In the News

UPenn-developed software, Swarthmore study tackle smartphone security

Fast Company Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Swarthmore College study and software developed by a team from the University of Pennsylvania are on the forefront of smartphone security developments, reports Fast Company.

Research into smartphone security has revealed that your phone's sensors could help criminals unlock your stolen gadget. And, given that these elements all come as standard on most smartphone models, and are not subject to the same controls as other phone functions, they are a bigger security risk. The study was carried out by a visiting professor at Swarthmore College, who analyzed data captured from a smartphone's accelerometer--that's the gadget that analyzes the direction your phone is tilting or moving and turns the screen accordingly, and used for games like Doodle Jump--and found it could be used to work out where someone tapped the screen.

Original source: Fast Company

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Redevelopment on Pittsburgh's downtown waterfrot earns another win

The New York Times Thursday, January 31, 2013

Former Keystone Edge Innovation & Jobs News Editor Christine O'Toole writes in The New York Times about massive investment in Pittstburgh's downtown waterfront and the tremendous impact it has had on the city.

This month, the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority approved preliminary plans for an $80 million to $90 million investment in new roads, streets and utilities on a 178-acre former industrial site that is the biggest remaining waterfront property in the city. The developers will use a tool called tax increment financing, which earmarks a portion of a site’s future property taxes to build its infrastructure. Such financing, approved by both the authority and the City Council on a case-by-case basis, has galvanized redevelopment on Pittsburgh’s complex industrial sites.

Original source: The New York Times

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Lehigh Valley is among nation's regions most likely to adopt green transportation

ZDNet Thursday, January 31, 2013

ZDNet reports on a Pike Research study that rank Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton high on the list of metropolitan areas most likely to adopt alternative or green transportation like plug-in hybrids or electric cars.

Based on that criteria, Pike figures that sales of plug-in electric vehicles in the largest 102 cities in the United States will total 1.8 million from 2012 to 2020.

Original source: ZDnet

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PNC to fund $5.5M financial services innovation center at Carnegie Mellon

American Banker Thursday, January 24, 2013

American Banker reports on PNC teaming up with Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business to create a center for financial services innovation.

PNC is expected to invest $5.5 million over the coming five years in the venture, which will be directed by Sunder Kekre, a professor of operations management at the Tepper School.

"Advances in technology and their potential application in financial services underscore the importance of research and education in these areas," James Rohr, PNC's chief executive, said in a press release. "Carnegie Mellon is regarded as a global leader in business and technology, and our company has enjoyed a long and productive relationship with its students, alumni, faculty and administrators."

Original source: American Banker

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Lafayette hires first female president, who brings digital education chops

The New York Times Thursday, January 24, 2013

Alison R. Byerly has been named Lafayette's 17th president and first female leader, reports The New York Times.

Ms. Byerly is known as a leading national authority on education in the digital age, including the emergence of massively open online courses, or MOOCs. A Pennsylvania native, Ms. Byerly earned her bachelor’s degree with honors in English at Wellesley College in Massachusetts; she went on to earn her master’s degree and doctorate in English at the University of Pennsylvania.

Original source: The New York Times

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Lehigh students crash PennApps 2013 hackathon, create SparkTab

TechCrunch Thursday, January 24, 2013

A team of Lehigh University students created SparkTab, a versatile browser add-on, at the PennApps 2013 hackathon last weekend, reports TechCrunch.

SparkTab is kind of like QuickSilver for your browser. Instead of setting your new tab page to, say, Google, you would add SparkTab. From the text entry bar, you can perform searches, send texts, and even post to Facebook and Twitter. Think of it as a quicker way to do lots of stuff online without having to enter a URL or click on search results.

Original source: TechCrunch

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How an 'odd duck' is reviving texile manufacturing and reimagining the urban factory in Philadelphia

Fast Company Thursday, January 24, 2013

Fast Company writes about self-proclaimed "odd duck" Karen Randal and her efforts to revive the textile industry and urban manufacturing in Philadelphia.

Yet there's a resurgence of passion for the idea of manufacturing in Philadelphia, if not manufacturing itself. Unlike New York, where most geographically desirable industrial districts have been rezoned residential, Philadelphia still has factories near the center of town, and the same cultural currents that have brought a taste for locally grown food into the American mainstream have lately buoyed the idea of making things around the corner rather than on the other side of the world.

Original source: Fast Company

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Penn State climatologist backs Pennsylvania bill to raise alternative energy standard

The New York Times Thursday, January 17, 2013

The New York Times writes about Penn State climatology professor and controversial climate change researcher Michael Mann and his support for two bills being introduced by Pennsylvania State Rep. Greg Vitale's that would raise the commonwealth's alternative energy standards.

Requiring greater use of renewable fuels would help bring Pennsylvania closer into line with neighbors like New Jersey and Delaware, which have higher requirements for use of renewables, said Bruce Burcat, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition.

Original source: The New York Times

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Inside the LEED Gold restoration at Pittsburgh's Market Square

Sustainable Cities Collective Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Sustainable Cities Collective features an interview with Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Art Ziegler and Pittsburgh-based evolveEA principal Marc Mondor that centers on restoration and LEED Gold status of three buildings at Pittsburgh's Market Square.

