Philly Tech People News 10/31/2010

John Sider Named Managing Director of Statewide Initiatives for Ben Franklin Technology Partners (Business Wire)

Web Host SunGard Availability Services Names New COO (Web Host Industry Review)

Rue La La Strengthens Leadership Team with Two Executive Hires
Steve Davis Appointed President and Ira Melnitsky Named Chief Merchandising Officer
(PR
Newswire)


Beyond.com Names Joshua Akers as Director of Enterprise Sales

Acsis Appoints Nick Angelucci to Director of Professional Services (Business Wire)


CherryPad shipping delays cause headaches for Zecozi

For Philly-based startup Zecozi, which provides an ecommerce site focused on environmentally sustainable products, its agreement to be the exclusive US online distributor for California-based Cherrypal's CherryPad, a 7" energy efficient Android tablet priced at $188, was a big deal. But by late October, people who had placed orders and were expecting imminent delivery saw no sign of the product, nor could they find any tracking information on the shipments. Considerable noise was made on Internet forums, a few major blogs picked up the story, and some were questioning whether the CherryPad actually even existed since no one reportedly had seen one. Zecozi took much of the heat for this, even though it was not their job to ship the orders. The problem was heightened by a percieved lack of communications from CherryPal as to what was going on.

Although this was not Zecozi's fault (and they did their best to ameliorate the situation), what happened to them in this case is an inherent business risk if you are going to take orders for a product that you don't keep in inventory or don't have any control over the supply chain, particularly for a new and unproven product that is just coming off the the line for the first time.


Now, according to tweets and blog posts, shipments of the CherryPad are beginning to flow and be received by customers. There have been several initial reviews; some fairly positive, some not so positive, although the major complaint that it is pretty stripped down is not surprising given its price. But the product does exist and in general appears to be functioning properly. At this time, though, Zecozi is no longer showing the CherryPad as being available for order from its online store (not sure why).

Zecozi recently graduated from GoodCompany Ventures' incubator program and has raised $370,000 in venture capital, according to the FormDs website that tracks SEC filings (if I understand the filing correctly). It calls itself a "shared shopping" site which emphasizes interaction and information sharing among its users. Philly entrepreneur Deana Zelenka is founder & CEO.




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Astros, Rockets finalize deal to launch TV network
Comcast SportsNet Houston to show games starting in fall of 2012
(Houston Chronicle)

Watch Out, Big Cable: Xbox Live Now Bigger Than Comcast (Gigaom via New York Times)

Fox Returns to Cablevision (New York Times: Media Decoder)


AdMob founder leaves Google

After A Five Month Stay (And $750M Acquisition), AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui Leaves Google
(TechCrunch)

Hamoui started AdMob while at Wharton. VentureBeat suggests he may have left due to health issues.


Daily Links 10/28/2010: SAP Bullish Despite Third Quarter Shortfall

Oracle Says SAP Won’t Contest Infringement Claims (Bloomberg)
Asks judge to delay trial's beginning.

SAP Bullish Despite Third Quarter Shortfall
Executives slam Oracle while highlighting sales gains and growth prospects.
(Information Week)

Oracle vs. SAP: Battle of Fall 2010 Balance Sheets (CIO.com)

Oracle: Google 'Directly Copied' Our Java Code (IDG via New York Times)

What seed-stage star Christine Herron’s move to Intel Capital means (VentureBeat)
Leaves First Round Capital.

Moffett: TV Cord Cutters 'Poor' & Eating 'Dog's Breakfast' (Broadband Reports)

Motorola Profit Tops Estimates on Rising Sales of Droid Phones (Bloomberg)
Motorola looking at 3 cities plus staying here for headquarters (Chicago Sun-Times)
Philadelphia is not one of them.

