Emerging Technology : In The News

Time magazine's Techland digs into Paoli-based search engine challenger DuckDuckGo, its commitment to user privacy and minimal aesthetic.

On Valentine’s Day, DuckDuckGo started to record more than a million searches a day. Sure, Google averages a billion, but that’s not bad for a company that previously consisted of a single employee (Weinberg recently upped that number to the full-time equivalent of six or seven staffers).

Original source: Time
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Phorum 2012, the inaugural technology conference for business and IT executives that will explore cloud computing, is giving away a pair of tickets for its March 28 event at World Cafe Live.

To win, all you have to do is tell us – in 140 characters – what possibilities you see for cloud computing in your business.  Just write to us on Twitter @PhorumPhilly. Our panel of industry leading judges will choose the 2 they find most creative and compelling.

You can submit entries from March 12th at 12 noon to March 19th at 12 noon. We’ll only accept one entry per Twitter handle, and the ticket is nontransferable.  It has no cash value and you’re on your own for transportation.

Original source: Phorum 2012
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The Atlantic Cities reports on online grocer Peapod's placement of virtual storefronts at select SEPTA stations throughout Philadelphia.

While awaiting a train, users can download the Peapod app, peruse the items in front of them, and scan the barcode of anything they'd like to purchase. The groceries are delivered to their homes later that day.

Philly marks the idea's American debut, but a number of international cities already have similar services.

Original source: The Atlantic Cities
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VentureBeat writes about Philadelphia startup MetaLayer as the "Photoshop of data" related to its new data community for users to share the visualizations they create from complex data sets.

People can pick apart the data that others have put together, and point out flaws or ask questions. Down the road the company hopes the platform will become a place to share data visualizations created by “real people”, not statisticians and professional analysts.

Original source: VentureBeat
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CNN includes Chuck Sacco's story, including co-founding PhindMe Mobile in 2007 and merging with Movitas in Bryn Mawr two years later, in a feature on managers who strike out on their own.

Another way Chuck Sacco, the PhindMe Mobile founder, helped his business: He discovered that teaching an entrepreneurship course at Drexel University was a great way to meet low-cost interns for his young business. Never taught before? Not a problem. Break in by volunteering to speak at a business-school class. Colleges and universities have an insatiable appetite for adjunct professors like Sacco, who also happens to have an MBA -- from Drexel.

Original source: CNN
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Triple Pundit reports on the Philadelphia Water Department's partnership with Texas-based Aeresco on a $47.5 million wastewater-to-biogas facility, which will have a capacity of 5.6 megawatts and is expected to save PWD $12 million on its energy bill over the course of a 16-year contract.

That’s part of a broader renewable energy goal the city set under its sustainability plan. In 2008 Philadelphia received only 2.4 percent of its electricity from alternative sources, and the aim is to get that up to 20 percent by 2015.

Wastewater treatment plants naturally produce copious amounts of biogas, since they involve the fairly straightforward process of  decomposition. As microorganisms digest the organic material in wastewater, they produce gas. In the past, the gas was simply flared off for safety and odor prevention, but with impurities removed biogas can be stored, transported and used just like any other gas.

Original source: Triple Pundit
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The Star-Ledger writes about Drexel University engineers who kicked off national Engineers Week by displaying seven adult-sized humanoid robots on Monday.

"These are world-class, state-of-the-art robots, says Youngmoo Kim, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. "No one has ever seen that many on the same stage before. Never in the world, and never in history."

But don't get excited just yet. "They are not ready to sweep the floor," says Kim, who also is assistant dean of media technologies in the College of Engineering and director of Drexel's Music and Entertainment Technology Laboratory. While the HUBOS (a contraction from "humanoid" and "robot") stand about 4 feet tall and weigh in at about 100 pounds each, developmentally, they seem a lot like babies. "We're working on getting them to walk without falling over," Kim says, "getting them to climb stairs, pick up small objects." They also can't talk or see or hear (which, actually, makes them also a bit like teenagers...). The computer-driven robots will be outfitted with cameras, microphones and tactile sensors and other apparatus that will allow them to make their way around in the real world, Kim says.

Original source: Star-Ledger
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Campus Technology checks in on Villanova University's transformation of the second floor of its Falvey Memorial Library into a state-of-the-art learning and student support center.

Philadelphia-based BLT Architects designed Villanova's new Learning Commons. The layout of the physical space follows a shared "street" concept to enable library users to easily access academic support resources. The space also features high ceilings, improved lighting, multi-purpose rooms with flexible furniture, an open lounge area for informal group study, and smaller spaces for individual study. The Commons' large conference rooms have been outfitted with display systems and digital whiteboards for presentations, meetings, and informal classes.

Original source: Campus Technology
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The Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle catches up with local native Nate Trunfio, an Eastern University grad who founded the Philadelphia consumer electronics accessory startup Caseinitiy with some friends.

The marketing genius for the company, he draws on his marketing and management knowledge gained during his tenure at Eastern University in Philadelphia and selling insurance as a first job after graduation.

The young entrepreneur works for Caseinity during his free time, when he isn’t working fulltime as a mortgage loan officer at a local Philadelphia bank. Caseinity is being funded in part by Trunfio and through Kickstarter, an online funding platform that uses a threshold pledge system for creative projects.

Original source: Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle
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The New York Times looks at the Philadelphia Media Network's move to Market East and the sign ordinance that will effectively create a digital district in Center City.

Philadelphia Media Network will have two digital signs on Market Street and two on Ninth Street, and each sign will be about 14 feet wide and 45 feet long, said Joseph F. Coradino, the president of Preit Services and Preit-Rubin, the commercial development and management subsidiaries of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, the company that owns both the Gallery and the old Strawbridge site.

The sign ordinance has limits. For example, it will allow digital signs to appear only on properties that have 100 feet or more of frontage on Market Street.

"This is not Times Square, where the goal is to basically cover buildings with signs," said Paul R. Levy, the president of the Center City District, a business improvement group and an early supporter of the ordinance. "Our goal here was to integrate the signs into the existing architecture."

Original source: The New York Times
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