Daily Links 3/31/2011: New Hope's myYearbook buys a bunch of Android Apps

MyYearbook Buys Five Android Apps in Mobile Gaming Push (All Things Digital: NetworkEffect)

Will Google Pick Additional Fiber Cities?
New Hints That Kansas City is Just the Start (Broadband Reports)

Comcast In TidalTV's $30 Million Round
NEA Leads Funding Into Baltimore-based Video Ad Startup (Multichannel News)

Theater Owners Fuming Over Studios' VOD Plan (Hollywood Reporter)

Time Warner Cable blinks first in fight with programmers over iPad app (LA Times: Company Town)

Quintiq Posts Record-Breaking Revenues in 2010, Projects 40% Growth in 2011 (PR Newswire)
Quintiq has dual headquarters in the Netherlands and Radnor.

SAP: We will become largest supplier to banks by 2015 (Computerworld UK)

Enterprise M&A In Pictures, Courtesy Of 451 Group (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)


Organic LED firm raises $250M in offering
Universal Display Corporation boosts its balance sheet as it completes a public offering of 5.75 million shares. (Optics.org)
Universal Display is based in Ewing, NJ.


Ben Franklin and the art of business development
(Fortune)

Virtual Aliens, Squid and Rainbow Coming to Philadelphia as Augmented Reality Exhibit Opens in April (Business Wire)



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Looking back at Josh Kopelman's Midas Capital

It is interesting to take a look back at Midas Capital, which was the personal investment fund of First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman. Although no longer actively investing, it had quite a portfolio, which you can see here.

Through Midas, Kopelman was a fairly early investor in LinkedIn, which filed in January for an IPO that could value the company in the $2 billion range, according to some observers. Kopelman also was an early investor in Boomi, the Berwyn-based Cloud services company that Dell acquired late last year. Kopelman had apparently become familiar with Boomi as a customer while he was running Half.com.

Also, there was TurnTide, the anti-spamming software company that was spun off from ePrivacy Group in 2004 and sold to Symantec six months after its creation for $28 million. Other Midas investments included InstaMed Communications, the successful Philadelphia-based health payments network; Delicious, the social bookmarking service sold to Yahoo in 2005 for somewhere in the $15 to 30 million range; Five Below, the off-price retail chain for kids currently backed by Philly-based LLR Partners; and another anti-spam business, IronPort, which was acquired by Cisco Systems for $830 million in 2007.

Not too bad.

Daily Links 3/30/2011: EBay, GSI Commerce Sued by Septa over deal

Salesforce Buys Social Media Monitoring Company Radian6 For $326 Million (TechCrunch)

Ultra high-speed broadband is coming to Kansas City, Kansas (Official Google Blog)

Thoughts on being hermitically sealed inside the SAP Mothership (ZDNet Blogs)

HP's Apotheker makes pitch to partner with other companies (San Jose Mercury News)
Rules out buying SAP, saying he "would much rather have a strong partnership with them".

Valeant seeks to buy Cephalon for $5.7 billion (Reuters)

TWC's Witmer: We Didn't Anticipate iPad App Backlash
Operator Has Received at Least One Cease-and-Desist Letter from a Programmer (Multichannel News)
Apparently, it was Fox that sent the Cease-and Desist.

EBay’s Lowest-Value Takeover Target Generates Losses: Real M&A (Bloomberg Business Week)

EBay, GSI Commerce Sued by Septa Over $2.4 Billion Buyout (Bloomberg)

Who will buy ING Direct USA? (Delaware Online: Delaware Inc)

Clearwire Finally Unveils Best Buy Service Plan (Light Reading Mobile)



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Josh Kopelman, GSI Commerce and eBay

Just wondering what role Josh Kopelman played in the eBay/GSI Commerce deal.

The timing is interesting, since Kopelman, Managing Partner of Conshohocken-based VC firm First Round Capital, joined GSI Commerce's board in early February, less than two months before the deal was announced yesterday.

Kopelman, of course, goes back a long way with eBay. He sold his Half.com internet retailing startup to eBay in a deal valued at slightly over $300 million in 2000, staying on with eBay for awhile before leaving to return to entrepreneurial pursuits.

After he started First Round Capital, it was an early backer of StumbleUpon, which was acquired for some reason (nobody ever understood the fit) by eBay in 2007 for $75 million. It did not fare well under eBay, and was sold back to the founders and other investors in 2009 at a much lower price. StumbleUpon has since experience a resurgence, and First Round has recently invested again in it.

