Daily Links 6/22/2012: CloudMine officially launches CloudMine 1.0



Comcast 'Invents' Its Own Private Internet (Bloomberg Business Week)

Dish Network, Netflix, NCTA execs set to clash at House hearing (FierceCable)


Bringing the BaaS (CloudMine Blog)
Officially launches CloudMine 1.0.

Google to launch Amazon, Microsoft cloud rival at Google I/O (Gigaom)

Don't expect a kinder, gentler Oracle after sales exec's departure (InfoWorld)

QlikTech Jumps the Shark (Paul Staelin/Birst Blog)
Interesting point of view on QlikTech's recent Expressor acquisition, though keep in mind it is written by a competitor that's trying to move into QlikTech's space.



phillytechnews twitter feed 6/18 to 6/19/2012

Posted: 19 Jun 2012 02:10 PM PDT
phillytechnews: RT @MLB: BREAKING: Phillies 2B Freddy Galvis suspended 50 games after testing positive for a banned substance.
Posted: 19 Jun 2012 01:43 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Who's Next to Fundraise? Try LLR Partners -peHUB http://t.co/xcceZkzH



Daily Links 6/21/2012: Philly Fed Survey "Suggests Weaker Business Conditions"


Survey Suggests Weaker Business Conditions (Philly Fed)

Philly Fed factory gauge plunges in June (MarketWatch)

TC Mini Meetup Philly: The Recap (TechCrunch)

Ditch Your Hackathon, Have A Napkin Pitch Contest Like Today’s Uncubed Philadelphia Talent Fair (TechCrunch)

Philly publisher Bob Hall to staff: ‘We will probably experience another substantial loss this year’ (Poynter)
Advertising revenue down "in excess of 10%" so far this year.

First Round's Morgan on VC Investing, Strategy (Bloomberg via Washington Post)


Healthcare IT M&A 2011 (Healthcare Informatics)




West Chester-based Hoopla Software closes $2.8 million Series A; Salesforce.com is an investor


Tom Paine


West Chester-based Hoopla Software, which I wrote about early this year, announced today the closing of a $2.8 million Series A Financing, This is the completion of the round announced late last year, which at the time totaled $2.3 million including $1.3 million from Safeguard Scientifics.

Today's announcement also identified two other investors: California-based VC firm Illuminate Ventures and Salesforce.com., which frequently invests in startups operating within its ecosystem.

Founded by CEO and veteran Philly area technology executive Michael Smalls in 2009, Hoopla provides digital scoreboards and gamification techniques to enhance the performance of employees in sales, call centers, and support organizations. Hoopla leverages integration with the Salesforce platform and Salesforce's Chatter social networking tool.

The company says that "proceeds from this financing are being used to further build out Hoopla Software's gamified performance platform and to expand marketing initiatives". Hoopla also says it has added more than 25 new customers to its platform over the past two months, including Box, Marketo, and Zillow.



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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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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
Posted: 18 Jun 2012 05:16 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Yep, it's a tablet: Microsoft introduces the Surface — paidContent http://t.co/AYRtuVUI
Posted: 18 Jun 2012 03:38 PM PDT
phillytechnews: Microsoft Unveils Its Mystery Device [LIVE BLOG] (Mashable) http://t.co/e6gYudoG
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



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.


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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