Emerging Technology : In The News

Rutgers School of Law-Camden librarian and Philadelphia resident John Jorgensen has been honored for moving legal research into the digital age, according to Fastcase.

John Joergensen is a proponent of the free digital law movement. John, a Reference Librarian at Rutgers School of Law, is working to digitize and make law available online. As the publisher of the New Jersey Courtweb Project, John is publishing online the decisions of the New Jersey state appellate courts, tax court, administrative law decisions, U.S. District Court of the District of N.J. decisions, and the N.J. Supreme Court's Ethics opinions.

Source: Fastcase
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Former New Jersey state CTO Adel Ebeid moves into the newly created post of Chief Innovation Officer of the City of Philadelphia, according to Technically Philly.

Described as "the perfect immigrant story" by the city's Managing Director Rich Negrin, Ebeid, who was born in Egypt but raised in Jersey City after losing as a teenager his father to cancer, rose through the ranks of New Jersey state government to become among the only cabinet level leaders that fiery Governor Chris Christie kept on. Now, after 'flatly' turning down the offer, the soft spoken and succinct Ebeid is preparing to move his wife and new daughter to a city he admits he doesn't know well to help inject innovation into the City of Philadelphia.

Source: Technically Philly
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City Councilman Bill Green writes in Government in the Lab about bringing Philadelphia government into the digital age.

Open Government Philadelphia � both as a philosophical approach to how government should work and as a series of concrete actions � is aligned with the City's current needs, its upcoming challenges, and, importantly, its available resources. The city is poised to spend $120 million on technology upgrades over the next six years. For this investment to yield the return we hope for and desperately need � i.e., innovation that increases city government's effectiveness, while reducing its size and cost � we must proceed with purpose, foresight, and a bold vision. Open Government is designed to catalyze this dynamic change.

Original source: Government In the Lab
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Where will your future tech workers come from? A Philadelphia non-profit encourages math and science training for future careers in technology, according to CIO.com.

In the Philadelphia metro area, there's TechGirlz, a two-year-old non-profit group that works with young girls, encouraging them to study math and science in school so they can pursue careers in technology. The problem, according to TechGirlz, is that girls are often choosing to opt out of technology at a relatively young age because they're not being encouraged and mentored.

Source: CIO.com

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Bio IT delves into the partnership between Fox Chase Cancer Center, Ignite Institute and Life Technologies that has formed the Cancer Genome Institute.

Following the widely publicized demise of plans to locate the Ignite Institute for Individualized Health in northern Virginia, the institute has found a new home as part of a three-way partnership at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Only it won't be called Ignite anymore.

Ignite has been rolled into pre-existing plans at Fox Chase to build a center for personalized medicine, says Jeff Boyd, senior vice president of Molecular Medicine. "The Ignite Institute and Fox Chase are working together with Life Technologies to launch what is now the Cancer Genome Institute at Fox Chase," says Boyd. Ignite's founder, Dietrich Stephan, serves as consulting chief scientific officer of the new institute.

Source: Bio IT World
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The Los Angeles Times digs into the implications of last week's announcement by Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., publisher of The Inquirer and Daily News, which will offer deeply discounted Android tablets for reading news.

Philadelphia's two largest newspapers -- the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News -- are planning on launching a low-priced Android tablet for subscribers later this year.

Greg Osberg, chief executive of the Philadelphia Media Group, which is the company that oversees both papers and their joint website Philly.com, said in announcing the plan that the move to bundle tablets with content from a newspaper company will be the first of its kind.

Source: Los Angeles Times
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Philadelphia Science Leadership Academy principal Chris Lehmann is among those educators calling for a redefinition of how technology is used in education, according to TMCNet.

As Chris Lehmann closed the recent International Society for Technology in Education's annual conference, he implored the audience at his keynote address here to redraw the educational technology battle lines.

"No one is arguing we shouldn't use technology in education anymore," said Mr. Lehmann, the founding principal of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy, a public high school devoted to inquiry-based, project-driven learning. "The question is how." The call for redefining debate echoed throughout the formal sessions at the conference last month and at informal events at nearby hotels, restaurants, and bars, and even in casual conversations among the more than 20,000 estimated attendees. And, perhaps more important, it was expressed in data released by Project Tomorrow, the Software and Information Industry Association, and technology company CDW-G.

Source: TMCNet
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A bulb literally goes on when students work out at Drexel, according to NPR.

If only all the speed and strength of youth could be channeled into power. Turns out, it can. Some colleges and universities have started converting energy from exercise equipment into electricity.

One of those schools is Drexel University in Philadelphia, where student power runs straight into their buildings' power grids. Dan Simmons, director of recreation at Drexel, says a typical 30-minute workout on a treadmill can generate enough energy to hold a light bulb for 2.5 hours.

