News from The Cable Show: 5/11/2010

Cable worries about Web video as fee disputes grow (Reuters)


Canoe Floats VOD, Interactive Demos (Multichannel News)

Comcast Expands On-Demand Movie Offerings (New York Times: Media Decoder)

Live-Blogging Comcast CEO Roberts on Cable TV’s Future (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

Itaas Spiffs Comcast's Cisco Boxes for EBIF (Light Reading Cable)

Cable Show 2010: Motorola Unboxes Digital-Only Multiroom DVR (Multichannel News)




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Daily Links 5/11/2010: Heartland Payment Systems Plans to Hire 1,198 Sales Professionals

The Genius of QVC
How the shopping network became one of the most effective retailing machines ever invented
(The Atlantic)

FCC's 'Third Way' Criticized for Over-Regulation (PC Magazine)
FCC's Clyburn criticizes corporations for misinformation on broadband reclassification (Washington Post: Post Tech)


Heartland breach expenses pegged at $140M -- so far (Computerworld)
Heartland Payment Systems® Plans to Hire 1,198 Sales Professionals in the Next 18 Months (Business Wire)
Why 1,198? Why not 1,195 or 1,199?

WorldGate Introduces ‘Ojo Vision’ Video Phone (Business Wire)

Oracle Unveils Oracle's Primavera Inspire for SAP 7.0 (Marketwire)

SAP's Vertical Future (Forbes)

Bridgeline Digital Acquires TMX Interactive (Globe Newswire via MarketWatch)

Better government through code
Code for America founder Jennifer Pahlka wants to empower developers to become civic coders
(O'Reilly Radar)
Philadelphia one of 5 initial cities chosen to participate.

First SaaS CRM Application Network for Life Sciences Industry Launched By Veeva Systems at Customer Summit (Business Wire)

Citizens Bank of Pa. parent hiring 180, spending $500M on technology (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Universal Display Team Awarded $4 Million Contract from the U.S. Department of Energy to Support Establishment of an OLED Lighting Pilot Manufacturing Facility in the U.S. (Business Wire)



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GSI Commerce acquires VendorNet

The Wall Street Journal reported last night (subscription required) that GSI Commerce has acquired VendorNet, a Boynton Beach, Florida provider of supply chain management software and services for retailers. VendorNet offers a service that enables retailers to drop-ship items customers order online from nearby retail outlets. The company says it has about 100 customers and 32 employees. Deal terms have not been disclosed.


GSI Commerce Press Release

Daily Links 5/10/2010: Top themes at The Cable Show

SAP Accelerates Corporate Overhaul, FT Deutschland Reports (Bloomberg)
Not a lot of detail yet on what this may mean.
But here is a version of the interview from Financial Times Deutschland with SAP Co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Hagemann Snabe, as translated through "Google Translate". (A little patchy in spots.)


Cable: Bernstein Pulls The Plug; Downgrades CMCSA, TWC, CVC (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Cable Show 2010: The Hot List (Light Reading Cable)

Clock Re-Starting June 3 On Comcast/NBCU
FCC Will Pick Up Clock With 151 Days Remaining On Merger Review Deadline (Multichannel News)

Liberty Interactive: Merrill Downgrades; QVC Results Disappoint (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Court gives preliminary OK to $4M consumer settlement in Heartland case (Computerworld)

The Agenda Behind Electronic Health Records (New York Times: Bits)

Ben Franklin group announces $2M in early-stage funding (Philadelphia Business Journal)

DreamIt Ventures Kickoff Weekend – 2009 cohort panel on lessons learned (Robert Shedd)

There are east coast (below Boston) hackers--draw us out... (Gabriel Weinberg's Blog)

Universal Display Corporation Announces First Quarter 2010 Financial Results (Business Wire)




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Upcoming trade shows highlight area tech companies

Three big trade shows with connections to major area tech companies kick off over the next week.
The Cable Show, the most important show in the Cable industry, will highlight many new developments from Comcast and its various entities, and from others such as Motorola's Home unit and QVC. It starts Tuesday in Los Angeles and runs through the 13th.

SAPPHIRE NOW, SAP AG's biggest annual event, will begin next Monday, the 17th, in Orlando and runs concurrently with ASUG's (the Americas' SAP Users' Group) annual conference. This year, SAP is also holding a separate European version of SAPPHIRE NOW in Frankfurt at the same time. This SAPPHIRE will be interesting to watch because it will be the first with new Co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe at the helm; also worth following will be Chairman of the Supervisory Board Hasso Plattner's address.

And CAD/CAM software firm Bentley Systems of Exton will hold its "Be Together: The Be Communities ‘Live'" conference at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from May 17-20.

