Switch Philly: Technically Philly’s Event An Epic Success
October 13, 2010

Simply put: Switch Philly was awesome. As a member of the tech scene here in Philadelphia I’ve had the privilege to mingle with some truly brilliant minds. It’s become almost commonplace for me to get a first hand account of a cutting edge technology’s capabilities from the very person who created it. Those of you who know me may say, “Duh, Parker. You work at Indy Hall!” Touché, my friend. However, I believe Philly proved last Wednesday night that it’s tech scene is no longer in it’s infancy. Is it still growing? Absolutely. Exponentially in fact. But Switch Philly provided a great snapshot of how far we’ve come, as well as some insight into where we’re headed.

Quick. Credits. Switch was put together by Technically Philly and local entrepreneur Jameson Detweiler. Thanks go to them and the generous sponsors listed on the Switch Philly site. The premise of the event was simple. Five different Philly-based companies presented their latest and greatest tech toys for those of us in attendance to get geeked about. Instead of going the soft route and just patting them all on the back, I’ve decided to just rank them by order of awesome-ness. This is just my take. If you disagree, simply watch the video of the presentation and decide for yourself. Now, without further adieu, my list.

5. Zecozi. Equal parts Etsy, social media, and green conscious products, Zecozi is definitely unique. It enables you to see your friends that are shopping, their purchases, what they’re looking at, and even allows you to engage with the seller of the product you’re checking out. It’s pretty slick. That said, I wasn’t super excited about this one because frankly, I don’t like shopping, on or offline. If you do, definitely click through and check out what Zecozi is all about.

4. PackLate. Do you love to travel? Appreciate spontaneity? Then you’ll definitely love PackLate. PackLate makes finding last minute vacation rental sites so easy, it’s actually kinda fun. CEO Steve Barsh walked us through the process of finding a property (all of which are professionally managed) and even showed us how to game the system. The whole premise is that the later you book, the lower the price goes. Who doesn’t like a good tightrope game mechanic that rewards you with savings? Check it out.

3. CommonSpace. You know those times when your friend who works kinda far away wants to meet up for dinner/drinks, and you can’t seem to find a good halfway spot? Problem solved. Local geospatial analysis firm (yeah, I said it) Azavea has created CommonSpace… and it… is… awesome. Quite possibly the sweetest use of Google Maps to date, even if you never use the site (which you will) you should at least go see how it works. It’s super simple and it’s in beta which means they are oh so eager to add the cool feature you think of as you’re playing with it. Go see for yourself.

2. Apostrophe. Building websites is difficult. Adding content is hard. Changing things you’ve made already takes a looooooong time. Well, not anymore. Geoff Dimasi and his team over at P’unk Ave live demoed Apostrophe 1.5, the latest release of their open-sourced Content Management System. In doing so, they taught me that even my Mom, who doesn’t, to date, know what a FILE is, can build a website. Amazing. You have to see for yourself. Do it. Now.

1. Myna. Brought into reality by Dr. Greg Wilder’s Old City based Orpheus Media Research, Myna is truly a triumph of innovation through the meeting of music, technology, and psychological research. You know how you can hear two pieces of music and say, “Hey, those two songs sound alike.” Well, it’s easy for us to do, with our big squishy brains, but reverse engineering the underlying mechanisms at play and teaching a computer to recreate it has been an immensely challenging feat. Apparently it’s not as simple as plugging some USB ears into your laptop and downloading the Human Emotions app. Crazy, cause I was sure that’d work. Greg basically taught robots to listen to music. And he did it right here in Philly. Check it out to learn more.

To learn more about Technically Philly’s event, visit Switch Philly’s official website. And scope out the video below. Well done boys. Well done.

Source: http://geekadelphia.com/2010/10/13/switch-philly-technically-phillys-event-an-epic-success/