Arris Rides Docsis Roller Coaster in Q3 (Light Reading Cable)

SunGard Announces Third Quarter 2010 Results (Business Wire)

SevOne Is on the Move
Leading Network Performance Management Company Relocates Corporate Headquarters to Accommodate Growth
(Marketwire)

SeaChange, icueTV Link Up For T-Commerce
Vendors Team Up to Combine DVD Purchasing App with Fulfillment Platform
(Multichannel News)

CDI Q3 results beat estimates, sees Q4 rev growth (Reuters)

Tyco Electronics profit tops estimates (Reuters)

Ben Franklin (Northeast) to Invest $420,000 in PA Technology Companies (Business Wire)




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Daily Links 10/27/2010: Comcast, SAP post earnings

Comcast Quarterly Profit Tops Estimates on Higher Cable Bills
(Bloomberg)

Comcast CEO: iPad, tablets give us ability to 'start from scratch' on TV interface (ZDNet Blogs)

Comcast Says Its Disappearing Subscribers Aren’t Cord-Cutters (All
Things Digital: MediaMemo)

Cablevision makes Fox an offer it hopes can't be refused (LA Times: Company Town)
Fox has rejected that offer.

SAP Q3 results miss expectations, hits out at Oracle strategy (ZDNet Blogs)

Oracle's Ellison Vows to Prove New HP CEO in on Scheme (PC World)

SAP: Larry Ellison Is Wrong About HP CEO Apotheker (PC World)

Where in the World Is Léo Apotheker? (New York Times: Bits)

GSI Commerce Reports Fiscal 2010 Third Quarter Operating Results (Business Wire)
GSI Commerce posts wider Q3 loss, shares fall (Reuters)

InterDigital Announces Third Quarter 2010 Financial Results
(Business Wire)
Says it will begin paying regular quarterly dividend.

Sprint CEO: In Talks With Clearwire On Financial Options (Dow Jones
Newswires via Nasdaq.com)

UberCab’s Masterstroke: Forgoing Buy-In from San Francisco Officials (PE Hub)

Three Reasons Why Apple-Unisys Is a Smart Partnership (ZDNet Blogs)




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Daily Links 10/26/2010: SunGard CEO outlines Cloud Plans

Comcast Opens Xfinity TV Online To All Video Subs
'TV Everywhere' Service Provides 55,000 Movies and TV Shows
(Multichannnel News)

Is Comcast’s Xfinity TV a Trojan Horse? (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

Netflixity… Time to Buy? (Cable360)

Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan wants sitdown with News Corp. at FCC headquarters (LA Times: Company Town)

Unisys hit by mainframe, services declines in Q3
Apple deal misunderstood and overblown
(Channel Register)
Unisys Press Release

Ametek Q3 earnings beat Street; ups FY earnings view (Reuters)

Sungard outlines cloud plans: a CEO Q&A (Computer Business Review)

SAP, Oracle… Infor? (FT.com: Tech Blog)

SAP sued over 'Run Smarter' slogan (Computerworld)

BravoSolution: More Applause Deserved (Part 1) (Spend Matters)
The one thing that did come out of VerticalNet.

TruePosition Awarded Patent that Enables Advanced Mobile Phone Triggering (Business Wire)

Software development company opens new facility
Infragistics CEO has lived in So. Brunswick for over 20 years
(North South Bunswick Sentinel)

Dataram chooses Issaquah for new testing, development center
(TechFlash: John Cook's Venture Blog)
Dataram is based in Princeton.

Judge reverses ruling on man's suit against Penn (Philadelphia Inquirer)





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Deloitte Philly Fast 50 is out

Deloitte Announces 2010 Greater Philadelphia Fast 50 Rankings
(PR Newswire)

Deloitte Philly Fast 50 (pdf)

Knowland Group became one of the fastest-growing companies by taking photos of signs (Washington Post)
On the #1 ranked company, which started out in DC but now claims Lewes, Delaware as its HQ location.


Daily Links 10/25/2010: Comcast's TV Everywhere service goes nationwide

Apple Enlists Unisys to Help With Corporate, Government Deals (Bloomberg)

Unisys’ license plate-scanning award boosts border security (Washington Technology)


Carlyle Bids to Take CommScope Private (New York Times: DealBook)


SAP TechEd 2010: Redeeming the NetWeaver Platform (Feeding the SAP Ecosystem)

SAP and Siemens Team Up on EVs (Greentech Media)

Charles Phillips Named CEO of Infor (PC World)
Latest move in the Enterprise Software game of musical chairs.

QlikTech uses IPO cash to expand globally (Information Age)



106 software jobs being created by US company in Newry (BBC)
Philadelphia-based Market Resource Partners.

