, but I won’t be full-time. I can’t do both. If I do both, I’ll do both poorly.

If Packlate takes off, do you see yourself pulling out of DreamIt?

I’ll always have ten percent of my time for DreamIt. To really do both of these things, you have to throw yourself at them.

What’s the next step for Packlate?

We’re refining in our current market and trying to get all of our metrics up and to the right. More booking, more people watching and driving more traffic. We have an idea coming out in the next week that I hope will be completely crushing to the vacation rental industry, which is fun.

Are you worried about the future of DreamIT? You have Packlate, Steve Welsh is running for congress and David Bookspan runs Monetate?

DreamIt is in great hands. They are moving at 100 miles per hour whether I’m involved or not. DreamIt is doing well and is well-backed and it will stay that way.

Every Friday, Technically Philly brings you an interview with a leader or innovator in Philadelphia�s technology community. See others�here.

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.

Edit: corrected date.

Continuing in BarCamp Philly’s success, HigherEd is the latest in a long line of BarCamps that included HealthCamp and Technically Philly’s own BarCamp News Innovation. On June 6 at The University of Pennsylvania’s Huntsman Hall, HigherEdCamp will gather members of a large group of local universities to help foster collaboration between the typically fractured academic community, especially when it comes to technology.

Technically Philly sat down with Dave Konopka, a Web developer at the University of Penn and one of the event’s organizers. Konopka believes highly in Philadelphia’s role as a college town, and believes like many, that the technology industry is key to the city’s innovation.

We ask him why should the tech community should be interested in this event, how he got the usually rigid world of academia to support him and how he believes tech nerds can take advantage of our vast university system.

What problem are you trying to solve with this event?

Really, I just want to try to connect different schools and universities within the Philly area. Because schools seem to operate individually, even within a given university. But there’s a lot of resources, a lot of intelligence and a lot of effort at all of the schools. So we’re just trying to create some links between them and get people to share the different technology that they are working on.

Do you feel that they are operating within a bubble right now?

I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a bubble. But it’s not always the most open environment. I think people are energized now and want to collaborate and want to work together. But there’s not always a venue to do that. Even in working at the University of Pennsylvania, working within one of the schools, it’s tough to even get to know people that work at other schools within the same university.

What do all of these schools have to gain by talking to each other?

Just to ramp up what they are able to do and learn from the experiences of other schools. The old model is: vendors come out and show you why their technology can help you. But at this point, people can learn from each other and piggyback on the achievement of other schools.

Academia can be a rigid environment, how do you think it will respond to the BarCamp open format?

The people that work with technology are more exposed to open technology such as social networking Facebook, Google Apps … People are sharing documents and working with each other in ways that didn’t happen a few years ago. Initially there were some people questioning, ‘Why would I come to this and not a more professional conference?’ But, in the end after you explain [the format] to people, they get excited about it.

Why is this of interest to the tech community?

Philly’s a college town. There are 20-some college and schools in the city. And there are a lot of resources at every one of those schools that makes it an engine for technological innovation. With time and hardware and networking, I think the tech community can make use of that and come up with some pretty exciting things for the city.

So you envision some sort of long term partnerships between the tech industry and the city?

Yeah, definitely.

What makes you Technically Philly?

I grew up here in the Northeast, went away for college in Syracuse and then came back to work for a couple of different companies. I just like the idea that Philly is a college town, and there are tons of schools within the city limits.

Every Friday, Technically Philly brings an interview with a leader or innovator in Philadelphia’s technology community. See others here.

Let’s keep that weekend energy going with our region’s active tech community. Half of our highlights are straight outta West Philly. It’s not bias, we swear! But if you just refuse to do anything West of the Schuylkill, our events calendar would be happy to schedule an appointment for you.

On Saturday and Sunday, help University City with some GPS mapping. The folks at Philly OpenStreetMap realized long ago that Google might one day threaten our existence so they’re mapping the world until it happens. How else are you gonna find the way to good Chinese restaurant when the Goog steals your identity and shuts down Maps?

Wednesday, academia will sign-up for Second Life, get harassed by creepy dudes and annoying tweens, and beg for a way to get the heck out of there while still applying some of those virtual concepts to higher education. With Wharton hosting, it might be a little smarter than our summary.

Monday, IndyHall will host a PHP Meetup featuring Sigurd Magnusson of Silverstripe, an open source CMS for the WordPress haters out there. Magnusson will even be taking feature requests, so give him some advice or he’ll ignore your feedback when the next version hits.

Philly Office Geeks are trying to spread the word about social media in the business community on Tuesday. It might be a clever attempt at getting network privileges for Facebook in the office, but we’d bet there’s a little more too it than that.

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.

Monday, May 11: Philadelphia Area PHP Meetup Group has Sigurd Magnusson of SilverStripe, an open source CMS built on Sapphire, speaking at IndyHall. We’re hoping it won’t be too sales pitchey, but given the venue, we imagine it will lean toward philosophical. Learn the story behind the software and leave a couple pointers of your own. 6:00 p.m. Old City. RSVP. [view more events]

Tuesday, May 12: As social media has injected itself in nearly every facet of the online world, so to has it grown as a valuable resource to the business community. That, or your cubical mate has been tweeting and passing his work on to you. Figure out how to address it all Tuesday evening. Philly Office Geeks will also have Ashley Roach of NewsGator, makers of those nifty RSS services. 5:00 p.m. Malvern. RSVP. [view more events]

Wednesday, May 13: Sure, it may be our background, but Technically Philly has love for the academic world. On Wednesday, Wharton and the Philadelphia Future Salon will host a discussion of virtual worlds and their place in higher education. Turns out Second Life isn’t just for sex addicts. Educators love it, too. Get yourself some three-dimensional ed with guests Don Bain, formally of The Electric Sheep Company, Fred Fuchs of FireSabre, Ana Reyes who teaches a virtual work class at Penn and more. 2:00 p.m. University City. Details. [view more events]

