In The News

Chester Springs-based Y + B provides a new kind of boxed wine for N.C. store

Cary Citizen Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Sip...A Wine Store in Cary, N.C. sells organic, sustainably produced wines and recently did a testing with Chester Springs-based Y + B Wines, which gives new life to boxed varieties.

The organic wine business, although only 3% of all wine sold, is the fastest growing segment, experiencing 35% growth last year. Y+B ‘s business has quadrupled since opening in their base town of Philadelphia.

Original source: Cary Citizen
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Industrial designers look to develop sensual map of Philadelphia

Metropolis Mag Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Philadelphia architect, fine artist and teacher Joseph G. Brin interviews Industrial Design Society of American North East District VP Elect Stephan Clambaneva in advance of the organization's conference at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on April 13-14.

The workshop is called a “Sense of Philadelphia.” We intend to conduct a workshop to develop a “sensual” map of Philadelphiia.

Participants will split into groups and explore how to make the intangible tangible by using the five senses and the Great City of Philadelphia as inspiration. Using their sense kits each participant will capture his or her sense in a bottle, or in this case, a petri dish and in about two hours, the teams will manage to use these to generate a variety of potential new products or services that highlight, showcase, help experience or, in some cases, illuminate those quintessential sensual experiences only Philadelphia can offer!

Original source: Metropolis Mag
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The $25 Skype concert: Presenting Philly folk artist Denison Witmer's highly intimate new tour

Mashable Thursday, March 15, 2012

Philadelphia-based folk musician Denison Witmer has taken to performing short, one-of-a-kind shows on Skype, a daring effort that has proven popular among his most diehard fans, reports Mashable.

For $25, Witmer will play a song of your choice (two if you’re lucky) and the chance to chat with him after the performance. After one purchases a Skype show, Witmer and his manager help arrange a time and date via email.

Given the unique nature of these shows, there’s been a bit of a learning curve on his end. "I'm trying to figure out what the exact limit is that I can handle,” Witmer says. “In a lot of ways it’s similar to a concert, but it's also a totally different experience. The scheduling part is more work that the actual playing or talking to people."

Original source: Mashable
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Philly ranks 30th on global city competitiveness list

The Economist Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Philadelphia ranked 30th overall, just behind Dallas, Dublin, Madrid and Seattle and ahead of Berlin, Atlanta, Oslo and Brussels, in The Economist Intelligence Unit's report Hot Spots: Benchmarking Global City Competitiveness. We were tied for 10th when it came to institutional effectiveness with a bunch of other American cities and 16th when it came to human capital.

Size alone does not determine a city’s growth potential. While some megacities, such as New York and Tokyo, are immensely influential, there are smaller ones, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which have established themselves as globally competitive centres in recent years. Meanwhile, emerging market cities such as Ahmedabad and Tianjin are witnessing double-digit economic growth and have the potential to grow even faster.

Original source: The Economist
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Wrap-Up: Feeling the Flower Show from near and far

WHYY, Forbes, Big Island Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Philadelphia Flower Show, which came to a close on Sunday, went Hawaiian this year, and judging by these reports from WHYY, Forbes and Big Island, Aloha is a five-letter word for breathtaking.

(from Forbes) The central thematic display this year is the "Orchid Wave," a semi-enclosed glass space in the shape of a wave with projections of 3-D fish, sea turtles, surfers, and other images that roll over the heads of visitors. Between the segments of constantly moving 3-D scenery are rows of what Flower Show officials say is the largest display of white orchids and anthuriums ever assembled. It has the feeling of being in an aquarium as it does a wave.

Original sources: WHYY, Forbes and Big Island

Tweet to win two tickets to Phorum 2012, a $600 value

Phorum 2012 Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Phorum 2012, the inaugural technology conference for business and IT executives that will explore cloud computing, is giving away a pair of tickets for its March 28 event at World Cafe Live.

To win, all you have to do is tell us – in 140 characters – what possibilities you see for cloud computing in your business. Just write to us on Twitter @PhorumPhilly. Our panel of industry leading judges will choose the 2 they find most creative and compelling.

You can submit entries from March 12th at 12 noon to March 19th at 12 noon. We’ll only accept one entry per Twitter handle, and the ticket is nontransferable. It has no cash value and you’re on your own for transportation.

Original source: Phorum 2012
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Putting a fork in Perrier, Le Bec-Fin, and Philly's fine dining

The New York Times Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The New York Times catches up with Georges Perrier's exit at Le Bec-Fin and the changing tastes of fine dining in Philadelphia.

In recent decades, though, that din was starting to get a lot louder elsewhere. Around the same time that David Lee Roth stopped sleeping, diners in cities like Philadelphia -- diners, like me, who were totally psyched to have some ethereal hummus before, say, going to a Van Halen concert -- started waking up to a new way of going out to dinner.

Colman Andrews, the editorial director of The Daily Meal, told me that Le Bec-Fin represented “the last of a dying breed. Every city of any size used to have at least one ‘fancy’ French restaurant, where the food was serious, the atmosphere was a little starchy and the service was correct. But the audience for good restaurants today wants their dining experiences to be casual and comfortable. They may still demand good, complex food, at least some of the time, but they don’t want to have to dress up to enjoy it, or to feel as if they’re dining in a museum.”

