Carrots, Sticks and Digital Health Records (New York Times)

Motorola Sues TiVo (On Behalf Of Verizon) (Zatz Not Funny!)

Daily Links 2/25/2011: Drexel to get five times the bandwith

Comcast Preps a Docsis 3.0 Boost (Light Reading Cable)
For upload speeds.

Peers or not? Comcast and Level 3 slug it out at FCC's doorstep (Ars Technica)

NBCU Local Strategy: Balancing Individualism And Uniform Qualities (paidContent)

Is Verizon's FiOS Deployment Freeze Thawing?
Verizon Tells Wilmington, Delaware New Deployments Loom (Broadband Reports)
Update: One more reason why blogs are no substitute for newspapers (Delaware Online: Delaware Inc.)
While the Broadband Reports article above is wrong (sometimes old articles pop up in search engines or RSS Feeds), there is still a certain irony in going back and reading what the Verizon
exec said two years ago and what hasn't happened since then.

Salesforce wins bet on the cloud, doubles down on social (Fortune)

SAP Announces Blockbuster BusinessObjects Upgrade (Information Week)

Alcatel Lucent to help bring metering technology to Pennsylvania (PennEnergy)

Philadelphia Business Journal’s Social Media Stars announced (Philadelphia Business Journal)

ICG Announces 2010 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Financial Results
Core Consolidated Revenue Increases 27% in 2010
Metastorm Sale Completed (Globe Newswire)

Demand for Accelerated Cost Savings Fuels Continued Growth for ICG Commerce
Comprehensive Procurement Solution Provider Sees 20 Percent-Plus Revenue Growth for Sixth Consecutive Year (Globe Newswire)

Network to be upgraded
Five times more bandwidth for campus (The Triangle)



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Philly Tech Tidbits 2/24/2011

Malvern social CRM startup Visibiz has raised $1 million from West Conshohocken-based SeventySix Capital, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. Visibiz was founded by Ami Assayag, who briefly had served as SeventySix Capital's entrepreneur in residence. Its software helps companies manage information across multiple CRM platforms and social media sites. Visibiz now has eight employees and will shortly launch into private beta, and Assayag says he hopes to close on another $1 million round by summer.


A new Delaware-based startup, cWyze, has raised $200,000 , according to a recent SEC filing. cWyze appears to be developing an interactive video ad interface for targeted marketing. Don't know too much about the founders, but the advisors listed on its website are impressive, including Philadelphia businessman and politician Sam Katz and Morgan Lewis Bockius partner Stephen Goodman.


The Business Insider reports that Google may have some interest in acquiring First Round Capital portfolio company SinglePlatform. The New York startup provides one location on the web where small businesses can enter and maintain information about themselves which SinglePlatform then automatically distributes to various local shopping and social media sites. However, Business Insider's source tells them that nothing is likely to happen until the user base gets considerably larger. First Round led a $1.2 million seed round in December.


In several reports last month about major VC firm Accel Partners opening a New York office, Philly-based mobile payments startup Venmo was named as being one of their portfolio companies. Which is surprising since there has never been a formal announcement of such an investment, nor does it appear in Accel's portfolio listed on its website. Venmo has previously raised $1.2 million in a round led by RRE Ventures in May of last year.


Quu, Inc., a startup which provides an interactive platform for radio stations, has named veteran Philadelphia radio exec Lynn Bruder CEO, to be based in Philadelphia, though the company will continue to be headquartered in the Seattle area.


Temple University's Fox School of Business has received a $500,000 donation from Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised fund, which will enable it to expand its business plan competition program. The gift was made at the recommendation of two Temple alumni, Alan and Deborah Cohen. Alan is an exec at Goldman Sachs.


Comcast Interactive Capital participated in a $17 million Series C financing round in Atlanta-based Vitrue, which provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform which enables brands and marketing agencies to communicate with customers and fans. Comcast had been a previous investor.


Safeguard Scientifics' recently announced $5 million backing of Downingtown startup ThingWorx may reflect a change in its investment philosophy, or perhaps more accurately a return to its roots. “On the heels of two well-timed exits last year, Safeguard is now in a position of financial strength and flexibility to deploy capital into new, high-growth, high-value companies,” said Peter J. Boni, President and CEO, in the press release. Which sounds like an indication that Safeguard will be looking at more early stage (and higher risk) ventures such as ThingWorx in the future.



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Daily Links 2/24/2011: Osage University Partners Closes $100 Million Debut Venture Capital Fund

InterDigital Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Financial Results
Full Year Revenue of $394.5 million Increased 33 Percent Over 2009 (Business Wire)
InterDigital Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know (Motley Fool)

SAP Asks Court to Reduce Oracle Award or Set New Trial (Bloomberg)

Oracle to SAP: How’s This for Grossly Excessive–We Want Another Half-Billion in Damages (All Things Digital: Digital Daily)
Ellison's typical return shot.


SAP wants racketeering claims thrown out (Computerworld)
In Marin County case.