No way of knowing at this time what role Kopelman may have played either as an advisor or facilitator in eBay's acquisition of GSI Commerce, but he certainly knows the territory and the art of the deal.









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Daily Links 3/29/2011: Comcast, NBCU Preparing Consolidated Media Review

EBay’s $2.4B GSI Buy May Be Another Win For Rue La La Investors (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)

GSI: Needham Says Higher Bid Still Possible (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Comcast, NBCU Preparing Consolidated Media Review
Winner Could Emerge With Accounts Worth $1.2 Billion in Spending (Ad Age)

Journal Register Taps Jim Brady For ‘Digital Transformation’ (paidContent)

Philadelphia Media Network Joins Three Media Companies in Introducing Savings Spree! Extended Reach Program (PR Newswire)

Qlik Technologies: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (Motley Fool)

Microsoft forges ahead in healthcare, while Google said to pull back (ZDNet Blogs)

Will Oracle Make A Bid For Lawson? (Forbes: The Tech Trade)

NBCU International Loses Top Exec in Comcast Reshuffling (The Wrap)

I Want My iPad TV: The Slogan For A New Generation (Gigaom)

iMANY Expands West Coast Presence to Meet Growing Customer Demand
New Facility Reflects Commitment to Research & Development and Customer Satisfaction (Marketwire)

Razorfish Health moves to new headquarters in Wanamaker Building (Philly Ad Club News)



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eBay to acquire King of Prussia's GSI Commerce for $2.4 billion

eBay just announced it was acquiring King of Prussia ecommerce vendor GSI Commerce for $2.4 billion. The per share price, at $29.25, reflects a 51% premium over Friday's closing price.

Founded by a young Michael Rubin in 1995 as Global Sports Incorporated, GSI Commerce provides ecommerce and fulfillment services for many leading brands, particularly in sporting goods and
apparel. Although it had achieved strong growth, some have questioned the profitability of its business model.

In the press release, eBay says that as part of the transaction, it will divest 100 percent of GSI’s licensed sports merchandise business and 70 percent of ShopRunner and Rue La La, and that "these assets will be sold to a newly formed holding company, which will be led by GSI founder and CEO Michael Rubin".

This company history timeline is from GSI Commerce's website.

Why eBay Wants to Buy GSI Commerce (Gigaom)

eBay’s New Deal: What Is GSI Commerce? (Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal)

Ebay-GSIC Deal: How the Analysts Fared (Wall Street Journal: MarketBeat)

New Company Will Emerge in Wake of eBay’s Acquisition of GSI Commerce (All Things Digital: eMoney)

TV Everywhere Starts Getting Somewhere (Light Reading Cable)

A Geographic Gap Analysis Uncovers New Markets for Nonprofits (Directions Magazine)
Analysis done for the Wilma Theater with the help of Philly's Azavea.

SunGard Acquires ValueLink Information Services (SunGard Press Release)

SunGard Higher Education Releases Talent Management Suite (SunGard Press Release)

SAP Sales OnDemand – Addressing the Lingering Questions (Feeding the SAP Ecosystem)

Make Tracks for Liberty Interactive (Barron's)
Liberty Interactive's principle entity is QVC.

API Technologies to Acquire Spectrum Control (PR Newswire)
Spectrum Control has a significant portion of its operations in the Philadelphia area.

InterDigital Announces Proposed Private Offering of $150 Million of Senior Convertible Notes (Business Wire)

Three particularly interesting events this week

Three particularly interesting events this week:

Tomorrow (Monday) night, Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic's Mobile Health Forum will be held at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from 5 to 8:30 pm. The event will have speakers and panels focusing on the hot field of mobile healthcare applications.

On Thursday night (the 31st), Philly Startup Leader's third annual Entrpreneur Expo, featuring some of the area's most interesting young startups, will be held at the University of the Arts' Hamilton Hall from 6 until 9 pm.

And lastly, next weekend the 36th annual Trenton Computer Festival will take place on April 2 and 3 at the The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ.

For a more complete schedule of tech events in the Philly area, see the Philly Tech Events Calendar.

MSNBC aims for the gap
Matthews and gang forge on under Comcast. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

GetGlue to boost live TV with Facebook check-ins (Reuters)

Industrifonden banks 40 times return on Qliktech exit (AltAssets)

@jxpaton's Twitter lecture to newspapers (BuzzMachine)
@jxpaton is Journal Register (Yardley PA) CEO John Paxton.

