Verizon, big cable in tussle over future of set-top boxes (ars technica)

Comcast-Spectacor to ‘interweave’ sponsors with Web (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Vishay Takes It To Rectifier's Shareholders (Forbes)

Ikon Office to cut 250 jobs, take charge (Reuters via MSN Money)

InterDigital Announces Financial Guidance for Third Quarter 2008 (BusinessWire)

Verizon Chooses NAVTEQ Traffic for FiOS TV Service
Free, Local Traffic Content from NAVTEQ Now Provided to Verizon FiOS TV Subscribers via TV remote one-button access
(PRNewswire via MarketWatch)

CTIA and NeuStar Commemorate Fifth Anniversary of Common Short Codes with Three 'Pioneer' Awards
(PRNewswire via MarketWatch)
Philadelphia-based M3 Mobile Marketing one of three honored.

FlyCast Challenges Satellite Radio with New iPhone App
Formerly FlyTunes, FlyCast delivers over 1000 digital channels and newTimeSlip(TM) features (PRNewswire)

PointRoll and USA TODAY debut first rich media advertising on iPhones (iPhones Talk)

Mapquest offers free mobile app
(Geek.com)

Health Market Science Selects Portico Systems’ Integrated Provider Management to Manage More than 2,500 Streams of Provider Data (BusinessWire)

Encorium Appoints David Ginsberg President and Chief Executive Officer, Announces Changes to the Board of Directors (PRNewswire)

SAP Ventures buys minority stake in Newgen Tech for Rs 10cr (Economic Times of India)

ClearPoint Announces Quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board Following Receipt of NASDAQ Delisting Letter (PRNewswire)

ClipsCatcher From Idioma Delivers Free Mass-Market Media Monitoring (PRNewswire via MarketWatch)




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I attended an informal meeting of Mid-Atlantic tech bloggers in DC last week. It was fun and the conversation was stimulating; I think the biggest topic of conversation was probably Comcast. Most of the attendees (there were perhaps 9 or 10 of us) were DC people. Mari Silbey and I represented Philly. Mari writes for two blogs that I know of. One is a Motorola sponsored blog called Media Experiences 2 Go, which is all about Motorola's Home and Network Mobility business (or whatever they are calling it now). Based in Horsham, it is largely comprised of the former General Instruments. They produce set top boxes and other related technologies (such as broadband modems) for the cable and telecom industries. Mari does a particularly good job of explaining the nuances and significance of these technologies in a very user friendly way. I don't read too many corporate blogs regularly, but this is one I do.
It will be be interesting to see if this business comes into play with all the changes going on with Motorola. There are many big players who want control of the set top box. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft or perhaps Comcast and a consortium of cable companies would be interested. Cisco owns their biggest competitor, Scientific Atlantic.
Mari also writes for another blog, Zatz Not Funny! , which is lead by Dave Zatz . I guess you could say is all about digital media, and it covers that very well. I highly recommend it.
I appreciate the invite.




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Vishay ups bid to buy IR (EE Times)

Innovative Solutions drops 9% as CEO is terminated (SmallCapInvestor.com)

Burke: Local Focus Wins Battles Against Telco, DBS Competitors
Comcast COO Also Updates Canoe Venture (Multichannel News)
Comcast: Clearwire-Sprint
deal could close this year (Associated Press via Google News)


RCN Unfurls Digital Freedom to its Delaware County, Pennsylvania Cable Subscribers (BusinessWire)

QVC(R) Debuts New Mobile Services (PRNewswire)

If You Want a Faster Internet Connection, Move to Delaware, Akamai Report Says (Xconomy)

Ex-Comcast exec Markell wins Del. gov nod
(Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Nasdaq OMX PHLX launches options order system (Finextra)

Kenexa Adds Learning Management Solution to Global Talent Retention Offerings (Marketwire via CNN Money)

Kenexa Updates Financial Guidance for 2008
(BusinessWire via MarketWatch)

Primavera(R) Inspire Becomes an SAP-Endorsed Business Solution
(PRNewswire)

T-Mobile denies rumors of 3G service in Philadelphia (CNET News: Crave)

Prologue Acquisition Update and Termination of Linkcon Business Combination
(PRNewswire)

SaaS Event in Philadelphia (SalesforceWatch.com)

A Founding Father of the Internet, Drexel Alumnus Paul A. Baran Named National Medal of Technology and Innovation Laureate (BusinessWire)



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PodCamp Philly



I thoroughly enjoyed the second PodCamp Philly, which was held on September 6-7 at Temple University. (I didn't attend the first.) The presenters were not just local experts, but world class experts in their profession. With the exception of some technical glitches (a few presenters had trouble getting their slides up on the screen), all the presentations I attended were excellent. I came away with about 50 to 100 new things to work on. I also very much appreciated the "SearchCamp" sessions.
My only thoughts to improve it (perhaps add a bit more excitement) would be to have a little more interactivity among the participants. Perhaps some breakout groups could be held for specific interest groups, where people could talk to each other more and get to know each other. There were so many interesting people I wanted to meet. Unfortunately, I could not attend the evening events, where I'm sure a lot more socializing and networking occured. The other thought is that some kind of informal "demo pit" might be interesting.
I want to thank all the organizers and presenters for their efforts.