Copps Talks Comcast/NBCU On Visit To Allbritton Facilities
Execs warn of merger's 'grave' implications on D.C. market competition
(Broadcasting & Cable)

TV wedding (Washington Post)
Editorial supports approval of Comcast/NBCU merger without net neutrality conditions.

Xfinity and beyond: Comcast's TV Everywhere service goes nationwide (CED Magazine)


TicketLeap: Agile Teamwork and Responsive Customer Service (Ben Franklin Technology Partners: Keynotes)

Entrepreneur's Corner: Evisors (Wharton Journal)




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Internet TV and The Death of Cable TV, really (TechCrunch)

UberCab Ordered to Cease And Desist (TechCrunch)
First Round Capital had just recently lead a $1.25 million investment in UberCab. Apparently, the
San Francisco Metro Transit Authority and the Public Utilities Commission of California have some
issues with the mobile cab-finding service.


Philly Tech People News 10/24/2010

Music Business Program Announces Chris Stanchak, Founder & CEO of Ticketleap, as Entrepreneur-in-Residence (NYU)

Electronic Ink Appoints Susan Denchak Director of Technology (Business Wire)

JT Ramsey is the new Chief Blogger at Comcast, responsible for overseeing Comcast Voices. He was previously Music Editor at Comcast.net.

Dataram Announces New International Leadership
Industry Veteran Colin Pittham Joins Dataram Corporation to Promote International Growth
(Business Wire)

Pennsylvania’s CIO Brenda Orth to Resign (Government Technology)

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. Announces Appointment of Julie Spicer England to Its Board of Directors (Business Wire)


SAP seeks gag order for upcoming Oracle trial (Computerworld)


Got an issue with Apple? Email Steve Jobs (It worked for one Philly-area exec)

There was an uproar in the Mac/Java developer community yesterday when a statement contained in Apple documentation appeared to indicate that Java on OS X would be deprecated (left outdated with no more updates.)

Scott Fraser, CTO and Co-Founder of healthcare information technology provider Portico Systems of Blue Bell,
went straight to the source, emailing Steve Jobs for an answer.

And he got a response.

"“Our software is Java based and runs both on the server and the desktop. We have been in business for over 12 years now and are a healthy growing company with about 180 employees”, Fraser wrote in his email, which he posted on his Flickr account.

The reply, in Jobs' name, said "Sun (now Oracle) supplies Java for all other platforms. They have their own release schedules, which are almost always different than ours, so the Java we ship is always a version behind. This may not be the best way to do it.”


MK Capital Invests $3 million in Crowdsourced Video Leader Poptent

MK Capital Invests in Crowdsourced Video Leader Poptent
Digital Media Executive Andy Jedynak Joins Company as CEO
(Business Wire)
Poptent raises $3M for new social network for crowdsourced video
(VentureBeat)
Although Wynnewood is given as Poptent's HQ on its website, it seems from what I'm reading that its headquarters may be moving to the LA area, although there is no official confirmation of that at this time.
Update: Mark Schoneveld of Poptent writes in to say: "Actually - we'll be staying here in Wynnewood. Our West Coast office is definitely expanding, but we're growing here, too".




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TruePosition receives $48 million payment in Patent Infringement suit

Wireless technology company TruePosition of Berwyn has received a $48 million payment from CommScope in settlement of TruePosition's patent infringement suit against CommScope's Andrews LLC subsidiary, according to a CommScope Form 8-K filing with the SEC.

CommScope paid up after a Federal Court of Appeals denied its appeal of the trial court's decision in the case and turned down a request for a rehearing. Andrews is still fighting TruePosition in another court case over disputed royalty obligations.

TruePosition provides wireless locator technologies using cell tower triangulation and other means. TruePosition is a subsidiary of Liberty Media. CommScope, based in Hickory NC, was spun off
from Horsham-based General Instrument (now part of Motorola) in 1997.


Paoli Startup Alphabuyer looks to take advantage of Pennsylvania Electricity Deregulation

A Paoli-based startup is building a platform for group buying programs, with an initial emphasis on energy utilities.