Philly Tech People News 3/27/2011

QlikTech Promotes Les Bonney to Chief Operating Officer (Business Wire)

NCO Group Appoints Ron Rittenmeyer as President and CEO (PR Newswire)

Harris Named Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia)

Pulse Electronics Names John Dickson as Chief Information Officer
(Business Wire)

Rosetta Promotes Hartley to Managing Partner (PR Newswire)

Philadelphia advertising veteran Teitelman joins D4 (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Backe Digital Brand Marketing hires Christina Mullen as VP/Creative Director (Philly Ad Club News)

Ardmore Banking Advisors Appoints New Senior Client Support Consultant (PR Newswire)

Daily Links 3/25/2011: Zurich Inks Contract with Radnor-based SaaS Vendor Unirisx

Starz to delay new series on Netflix streaming, movies may follow (LA Times: Company Town)

Time Warner Cable Moves Ahead With Its Controversial iPad App (Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast's Xfinity TV app for iOS updated with more streaming and customization (Engadget)

Zurich Inks Contract with Unirisx
(Insurance & Technology)
Unirisx, based in Radnor, provides a SaaS-based policy administration platform for the Insurance industry, and the deal with Zurich is considered a major win for them. I had missed the news that former Harleysville Group CIO Akhil Tripathi, considered a top industry expert, became CEO of Unirisx late last year.

SunGard Opens Cloud Services To Channel (CRN)


Oracle Delivers on Earnings and on Its Promise to Profitably Acquire Sun (All Things Digital: NewEnterprise)

SAP: Time To Buy? (Forbes: The Tech Trade)


Was Google’s Fiber Plan Just Saber Rattling? (Gigaom)

Motorola Mobility Revival Means Weighing Google Alternatives (Bloomberg Business Week)


Astea zooms to four-year high on Q4 results (Reuters)



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Daily Links 3/24/2011: Comcast Urged Employees To Vote For Charter In 'Worst Company' Poll

Comcast Urged Employees To Vote For Charter In 'Worst Company' Poll
Biggest U.S. Cable Operator Said It Was Responding to Consumerist's Invitation to Participate
(Multichannel News)
I held off on this story until I knew it was a Corporate-sponsored effort rather than some prank by a local office.
However, I don't really hold the Consumerist in high regard as an unbiased observer of Comcast, and don't see anything wrong with what Comcast did although it will likely cause a negative PR backlash that will play to the Consumerist's advantage.

Time Warner Cable Is Said in Talks to Use Falcone's LightSquared Network (Bloomberg)

Clearwire Chairman wary of raising more debt (Reuters)

Oracle to give early view of software demand (Reuters)

Oracle FYQ3 Beats; Ups Dividend 20% (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)
Oracle tops profit views, sales rise 37% (MarketWatch)

Announcing the 2011 OnDemand 100 Top Private Companies (AlwaysOn)
Includes Philly-area companies Aria Systems, Fiberlink, iPipeline, and Portico Systems.

Business Incubator Series: Interview With Kerry Rupp, Managing Partner, DreamIT Ventures — Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (Part 1) (Sramana Mitra)

Energy efficiency is SAP’s strongest 2010 sustainability success story (SmartPlanet)

Business Intelligence Goes Mainstream At info360
(Information Week)

Fishing with the press of a button (phillyBurbs.com)



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Daily Links 3/23/2011: SAP Takes on IBM, Oracle With New GRC Suite

Showtime To Show Less On Netflix [UPDATED] (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

Motorola’s Roadmap: Enterprise, Converged Media, Modular Phones (Forbes: Mobilized)
Motorola's latest acquisition: Swedish Internet protocol TV (IPTV) software provider Dreampark (Motorola press release).

CTIA-LightSquared CEO announces Best Buy deal (Reuters)

Waz Retires As Comcast SVP, External Affairs, Public Policy Counsel
Plans To Become Consultant, Starting With MSO As Client (Multichannel News)

Advanced TV advertising stall points and solutions (Fierce Cable)

SAP Takes on IBM, Oracle With New GRC Suite (PC World)

Interview:
QlikTech CEO Lars Bjork (Video: Fox Business)

Jean Bartik, last of the original ENIAC programmers, 86 (Computerworld Blogs)

i/o Data Centers Readies Massive NJ Modular Site (Data Center Knowledge)



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Daily Links 3/22/2011: Verizon Wireless CEO says no interest in Sprint

Cable Could Lose Wireless Bargaining Chip (Light Reading Cable)

Verizon Wireless CEO says no interest in Sprint deal (Reuters via Yahoo News)

Sprint 'Concerned' About AT&T-T-Mobile Deal, Verizon Will 'Be Watching' (PC Magazine)