Source: NPR
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AOL's travel blog Gadling makes a stop in Philly and is instantly enamored with Old City co-working space Independents Hall.

Sitting in a kitchen in a loft on Third Street in Old City, talking to one of the most enthusiastic and driven people I've met in years, I began to wonder what would happen if I quit my job, moved to Philadelphia and started my own business. Alex Hillman, wearing a t-shirt that read "I <3 my internet friends," was selling me on the cheekily named co-working space Independents Hall, of which he's a co-founder. His friend Parker Whitney was helping, telling me the story of his two years in Philadelphia.

The IndyHall guys certainly have the attention of the city, or at least some of its politicians. City councilman Bill Green is a big supporter, and government staffers are taking notice of the way things get done when fueled by passionate people-and Victory beer happy hours.

Original source: Gadling
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Researchers in Temple University's physics department are developing magnets as blood thinners, helping reduce the risk of heart disease, according to CNET.

Temple University physics department chair Rongjia Tao made headlines in 2008 when he developed a simple device that creates an electric field to thin fuel, thereby reducing the size of the droplets injected into the engine and improving fuel efficiency.

Now, Tao and former graduate student Ke Huang are unveiling their latest research that this same principle, when applied to the human body, can help thin blood and reduce one's risk of heart attack--without the side effects of blood thinners such as aspirin.

Source: CNET
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Comcast and Skype partner to bring VoiP to HDTV, according to ZDNet.

Comcast and Skype announced that the two have struck up a deal to bring the VoIP service to Comcast HDTVs. This could prove to be a lot more useful than just a video chat with relatives.

Skype users will be able to utilize most of the familiar functions of the desktop app. That consists of being able to make and receive Skype video and audio calls, as well as send messages - all through an HDTV connected to a Comcast adapter box. (Naturally, that TV is going to need a webcam installed somewhere.)

Source: ZDNet
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Comcast is about to enter the home security market, according to Bloomberg News.

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), the largest U.S. cable-television provider, is rolling out a home-security business as it seeks sales growth beyond TV services.

The Philadelphia-based company is starting Xfinity Home Security in seven markets for $39.95 a month. It lets users remotely adjust lights and thermostats, watch cameras, and get e-mail or text alerts when doors and windows are opened and closed. Customers can watch live video of their homes on an Xfinity website or with an Apple Inc. iPad application.

Source: Bloomberg News

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Viridity Energy partners with Saft and Envitech on the first trackside energy storage system in North America, recycling energy from braking SEPTA trains and trolleys, according to the New York Times.

Subway trains need a lot of electricity to get going, turning electricity into kinetic energy, the energy of movement. When they pull into a station, many of them can do the opposite: generate electricity from their momentum. They turn their motors into generators to slow the train, producing current.

But in many systems, some of that energy goes to waste because of a bottleneck: the third rail, which carries current to the train, cannot handle as much energy as the train is generating during deceleration. Too much current pushes up the voltage, and when the voltage gets too high, the electricity is dissipated by running it through a piece of metal that converts it into heat.

But in Philadelphia, on the Market-Frankford line of the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority, a new company called Viridity Energy will install batteries to capture a lot of that electricity and hold it while the train is in the station. Then it can deliver the power when the train starts up again or store it for a time of day when it is needed more.

Source: The New York Times
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Philadelphia last week embarked on the nation's largest project to reduce stormwater pollution through green measures, reports the Associated Press.

The state and city, the country's fifth largest with 1.5 million people, signed a "Green City, Clean Waters" plan Wednesday, kicking off a 25-year, $2 billion effort to modify infrastructure to reduce the amount of rainwater tainted with road oil, litter and raw sewage flowing into rivers and streams.

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and national environmental groups said the initiative should serve as a blueprint for cities and towns nationwide. The changes are expected to reduce by 5 billion to 8 billion gallons the amount of sewer overflow going into the city's waterways each year, including the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. That represents an 80 percent to 90 percent reduction.

Original source: Associated Press
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Temple University Associate University Librarian Steven Bell writes about academic libraries' strategic use of social media in Library Journal.

In more recent years our social media behavior is changing. Rather than simply establishing a presence and hoping students will notice, we're developing strategies for making the best use of our time in social networks. I've taken note of some academic libraries that have social media teams that plan out approaches for different media, recognizing they have unique qualities and that one strategy for all of them may not work.

At my library, a group has worked this spring to establish a more concrete social media plan, and they just recently issued guidelines for coordinating our strategies and establishing a core of social media journalists within the library.

Original source: Library Journal
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