Salesforce.com: Strong fourth quarter, light earnings outlook, $2 billion revenue mark in sight
(ZDNet Blogs)


Osage University Partners Closes $100 Million Debut Venture Capital Fund, Affiliates With Leading Universities (Marketwire)

Comcast Unit Shares Cisco's Video Spotlight (Light Reading Cable)

Sprint, Falcone’s LightSquared Said to Discuss Network Deal (Bloomberg)

Sage Payment Solutions Acquires Small Merchant Portfolio From Heartland Payment Systems (Marketwire)

New Console Digital Developer Play Eternal Founded In Philly (Gamasutra)



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Daily Links 2/23/2011: SAP introduces updated Business Intelligence product line

DreamIT Ventures Taps Startup Founders as It Expands Into New York (Gigaom)

No secret that QVC might buy Home Shopping (Denver Post)

SAP Enters Complex-event Processing Market (PC World)

SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 hits the streets (SearchBusinessAnalytics.com)

Unisys builds cash as it trims debt (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

DirecTV Profit Beats Analysts' Estimates on Video, High-Definition Demand (Bloomberg)

Golf Channel, NBC Tee Off As Playing Partners At WGC Tourney
Promotion, Production, Programming, Graphics Reflect 'Golf Channel On NBC' Branding (Multichannel News)

Obama names Facebook, Intel and Comcast execs to new jobs council (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Comcast Shaking Up Speed Tiers (Again)
Seven Delicious Flavors In DOCSIS 3 Upgraded Markets (Broadband Reports)

Bluewolf Opens New Office Headquarters in New York (PR Newswire)
Also opens new Philadelphia office.

Google’s Decision to Get Into “Real Time” Ads Was Really Smart, Says Google (All Things Digital: MediaMemo)

Checkpoint Systems Shares Plunged: What You Need to Know (Motley Fool)

Kairos Society Helps Student Entrepreneurs Test Best Ideas for Startups (Bloomberg)



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Daily Links 2/22/2011: Checkpoint, CDI down after financial results

WGAW Reps: Comcast Wants to Destroy Unions (Hollywood Reporter)

CBS Picks Netflix Over Hulu to Stream Classic Shows (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

Amazon Prime Instant Streaming Launches, But Not (Yet) A Netflix-Killer (Silicon Alley Insider)

Xoom Android tablet set for sale Thursday at Verizon (Computerworld)

Checkpoint Systems, Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Results (Business Wire)
Checkpoint Systems Q4 misses Street (Reuters)

CDI Corp. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2010 Results (PR Newswire)
CDI shares are really getting hammered today, off almost 15%, after missing forecast.

Veeva Systems Announces Increased Investment in China
Life sciences business solutions leader expands operations in industry’s largest emerging market to support customer growth (Business Wire)
Veeva Systems has a significant presence in the Philadelphia area.

SAP Eyes Wider Market With Real-Time Business Analytics Software (Bloomberg)

Recyclebank Raises Additional $14 Million in Series C Financing (PR Web)
Recyclebank started out in Philly and still has some of its operations based here.

SAS acquires Assetlink to help marketers deliver smarter, more efficient campaigns (SAS Press Release)



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News from HIMSS11

Live@HIMSS: Early adopters urged to help (Modern Healthcare)

'We believe in health IT': Sebelius (Modern Healthcare)

Health IT Execs To Boost Spending In 2011 (Information Week)

HIMSS11 – What’s After EMR? (Computerworld)

NextGen Healthcare Drives Patient-Centered Care with New Innovations Unveiled at HIMSS11 (Business Wire)

Siemens Advances Transformational Health IT at HIMSS 2011 (PR Newswire)

SAP Helps Healthcare Organizations Improve Workforce Productivity and Patient Care Delivery (PR Newswire)


Combined Strengths and Capabilities of Stanley Black & Decker and InfoLogix Drive Delivery of Quality Patient Care and Innovative Healthcare Solutions (PR Newswire)

Precyse Solutions Demonstrates Breakthrough Automated Clinical Documentation and Natural Language Processing-enabled (NLP) Solution at HIMSS 2011 Conference (PR Newswire)

Oracle Upgrades Health Information Exchange Suite (Information Week)

TruePosition subsidiary Zoombak acquired by Securus

Zoombak, a provider of personal GPS devices and a subsidiary of TruePosition Inc., has been acquired by Securus, Inc, according to a press release. Zoombak has had its operational headqaurters in Berwyn. Securus, which has been a competitor to Zoombak, is based in Cary, NC.
TruePosition, also based in Berwyn, is a subsidiary of Liberty Media.

Twitter Reinstates API Access For Twidroyd and UberSocial for Blackberry (Read Write Web)

It’s Not a Bubble, People; It’s a Pyramid Scheme (PE Hub)
Mark Cuban's comments.

Netflix: Comcast Hates Us, Sort Of, Maybe (Gigaom: NewTeeVee)

Changing Skyline: What does GlaxoSmithKline's move to Navy Yard mean for downtown? (Philadelphia Inquirer)

HIMSS11 opens in Orlando

HIMSS11 (the annual conference of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) opens today in Orlando. This is probably the most important annual event in the Healthcare IT industry, and many Philly area companies will have a presence there and news to share. I'll try to keep track of key developments, although I'm not actually there (wish I was).