Sprint Plans Appeal to Congress to Halt AT&T-T-Mobile Deal (Bloomberg)

Mother and Child Reunion … Or Not (Knowledge@Wharton)

appMobi Releases Mobile Web Services Creating Most Comprehensive Mobile App Ecosystem Available (PR Newswire)

NJ Senate puts telecommunications bill on hold (Asbury Park Press)

thePlatform Squelches Buyout Rumor (Light Reading Cable)

NBCU Refines Integrated Media Division With Promotions (paidContent)

Open Angel Forum Philadelphia's First Six Startups (Tedesco's Two Cents)

Cadient Group Expands and Diversifies Client Portfolio (Business Wire)

Half of SAP users 'dissatisfied' with system performance
Is it the software or the infrastructure to blame? (Computerworld UK)

5 Ways Retailers Are Winning Big With Facebook Commerce (Mashable)
One of the examples given is Philly startup Kembrel.



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AT&T + T-Mobile: What the Web Is Saying (Gigaom)

Who's Going To Buy Sprint Now? Verizon? Comcast? Google? (Silicon Alley Insider)
The Wall Street Journal cites a source as saying Comcast is not interested (subscription required).

AT&T Cash, Breakup Fee Were Said to Clinch T-Mobile USA Over Sprint Nextel (Bloomberg)

AT&T’s President on Why T-Mobile Deal Should Pass Muster and Won’t be a Customer Nightmare (All Things Digital: Mobilized)

Oracle seen posting profit, sales gains (MarketWatch)

Liberty Global to Buy German Cable Operator for $4.5 Billion (New York Times: DealBook)

Bel Fuse Sends Letter to Pulse Electronics Regarding Business Combination Proposal and Election Contest to Replace Pulse Electronics' Directors (Business Wire)

Deregulation likely to cause issues down the line (Newark Star-Ledger Editorial Page)

In The Race For More Spectrum, AT&T Is Acquiring T-Mobile For $39 Billion (TechCrunch)

Why AT&T Bought T-Mobile (Mashable)

AT&T Agrees To Buy T-Mobile For $39 Billion In Cash And Stock (Forbes: The Tech Trade)

U. of Pennsylvania Students Build Course-Management Software (The Chronicle of Higher Education: Wired Campus)

IBM's Watson and SAP Hana: A Worthy Combination? (Read Write Web)

Inside SAP’s BI Strategy with David Weisbeck (ASUG News)

Time Warner Cable, Comcast may nix Mets' SNY sale: report (Reuters)

Some Stock Jocks Still Really, Really Want FiOS To Fail
Sanford Bernstein: Building New Networks 'A Losing Proposition' (Broadband Reports)
I've never seen anyone publically present numbers that would give a good sense of what FiOS' actual or potential IRR to Verizon might be. Its really not a straightforward issue, since the numbers can be viewed from different perspectives, and it probably engenders considerable debate both within the company and externally. Also, the Telcos have traditionally relied on strict historical P&L accounting while the cable industry focused more on cash flow, another factor that
might have an impact upon how you look at things.


Broadband Caps: Maybe It’s Not Just About TV (Gigaom)

Comcast DOCSIS 2.0 Markets To See Upgrades
As Comcast Pushes 3.0 Past 85% Of Their Footprint (Broadband Reports)

Comcast Business Services Launches Indirect Channel Sales Program - Signs with Telarus, Inc. (PR Web)

Blackstone's Sale of Florida Theme Parks Stake May Cost NBC $1.6 Billion (Bloomberg)

Is Verizon's Bet on FiOS Paying Off?
Verizon says the high-speed fiber network is profitable, but questions are springing up, and proposed price increases could be a turnoff (Bloomberg Business Week)

PetsMD to be bought (Austin Business Journal)
Texas startup being acquired by Plymouth Meeting-based Pet360, which recently sued PetsMD for
trademark infringement.

Dell's Acquisitions Part of Larger Enterprise Play (ServerWatch)

Co-Presidents to Head Up USA Channel (New York Times)
A Comcast/NBCU property.

BioNanomatrix Secures $23.3 Million in Series B Financing (Business Wire)
Philly-based genome analysis pioneer will also open a West Coast office.