Art: A big mall would not have worked—he tried this in the past, with the Mellon Bank building and the Lazarus building, but the fact is that people who shop downtown like historic buildings, they like the scale and the variety of architecture, and the density of a historic district. It’s worked over and over again, and we see this everywhere—abroad the shopping areas are in historic neighborhoods and also in New York. The Market at Fifth project has set the pace for retail to flourish in the area, in Market Square and along Fifth Avenue and Wood Street.

Original source: Sustainable Cities Collective

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Philadelphia Mayor Nutter hires 24 year-old director of civic technology

TechPresident Thursday, January 17, 2013

TechPresident follows up on Philadelphia's new director of civic technology, 24 year-old Matt Wisniewski.

He has been part of the city government since January 2012, and served prior to that as the executive director of a nonprofit working to improve commerce in the business corridor of a low-income neighborhood. While working for the city, he was the project manager on development of a mobile application for the city's 311 non-emergency services system.

A handful of cities across the country are trying out the idea that Internet technology can dramatically change the way cities work. Philadelphia is one of them. In 2011, Philadelphia joined the first year of Code for America, a program to put technologists in city halls. The same year, Nutter issued an executive order that consolidated management of information technology across all city departments into one position, the chief information officer. In 2012, the city hired Mark Headd away from Code for America to become the city's chief data officer, and in December announced that the city would release detailed crime data, updated daily.

Original source: TechPresident

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Bradford brings it: Lodge at Glendorn among America's Most Romantic Hotels

Travel + Leisure Thursday, January 17, 2013

Travel + Leisure's list of America's Most Romantic Hotels includes the Lodge at Glendorn in Bradford, a 1929 structure with 50 fireplaces and resting on 1200 acres.

ooms in the Big House and a dozen cabins have original details such as built-in tie racks and the recipe for a martini painted on a kitchenette cabinet. Road signs in this area warn not of deer crossing but of bears. They’re hibernating for the winter, and you may choose to do so, too, by one of Glendorn’s 50 fireplaces; the staff will leave the makings for s’mores. But if you’re up for Dorn-ish sports, activities director Shane Appleby will provide heated goggles and lead a caravan of snowmobiles through the woods, or cut a hole in the ice on Skipper Lake and help you catch a bass, which can be cooked for your breakfast. Dinner features the kind of “fancy” cooking that the Dorns must have thought elegant, sometimes successful (velvety lobster bisque), sometimes overwrought. If your visit includes a Tuesday, you can venture into town for the weekly square dance. The locals bring covered dishes, and your $3 admission supports the Bradford Landmark Society.

Original source: Travel + Leisure

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Indy Hall among nation's coolest coworking spaces

Business Insider Thursday, January 10, 2013

We've been writing about Old City, Philadelphia coworking space Indy Hall since 2009 and now Business Insider ranks it among its 17 coolest coworking spaces in America.

Indy Hall is where you'll meet "the coworkers you've always wanted." The two-floor cozy communal office has broken down everything stuffy about the typical office and replace it with couches, colorful walls and beautiful modern artwork.

Original source: Business Insider

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NY Times does 36 hours in Philadelphia

The New York Times Thursday, January 10, 2013

They manage to work Stephen Starr into yet another lede about Philadelphia, but nonetheless The New York Times gets around Pennsylvania's largest city during a recent weekend.

There’s no secret handshake at Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. (112 South 18th Street; 267-467-3277; thefranklinbar.com), a candlelit subterranean bar in the speakeasy style. Instead, there are cocktail waitresses as hospitable as they are stylish (cat-eye glasses and saddle shoes) and drinks poured over globes of hand-carved ice. The 28-cocktail list has poetic subheads (one reads: “I asked for water, she brought me gasoline”) and esoteric ingredients (Rollin’ in the Ruins is a mix of Tanqueray gin, Hayman’s Old Tom, green Chartreuse, pear brandy, lime juice, lemon grass tea syrup, Bitter Truth Thai Bitters and pink peppercorn tincture).

Original source: The New York Times

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Making Pittsburgh the ultimate resolution

Suitcase Scholar Thursday, January 10, 2013

A travel blogger from Pennsylvania makes her first trip to Pittsburgh.

During my short visit, I explored the Carnegie Museum, checked out the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, explored a Victorian-era estate and art gallery at the Frick and Clayton, and roamed the biomes of the world at the Phipps Conservatory. And I took more notes than I have during many lectures I’ve attended during my own years in college.

Original source: Suitcase Scholar

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Nature's force: Inside Philadelphia's Fabric Workshop and Museum Residency

Wallpaper Thursday, December 20, 2012

Wallpaper sits down with artist Daniel Arsham, whos new show at the Fabric Workshop and Museum called Reach Ruin opens today in Philadelphia.

Part of the mission of the FWM is to encourage artists to work outside their preferred medium. I've never worked with a number of the materials in this exhibition, such as some of the resins we used. Some of the pieces involve wind, light and sound so I worked with an engineer from MIT to develop the performative work that you see in the video. I also worked with compressed glass; I have worked with this technique before where we compress sand and other materials into a mould, but the Fabric Workshop helped me develop this into a larger scale. So I have these massive 16ft-tall eroded columns, which wouldn't have been possible before.

Original source: Wallpaper
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