The company, Alphabuyer, was founded by three area entrepreneurs: Kevin Johnson, who previously founded Tax Matrix Technologies, LCC and Dryden Procurement, and former GSI Commerce execs Rick Carragher and John Raisch. According to its blog Alphabuyer is a "privately funded early stage start-up currently seeking Series B funding". The company currently is running an ad on Mashable for a "Dev Ops Guru/Systems Admin/Ops Engineer". It plans to start with a program for buying electricity, taking advantage of the deregulation occurring in that market in Pennsylvania.



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Daily Links 10/20/2010: Comcast says its close to releasing iPad App

Invite Media
Nat Turner and Zach Weinberg
University of Pennsylvania Wharton School
(Business Week: Business School Entrepreneurs)

He Wants to Shake Your Hand: First Round Capital’s Man in Manhattan (New York Observer)
On First Round Capital's Charlie O'Donnell.

SkillSlate grabs $1.1M to find local service providers (VentureBeat)
The pace of First Round Capital's investment activities seems to be increasing. This one has some similarities to another First Round portfolio company, TaskRabbit, in terms of the types of services provided, although the business model is different.

Plan to partially close an Upper Uwchlan Township road angers neighbors (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Would acommodate planned Bentley Systems HQ expansion.

CTAM Summit: Comcast, CableLabs Click On iPad Remotes
MSO Expects to Release iPad App 'Very, Very Soon'
(Multichannel News)

Verizon's FiOS Remote app expands to iPhone; tablets soon (Electronista)



Cablevision, Fox flap has Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo courting Comcast (The Trentonian)

FCC Responds to Cablevision-Fox Dispute by Tweeting Baseball Scores (Gawker: Valleywag)

Cablevision/Fox Spat Could Affect Comcast/NBCU Deal (The Wrap)

QlikTech Updates BI Product
(IT Jungle)

SAP: gearing up for the future now (ZDNet Blogs)

Keystone Mercy says computer drive of patients’ info missing (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Clearwire details results of initial LTE testing (FierceBroadbandWireless)

Fed Beige Book: Philadelphia, October 20, 2010 (Federal Reserve Board)





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Daily Links 10/19/2010: Urban Outfitters' social marketing strategy

SAP's In-memory Analytics Boxes Set for November Release (PC World)

SAP Brings Customers More Choices to Benefit From Virtualization and Cloud Infrastructures (PR Newswire)

Why An SAP Press Conference Actually Held My Attention (Read Write Cloud)

Unisys lights up Xeon-based mainframes (Channel Register)

Bentley Systems #BeInspired 2010 Event Opens with Congratulations to “Resilient” Users of Infrastructure Solutions (Directions Magazine: All Points Blog)


Comcast Has Answers for FCC
Responses concerned with distribution agreements, rates, proprietary info
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Comcast Campaign Giving Jumps by Half as U.S. Weighs NBC Deal
(Bloomberg)

Lockheed sees contract cuts, delays hurting 2011 (Reuters)

ESPN.com Launches New Shop Experience (GSI Commerce Press Release)
In collaboration with GSI Commerce.



Four Ways to Build Customers Into Your Brand (ClickZ)
Monetate board member Sam Decker on Urban Outfitters' social marketing strategy.

Unvarnished Has More Money and a New Name: Honestly (Gigaom)
First Round Capital's latest investment, San Francisco-based Honestly, has some doubters.


10 things: Handicapping Gartner's top technologies for 2011 (ZDNet Blogs)

Cadient Group Launches REVEALSM at 4th Annual Digital Pharma East on October 18-21, 2010 in Philadelphia (Business Wire)

Novartis Pharmaceuticals AG Selects Veeva CRM for Global Deployments (Business Wire)




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Daily Links 10/18/2010: European software company Quintiq establishes dual HQ in Philly Area

Clearwire Sets Big City 4G Launch Dates (Light Reading Mobile)

Quintiq Announces Dual Headquarters in North America and Europe
International B2B Technology Company Targets American and Canadian Growth in Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) and Supply Chain Planning (SCP)
(PR Newswire)

AT&T Recovery Exercise to Simulate Network Disaster in Philadelphia Region (PR Newswire)

My history of (mostly failed) side projects and startups (Gabriel Weinberg's Blog)

Still No Break in Cablevision/Fox Impasse
Dispute Enters Fourth Day
(Multichannel News)

What Was Fox’ Hulu Blackout Really All About? (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)
Another complication for the Comcast-NBCU approval process?

