In the News

Free Library of Philadelphia's pop-up Pride & Prejudice part of worldwide celebration

The New York Times Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Free Library of Philadelphia was among those across the globe that celebrated the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's classic Pride & Prejudice, reports The New York Times.

The Free Library of Philadelphia is hosting an all-day celebration including lectures, film screenings and “pop-up” theatrical performances of scenes from the novel. Goucher College in Baltimore, home to what it calls the largest Austen collection in North America, will open “Pride and Prejudice: A 200 Year Affair,” an exhibition of rare editions and other items documenting the novel’s reception over the past two centuries.

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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Pittsburgh among best cities for millennials

Huffington Post Thursday, July 19, 2012

Huffington Post writes about Moving.com's best cities for millenials list, and Pittsburgh comes in at No. 7.

Approximately 53 percent of college graduates under the age of 25 are either jobless or primarily working jobs that don’t require a college degree, according to an April study by Drexel University.

Pittsburgh has one of the largest public transportation systems in the U.S., serving over 200,000 riders per day as of 2011. Millennial residents can enjoy professional sports teams -- Pittsburgh is the hometown of the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins -- as well as pursue higher education from one of dozens of schools in the area, including U. Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne and others. Pittsburgh also has been regarded as one of the best arts and culture destinations in the U.S. for a decade. According to Moving.com, millennials might enjoy a night out at South Side or Station Square districts for the best bars and clubs.

Original source: Huffington Post

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Pittsburgh among best markets for tech jobs

VentureBeat Thursday, July 12, 2012

Pittsbugh ranked sixth overall as the best technology job market and Philadelphia had the fourth-highest increase in tech job openings among major metropolitan areas, reports VentureBeat.

Simply Hired just released its July 2012 employment outlook. And some of the results are more than a little surprising.

Nationally, job openings were up 9.2% from May. The ratio of job-seekers to jobs, however, stayed even at 3:1. Jobs were up in all major metro areas, and competition for jobs decreased in 12 of them, including New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Denver, and Las Vegas.

Origianl source: VentureBeat

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Allentown substitute teacher's artwork to dominate Times Square

The New York Times Thursday, June 21, 2012

Allentown substitute teacher Vicki DaSilva won an online contest to have an original work of art, 23 stories high, light up a Times Square billboard, reports The New York Times.

The site, ArtistsWanted.org, is not a charity but a business, one that hopes to make a profit identifying artistic talent and connecting it to an audience. Investors are pouring millions into it and similar start-ups and social networks like Behance.net and EveryArt.com, which cater to the growing cadre of people who consider themselves creative and think there’s a market for their work outside the network of galleries and dealers who dominate the commerce in art and design. Users and founders of these sites talk not only about making money but also about democratizing culture.

Original source: The New York Times

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Philly, Pittsburgh, New Hope make top arts destinations list

American Style Thursday, June 21, 2012

American Style's annual list of Top 25 Arts Destinations for large-, mid- and small-size cities inclues Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Hope, respectively.

New York City came in first (again) with 43.2 percent of the vote, with Washington, D.C. (No. 2, with 23.6 percent) and Chicago (No. 3, with 22.3 percent) trading places from last year’s standing to fill the remaining top two positions for the fifth year in a row. Out-of-the-blue write-in candidate Dayton, Ohio, vaulted to the No. 2 spot in the Mid-Size Cities list, and eight cities across all three categories were located in Florida.

Original source: American Style

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Fast Company ponders Philly as America's next big tech town

Fast Company Thursday, May 03, 2012

Fast Company talks to Technically Philly's Sean Blanda and DuckDuckGo's Gabriel Weinberg, among others, about Philadelphia's bustling technology sector.

"Like many cities, Philly has seen a significant increase in all aspects of the startup lifecycle--start, growth, exit," says DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel Weinberg. "I think we're riding the global trend here, but also we've had great community leaders as well." He continues: "Our community is very tight-knit, which means it is very easy to connect with the top people in the scene."

Original source: Fast Company

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King of Prussia's InterDigital explores sale of patents

Financial Times Thursday, April 26, 2012

Financial Times writes that King of Prussia-based wireless technology company InterDigital is reportedly focusing on selling bundles of patents and might consider an outright purchase of the entire company.

The two sources said InterDigital appeared to be less ambitious on valuation this time around. Its expectations last year for the whole company were buoyed by the high price paid for Nortel’s intellectual property assets.

An industry banker said he expected the portfolio would attract serious bids because of the interest among large technology companies -- such as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Samsung (NASDAQ: SSNLF), and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) -- seeking to protect their businesses from patent litigation.

Original source: The Financial Times

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New Philadelphia company creates advanced treatment for peripheral artery disease

Technically Philly Thursday, July 21, 2011

Technically Philly reports on the first startup company to spin out of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It has developed an improved treatment for peripheral artery disease.

