Highlights: Last week on Philly Tech News (6/11/2012 to 6/17/2012)

California-based game developer RockYou acquired Philly-based Ryzing, maker of "Bingo by Ryzing" for Facebook. The Ryzing team will remain in Philadelphia, and in fact is looking for more people. Ryzing has been backed by area VC firm Artists & Instigators. RockYou had entered into a publishing arrangement with Ryzing earlier this year.

I looked at which tech firms are moving or expanding in the Philly area, including Zivtech's new offices, Comcast's expansion of R&D facilities for its Business Services group in Mount Laurel, and QlikTech's new lease in New York.

QlikTech also made its first acquisition as a public company, acquiring Massachusetts-based Expressor Software, a metadata intelligence solution that helps users track data lineage and data governance.

The Department of Justice is reported to be conducting a probe into the behavior of Comcast and other cable operators to determine whether they are engaging in practices that may be harmful to online video competitors such as Netflix.

Comcast is partnering with PayPal and TiVo to deploy a system for enabling T-Commerce, a term referring to interactive shopping apps accessible directly from the TV interface.

Perhaps the biggest news from Apple's WWDC was that it didn't really have an announcement on AppleTV, though that doesn't mean there isn't any progress in that area.

Microsoft was reported to have reached an agreement to acquire enterprise social networking tool Yammer for more than $1 billion, though there has been no public confirmation of the deal yet. Such a deal raises questions as to what SAP's next move in that space might be.

Dell laid out its software strategy last week in a presentation at its Analyst Day, and Dell Boomi plays a key role in it.

DreamIt Ventures is now accepting applications for its Fall 2012 Philadelphia class, and Comcast Ventures has committed to being part of two more cycles of DreamIt Access, the minority-focused program, as part of this year's Philly program and next year's in New York. Fast Company nicely lumped Philly in with 14 other mostly second-tier cities in terms of tech startup activity, and the Wall Street Journal looked at why startups such as Stylitics, which originated in Philly, are drawn to New York.

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Google buys mobile patents from NJ-based Magnolia Broadband, which is backed by SCP Partners of Wayne

Tom Paine


While InterDigital's $375 million patent sale to Intel received most of the attention yesterday, there was another mobile technology patent sale by an area firm to a prominent buyer.

Warren, NJ-based Magnolia Broadband, Inc. has sold its "beam forming Mobile Transmit Diversity" (“MTD”) patent portfolio, including more than 50 patents, to Google, the company announced yesterday. These patents cover "methods for increasing spectrum utilization (network capacity), expanding coverage, improving uplink transmission speeds at the cell edge, and improving device battery life", Magnolia said in a statement.

The software developed in relationship to those patents remain the property of Magnolia. Terms were not disclosed. Maagnolia said the proceeds from the sale will help finance its on-going R&D. Venture capital firm SCP Partners of Wayne, PA is Magnolia's largest shareholder. Yaron Eitan, Chairman of the Board of Magnolia Broadband, Inc. is also a Partner in SCP Partners, an interesting though fairly quiet firm headed by Managing General Partner Winston J. Churchill (no relation to the former Prime Minister). SCP Partners says it has $1 billion under management.



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Daily Links 6/19/2012: Report: LLR Partners to begin raising new fund later this year

Who’s Next to Fundraise? Try LLR Partners (PE Hub)
Says Philly-based LLR is expected to begin raising money for its fourth fund later this year.

Oracle sales exec departs: reorg, or rebuke? (ZDNet Blogs)

Oracle Rushes Out Q4 Results, Top Exec Departs (Information Week)

SAP Looking to Create 'distinguished Engineers' for Its HANA Database (PC World)

Data and Information Governance at Johnson & Johnson (ASUG News)

Why health IT systems integrate poorly today, and what future EHRs can do about it
The push for health data interoperability won't work unless the approach is modernized. (O'Reilly Radar)

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phillytechnews twitter feed 6/18/2012

phillytechnews: Confused why Microsoft using same name as Microsoft Surface Table

Posted: 18 Jun 2012 05:27 PM PDT

phillytechnews: Confused why Microsoft using same name as Microsoft Surface Table

phillytechnews: Yep, it’s a tablet: Microsoft introduces the Surface — paidContent http://t.co/AYRtuVUI

Posted: 18 Jun 2012 05:16 PM PDT

phillytechnews: Yep, it's a tablet: Microsoft introduces the Surface — paidContent http://t.co/AYRtuVUI

phillytechnews: Microsoft Unveils Its Mystery Device [LIVE BLOG] (Mashable) http://t.co/e6gYudoG

Posted: 18 Jun 2012 03:38 PM PDT

phillytechnews: Microsoft Unveils Its Mystery Device [LIVE BLOG] (Mashable) http://t.co/e6gYudoG

phillytechnews: Daily Links 6/18/2012: Oracle reports earnings early; Verizon launches FiOS Quantum with 300Mbps down http://t.co/smGU58CD

Posted: 18 Jun 2012 03:33 PM PDT

phillytechnews: Daily Links 6/18/2012: Oracle reports earnings early; Verizon launches FiOS Quantum with 300Mbps down http://t.co/smGU58CD

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Pennsylvania wants to tax the Cloud

Tom Paine





The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued a new letter ruling on May 31 (Sales and Tax No. SUT-12-001(pdf)) stating that a Pennsylvania user accessing cloud software over the Internet is subject to sales or use tax. The ruling states that accessing “canned software” on remote servers is subject to sales or use tax, as long as the user is based in Pennsylvania, no matter where the software or servers are located. The logic behind the ruling is that using cloud software from a Pennsylvania location is the same as the purchase of tangible personal property in the state.