Comcast begins DNS security rollout
First in U.S. to protect customers against Kaminsky-style cache poisoning attacks
(Network World)


Companies Join to Offer Iris ID, Data Flow System (Government Video)
Sarnoff of Princeton, ePortation of Philadelphia.

Is EMC the Next Step in Oracle’s Journey to $100B? (Gigaom)

Software AG acquires MDM vendor (Network World)

Is the traditional BI market in decline? (IT-Director.com)


Latest First Round Capital Investments: FREEjit, UberCab

First Round Capital has joined lead investors Polaris Venture Partners and True Ventures and others in funding FREEjit, an Orange County, CA, stealth startup-so stealth, in fact, that it has no website and there is very little information out there about it yet. Freejit founder Sean Ellis announced First Round's investment in a tweet on Friday.

This blog post by Polaris Venture Partners' Dave Barrett provides some background on FREEjit. Barrett describes founder Ellis as being "widely-known as one of the thought leaders of the freemium model", and says that FREEjit "will address the exploding opportunity created by freemium and trial offers for consumers, prosumers, internet services, content providers and next-generation software companies alike".

It was also announced late last week that First Round had lead a $1.25 million round in UberCab, a San Francisco startup that provides an iPhone app that helps people locate cabs more quickly.

First Round Capital's portfolio now consists of about 90 companies, according to its website, although that number includes some of its exits. An SEC filing discovered last week indicates that it has just raised a new fund of at least $126.4 million. (Josh Kopelman told PE Hub that they are not commenting yet on the new fund, which probably means its still open.)




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News Corp. Tries Fox.com, Hulu As Pawn In Retrans Battle With Cablevision (paidContent)
Still no Fox on Cablevision, according to recent tweets. Which means many Phillies fans can't see game. I'm not taking sides, just saying it isn't right.


OnPath Technologies of Marlton raises $3.1 million

OnPath Technologies of Marlton has apparently raised $3.1 million in equity, according to an SEC filing picked up by the website Formds.com.

A 2007 spinoff from Brocade Communications, OnPath provides scalable connectivity and monitoring solutions for high-performance networks. OnPath has also recently announced several senior management changes.




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Daily Links 10/15/2010: First Round Capital raises new $126 million fund

Josh Kopelman’s First Round Capital Quickly Reloads with $126.4M (PE Hub)

NBC’s Soft Spots Will Be Comcast’s Problem Soon (Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal)

Comcast-NBCU merger review expected to go into 2011: analyst (Washington Post: Post Tech)


Cable Guys Buck Up for BNI Video (Light Reading Cable)

icueTV’s t-Commerce Application Selected as a Finalist for CTAM’s “Get Interactive Awards” (Business Wire)
Haven't heard much from Cherry Hill's icueTV in the past year.


Comverse unloads Ulticom to Platinum Equity for $90m
New-Jersey based company has long been on the shelf and is the first of Comverse's subsidiaries to be offloaded.
(Haaretz)
Ulticom’s shareholders cash out (Inorganic Growth)

Alphion Finds GPON Success in India (Light Reading Asia)
Alphion is based in Princeton Junction.

10 Lessons Learned from the HP-Oracle-SAP-NY Times Saga (CIO.com)

Herley Industries reports $3 million 4Q net loss (AP via Bloomberg Business Week)


Employees of Email Marketing Company Take Vow Not To Sleep
AWeber Communications Hosts 24-Hour Video Game Marathon to Benefit Local Children's Hospital
(PR Web)




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Daily Links 10/14/2010: Verizon stores to begin selling iPad later this month

Clearwire’s Spectrum Is The Best Thing It Has Going For It—So Why Sell? (mocoNews.net)

Verizon Stores, Not To Be Outdone, Will Sell The iPad On October 28 (TechCrunch)

Business Journal’s Philadelphia 100 honored (Philadelphia Business Journal)

FCC Votes to Change CableCARD Rules
Move meant to spur competition in cable digital set-tops
(Broadcasting & Cable)

Moody's Revises Cable Sector Outlook
Sluggish Economy, Increased Competition Weigh on Sector
(Multichannel News)

Comcast targets Lone Star State, causing big money to flow (Washington Examiner)


Microsoft Aims at Salesforce.com With CRM Offer (PC World)
Also to reveal new plans for linking its Dynamics ERP offering with SAP ERP.

