Friday Tech Roundup: Cell phone driving ban, Police brutality spread on social media 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.

• The Philadelphia Business Journal reports that the city’s cell phone ban is for real now. After passing City Council last week, it seemed doomed from statewide angst for a municipality creating a varying driving standard. It seems some state funding is still in danger because of the move.

More:

• ReadWriteWeb helps make the case that Valley Forge-based search engine startup Duck Duck Go could actually garner market share. Seriously.
• The Inquirer reports that alleged excessive force by police was captured on video (watch at bottom) and then spread using social media, mostly by the involved party — largely members of the Philadelphia-based punk rock band Valencia, depicted above. And, yes, it all went down on South Street. More from Phrequency.
• The Associated Press reports that a survey shows 60 percent of Twitter users don’t return after a month of joining. Its flood of new users could be outnumbered by those abandoning the service. It’s a lesson in what a lot of active Twitter users know; right now it’s fashionable, but when it isn’t anymore, those active users will remain as a tighter community of users. Done.
• The Business Journal reports that Genaera, one of our region’s oldest biotechnology companies founded in 1987, is halting business. The Plymouth Meeting-based firm will seek the board’s approval for disilution. In its three decades of operation it never, and this is true, got a product to market. Oh yeah?
• Daily News tech columnist Jonathan Takiff comes up with another doozy: tech-related Mother’s Day gifts. We can only hope he doesn’t feel good about writing that in his tech column.
• The Business Journal’s Peter Key on his new technology blog reports that Lockheed Martin says they will likely be able to retain its 12,000 employees in the region. The only reason we’re accepting that the Business Journal has a new tech blog is because I have played air guitar with Peter Key, and, no, I’m not joking.
• The Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez reports that PhillyCareShare is adding a $15 monthly subscription fee to stabilize its capital. The pioneering car-sharing company has cut its fleet by 100 to about 325 and is tightening its belt in the economy.
• The Inquirer’s City Hall bureau says propositions for increasing the city’s wage tax are dead for now. Yeah — I already showed my disinterest in any city tax hikes. Stu Bykofsky agrees, so it has to be true.
• Valeria Maltoni on Social Media Today writes about monetizing online video. Valeria, will you go talk to newspapers then?

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