PhillyDeals: Dell's merger with Boomi results in a win-win for area workers (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

Philly Fed Index Has Best Reading Since 1984 (Wall Street Journal: Real Time Economics)

SAP plans cloud version of HANA
The company will however offer the software only from its own cloud (Network World)

SAP Adds OpenSocial API To StreamWork (Information Week)

Q&A: Info overload drives demand for ERP, analytics, SAP's Courteau says (Computerworld)

U-verse Expands But Can't Outgrow Its Critics (Light Reading)

Harnessing the power of the group (Daily Local News)
On startup Alphabuyer of Tredyffrin.

Verizon, SAP Team Up on Cloud Enterprise Application Delivery (PR Newswire)

Oracle: Exadata Exploding, Says Piper (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Digitas Health Cuts Staff Across U.S. Offices (mediabistro.com: AgencySpy)
Reported 40 cuts, mostly in Philly & NY.

Plaxo throws in the social networking towel, refocuses on address books (VentureBeat)
Comcast unit does another pivot.

IT companies expand in county (Daily Local News)

Netflix's Streaming Costs Are Dropping Rapidly (Silicon Alley Insider)

Netflix: Hollywood’s Worst Nightmare (Wall Street Journal: Deal Journal)

Time Warner Cable Pulls 17 Channels From iPad App, Citing High Demand
Operator Says They'll Be Returned as Soon as a Fix Is in Place (Multichannel News)
Update: Time Warner Cable has restored all channels, but question remain about some programmers' willingness to continue cooperating.

Universal Display Corporation Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Financial Results (Business Wire)
The maker of OLED technologies, based in Ewing, NJ (outside of Trenton), has been a high-performing stock over the past year although its revenue base is still fairly small.

AppLabs Opens New Chicago Office (PR Newswire)

FERC Ruling Clears The Way For Demand Response In Wholesale Markets (Renew Grid)
Could benefit Conshohocken-based Viridity Energy.

Daily Links 3/15/2011: Ex-FCC chief Powell to head top cable trade group

Will HP buy or merge? (ZDNet Blogs)

SAP: the road to redemption (ZDNet Blogs)

Ex-FCC chief Powell to head top cable trade group (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Netflix's Brick Wall (The Wrap)

Liberty Media CEO Discusses Earthquake's Effect on QVC Japan (Hollywood Reporter)

Time Warner Brings Live Cable TV to iPad (Zatz Not Funny!)

Blackstone Offers to Sell Florida Theme Park (including ‘Revenge of The Mummy’ Ride) to NBC (PE Hub)

PhillyInc: Video-phone firm WorldGate facing big cash crunch (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Cuts workforce by 65%.

Lockheed's GPS III Team completes Key Flight Software Milestone (Inside GNSS)

Downtown-based Compliance Assurance secures $1.25M in financing (Pittsburgh Business Times)
Philly-area firms among investors.

GSI Commerce Closes Acquisition of Fanatics, Inc. (Business Wire)
Also closes on new credit line, sets share repurchase plan.


Gift from Peter Detkin to Launch Intellectual Property and Technology Legal Clinic at Penn Law (Penn Almanac)

Campbell Soup exec wins Temple business school IT award (Philadelphia Business Journal)



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Daily Links 3/14/2011: Franken: "The real end for Comcast is to put Netflix out of business entirely"

HP’s New CEO Has a Big Day Planned, and a Bigger Job Ahead (All Things Digital: NewEnterprise)

Leo Apotheker lays out his strategy for first time as HP CEO (VentureBeat)

Executive hopes to stop losses.
Putting focus on Comcast customers (Philadelphia Inquirer)

AT&T to introduce data caps on DSL (CNET News)

AT&T’s New Bandwidth Cap Is Bad News for Netflix (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

Al Franken: ‘They're coming after the Internet’ (Politico)
Franken: "The real end for Comcast is to put Netflix out of business entirely".


Green LEEDs to platinum: SAP America earns distinction for utilizing environmental sources for newest building (Delco Times)

Infor's Offer for Lawson Could Spark Bidding War (PC World)

WorldGate denied loan, running out of cash (phillyBurbs.com)
Is WorldGate on the last of its nine lives? Just not sure where its product stands in today's world of smartphones and tablets. But it is a company with a fascinating history.