Original source: The New York Times
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The buck strolls on Baltimore Ave. in University City

MonkeyDish Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Baltimore Ave.'s Dollar Stroll in University City makes MonkeyDish's list of 50 great ideas among national restaurant innovations.

Each Stroll has attracted over a thousand patrons who don’t mind waiting in line to sample the familiar at shops such as Milk & Honey Market, which specializes in local cheese, produce and their own urban honey, and far-away cuisines at Desi Chaat House and Vientiane Cafe.

Original source: MonkeyDish
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'Grocery store of the future' tests QR codes in Philly

The Atlantic Cities Tuesday, March 06, 2012

The Atlantic Cities reports on online grocer Peapod's placement of virtual storefronts at select SEPTA stations throughout Philadelphia.

While awaiting a train, users can download the Peapod app, peruse the items in front of them, and scan the barcode of anything they'd like to purchase. The groceries are delivered to their homes later that day.

Philly marks the idea's American debut, but a number of international cities already have similar services.

Original source: The Atlantic Cities
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MetaLayer's new data community 'Delv' promotes visualization sharing

VentureBeat Tuesday, March 06, 2012

VentureBeat writes about Philadelphia startup MetaLayer as the "Photoshop of data" related to its new data community for users to share the visualizations they create from complex data sets.

People can pick apart the data that others have put together, and point out flaws or ask questions. Down the road the company hopes the platform will become a place to share data visualizations created by “real people”, not statisticians and professional analysts.

Original source: VentureBeat
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Vote expected this week on 40-foot sculpture for new Barnes

The New York Times Tuesday, March 06, 2012

The New York Times teases the Philadelphia Art Commission's expected Wednesday vote to approve plans for a 40-foot high stainless steel sculpture at the new Barnes Foundation site on the Ben Franklin Parkway.

The sculpture, called “The Barnes Totem,’’ was designed to echo the vertical forms of the red maple trees lining a path to the museum’s entrance. Mr. Kelly selected the site in collaboration with the landscape architect Laurie Olin and architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien.

Original source: The New York Times
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Escape 'middle-management hell' like Movitas' Chuck Sacco

CNN Tuesday, February 28, 2012

CNN includes Chuck Sacco's story, including co-founding PhindMe Mobile in 2007 and merging with Movitas in Bryn Mawr two years later, in a feature on managers who strike out on their own.

Another way Chuck Sacco, the PhindMe Mobile founder, helped his business: He discovered that teaching an entrepreneurship course at Drexel University was a great way to meet low-cost interns for his young business. Never taught before? Not a problem. Break in by volunteering to speak at a business-school class. Colleges and universities have an insatiable appetite for adjunct professors like Sacco, who also happens to have an MBA -- from Drexel.

Original source: CNN
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Navy Yard transition keeps 793-acre site bustling

Area Development Tuesday, February 28, 2012

It has been 40 years since new ship construction at Navy shipyards ended, and Area Development delves into redevelopment at a few, including the transformation in South Philly's Philadelphia Navy Yard.

The 167-acre historic core of the Navy Yard, with more than 2.5 acres of waterfront, is actually on the National Register of Historic Places. The core offers opportunities for renovation of existing buildings for commercial use, and for the conversion of older loft space to residential use.

Original source: Area Development
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Philadelphia Water Department $47.5M wastewater-to-biogas facility could save $12M in energy

Triple Pundit Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Triple Pundit reports on the Philadelphia Water Department's partnership with Texas-based Aeresco on a $47.5 million wastewater-to-biogas facility, which will have a capacity of 5.6 megawatts and is expected to save PWD $12 million on its energy bill over the course of a 16-year contract.

That’s part of a broader renewable energy goal the city set under its sustainability plan. In 2008 Philadelphia received only 2.4 percent of its electricity from alternative sources, and the aim is to get that up to 20 percent by 2015.

Wastewater treatment plants naturally produce copious amounts of biogas, since they involve the fairly straightforward process of decomposition. As microorganisms digest the organic material in wastewater, they produce gas. In the past, the gas was simply flared off for safety and odor prevention, but with impurities removed biogas can be stored, transported and used just like any other gas.

Original source: Triple Pundit
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Hot or Not, Philadelphia: Beautiful Streets project compares 200 of our streets

Architizer Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Architizer takes a look at Beautiful Streets, which uses pairwise surveys to compare 200 randomly selected streets in Philadelphia.

The site model may seem a bit antiquated (the dubious ethics behind its content is beyond dispute at this point), but here we are, with Beautiful Streets, which pairs two randomly selected Philadelphia streets and asks the user to decide which is more beautiful. "What makes a beautiful street, or a pleasant neighborhood?," the site asks. "Maybe that’s hard to define, but can you tell a beautiful place from somewhere that’s not so hot?" What turns out to be another outlet of fleeting distraction can actually provoke some interesting insights.

Original source: Architizer
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