SAP's Strategy For The CRM Battle (Forbes)
Interview with Jujhar Singh, SAP senior vice president of CRM Solution Management.

Mozilla Taps SAP Executive as New Chief (New York Times: Bits)

Oracle: Citi Sees BMC, CERN, MLNX As Potential Deal Targets (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

The next evolution of investor 'office hours' (Fortune: The Term Sheet)

Viridity Energy and the University of California San Diego Awarded $1.6 Million to Optimize Solar Deployment on UCSD Campus Microgrid (Business Wire)




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Daily Links 10/13/2010: Lockheed sells Valley Forge consulting unit EIG for $815 million

Lockheed Sells EIG Consulting Unit to Veritas Capital (Bloomberg)
EIG is based in Valley Forge.

Sony’s Google TV-Powered Devices Have Arrived (Mashable)

Clearwire Said to Seek Up to $5 Billion in Spectrum Auction (Bloomberg)

Philly's their game
City places and faces enliven a first-of-its kind app coming from a flourishing indie game community.
(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Joe Nocera Pleads Ignorance in Fiancée-Based Conflict of Interest (Gawker: Valleywag)


SAP Workflow use spreading beyond financials to compliance, utilities, HR (SearchSAP.com)

QlikTech : There is a Huge Untapped Opportunity in BI (Channel World)

Almac Successfully Moves its Clinical Technologies Business Unit Into New North American Headquarters (PR Newswire)

Salesforce.com and Veeva Systems Announce Expanded Alliance to Serve the Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industry (Business Wire)
Though based in California, Veeva has much of its sales and client services functions in Malvern.

NextGate and NextGen Healthcare Form Partnership to Deliver Health Information Exchange Solutions (Business Wire)

Drexel Engineers May Soon Replace E-Z Pass Box with Transparent Antenna (PR Newswire)


Context Capital Partners invests in hedge fund Betzwood Partners, LP

Context Capital Partners is a Bala Cynwyd-based private equity firm that invests in and provides operational and management support to other actively managed investment funds. It manages about $300 million, raised from both individuals and institutions. Founded in 2005, Context had previously invested in three sectors: distressed real estate, small banks, and RV parks. Despite the economic problems that have ocurred since then, the first two sectors have worked out rather well for them, according to Ron Biscardi, Context's managing partner, though the investments in RV parks haven't performed too well because of the effects of the credit crunch on that market.

Now Context is entering a new area; it announced last month it was investing in a hedge fund for the telecommunications, media and technology sectors. The fund, Bala Cynwyd-based Betzwood Partners, LP, was formed in 2009 by David Sung, who had previously run a similarly focused fund at Susquehanna International Group. The size of Context's investment was not disclosed. As a hedge fund, Betzwood is managed to be "market neutral" and to minimize risk by taking both long and short interests. One hypothetical example of what Betzwood might do would be to base an investment decision on a detailed comparative analysis of two stocks like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. It requires strong skills in fundamental financial analysis and a firm grasp in the underlying technologies and market forces that drives these companies.

Sung, who grew up in North Jersey, attended Villanova as an undergrad and also recieved an MBA from NYU's Stern School and is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst). Bascardi said Sung had excellent results at Susquehanna, and that Betzwood had also performed well since its founding.




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Daily Links 10/11/2010: Comcast officially unveils WiFi Hotspots for Xfinity users

Comcast Launches Xfinity WiFi in Areas of Greater Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware
Thousands of Hotspots in Parks, Train Stations and Shopping Districts Accessible to Xfinity Internet Customers for No Additional Cost
(Business Wire)
Comcast Cuts The Cable, Rolls Out 2,000 Xfinity Wi-Fi Hotspots (Gigaom)

Google TV Guns for Cable Deals (Light Reading Cable)

Microsoft, Comcast, Yahoo: no zombie cookies here, Congress! (Ars Technica)

Inside The M&A East Conference (The Bulletin)

HP Chairman Lane Smacks Back at NYT’s Nocera: The Poison Pen Letter! (All Things Digital: BoomTown)

SAP TechEd to Go Deep on Mobility, On-demand (PC World)

Travel advertisers use CAPTCHA for branded type-ins (Tnooz)

About.com Founder Scott Kurnit Launches Huge New Startup Called "AdKeeper" (Silicon Alley Insider)
First Round Capital's latest ad tech investment.


