Startup Roundup: Comcast applies for patent to halt ad fast-forwarding, Duck Duck Go to accept sponsorship

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

Radnor’s Guideworks, a joint venture of Comcast and TV Guide, which maintains Comcast’s interactive programming grid—likely one of your daily-used UIs—has applied for a patent that will display “substitute media” when you fast forward through an advertisement. That’s right folks; your Comcast ad-skipping days will soon be coming to a close.
Viddler has opened its HTML5 beta, timed with some hot press from USA Today to boot. Like our coverage of Fishtown design shop WellFed last week, Viddler’s another local company effected by Steve Job’s anti-Adobe-ism, if that was a word.

MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

Duck Duck Go founder Gabe Weinberg announced on his blog Monday that the startup search engine would begin accepting a small 85 pixel sponsor banner on the right sidebar. Should be pretty lucrative; the site served 1,182,204 results last month, Weinberg says.
Startup Leaders has posted more than a dozen video interviews with attendees of the 2010 Entrepreneurs Expo.
Philadelphia Business Journal covers Plymouth Meeting’s MultiFunding, a platform that helps small businesses find lenders. According to the publication, the software will also provide consolidated debt services in a new product release.

GIVE A GLANCE

Conshohocken-based VCopious, which creates virtual environments for companies behind a firewall, has appointed Kenyon Hayward as its Chief Executive Officer. Hayward was formerly with Center City’s RedLasso. Hayward left the streaming video company as it changed direction, facing copyright litigation.
Philly collaborative tool WizeHive—which lets folks track all those pesky potential employees, admissions and contest entries—launched an iPhone app Monday.
Motivas Mobile vice president of sales Chuck Sacco spoke at the 16th annual Pocono Mountains Tourmism Day about mobile marketing. At attractions in the Pennsylvania resort town, folks are showing up with only a cell phone in hand, Sacco says, so “It’s very situational marketing.” Could be great at advice for our own VisitPhilly. Motivas acquired Jersey’s Phindme Mobile in December, as we reported.
<a href="http://technical.ly/philly/companies/usa-technologies"USA Technologies closed on its public offering that it announced last week, raising approximately $2.47 million for general capital and to manufacture products.
Startup Roundup will post weekly on Wednesdays until there’s not a Philly startup story left to link to on the Internet. See others here.