In The News

Tracing Prohibition's maddening journey at the National Constitution Center

The New York Times Monday, October 22, 2012

With 120 artifacts and plenty more multimedia displays and activities, the National Constitution Center's "American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" exhibit gets a solid review from The New York Times.

The show’s curator is Daniel Okrent, who (aside from having been the first public editor of The New York Times) wrote an excellent, nuanced history of Prohibition, “Last Call,” a book whose details also informed Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s 2011 documentary, “Prohibition.”

The exhibition, like the book, touches on important themes in its narrative, but there is almost nothing dry about it, except that in the mock speakeasy at its center, the bottles are empty and nothing is served. In that gallery, you are served up Prohibition as a form of unlicensed and licentious play. A giant video screen shows film footage of the Charleston, while on a dance floor, foot markers teach visitors the moves.

Original source: The New York Times

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Philadelphia area hospitals among nation's most wired

Nurse.com Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Nurse.com reports that Main Line Health (Bryn Mawr), Abington Health, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (Wilmington, Del.) were among the top healthcare organizations for IT achievements, while Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (Philadelphia) and Chester County Hospital (West Chester) were among 25 most improved facilities.

The annual Most Wired survey, released in the July issue of Hospitals & Health Networks magazine, the journal of the American Hospital Association, recognizes healthcare organizations for information technology achievements in infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety and the care continuum. The survey also included questions based on concepts of meaningful use.

Original source: Nurse.com

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Science Leadership Academy's Lehman: Best ed app is a web browser

KQED Monday, October 15, 2012

KQED's Mindshift blog talks education and technology with the always insightful Science Leadership Academy Principal Chris Lehman.

Lehmann is famous in progressive education circles for his quote: “Technology must be like oxygen: ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.” His point: The best technology allows students to explore and create “artifacts of their own learning.”

“The question is, how will technology allow students and teachers to network their learning, to collaborate with each other, to extend the reach of what kids can learn beyond the walls of the school,” he said. “How can technology be used to unlock what hasn’t even been thought of yet?”

Original source: KQED

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Annenberg project among favorite election fact-checkers

The Root Monday, October 15, 2012

The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania is responsible for FactCheck.org, rated among the top fact checking sites for election season by The Root.

You can submit questions and check out the "Viral Spiral," where the most widespread Internet rumors are addressed. A breakdown of the first presidential debate's exaggerations and outright false claims is already up on the home page. Follow @factcheckdotorg for real-time Twitter updates.

Original source: The Root

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Yeah, but how do they make money? Philly's DuckDuckGo among tech's biggest names

Mashable Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Mashable looks at how some of the biggest names in tech make money, including Philadelphia search challenger DuckDuckGo (which still isn't profitable).

As one might expect, advertising and paid subscriptions are two major sources of revenue for these companies. The Internet has also given rise to a phenomenon known as “freemium,” when a company provides a base service for free but charges fees for certain premium features. For instance, Dropbox offers 2GB of free cloud data storage. If a user wants more space, however, he or she will have to pay up.

Original source: Mashable
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High-tech duet sounds great in Philadelphia, Illinois

NIU Today Monday, October 08, 2012

A violinist in Philadelphia and a cellist in Illinois performed a duo in real-time thanks to new technology enabled by Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, reports NIU Today.

“Since Internet2’s inception, all across the world I have been asked by musicians, ‘Can we play together?’ and the answer has always been no,” said Ann Doyle, director of cultural collaborations for Internet2. “It is with gratitude to the LOLA project team, that the answer is now yes!”

Original source: NIU Today

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UPenn researcher: Iran creating private internet

MIT Technology Review Monday, October 08, 2012

MIT's Technology Review reports on University of Pennsylvania-funded researcher Collin Anderson's findings that indicate Iran is building a private internet network.

Anderson gathered his evidence using two hosts based in Tehran. He has obviously had some significant help from inside Iran to carry out this work and acknowledges the help of a number of individuals he is unable name because of "self-censorship and intimidation" within Iran and beyond. That's clearly difficult and dangerous work that must be applauded.

Original source: MIT Technology Review

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At two million coupons downloaded, Philly's SnipSnap takes app for spin in Times Square

NBC 4 New York Monday, October 08, 2012

Philadelphia-based SnipSnap founder Ted Mann goes shopping in Times Square, demonstrating his company's digital coupon-clipping app for NBC 4 New York.