USA Technologies To Raise $10.7 Million In Common Stock Private Placement (Business Wire)

Report: Proposed bill to deregulate telephone service would raise prices, hurt consumers (NJ.com)

Q&A: Rob Walters, SunGard Availability Services (Web Hosting Industry News)



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Exclusive: AT&T To Impose Caps, Overages
Notices To Go Out This Week, Capping Begins May 2 (Broadband Reports)

Philly Tech People News 3/13/2011

Cable’s top lobbyist, McSlarrow, to lead Comcast Washington office (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Comcast promotes top two lobbyists (The Hill)

Janney Names Christopher White Head of Investment Banking (Business Wire)

Prominent Equity Analyst and Investment Banker Leland Westerfield Joins appMobi as CFO (Business Wire)

Chris Sklarin joins Edison Ventures (New Jersey Technology Council)

Kari Branjord, Former Executive Director for SIS at the University of Colorado, Joins SunGard Higher Education (Press Release)

MTI Names Tvenstrup Senior VP, Business Analytics (Business Wire)

Comcast SportsNet promotes several news and programming executives (Philly Ad Club News)

John (JB) Braun joins Today Media Inc. as Publisher, Main Line Today Magazine (Philly Ad Club News)

Infor Makes Unsolicited $1.84B Bid for ERP Vendor Lawson (PC World)
Will any other bidders emerge?

Rebooting their systems
Two computer giants prepare for a world no longer dominated by the PC (The Economist)
Dell and HP.

It Came From Their Lab. But How to Take It to the Bank? (New York Times)
On the new, $100 million Philly-based Osage University Partners.

Executive Shake-Up at Clearwire Prompts More Questions (Gigaom)

Hulu's owners weigh board shuffle (LA Times: Company Town)

Packing Up Old Digital Habits (MediaPost Blogs)
Philly-based Razorfish Health moving to new offices.

Dell to hire 30 more for Berwyn 'cloud' site (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


Bethlehem announces Pi: Partnership for Innovation, a new technology center, on the city's Southside (Easton Express-Times)

SAP, IBM Team up on In-memory Analytics (PC World)

Is There a Real Market for ‘Enterprise PaaS?’ (Gigaom)

Delaware loses 224K on Maverick deal (Delaware Online: Delaware Inc)

Pulse Electronics rejects Bel Fuse bid, consolidating headquarters in San Diego; Company (as Technitrol) played important role in early Philadelphia computer history

Trevose-base Pulse Electronics announced today that its board had rejected Bel Fuse's $6 per share ($246 million) takeover bid.

Another item mentioned in its most recent earnings report and reiterated in today's statement was that Pulse had announced the "consolidation of our corporate headquarters near Philadelphia into our U.S. operating headquarters in San Diego".

Not sure when this is going to happen, but it sounds as if the Philly area is losing another corporate headquarters. Which is probably not that big a deal at this point, since it seems likely that Pulse (formerly Technitrol), in its shrunken state, is going to be acquired by somebody sooner or later.

However, Technitrol played an important role in the development of the computer industry in Philadelphia. The company was founded in 1947 by four Penn Engineering graduates who had participated in the development of the ENIAC. Technitrol held the first patent for a magnetic drive (see company history) .

Pulse made an unsuccessful bid to acquire Bel Fuse in 2007, but it was the larger player then in terms of market value.



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Daily Links 3/10/2011: SCVNGR launches Groupon competitor in Boston and Philly

SCVNGR Launches LevelUp to Compete With Groupon (Gigaom)
Pilot program begins today in Philadelphia and Boston.

Is Lawson Software in the hunt for a buyer? (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
SAP mentioned among a list of possible acquirers.

SAP CFO: Big Software Deals Are Back (MarketWatch)

SAP's HANA roadmap: does it convince? (ZDNet Blogs)

Steve Ballmer Helps Open Philadelphia Microsoft Technology Center (Official Microsoft Blog)

StumbleUpon Double-Dippers Reap Major Rewards (Mashable)
Early backer First Round Capital, which saw it exit to eBay, reinvests in once-again independent company.

DreamIt Adds VCs (as advisors) to its NY Accelerator (New York Observer)

Clearwire CEO Steps Down For Personal Reasons; CIO Out (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Xfinity TV app enticing but limited (Boston Globe)

House panel votes to invalidate net neutrality rules (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Daily Links 3/9/2011: ING preparing to sell Wilmington-based ING Direct USA

SAP ups its in-memory computing ante (Computerworld)

Apotheker Seeks to Save HP's `Lost Soul' With Expansion in Cloud Software (Bloomberg)


ING preparing to sell Wilmington-based ING Direct USA (Reuters)
Price could be as high as $10 billion, according to some reports.

Fresh off budget, Corbett tours Microsoft Technology Center (Philadelphia Business Journal)
Along with Steve Ballmer.

IBM Names Smarter Cities Winners (Information Week)
Philadelphia one of the initial 24.