Using superparamagnetic steel stents, an applied magnetic field forces drug-loaded nanoparticles onto the arterial wall. The company says that reblockage can be prevented for three to four years instead of one.

Vascular Magnetics' CEO Dick Woodward and Chief Scientist Dr. Robert Levy describe their new treatment using an analogy of chicken wire and spray paint.

Current treatment is like coating wire with spray paint and pressing it against a wall. Only a thin layer of medicine is applied with the current treatment. But the solution brought to the table by Vascular Magnetics is like placing the chicken wire against a wall and spray painting over it. Medicine is applied more widely.

Original source: Technically Philly
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Many scientists and investors stand behind Medrobotics' surgical robot

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports on the team behind Medrobotics, a startup that expects to market its surgical robot next year.

When Medrobotics introduces its product, it will enter a growing market for minimally invasive surgery -- with few competitors.

Proponents say minimally invasive surgery lessens the chance for surgical complications and allows patients to recover faster. Both of those factors can reduce costs, company officials said. Minimally invasive surgery enables surgeons to access organs through small holes, rather than large incisions that can more easily become infected.

The global market for minimally invasive devices and instruments is predicted to reach $23 billion in 2014, according to Wellesley, Mass.-based market research company BCC Research.

Original source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
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Penn State's Erie campus positions itself for medical-device research

Plastics News Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Plastics News reports on a new medical-technology center at Penn State Behrend and the school's plans to collaborate with developers of medical devices.

Jason Williams, who heads the center, said Erie is a central location, and the Plastics Engineering Technology program has expertise from talented students and faculty.

�Within the Buffalo-Pittsburgh-Cleveland triangle, Erie�s the epicenter of that. So it really puts us in a good position to really help all three of those regions,� he said. �And that�s really what led to this. We�re starting to see a really big push for the device manufacturers in the Pittsburgh area, alone.�

The medical plastics industry is projected to grow 5-8 percent per year through 2015, Williams said.

Original source: Plastics News
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In Pittsburgh, Obama says new ideas and inventions will reinvigorate American manufacturing

Associated Press Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Associated Press reports on President Obama at Carnegie Mellon University last week to announce his $500 million Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, an effort at spurring innovation in robotics, advanced materials and security.

Speaking at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, a city that's taken hits from the decline of traditional manufacturing sectors like steel, Obama called for a joint effort by industry, universities and the federal government to help reposition the United States as a leader in cutting-edge manufacturing.

"We have not run out of stuff to make, we've just got to reinvigorate our manufacturing sector so that it leads the world the way it always has, from paper and steel and cars to new products we haven't even dreamed up yet," Obama said at Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center.

"That's how we're going to strengthen existing industries, that's how we're going spark new ones," he said. "That's how we're going to create jobs, grow the middle class and secure our economic leadership."

Original source: Associated Press
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Former Bethlehem silk mill will become tech-company hub

The Morning Call Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Morning Call reports on plans to turn a former silk mill in Bethlehem into offices for technology companies employing up to 60 workers.

The project will complement a $17 million expansion underway of the tech-incubator Ben Franklin Technology Partners at nearby Lehigh University. That project is expected to open in the fall. (Mayor John) Callahan said Ben Franklin expects to fill as soon as it open, and the 4th Street location can accommodate other tech companies or those that outgrow their space at Ben Franklin.

Original source: The Morning Call
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Osage University Partners to invest $100M in colleges' intellectual property

Philadelphia Business Journal Wednesday, March 02, 2011

The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that local venture capitalists have raised $100 million to invest in research at eight colleges, including the University of Pennsylvania.

Osage University Partners has agreements with eight universities that allow it to use their rights to invest in companies that have licensed intellectual property developed by their researchers. In exchange for using the rights, the firm gives the universities a share of any profits it makes from its investments in their companies.

Original source: Philadelphia Business Journal
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An NYT lookback at Groundhog Days gone by

New York Times Thursday, February 03, 2011

By now we all know that Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow on Tuesday, which indicates an early spring is coming, but the New York Times published a fun lookback of how it has covered our favorite weather-prognosticating groundhog.

The groundhog stuck his nose out at sunrise yesterday, saw his shadow, and disappeared. �Back to the warm sand-bed,� he muttered as he vanished for another six weeks� snooze.

As if to emphasize the fact that the groundhog never fails to hit the mark--fact which one famous observer declared he had personally verified on more than a thousand occasions--Winter hit New York just as soon as the groundhog went inside. The mercury dropped with a clatter that was particularly scaring in view of the recent summery weather, and the wind rushed in until it blew forty-eight miles an hour.

- February 3, 1906

Source: New York Times
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