Epic, Cerner Dominated CIS In 2009 (Information Week)

Pepperjam Launches More Than 160 Affiliate Programs, Including BJ’s Wholesale Club
GSI Commerce performance marketing network continues to expand client portfolio
(Business Wire)

XTel Communications serves up wholesale Ethernet service suite
(FierceTelecom)




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A Double Standard at H.P. (New York Times)

Setting the Record Straight: Oracle, SAP, TomorrowNow, and the NYT
(Enterprise Matters)


Report: Mass Layoffs coming at Malvern's Siemens Healthcare

The blog HIStalk reports (apparently has copies of actual internal email announcements) that Malvern-based Siemens Healthcare will be laying off up to 475 people starting in a couple of months. Many of these jobs will be transitioned to India and Romania, including support for Siemens' mainstay Soarian Healthcare IT product. No word on how many Pennsylvania jobs will be affected.


BMC Jumps to Highest Since 2000 on Report of Potential Sale (Bloomberg)
SAP, Oracle reported to be possible suitors.

SunGard's Conde Sees `Tough Year', Will Continue Hiring: Video (Bloomberg via Washington Post)


Daily Links 10/8/2010: Comcast-NBC Deal May Face Possible U.S. Arbitration Demand

Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Out as New Owners Take Control (New York Times: Media Decoder)

Marimow out as Inquirer editor; deputy named interim boss (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Management told him he did not have the necessary background in digital media, the Inquirer reports.


Meet the New Boss: Philly Newspapers Sale Finally Completed (Editor & Publisher)

Diapers.com Takes on Amazon in Huggies Delivery-Time Smackdown (Bloomberg)
A company with several Wharton connections.

EarthLink: force Comcast into line-sharing as part of NBCU deal (Ars Technica)

Comcast's NBC Deal Said to Face Possible U.S. Arbitration Demand (Bloomberg)

Hulu Preparing for $2 Billion IPO Next Year [REPORT] (Mashable)

MGM seeks lenders' OK for pre-packaged bankruptcy (Reuters)
Comcast owns about a 20% equity stake in MGM which would be wiped out in the proposed reorganization.

'30 Rock' Season 5, Episode 3 Recap (VIDEO) (TV Squad)

Integromics Hires New CEO, Eyes Next-Generation Sequence Analysis Market (GenomeWeb)

DESIGN PHILADELPHIA: Party like it’s 2010 (Philadelphia City Paper)




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Daily Links 10/7/2010: Halfpenny Technologies Secures $2.6 Million in Capital Investment

Halfpenny Technologies Secures $2.6 Million in Capital Investment (Business Wire)

Comcast Says Interactive Ads Available in 10M Homes
More than 160 advertisers have used request for IT
(Broadcasting & Cable)

From Running A Deli To Head Of SAP
A conversation with Bill McDermott, co-chief executive of the software giant.
(Forbes)

SAP and Sybase create mobile business unit (ComputerWeekly.com)

Verizon's McAdam talks 4G (Q&A) (CNET News)

Clearwire Off; S&P Threatens Downgrade; Sees Liquidity Risks (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Cisco’s Quest For A Piece Of The Future-Of-TV Pie (paidContent)
Reports last week had suggested that Comcast might be an early go-to-market partner along with Verizon's FiOS, but I don't see any mention of Comcast right now.

Web Site to Offer Health Advice, Some of It From Marketers (New York Times)
Interesting test of Direct-to-Consumer Pharma marketing via the Web.

Kulicke & Soffa: Dec. Qtr Revs To Be Well Short Of Sept. Qtr (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

BioClinica Signs Enterprise Agreement for Electronic Data Capture (Applied Clinical Trials)
BioClinica is based in Newtown PA.

SunGard Acquires Mindwell (PR Newswire)




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Daily Links 10/6/2010: Verizon To Launch 4G LTE Service in Philadelphia Metro Area by Year End

Beyond.com Acquires Orbius (Business Wire)
Two Philly-area companies get together.

