Center City : In The News

The Los Angeles Times digs into the implications of last week's announcement by Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., publisher of The Inquirer and Daily News, which will offer deeply discounted Android tablets for reading news.

Philadelphia's two largest newspapers -- the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News -- are planning on launching a low-priced Android tablet for subscribers later this year.

Greg Osberg, chief executive of the Philadelphia Media Group, which is the company that oversees both papers and their joint website Philly.com, said in announcing the plan that the move to bundle tablets with content from a newspaper company will be the first of its kind.

Source: Los Angeles Times
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Philadelphia Science Leadership Academy principal Chris Lehmann is among those educators calling for a redefinition of how technology is used in education, according to TMCNet.

As Chris Lehmann closed the recent International Society for Technology in Education's annual conference, he implored the audience at his keynote address here to redraw the educational technology battle lines.

"No one is arguing we shouldn't use technology in education anymore," said Mr. Lehmann, the founding principal of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy, a public high school devoted to inquiry-based, project-driven learning. "The question is how." The call for redefining debate echoed throughout the formal sessions at the conference last month and at informal events at nearby hotels, restaurants, and bars, and even in casual conversations among the more than 20,000 estimated attendees. And, perhaps more important, it was expressed in data released by Project Tomorrow, the Software and Information Industry Association, and technology company CDW-G.

Source: TMCNet
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A new survey by the Brookings Institution ranks Philadelphia fifth among U.S. metropolitan areas when it comes to green jobs, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco considers itself a leader of the green economy, a font of eco-friendly jobs.

But according to a new survey, Philadelphia has more. So do Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

The survey, to be released today by the Brookings Institution, attempts to count green jobs nationwide. It ranked San Francisco sixth among U.S. metropolitan areas, with 51,811 jobs providing goods or services that help the environment.

Original source: San Francisco Chronicle
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The Bowery Presents rock club group will open Union Transfer in Philadelphia in the former Spaghetti Warehouse building on Spring Garden Street, with help from local impresarios Sean Agnew and Avram Hornik, according to The New York Times.

The Bowery Presents empire of rock clubs and theaters has already expanded from the Lower East Side to New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maine, and now it is spreading to Pennsylvania.

Working with two local partners, the company is opening Union Transfer, a new performance space near Center City in Philadelphia with room for 600 people. The first show will be Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on Sept. 21, and other coming shows include Shellac on Sept. 29, Wild Flag on Oct. 19 and Boris on Oct. 28, according to an announcement on Tuesday by Bowery Presents. About 200 shows a year are planned for the space, which was once a train depot and more recently a Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant.

Source: The New York Times

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The Philadelphia Horticultural Society's Pop-Up Garden at 20th and Market Streets is not so secret anymore, according to Off Manhattan.

Pop-ups appear in cities everywhere, but mostly selling European sneakers and street artwork. In Philadelphia, things are a bit more down to earth, literally. The Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PHS) recently teamed up with a variety of local businesses, star chefs, academics, artists and urban farmers to create the PHS Pops Up, a temporary garden carved out of a once-gritty vacant lot at the corner of Market and 20th streets.

The nearly 32,000 square-foot temporary oasis�unveiled on June 13th -- is home to a seasonal mix of herbs, vegetables, flowers, and grains, all planted in a pattern inspired by Piet Mondrian's geometric grid compositions. Arching over the entrance to the space is "�colibrium," an exhibit of sustainable greenery erected by Temple University Ambler for this year's Philadelphia International Flower Show. Visitors can check out the verdant spot every Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 2p.m., when the grounds will host tours, fitness classes (botanical bootcamp?), and workshops on topics like container gardening and edible landscapes.

Source: Off Manhattan
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The Chicago Tribune marvels at Philly's outdoor art scene through a pair of tours showcasing the groundbreaking work of the Mural Arts program..

On my latest trip there, Philadelphia again stole my heart. But this time, instead of falling for Philly's red-bricked history, I fell for its outside art. Nicknamed the City of Murals, Philadelphia has more than 3,000 outdoor murals. The nonprofit City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program (MAP) collection includes 1,700 painted walls.

Although founded to help eradicate graffiti in 1984, under Executive Director Jane Golden, MAP now connects artists with communities by creating art in public spaces. When travelers pay for a guided tour from MAP, it helps support Mural Arts' education and youth development, including the Restorative Justice Program, which teaches inmates, ex-offenders and juvenile delinquents how to paint murals.

Source: The Chicago Tribune
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Mummies of the World exhibit opens at The Franklin Institute, making its only East Coast stop in the U.S. on its worldwide tour, according to the Daily Mail.

The wraps are coming off a blockbuster exhibit this weekend at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

A haunting new exhibit entitled 'Mummies of the World' is set to open this Saturday. It will be the largest travelling exhibition ever assembled of mummies.

The exhibit will feature 45 mummies of humans and animals, ranging from 250 years old to nearly 6,500 years old.

Source: Daily Mail (UK)
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Comcast and Skype partner to bring VoiP to HDTV, according to ZDNet.

Comcast and Skype announced that the two have struck up a deal to bring the VoIP service to Comcast HDTVs. This could prove to be a lot more useful than just a video chat with relatives.

Skype users will be able to utilize most of the familiar functions of the desktop app. That consists of being able to make and receive Skype video and audio calls, as well as send messages - all through an HDTV connected to a Comcast adapter box. (Naturally, that TV is going to need a webcam installed somewhere.)

Source: ZDNet
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Comcast is about to enter the home security market, according to Bloomberg News.

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), the largest U.S. cable-television provider, is rolling out a home-security business as it seeks sales growth beyond TV services.