Comcast Sees Bucks In Premium Tech Support
MSO's Xfinity Signature Support Service Priced From $4.95 to $19.95 per Month (Multichannel News)

Comcast, Zoom Settle Dispute Over Modem Certification
Manufacturer Had Complained MSO's Testing Requirements Were Unreasonable (Multichannel News)

Comcast Corp. hires cable industry lobbyist to oversee D.C. efforts (LA Times: Company Town)

SAP sees BI on tablets gaining ground with mobile workers
Software maker has 3,500 iPads in the field connected to business intelligence software (Computerworld)

Sprint CEO Hesse: 4G strategy shortly, Clearwire is included (ZDNet Blogs)

Baltimore becoming a "Startup City" (Baltimore Sun: BaltTech)
Starting a DreamIt Ventures-like incubator program this summer.

Philly Pro Launches Smaller Shop To Avoid Registration (PE Hub)



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Daily Links 3/8/2011: Deutsche Telekom, Sprint said to be discussing T-Mobile USA Deal

Deutsche Telekom, Sprint Said to Discuss T-Mobile USA Deal
(Bloomberg)

YouTube, Netflix, Hulu: Meet Facebook (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

Facebook Could ‘Become a Credible Threat to Netflix,’ Says Goldman Sachs (Hollywood Reporter)

Netflix spooks Hollywood more than ever (CNET News)

Britt: Video Losses Unacceptable
TWC chairman says MSO looking at video subscribers with "renewed intensity" (Broadcasting & Cable)

Comcast Courts the Cloud (Light Reading Cable)

Republicans pan FCC reasons for net neutrality rules (Washington Post: Post Tech)


Smarter Agent acquires Toor.me (Smarter Agent Blog)
Camden-based mobile real estate network acquires Seattle company that uses QR codes on properties.

Urban Outfitters’ Weak Quarter: A Hiccup or A “Yikes” (Barron's Blogs)
First disappointing news from Urban Outfitters in a long time. But the fashion business is like that.

Anexinet Named to Inaugural CRN Tech Elite 250 (Business Wire)

SAS Pushes BI to Apple's IPad, IPhones (PC World)

To BI or Not to BI – That is The Question for SAS (Information Management)

Seven Questions About CRM Software with Microsoft’s Mike Ehrenberg (All Things Digital: NewEnterprise)

The cable-TV installation will be easy. Want to buy some property under the Brooklyn Bridge? (Washington Post)
One writer's experience with Comcast.



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Daily Links 3/7/2011: Comcast launches Spanish version of Xfinity TV

Comcast seeks edge in Hispanic market with website (Reuters)

EXCLUSIVE: NBC and Versus Join To Make History for NHL
Ad campaign to promote Stanley Cup playoffs to air on both networks (Broadcasting & Cable)

Comcast Explores Network DVRs (Light Reading Cable)

Canoe Docks With Donovan
Donovan Data Systems to Integrate Canoe's Interactive TV Response Data (Multichannel News)

NetSuite embarks on richer reseller program (ZDNet Blogs)

Salesforce.com, The Next Oracle?: Careful What You Wish For. (Wall Street Journal: MarketBeat)

A Beginner’s Guide to SAPanese (ASUG News)


Time for a results-oriented city budget (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Op Ed column by Philly City Councilman Bill Green.

Instem Acquires Cambridge-Based BioWisdom; Leader in Delivering Healthcare Intelligence Solutions (Business Wire)
Price of $1.5 to $2.4 million, according to British press reports. Instem's US headquarters is in Conshohocken.

This time, human beats computer (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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As telecom industry evolves, success of Netflix is its biggest threat (Washington Post)

Philly Tech People News 3/6/2011

Comcast Hires Lehman as NBCUniversal’s New Digital Boss (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

iVillage Launches App Network; Adds BN.com’s Gottlieb (paidContent)

Dr. Gil Amelio Joins InterDigital’s Board of Directors (Business Wire)

RES Software Appoints Gene Bonacci VP of Channels and Strategic Alliances (Business Wire)

Mangos Deepens Its Digital Bench Strength (PR Newswire)

VIIAD Systems names Scott Hethcox as Vice President of Sales (Business Wire)

The Cloud: Battle of the Tech Titans (Bloomberg Business Week)

Comcast shifting some Denver-area operations to East Coast (Denver Post)

Frontier pulls out of cable TV franchises, hikes installation charges dramatically (The Oregonian)

FERC Rejects PJM Challenge, Upholds EnerNOC’s View (Gigaom)
PJM Interconnection is based in Norristown.

