Wayne : In The News

Well, the suburbs of Philadelphia. On the Comedy Central show, dynamic duo Abbi and Ilana take the train to 30th Street Station and then head to Abbi's (Jacobson's real life) hometown of Wayne. Tony Danza played her pop. Check out the episode here.

Original source: Comedy Central

Barron's writes about Berwyn-based B-Lab's impact on investing.

The process has cred. Yale School of Management now forgives student loans of M.B.A.s who work for a B Corp after graduation. Working with corporate-law firms, B Lab has also drafted legislation that would establish a "Benefit Corporation," a legal entity in which directors are held accountable for their treatment of people and the planet alongside their responsibilities to maximize shareholder profits.

Source: Barron's
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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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The Sip...A Wine Store in Cary, N.C. sells organic, sustainably produced wines and recently did a testing with Chester Springs-based Y + B Wines, which gives new life to boxed varieties.

The organic wine business, although only 3% of all wine sold, is the fastest growing segment, experiencing 35% growth last year. Y+B ‘s business has quadrupled since opening in their base town of Philadelphia.

Original source: Cary Citizen
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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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Berwyn-based B Lab is leading the push for Benefit Corporation legislation in Oregon, reports Sustainable Business Oregon.

The legislation would provide a legal framework for companies to register as a company dedicated to providing a public benefit. The designation would be available as an option alongside C Corporation or S Corporation.

Similar legislation has been passed in California, Vermont, Hawaii, New York, Maryland and New Jersey and is pending in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and the District of Columbia.

Original source: Sustainable Business Oregon
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Philadelphia-based internet company Boomi, founded by Rick Nucci, was scooped up by Dell in 2010, and Wired examines the union's strengths.

When Rick Nucci says he runs an internet company based in Philadelphia, people in Silicon Valley look at him funny. “We would come out here to meet with VCs,” he remembers, with a bit of a smile. "They would say: ‘Philly? Do you guys have internet there? Are you working in some sort of Amish commune?'" He ended up partnering with a venture capital firm in New York.

But Nucci’s real surprise is that he runs an internet company that was bought by Dell.

Original source: Wired
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BEAR Oceanics, a Collegeville-based technology and research company, hopes to make inexpensive, algae-based biodiesel fuel for transportation by harnessing ocean winds and sunshine, reports MSNBC.

The robotic farms would turn algae sludge into 5 gallons of biofuel per day with a sped-up version of the geological process that created Earth's fossil fuels -- all without the risks of drilling for oil or fracking for natural gas.

"At this point, you've turned biomass into a biofuel, and you haven't used any chemicals, so that you don't have a toxic waste stream," said Rudy Behrens, an engineer at BEAR Oceanics. "We can do this on a large scale without disrupting the food chain or creating a hazard."

Original source: MSNBC
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Philadelphia search startup DuckDuckGo has signed a partnership to become the default search engine for the five year-old, free and open source Linux Mint operating system, the fourth-most used OS in the world. From Linux Mint's blog post:

In other search engines, search results are personalized based on your Web history and personal profile. In other words, if two people search for exactly the same thing, they won’t necessarily see the same results. Based on the personal information the search engines have on them, different customized results will be shown.

DuckDuckGo does not gather such personal information and does not customize search results. So if two people search for the same thing, they’ll get the same results.

It’s interesting for Linux Mint and DuckDuckGo to join forces and do something together. Both projects are extremely successful but relatively small in their respective markets. If you compare DuckDuckGo to Google and Linux Mint to Windows, you can see a lot of similarities. Both projects have a small market share but they’re growing rapidly, both projects are run by very small teams who are easy to contact and eager to get things done, innovation and pragmatism are high on both sides, and the list of similarities goes on.

Original source: Linux Mint
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Recro Pharma of Malvern was one of several companies from the region who were showcased at BioTech 2011 last week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and MedCity News has a write-up and video on its new drug that targets postoperative and diabetes pain.

This year’s innovation corridor included about 24 scientists and early stage startups from universities and incubators who exhibited posters that highlighted their work and demonstrated the commercial applications, something that regional associations are trying to do more. Now in its sixth year, a decision was made to put the younger scientists alongside the more mature startups so potential investors could see them at the same time and encourage mentoring and partnership opportunities.

Recro Pharma, a Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company, is seeking $20 million for a new drug application for a drug that targets postoperative and diabetes pain relief.

Original source: MedCity News
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The owner of Hybrid Cycles on East Gay St., West Chester, has added another line of electric bicycles and reports that sales are up 80 percent, reports the Daily Local.

At Hybrid Cycles, President Gary DiVincenzo said sales of electric bikes -- he sells four lines altogether -- are up 80 percent so far this year. Even so, electric bikes are in their infancy in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world, and the East Coast is about two years behind the trend compared to the West Coast, DiVincenzo said.

"There were 20 million (electric bikes) sold in China last year, 1 million in Europe and 125,000 in the U.S.," said DiVincenzo, a former pharmaceutical industry worker who spent 10 years doing custom woodworking before starting Hybrid Cycles.

Original source: Daily Local
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Renmatix, a company that creates biofuel from sugar, is setting up shop in King of Prussia, according to BusinessWeek.

Gov. Tom Corbett traveled to suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday to welcome a biomass energy company that plans to move its headquarters from Georgia and create 150 jobs over the next three years as it tries to develop ways to turn products such as wood and waste into fuel.

Venture capitalist John Doerr moderated a discussion of alternative energy inside the warehouse building that Renmatix -- which has another facility in Kennesaw, Ga. -- will be calling home.

The company is developing ways to access the fermentable sugars that are the foundation of biofuels. The effort, along with other alternative energy efforts, are all part of helping the country become less dependent on foreign oil, Doerr said.

Source: BusinessWeek
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Despite challenges in court and changes in management, enterprise software giant SAP remains at the top of its game, according to The Globe and Mail.

It’s been a tumultuous two years for German technology giant SAP AG. Its CEO was dismissed in the face of poor numbers, and two new co-CEOS were appointed. It was ordered to pay $1.3-billion (U.S.) in penalties after an SAP unit stole trade secrets from rival Oracle Inc. But now things are breaking SAP’s way. A U.S. judge last week rejected the damages as ‘grossly excessive’ and recommended Oracle get $272-million – or seek a fresh trial. And 39-year old SAP – with annual revenue more than €12-billion ($16.8-billion) – is still on top of the enterprise-software world. At the centre of the whirlwind is co-CEO Bill McDermott, a rangy hoops-shooting U.S. marketer who operates out of suburban Philadelphia. He was interviewed the day before the judge’s decision.

Source: The Globe and Mail (Canada)
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