The Philadelphia-based company is starting Xfinity Home Security in seven markets for $39.95 a month. It lets users remotely adjust lights and thermostats, watch cameras, and get e-mail or text alerts when doors and windows are opened and closed. Customers can watch live video of their homes on an Xfinity website or with an Apple Inc. iPad application.

Source: Bloomberg News

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Philadelphia residents speak up about politics, budget cuts and jobs for CNN's The Listening Tour.

Philadelphia is the nation's fifth-largest city, and just like most other places in the United States, it's struggling with budget cuts, layoffs and crime.

As the 2012 election nears, Philly residents say their top concerns include political nepotism, joblessness and a struggling public education system:

"With government, it's like you keep moving up, and you stay and you stay with your old ideas that don't make sense, and they don't work," said Ain� Ardron-Doley, 34, a Philadelphia marketing manager.

Source: CNN
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Viridity Energy partners with Saft and Envitech on the first trackside energy storage system in North America, recycling energy from braking SEPTA trains and trolleys, according to the New York Times.

Subway trains need a lot of electricity to get going, turning electricity into kinetic energy, the energy of movement. When they pull into a station, many of them can do the opposite: generate electricity from their momentum. They turn their motors into generators to slow the train, producing current.

But in many systems, some of that energy goes to waste because of a bottleneck: the third rail, which carries current to the train, cannot handle as much energy as the train is generating during deceleration. Too much current pushes up the voltage, and when the voltage gets too high, the electricity is dissipated by running it through a piece of metal that converts it into heat.

But in Philadelphia, on the Market-Frankford line of the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority, a new company called Viridity Energy will install batteries to capture a lot of that electricity and hold it while the train is in the station. Then it can deliver the power when the train starts up again or store it for a time of day when it is needed more.

Source: The New York Times
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The New York Times realizes a rich artistic landscape in Philadelphia that came alive at the Friday opening of the Opera Company of Philadelphia's "Phaedra" American premiere.

And in the Perelman Theater, an intimate space at the Kimmel Center, just steps away from the Philadelphia Orchestra's dimly regarded home at Verizon Hall, the Opera Company of Philadelphia has scored a substantial artistic coup with the American premiere of "Phaedra," a compelling 2007 opera by Hans Werner Henze. Part of the company's growing contemporary chamber-opera initiative, a new production directed by Robert B. Driver, opened on Friday night.

That this opera, an 80-minute setting of a German libretto by Christian Lehnert, exists at all is something of a miracle. Mr. Henze had announced that his previous opera, "L'Upupa," or "The Hoopoe, and the Triumph of Filial Love" (2003), would be his last. Then, having completed most of the first act of "Phaedra" in 2005, Mr. Henze, already ailing, fell into a two-month coma, from which his recovery was uncertain.

Original source: The New York Times
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University of Pennsylvania urbanism professor Witold Rybczynski writes about New York City's elevated park, the High Line II, and talks about Philly's proposed Reading Viaduct park in a New York Times op-ed.

THE second section of the High Line, the park built atop an abandoned elevated rail trestle on the west side of Manhattan, is scheduled to open next month. Like a movie sequel, High Line II will have some things that are the same -- more of those neat high-tech concrete planks underfoot and "peel-up" benches -- as well as some things that are different: a "woodland flyover" of dense vegetation; a lawn; and a dramatic glass cutout exposing traffic on the street below. Food carts and something called a wine porch are promised, as well as a Renzo Piano-designed restaurant.

The second phase will undoubtedly receive as much news media hoopla and public enthusiasm as the first, which opened in 2009. But its designers want it to be even more, a model for a new sort of town planning, dubbed "landscape urbanism." Indeed, High Line-type projects are being discussed for Chicago (the Bloomingdale Trail), Philadelphia (the Reading Viaduct), Jersey City (the Sixth Street Embankment) and St. Louis (the Iron Horse Trestle).

Source: The New York Times
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Comcast Interactive Capital and DreamIt Ventures partner to provide business development to minority owned initiatives, according to TechCrunch.

Comcast Interactive Capital, the venture capital arm of the media giant, has partnered with Philadelphia based venture fund and startup accelerator Dreamit Ventures to provide seed funding, training, mentoring and other benefits to minority-led startups through DreamIt's accelerator program.

The new $350,000 fund will give five minority-led startups for its Fall Philadelphia 2011 program a extra infusion of capital on top of the funding DreamIt provides for its class of startups. For Comcast Interactive Capital, this is the first investment initiative from the $20 million fund that was created as part of the acquisition of NBC Universal. The $20 million fund will be used to invest in other minority led startups and initiatives (outside of DreamIt), mainly in the technology sector.

Source: TechCrunch
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The Washington Post trumpets the Philadelphia Orchestra's proving its worth during a Kennedy Center performance on Friday.

Obviously no one expected the orchestra, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April, to take the stage in patched evening wear, with broken bows and dented brass, or to pass the hat at intermission. Members of the staff were, though, wearing buttons saying "Listen with your heart," the slogan of the ongoing fundraising campaign hoping to mitigate a structural deficit of $14.5 million.

Expectations went, if anything, the other way -- on the high side. The Philadelphia Orchestra is a regular guest in Washington, thanks to the Washington Performing Arts Society, whose president, Neale Perl, mentioned in his standard pre-concert remarks that this was the orchestra's 40th WPAS appearance. Those appearances are usually among the season's best orchestra concerts that the Washington audience gets to hear on its home turf.

No fear. Friday's concert was one of the best I've heard from the orchestra in years.

Source: The Washington Post
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