City’s Philly 311 app wins City Paper’s Big Vision award [LINKS]

Big Vision Awards: Government and Politics — Philly’s 311 App [Philadelphia City Paper] “A city-government effort that’s quick, responsive and kinda cool? Yes, it exists, as of this year.” The city’s proposed “front door” website for vacant properties also gets a nod. City Paper writes: “The website where you can track vacant properties is a big help (and long overdue). If Maria Quiñones-Sánchez can get her land-bank legislation passed, there might be some hope for mitigating this city’s vacant-land problem.”

Google wants to dump Horsham but keep patents: reports [Philadelphia Inquirer]

New mysterious government office is now official [Philly.com] The Daily News’ politics blog reports on the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics becoming official this week (Mayor Michael Nutter signed an executive order to create the office). The blog writes: “Their salaries total $200,000, and Nutter said he is “not anticipating any additional expense” from the department.” Read more about the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics here.

Inquirer and Daily News headed for online paywall [Newsworks]

Talking Small Biz: Wharton grad finds genie in a (water) bottle [Philadelphia Daily News] The Daily News does a Q&A with the social entrepreneurs behind reusable filtration water bottle Hydros Bottle. Read more about Hydros Bottle here.

Talking Small Biz: Virtual Piggy keeps young shoppers safe online [Philadelphia Daily News] “[Jo] Webber, who has a doctorate in quantum physics and is a mother of two young children, is a serial entrepreneur who previously ran two Philly-based companies. She started Virtual Piggy here in 2008, and the small company later went public. Virtual Piggy, which trades over the counter (VPIG) and has a market cap of $113 million, moved its headquarters to Hermosa Beach, Calif., in June.”