Thursday, May 14: There’s been much talk about electronic medical records lately, due in part to the economic stimulus. Who ain’t trying to get a piece of that? In light of tech prospects in the health industry, University of Sciences is hosting a panel on the Future of Health Information Technology. It’s a killer list of top digital health officials from the U.S. Department of Health, MIT and more. Plus, who knows, maybe you feel more comfortable having a doctor use an iPhone on you over a stethoscope. 5:00 p.m. University City. RSVP. [view more events]

Saturday May 16, Sunday May 17: The folks at Philly OpenStreetMap are trying to replace Google Maps with an open source mapping solution, one GIS location at a time. Regular day Magellan’s they is. Join them Saturday and Sunday, grab a GPS, and set to tacklin’ University City. Bring your own GPS if you can. All day. University City. Details. [view more events]

Every Monday morning, Technically Philly will preview the best free tech events in Philadelphia and the surrounding region. See others here. Check our comprehensive events calendar here.

Chris Schaeffer of Realistic Eye gives his elevator pitch. The company ended up placing third.

Edit: added RIMS video.

The main event was over already, but the eight hopefuls gunning for the Wharton Business Plan Competition had a chance to bag an extra $3,000 by convincing the dinner audience that they were deserving of the People’s Choice Award.

Each company sent a representative to the steps in the basement of Wharton’s Huntsman Hall to plead their case to roughly 100 attendees who may or may not have been taking advantage of the free food. Approaches ranged from the youthful, energetic charisma of StealthRowing’s Daniel Harbuck (covered earlier this week by TP) to the frank nature of Cuddlebot’s owner, who told the crowd, “we’d love your cash.” After the pitches were finished, the judges huddled to decide the grand prize winner as the audience members dropped ballots in a silver box carried around by the organizers sporting yellow ribbons.

Hours later, NIR Diagnostic came out of the four-round competition $23,000 richer, bagging the $20,000 grand prize as well as the $3,000 people’s choice award. The company is developing a wound diagnostic device that would bump accuracy up to an estimated 85 percent from 50 percent.

After the jump we summarize and comment on each company’s elevator pitch and tell you which one is most likely to lead to a Terminator-like future.

1. Realistic Eye

What: Prosthetic eyes.
Why: Current prosthetic eyes look realistic except for their non-dilating pupils, which Realistic Eye attempts to fix. During their elevator pitch, the company told the story of Mary, a car accident victim who lost an eye in a car accident. Mary’s prosthetic has served her well, except when she meets with clients in her job as an accountant. In an indoor environment, she felt it was painfully obvious that she was wearing a prosthetic.
Result: Third Place.

2. Remote Integrated Monitoring Solutions (see the video)

What: Glucose monitoring device
Why: Currently, diabetics have to pierce their skin with a small needle if they want to get their glucose reading. RIMS would manufacture a wristwatch(!) that would automatically be able to take sugar readings using light waves, then sending those metrics to a patient’s doctor or, in the case of a minor, a parent. The concept of sending data automatically to doctors in a digital format is almost as cool as a non-invasive method of testing blood sugar and anything that helps out diabetes patients is a win.
Result: Did not place.

3. StealthRowing

What: A rowing training device.
Why: Undergrad Daniel Harbuck found that rowing training devices ran in the six-figure range, making them usually only accessible to the traditional “old boys club” of rowing. Harbuck found himself convincing friends to hold a boat to the side of the pool so he could train in his native Salt Lake City. He sought to solve the problem of expensive and exclusive training equipment by inventing the Stealth007, a training device that would not only making training cheaper, but more accessible to inner city youth. We covered SealthRow earlier this week.
Result: Undergrad prize winner. Though, if the event’s program is correct, Harbuck was the only undergrad in the finals.

4. PayDivvy

What: A payment tracking system
Why: The Paydivvy crew once lived in a house with five people with seven bills and divvying the money ended up being a hassle. PayDivvy would keep track of bills to assure that everybody pays their fair share. We’re not quite sure how PayDivvy would be adopted amongst the younger crowd, and aren’t there free Facebook applications that serve this very function?
Result: No Money.

5. DocASAP

What: A doctor’s appointment scheduling service.
Why: DocASAP aims to be “Open Table” for doctor appointments. DocASAP would automatically notify patients if someone backs out of an earlier appointment. The service aims to reduce no-show appointments and streamline the workflow of overwhelmed office managers.
Result: No Money.

6. NIR Diognostics

What: A wound diagnosis device.
Why: See above. Essentially NIR ups the accuracy of wound assessment using a non-invasive device.
Result: Grand Prize and People’s choice winner.

7. CuddleBots

What: A robotic toy.
Why: Sort of like Webkinz on steroids, Cuddlebots would be a fully programmable robotic toy with an open source programming platform that would allow developers to code their own education programs to supplement proprietary offerings. The aim is to lower the barrier of children becoming familiar with computers and technology. While the concept sounds damn cool and TP wants one of these things to play with, at the $300 price point we’d guess that most kids would want a PS3. And seriously, “Cuddlebots”? Don’t blame us when the Cuddlebot uprising happens.
Result: Second Place.

8. My Videoport

What: An online video distribution platform.
Why: While this could be because we were not able to sit in on the company’s 20 minute presentation, it is unclear exactly the product being offered. From what we can gather, the company aims to be a broker of professional video content to YouTube, Vimeo and related companies. It is unclear how the company would make a dime or compete with TubeMogal.
Result: No Money.

More official details from Wharton.