Philly Tech People News 5/9/2010

Science Center Promotes Dr. Christopher Laing to Vice President, Science & Technology (Business Wire)

Dan Hayes Joins J.G. Wentworth as Chief Technology Officer (Business Wire)

Microsoft’s Sam Batterman Joins ProtonMedia’s Executive Advisory Board (Business Wire)

BioLeap, Inc. Announces the Addition of Dr. Gene Cordes to Its Board of Directors (Business Wire)

Laurel Edelman, SDI Vice President, Clinical, Honored as Industry “Rising Star” by Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association
(Business Wire)

Willis Appoints George Haitsch Head of Willis Risk Solutions
Former SAP Risk Manager to Oversee Willis Unit Serving Large Corporate Clients (Business Wire)

Comcast: FCC opening Net neutrality door 'scary' (CNET News)

Pa. newspapers' layoff notice called 'procedural' (Associated Press via Google News)

A few tidbits

"Morgantown is the next Exton, Malvern, and King of Prussia", says Glenn Porter, a manager at software services provider LMC Software Solutions, according to the Inquirer. LMC recently received VC funding and moved from Chester County to Morgantown. Where in the heck is Morgantown, you ask? (Actually, its in Berks County).
Philly-based Urban Outfitters reported a same store year-to-year sales increase of 11%, which is rather remarkable though admittedly coming off a bit of a down year. Urban Outfitter's direct-to-consumer channel (its eCommerce business) grew 42% and is now running at $86 million a quarter.
The reported problems and shutdown of J&J's McNeil Lab's Fort Washington plant may have a human origin, but could it also raise question about the production and quality control software systems used there, I wonder?
Chester-based sales comp software vendor Synygy has announced it is opening new sales offices in the UK (to serve the EMEA market) and Singapore (to serve Asia).
Retailer Wireless Giant has opened a new store at Philadelphia International Airport featuring BlackBerry devices, software and services.

Daily Links 5/7/2010: QVC revenue up 11%

ICG Announces First Quarter 2010 Financial Results
ICG Reports Core Consolidated Revenue Growth of 24% (Business Wire)

FCC Declares War on Broadband (Light Reading Cable)

Comcast May Now Regret Suing the FCC Over Net Neutrality (PC World)

Liberty Media Reports First Quarter 2010 Financial Results
(PR Newswire)
QVC revenue up 11%.

Entercom Communications Corp. Reports First Quarter Results
Free Cash Flow Increased 135% (Business Wire)

Azavea puts Philadelphia on the map (Philly.com: Philly Inc)

Battery manufacturer to expand (Allentown Morning
Call)

Samsung, Motorola tops in U.S. mobile subscribers (CNET News)




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Internet Capital Group ups stake in ICG Commerce

Internet Capital Group has increased its stake in ICG Commerce of King of Prussia from 64% to 76% by spending $35.3 million to acquire shares from another investor. ICG intends to acquire the additional 5% of the company owned by non-management investors. The deal would appear to value ICG Commerce at around $300 million.
ICG Commerce specializes in procurement outsourcing, helping large clients manage their "spend function". The company reported revenue growth of 28% in 2009.

Press Release

Daily Links 5/6/2010: FCC decides on "third way" to regulate broadband; Comcast "disappointed".

How the FCC Plans to Regulate Internet Lines (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

FCC statement on 'third way' for broadband (CNET News)

Comcast “Disappointed” With FCC Move To Reclassify Broadband
(Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Clearwire May Dump WiMAX (GigaOM)

Clearwire Reports Strong First Quarter 2010 Results (Business Wire)

SunGard Announces First Quarter 2010 Results (Business Wire)

Safeguard Scientifics Announces First Quarter 2010 Financial Results (Business Wire)

Heartland Payment Systems Reports First Quarter Results (Business Wire)

Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. Reports Results for its Second Fiscal Quarter 2010 (Business Wire)
CEO Scott Kulicke cites "current, unprecedented demand for semiconductor assembly capacity".

International Battery Closes Series C Financing Round (Business Wire)

Hasso on Hasso (ZDNet Blogs)
Interesting, amusing "self-interview" by SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner in advance of SAPPHIRE presentation.

Kaplan EduNeering and ProtonMedia Announce Alliance
Partnership to combine Kaplan’s online compliance and knowledge solutions with ProtonMedia’s leading 3-D virtual environment, ProtoSphere, to help life sciences companies speed collaborative decision-making while meeting regulatory requirements (Business Wire)


DreamIt Ventures Kicks Off 2010 Program on May 7 (Business Wire)

Introducing Motorola Medios, Part One (Motorola Blog: Media Experieces 2 Go)

Dockers Holds Pitch but Awards Digital Creative to None of the Contenders
Levi Strauss Brand Shifts Digital Buying From Razorfish to OMD (Ad Age)
GSI Commerce's agency to play a role.

DormNoise rounds up $500k Series A funding (Mass High Tech)
DormNoise was founded by 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania junior Jay Rodrigues, though the company is now based in Cranston, RI.




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