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Friday Tech Links: Philly handling recession, First Round Capital frequents New York and more

In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun. See others here. When it comes to ultimate economy metaphors, it’s time for car talk. Philadelphia is only experiencing a tank of bad gasoline, not a shot transmission, Inquirer […]

First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman is interviewed by Sammantha Ettus and Gary Vaynerchuk of ObsessedTV

First Round Capital's Josh Kopelman is interviewed by Sammantha Ettus and Gary Vaynerchuk of ObsessedTV

First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman is interviewed by Sammantha Ettus and Gary Vaynerchuk of ObsessedTV


In which we link out to the tech news from Philly and elsewhere (when it matters) that slips through the cracks and make it way fun. See others here. When it comes to ultimate economy metaphors, it’s time for car talk. Philadelphia is only experiencing a tank of bad gasoline, not a shot transmission, Inquirer Business Reporter Mike Armstrong said Wednesday. Of course, we only kid. It’s good news for Philly, which ranked 37th strongest of 100 major U.S. metros in a quarterly economic health report issued by the Brookings Institution. Hell, times ain’t rough for Delaware-based online advertiser eZanga. Fortune Magazine ranked it as one of the 15 fastest-growing marketing and advertising companies in the U.S., despite Internet advertising taking its first downturn since 2002 in the first quarter, reports Delaware Online. But do you know the problem with too much good news? Not enough drama. After the jump, how First Round Capital is ditching Philly for our lesser-neighbor up North, why social networking and work don’t mix, and gosh darnit, more proof that no one can fix that Philly budget deficit. Plus more goodies. In order of importance for your ease.

  • Seems like First Round Capital is spendin’ a little too much time in the Big Apple lately. Last week, founder Josh Kopelman did a breezy interview on Obsessed with Samantha Ettus, a Web show created with North Jersey’s wine connoisseur and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk. Wednesday, First Round announced that it was launching a startup mentoring program in the New York region, reports Peter Key of the Philadelphia Business Journal. Ouch. Don’t drink the Kool-aid, Josh, it’s probably a Pinot.
  • Employers are stressing about workers who talk smack about their companies on social networks, McClatchy Newspapers reports. We’re down with firing food service workers who posted YouTube videos sneezing on pizza, or amazingly enough, bathing in a stainless steel restaurant sink, but we’d be damned to say we haven’t complained about co-workers on Facebook. Maybe city employee Latrice Bryant, who took heat last fall for calling Fox 29 racist for reporting that she allegedly used company time for personal business, should take note. She’s recently been criticized for several postings on her Facebook account: “Would you sell your soul to the devil for 90k?” she wrote as her status, before deleting the message. Bryant earned $90,000 from the City of Philadelphia last year, the Daily News reports.
  • A taxi driver that hit a woman riding a bicycle in South Philadelphia and sped off seemingly doesn’t have a chance of getting away with it. The cabbie musta forgot that every taxi is fitted with a GPS device that inspectors at Philadelphia Parking Authority are tracking, MyFoxPhilly reports.
  • No one can balance that damned Philly budget. Of 3,000 users that participated in the Economy League’s Philadelphia Budget Challenge that we reported on in April, nearly 60 percent ended up with a deficit.
  • Remember MaBell? No? Hit up your Encyclopedia Britannica (or Google, for you new heads). Well, even if you’ve forgotten, PhillyOfficeRetail.com hasn’t. The developers are collecting old-school call centers, including an 84,000 square-foot former Verizon Corp. building at 7200 Chestnut St., and others, reports PhillyDeals’ Joseph DiStefano. To think: someday someone will be collecting antiquated startup offices that moved up and onward.
  • Newspapers ain’t doing all that bad. Malvern’s AnySource Media, which we covered in our Friday Q&A in April, has struck a deal with The Associated Press for the content provider to distribute a 24-hour on-demand news platform on the TV box, according to a press release. Oh wait. That’s actually no good for newspapers.
  • Our Most Trafficked Story of the Week: Ten Philadelphia tech organizations that should have Wikipedia entries but don’t.

Every Friday morning we make sure you didn’t miss anything with Friday Tech Links.

Companies: ezanga / First Round Capital / Pennsylvania Economy League
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