A New iPhone…But Not for Verizon

On Tuesday, Apple announced its latest iPhone, an AT&T exclusive. So why won’t local Big Red reps shut up about it?

Yesterday in San Jose, California, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was on-hand for what has become a June tradition: the unveiling of the company's latest iPhone.The new smartphone has a handful of new bells and whistles: a stainless steel rim, a thinner form factor, a faster processor, better battery life, a video conferencing camera and an impressive new high-resolution display, among other technological advancements.But one new feature that didn't crop up was support for Verizon Wireless's network. Currently, the coveted phone is only available for AT&T Wireless.It's no surprise, really. Analysts and fans have been predicting since the iPhone was first launched in 2007 that the phone will someday land on Verizon store shelves, to no avail.

What Philly Techies Can Learn from Philly Beer Drinkers

A tale of two scenes

Next week, the city’s bars, breweries and pubs will be center stage as the third annual Philly Beer Week kicks off. The event gives the city’s beer scene a chance to shine on a national spotlight, attracting outsiders to see the beer culture that has been growing rapidly in Philadelphia.Meanwhile, the city’s technology scene is experiencing a similar revival. After being nonexistent for years, the city suddenly has a handful of events the blend culture and technology to help put Philadelphia in a broader national conversation about new startups, investment and innovative ideas.The two “scenes” overlapped this week with the creation of the Philly Beer Week iPhone app by a group of volunteers. The application helps Philly Beer Week attendees easily find their next watering hole during the week-long festival and uses geolocation to tell you the event nearest to you. Technically Philly thinks, however, that the two burgeoning scenes have much in common and have a lot to learn from one another.

Can Tech Make Philly a World-Class City?

A lot of young people think so. And so does the Economy League

Inside the pages of this magazine's December 2008 issue, the 100 moments that most shaped this city were listed in careful detail. No. 66 was Philadelphia's 1976 celebration of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — and the celebration's failure to live up to expectations of what could have been a "splashy affair befitting its status as the nation's birthplace." Instead, that feature's contributors dubbed it "a glorified community-theater production of The Music Man."Maybe that's what has the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia and its Executive Director Steven Wary all hot and bothered.

Philly’s Top 10 Tech-Savvy Hotspots

Mobile geolocation is letting users broadcast where they hang. Here’s a look at Philly’s favorites, according to Foursquare.

Coordinating your friends for a night out in any city can be chaotic. The texts and phone calls required to get everyone at the same place at the same time can get tiresome. Luckily, as Apple says, there’s an app for that.Mobile geolocation app Foursquare allows users to “check in” wherever they are, sending a notice to friends and online followers. Ideally, friends can then potentially catch up with each other during a night out.

Down with the Tech Tax!

Rendell wants to tax exempted computer professionals. We remember the last time that happened.

Pennsylvania lawmakers sounded a warning bell last week, predicting a $1 billion deficit if taxes aren't increased or significant spending cuts executed. And for the first time in close to two decades, computer services professionals are being looked to to help bridge the gap.

Rebooting Innovation Philadelphia

Last week, Mayor Street’s once-promising Innovation Philadelphia initiative started over. Here are our recommendations for the economic development group.

Before its tenth birthday, Innovation Philadelphia will have to decide what it wants to be when it grows up.The grant-funded economic development group, with a goal of attracting young professionals to the city's "creative economies," was formed in 2001 during Mayor Street's administration with support from economic and academic leaders. More recently, though, the group has been better known for underwriting research to help postulate how the city can attract young professionals. With those ends, it hosts the annual Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit and produces the Entrepreneur's Resource Guide.

Philadelphia 3.0

Five ways city government should embrace the Web — and make all of our lives easier

The use of technology to transform government has been a growing municipal interest in city halls across the country.Here, the City of Philadelphia has announced intentions to release a service-orientated 311 iPhone application, it's applying for ultra high-speed broadband from Google and it's in hot pursuit of a funded team of developers and technologists which may someday make our every government transparency dreams come true.

There’s No Place Like Philadelphia for iPhone Users

Unlike Silicon Valley and New York City, AT&T is bragging about network satisfaction in Philadelphia

Since launching three years ago, the iPhone has undeniably altered the mobile market.The iconic device changed the way manufacturers design and price mobile phones. It introduced mobile data consumption to the masses. And it's been a testament to Apple's ability to capture and reshape markets, like it once did with the iPod portable music player and like it's trying to do once again with the recent launch of the iPad tablet computer.

Where History Goes High Tech

The Historical Society’s new web portal brings to life Philly neighborhoods during the Industrial Revolution

Since she was a young woman studying at Rutgers University, 67-year-old Donna Meidt has traced her family ancestry by collecting stories from relatives, studying history books, and visiting the small mountain village of Gasperina in Italy, where her great-grandparents began raising their family more than a century ago.The focus of her life's work has been on her grandfather, Antonio Nicola Pisano, who lived in Philadelphia's Queen Village neighborhood at the turn of the 20th century. Meidt remembers vividly the stories that Pisano shared with her about the life and family he left behind. "They were artists and they were poets," he often said.Pisano immigrated to America in 1911 at the age of 16, moving into a boarding house at Fifth and Catherine streets. The young man studied as a shoemaker's apprentice at a factory in Center City. But his passion, too, was the arts.