Verizon Launching LTE in 38 Cities (PC Magazine)

Verizon To Launch 4G LTE Service in Philadelphia Metro Area by Year End
Philadelphia International Airport to be Covered at Launch
(PR Newswire)


WSJ: Verizon iPhone will arrive early 2011, new iPhone in the works
(VentureBeat)

Wilmington Trust Said to Seek Capital Infusion From Private-Equity Firms (Bloomberg)

Tennis Channel advances in its discrimination case against Comcast (LA Times: Company Town)

FiOS Stealth Ads Slam Cable As Slow, Balky
Spots Take Aim at Comcast, TWC and Bright House in Four Markets
(Multichannel News)

Global CIO: SAP's Sweeping Turnaround: Exclusive Co-CEO Interview
(Information Week)

Retailers join forces to challenge Amazon on shipping (Internet Retailer)
ShopRunner program is operated by GSI Commerce.
What ShopRunner needs to learn from Amazon (Fortune)

iPipeline Announces Vertical CRM Solution for Insurance (Business Wire)

Hara’s newest software looks to supply chains for energy savings (VentureBeat)
The City of Philadelphia is one of its customer.




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Daily Links 10/5/2010: NBC Universal invests in Invidi

NBC Universal Invests in Addressable-Ad Concern Invidi (Ad Age)
This will give Comcast a stake in Invidi once the Comcast/NBCU deal is done (Comcast had already run tests with Invidi in Baltimore).
Invidi has its engineering offices in Princeton.

Comcast-NBC Universal merger review hits FCC speed bump (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Comcast Homes In on Security Services (Light Reading Cable)

Why it's often sunny in Philadelphia (The Deal)
I think its a pretty accurate article.

Health Benefits Direct Announces Agreement to Raise $5.4 Million in Private Placement (Business Wire)

Verizon To Unveil LTE Plans Wednesday (Broadband Reports)

SAP's McDermott Says Apotheker Can `Really Help' HP: Video (Bloomberg)

Rant: Thoughts of SAHP are insane (ZDNet Blogs)


SAP launches Business ByDesign for iPhone
Future apps planned for Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 platforms
(V3.co.uk)

Software Leader SAP Launches Global Brand Campaign with a Call to Action for Business: 'Run Better' (PR Newswire)


Microsoft Helps Appnexus Raise $50 Million Third Round (paidContent)
First Round Capital participates again.

Schneider exit clouds Newspaper Consortium (REFLECTIONS OF A NEWSOSAUR)
Philly.com was a major backer of the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium, under former Philly.com President Eric Grilly (now with Comcast).

GSI Commerce to open new Louisville facility (Business First of Louisville)

Cloud Computing Company Offers Document Exchange and Collaboration Between Amazon S3, Google and Microsoft SharePoint (PR Newswire)




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Philly Tech People News 10/3/2010

Adam Miller Joins Comcast Corporation (Business Wire)
A somewhat mysterious announcement. More of an explanation here:
Deal P.R. Adviser Joins Comcast (New York Times: DealBook)

Rodale Inc. Promotes Mary Murcko to EVP, Group Publisher (Business Wire)

Integromics Appoints Dr. Michael J. McManus as President & CEO (PharmaLive)

Project Management Institute Names Executive Vice President and COO Mark A. Langley as New President and CEO
(PR Newswire)

Oxford Communications adds Bob Quintana as director of interactive services (Philly Ad Club News)


Larry Ellison ‘Speechless’ Over New CEO of H-P (Wall Street Journal: Digits)


Eniac Ventures formed to seed Mobile Apps

The name Eniac should ring a bell for most Philadelphians, since that was the name of the first true computer that was developed at Penn's engineering school. Now four former classmates at the
school have joined together to form a small seed fund named, aptly enough, Eniac Ventures, that will focus completely on mobile applications. It was founded by Hadley Harris, Nihal Mehta, Vic Singh and Tim Young, and has raised $1.6 million, according to TechCrunch. Mehta is a serial entrepreneur who was an angel investor in AdMob, which sold last year to Google for $750 million. They expect the typical investment size to be in the $25,000 to $100,000 range.

The one Philly-area startup the fund is already invested in is NearVerse. Others in their portfolio are Localytics (in which area entrepreneur/angel Gabriel Weinberg also invested), MightyMeeting , and Philo.

Note: On its Twitter account, Eniac gives its location as "NYC/Cambridge".