The ruling appears to reverse a 2010 ruling that stated "access to software solely through the Internet is not a taxable transfer of software unless the server or data center resides in Pennsylvania". That ruling is no longer on the Department of Revenue's website.

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InterDigital (IDCC) up 27% on partial patent sale to Intel

Tom Paine

King of Prussia-based InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC) saw its stock soar as much as 30% today after announcing the sale of some 1700 patents to Intel for $375 million in cash. This intellectual property represents only a portion of InterDigital's total trove of some 20,000 patents. The patents sold cover 3G and LTE wireless technology and WiFi connectivity.

Last year, InterDigital considered selling its entire patent portfolio, but wasn't satisfied with the bids it received.

“This transaction, which involves a small portion of our overall patent portfolio, marks an important milestone of InterDigital’s stated strategy of expanding the monetization of its large and growing intellectual property portfolio", said Scott McQuilkin, Senior Executive Vice President, Strategy and Finance for InterDigital, in a statement.

Separately, InterDigital also announced today that it was doubling its share repurchase program to $200 million.



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Daily Links 6/18/2012: Oracle reports earnings early; Verizon launches FiOS Quantum with 300Mbps down

Don’t Forget: TechCrunch Is In Philadelphia Tomorrow (TechCrunch)

Oracle Reports Q4 GAAP EPS Up 11% to 69 Cents; Q4 Non-GAAP EPS Up 10% to 82 Cents (Marketwire)
GAAP revenue up 1%. Oracle moved earnings release up from Thursday, as reports surfaced that a key exec (said to be North American sales chief Keith Block) is leaving company. Block's emails critical of Mark Hurd and Sun's hardware business came out during HP trial.

Oracle's sales and profit rise in latest earnings report (San Jose Mercury News)

Yep, it’s a tablet: Microsoft introduces the Surface (paidContent)

Verizon debuts FiOS Quantum with crazy 300Mbps download speeds (VentureBeat)

Ivan Seidenberg Joins Perella Weinberg Partners as Advisory Partner (Business Wire)

GSI in the New York state of mind (GSI Commerce Blog)

Oracle reportedly revealing 'key resignation' this week (ZDNet Blogs)

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Philly Tech People News 6/17/2012

Microsoft Veteran Nitin Bhatia Joins NextDocs to Further Drive Growth in Global Services
Bhatia brings decades of experience at Microsoft to his new role as leader of NextDocs’ Global Services team (Business Wire)

SunGard Announces Chief Financial Officer Transition (Business Wire)

SAP Ventures hires Clarkson as COO, managing director (San Jose Business Journal)

JK Group Names Robert E. Farina as Chief Executive Officer
Top Software Executive Joins Industry Pioneer to Drive Growth and Expand Product Portfolios (Marketwire)

iPipeline Increases Focus on Canadian Marketplace
Hires Canadian Insurance Expert to Support New Business Development Activities (Business Wire)

Universal Display Corporation Strengthens Management Team with Addition of New Vice President Mauro Premutico
Premutico, patent protection and intellectual property law expert, will support Universal Display’s continued growth as leading OLED technology licensing and materials supply company (Business Wire)


Ex-Canoe Exec Orduña Joins PayPal
Former Chief Product Officer of Cable's Ad Venture Aims to Strike Deals With MSOs, Others (Multichannel News)

John Schanz Receives InfoWorld Technology Leadership Award (Comcast Voices/Official Comcast Blog)

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Minority-Focused Startup Incubator DreamIt Access Gets Renewed Investment, Will Continue For Two More Cycles (TechCrunch)
DreamIt now accepting applications for Fall class in Philly.

15 Tech Scenes In Places You'd Never Think To Look (Fast Company)
According to Fast Company, Philly ranks with tech powerhouses like Savannah, Greenville SC, Grand Rapids and Hobbs NM.

New York: Techie Magnet (Wall Street Journal: Metro Money)
"Stylitics investor Kirsten Green, managing partner of Forerunner Ventures, told me she'd be less inclined to fund a start-up based in Philly, simply because of the logistical hassles."

The Great Replacement: Microsoft, Yammer, and a New World in Enterprise Computing (PandoDaily)

Will social software startups "collapse into the orbit" of the big vendors? (Dion Hinchcliffe/ZDNet Blogs)

Recent Philly VC Investments (Updated 6/16/2012)