Source: NBC 4 New York
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New Urban Mechanics: Nutter's new office aims to accelerate innovation

TechPresident Thursday, October 04, 2012

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced this week the Office of New Urban Mechanics, a new branch of city government he hopes will accelerate the implementation of innovative ideas.

It's also the context in which Story Bellows, the Philadelphia New Urban Mechanics co-chair, told Sarah Lai Stirland that Philadelphia's City Hall plans to use its "convening power" to solve problems. Rather than trying to hire a swarm of developers to implement an internal plan or pay a McKinsey or a KPMG hundreds of thousands of dollars to write a report, the New Urban Mechanics model would be to work within a city's own network to find solutions, try them out, and evaluate whether or not they were successful.

Original source: TechPresident

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Barnes becomes first major art institution to go LEED-Platinum

The New York Times Monday, October 01, 2012

The New York Times writes about the Barnes Foundation's recent LEED-Platinum rating, making it the first institution of its kind to earn such a designation.

“From diverting 95 percent of construction waste from landfills as it redeveloped this brownfield site to a building with anticipated energy savings of 44 percent over a traditionally designed equivalent, it’s a marquee project not only for Philadelphia but the country,” the council’s president and chief executive, Rick Fedrizzi, said.

Original source: The New York Times

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Opera digitally mashed up with Barnes, Art Museum masterpieces at Academy of Music

Huffington Post Monday, October 01, 2012

The Opera Company of Philadelphia opens on Friday with its standard performance of La Boheme, but will also include digital images of priceless 19th century art from local museums, reports Huffington Post.

The 30 or so masterpieces were borrowed for the experiment from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Barnes Foundation, and transferred into digital Quicktime format. In a phone call with the Huffington Post, David Devan, the Opera's General Director, downplayed the "high-tech" aspect of the design, saying whatever technology was harnessed was done so primarily to "integrate these timeless masterpieces into a largely traditional set.”

Original source: Huffington Post

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Wharton study: Entrepreneurship yields happiness, even sans success

The Street Monday, October 01, 2012

A study by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School indicates entrepreneurship and happiness go together like peanut butter and jelly, even if one's startup isn't crushing it, reports The Street.

In general, the study contradicted the old saying that money cannot buy happiness; the more money someone earned, the happier they tended to be. The older respondents also tended to be happier than the younger ones.

Original source: The Street

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GQ: Philly is top-5 beer city and home to the perfect pub crawl

GQ Monday, October 01, 2012

GQ makes a pretty decent run at a perfect pub crawl in Philadelphia, which it identified as one of the top five beer cities in the U.S.

1. The Beer-Bar Brunch

Memphis Taproom

Wake up with microbrews and delicious bar grub at this Kensington standby. The mellow front dining room is fine if you're a slow starter, but things are much livelier outside by the picnic tables and the former ice cream truck that's now a bar.

Original source: GQ

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NY Times undresses Live Arts Festival

The New York Times Monday, September 24, 2012

A New York Times theater critic peeps skin, among other things, at the Live Arts Festival, which wrapped on Sunday.

Self-indulgence of a rather livelier, albeit self-destructive kind was a definite problem for the characters in “27,” from the Philadelphia company New Paradise Laboratories. This stylish-looking production imagines the afterlives of the famous rock figures who died at the age given in the title, the victims of booze, drugs and the pressures of celebrity. With the exception of Jimi Hendrix they are pretty much all here: Janis Joplin (Allison Caw), Amy Winehouse (Julia Frey), Jim Morrison (Kevin Meehan) and Kurt Cobain (Matteo Scammell).

Original source: The New York Times

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UPenn helps engineer skeletal muscles to build robots that move like people

Design News Monday, September 24, 2012

University of Pennsylvania bioengineering professor Christopher Chen is working with a team from MIT on technology that will help build robots that move like people, reports Design News.

The team has genetically engineered muscle cells that flex in response to light. They plan to use these to create small, lightweight robots that are highly articulated, and that can move with the strength, flexibility, and fine motor movements of living creatures. The researchers are among the still small number of engineers in the emerging field of biorobotics.

Original source: Design News

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