Philly Tech Tidbits 7/25/2010

Drexel graduate Nathan Kuruna has been going all over America shooting interviews with gamers about Newgrounds, the Glenside-based Flash gaming site founded by Tom Kulp, with the goal of producing a video documentary titled "Everything, By Everyone", a site called Kokatu Australia reports. But he is going to need some funds to put the whole production together, so he has set up a KickStarter page where people can contribute. Right now he is about halfway to his $12,000 goal. Contributions of $100 or more will get you a personal tour of Newgrounds' offices.

Boomi, the Berwyn-based provider of cloud-based application integration systems, tweeted last week that they are looking to fill several new positions. Everyone in the business talks about how great Boomi is doing, but I haven't been able to find any information of how Boomi is actually doing in terms of metrics (such as revenue, growth or number of employees) although I am sure some industry analysts have a good idea. Boomi hasn't reported any additional venture capital infusions since an initial round of $4 million by FirstMark Capital in 2008. Competitor Cast Iron Systems was acquired by IBM in May.
Another company that appears to have several open positions is Health Market Science, the King of Prussia-based healthcare marketing information company.

Two upcoming events are of particular interest. The BDPA (Black Data Processing Associates), an organization founded in Philadelphia in 1975 by Earl A. Pace, Jr. and the late David Wimberly, will hold its National BDPA Technology Conference at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriot July 28 through July 31. And Tech cocktail, which hosts technology showcases in various US cities, is coming to Philadelphia for the first time. The event, to be held on the evening of August 12th at the Field House Sports Bar, will features companies in the DreamIt Ventures program as well as other local startups.

Applications to be Fellows for the initial year of Code for America, which will help Boulder, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle and DC build Gov 2.0 apps, are due August 15, ReadWriteWeb reports. Fellows will spend most of their 11-month 2011 term in Code for America's home base of San Francisco and will spend one month in the city they are assigned to help. The program provides a stipend of $35,000, travel expenses and health benefits.

Alteva, the Philly-based provider of hosted VoIP and unified communications services, cites the the potential for significant energy savings and reduced carbon dioxide gas emissions from using hosted versus on-premise VoIP systems.

Collegeville-based mobile technology firm Movitas seems to have ramped up its online advertising since announcing a $3 million investment last week. I am seeing Movitas ads all over the place.

Geekadelphia reports that the Center City Apple store on Walnut Street now has an Apple logo, though it is still unclear when the store will be ready to open.




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