Here are some other takes on PodCamp Philly:

Podcamp Philly (Pumpkinspun’s Musings)

REFLECTIONS ON PODCAMP PHILLY (SnapDragon Blog)



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Comcast.net Customers Get More On-the-Go Access to Entertainment with Thumbplay (BusinessWire)

Comcast COO: Internet service market share growing (MarketWatch)

Google Gets Wired For Cable (Forbes)

PhillyDeals: Cofounders pocket $40M for Clarix (Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Why I liked SAP’s TechEd Community Day (ZDNet Blogs)

SAP teams up with InnoCentive; Eyes social networking in the enterprise
(ZDNet Blogs)

Kraft Looks To SAP For Help With Data Management (Intelligent Enterprise)


EASY SOFTWARE Signs Technology Partnership with Limehouse Software (SourceWire)

AppLabs is the largest independent software testing company (Economic Times of India)

CDI IT Solutions Announces Agreement with SysTest Labs (PRNewswire)

Exclusive: Shake-Up at Philly Car Share (Philadelphia Magazine: The Daily Examiner)

CBS “Re-think Radio” in Philly
(Local Media in a Web 2.0 World)

Harron Chairman Joel Cohen, 63, Dies
Operator Executive Was Cable TV Pioneer, NCTA Director (Multichannel News)



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Comcast Pays Florida $150k For Bandwidth Practices (MediaPost: Online Media Daily)

Cable companies: We care (Wilmington News Journal)

DreamIt 'Funding Day' showcases how 11 start-ups spent their summer (Philly.com: Philly
Inc)

Analyst: Herley sale would be 'logical' (Central
Penn Business Journal)

'Back to normal': SAP
(Bloomberg via Australian IT)

When SAP Sags, Buy It (alarm: clock: tech:stocker)

Princeton Financial System to buy Aquin (Finextra)

Zillow, Newspapers Expand Consortium Agreement
(ClickZ)

Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc. Announces Special Cash Dividend (BusinessWire via MarketWatch)




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People News



MedQuist names Masanotti as new chief executive (Associated Press via CNN Money)

People News



MedQuist names Masanotti as new chief executive (Associated Press via CNN Money)

Comcast Sues FCC Over Network Management Finding
Cabler Wants Agency�s Decision on Its P2P Policies Reversed (Multichannel News)

Radnor-based Clarix being acquired for $40M (Philadelphia Inquirer)

DreamIT Funding Day Final Recap (Center Networks)

Handicapping the Fall Enterprise Software Race: SAP vs. Oracle vs. Microsoft (ZDNet Blogs)

Was EarthLink's failed citywide Wi-Fi a blessing in disguise? (CNET News)




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I'll be traveling the next few days, and I will be posting intermittently. I will, however, be attending PodCamp/SearchCamp Philly, and hopefully I will have a few interesting items about that.



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GMAC Financial Services and ResCap Announce Further Streamlining of Mortgage Operation (PRNewswire)
"Further Streamlining" is somewhat of an understatement.

Alliance Consulting Launches Two Companies (PRNewswire)

Evidence-based Medicine Brings Wolters Kluwer and UptoDate Together (Health Contnet Advisors)
Wolters Kluwer Health is based in Conshohocken.

DreamIt assisting startups (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Philadelphia CIOs Forecast Increase in Fourth-Quarter Hiring
(PRNewswire)

W. Chester’s Prescient merging with Utah firm (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Can SaaS ERP be profitable?
(SearchSAP.com)

Americas’ SAP Users’ Group Announces Global, Independent User Community for Business Objects Customers and Partners (BusinessWire)

Kenexa shares drop on downgrade (Associated Press via Forbes)

Comcast Introduces Video *Download* Beta (Zatz Not Funny!)
LEAK: Comcast's Mobile Store Is Actually Quite Promising (Gizmodo)

PSC Info Group Introduces PAYMENTExpress, an Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment Solution that Helps Healthcare Providers Increase Collections, Accelerate Payments and Cut Costs (BusinessWire)

EZ-CAP, InterComponentWare Form Strategic Partnership (PRNewswire)

Zix Corporation to Participate in $29 Million Highmark e-Prescribing/eHealth Initiative (PRNewswire via MarketWatch)

CRM manager Joins Google Enterprise Partner Program (CRM Marketplace)

OSI wins $1.7 million in R&D contracts
(Ottawa Business Journal)



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