Video: Marc Benioff Answers His Critics, With A Little Help from Jim Cramer (All Things Digital: New Enterprise)

Is Business-centric Social Networking a Revolution -- or a Ruse? (Knowledge@Wharton)

Motorola Mobility's Moloney: Rise of the Cloud (Multichannel News)

“SeedStart Media 2011” Launches Summer Startup Program for Digital Media Entrepreneurs (PR Web)
Comcast Interactive Capital, Genacast Ventures among backers of New York incubator program.

Daily Links 3/3/2011: Comcast's Roberts aims to make the cable box cool

Cable TV In Pursuit Of Mobility (New York Times)

Comcast's Brian Roberts: The man who loves cable (LA Times: Company Town)

Comcast's Roberts aims to make the cable box cool, take on Netflix (ZDNet Blogs)

Brian Roberts on "Bloomberg West"


Lauren Zalaznick: How Hulu Will Evolve to Compete With Netflix (Hollywood Reporter)

Teradata Buys Aster Data, Boosts 'big Data' Wares (PC World)
First Round Capital was an early investor in Aster Data. Teradata is paying $263 million for the 89% it does not already own.

Does Kickfire + Aster + Teradata spell trouble? (ZDNet Blogs)

Safeguard Scientifics Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2010 Financial Results (Business Wire)


Orbach Q&A: Strategics, VCs Drive Cloud Tech Surge (PE Hub)

Salesforce.com announces Service Cloud 3, Facebook integration (ZDNet Blogs)

DailyWorth Raises $850K To Become The Daily Candy For Personal Finance (TechCrunch)

Firm's data helps you decide on a wireless network (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Is AT&T's network better than Verizon Wireless' in the Philadelphia area? Verizon Wireless put out this press release today, probably not coincidentally.

Sprint Nextel and Clearwire Close to Resolving Pricing Dispute (DailyFinance)



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Daily Links 3/2/2011: Boston vs. Silicon Valley debate gets heated

NBCU Rock-ing mega-lease (New York Post)


ERT Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Operating Results (PR Newswire)
Also changing trading symbol from "ERES" to "ERT".

SAP Sales OnDemand: Got It, Got It, Need It? (ZDNet Blogs)

SAP CRM Sales On-demand Heads to Market (Enterprise Matters)

SAP Offers Resellers Big-Account Opportunities, Cuts Pre-Pay Requirement (CRN)

'Over the hill' Boston tech community lashes out at academic (Telegraph)

Attorney for Philadelphia entrepreneurs Goodman to be honored (Philadelphia Business Journal)


Broadband Growth Slows For Fourth Straight Year: Analyst
Top U.S. Cable Operators Added 2.3 Million Broadband Subs In 2010, Says Leichtman (Multichannel News)

Cox, Motorola Tests See 400 Mbps Upstream
Cable's Upstream Limits Soon To Be Less Of A Problem? (Broadband Reports)

NEC to Integrate Niteo Partners, a Leader in Business Intelligence, Analytics and Performance Management Systems (Business Wire)
Niteo Partners is headquartered in Princeton.

ADP To Acquire AdvancedMD (Information Week)



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Daily Links 3/1/2011: SAP Readies Salesforce.com Rival

SAP Readies Salesforce.com Rival (PC World)

SAP Plays Games With The Analysts
The 'gamification' of the enterprise could make work more compelling, engaging and -- gasp -- fun. (Information Week)

QlikTech Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Financial Results (Business Wire)
Fourth Quarter revenue up 32%; Full year revenue of $226.5 million up 44% from 2009.
Qlik Technologies misses Wall Street's fourth-quarter earnings estimates by a penny (AP via Canadian Business Online)

NetSuite and Informatica partner for global enterprise (ZDNet Blogs)

Google Ventures, Khosla Make Rain For WeatherBill (Wall Street Journal: Digits)
WeatherBill raises $42 million lead by Google Ventures and Khosla, with previous investor First Round Capital also participating.


Hulu Set for Meteoric Growth in 2011
Ad revenue haul could be as high as $500 million (Ad Week)

Comcast releases Xfinity TV remote control app for Android devices (Engadget)


Internet-on-your-TV startup Boxee raises $16.5M (VentureBeat)

Sprint Boosts CEO Hesse's Target Bonus, Drops Link to Clearwire Success (Bloomberg)

Boathouse Capital Invests $9.1M in Two Companies (PE Hub)
Boathouse Capital is a private equity firm base in Wayne. These are its first software investments.

Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs’ 2011 Business Plan Competition Chooses 26 Semi-Finalists (Penn News)



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