TwizShow, an iOS app developed right here in Philly by Clickable Bliss, tests your knowledge of how well you know the people you follow on Twitter.

After logging in to your Twitter account, the game asks you 20 random questions like “Who has the most followers?”, “Who has the most tweets?”, and “Who tweeted this?”

Points are awarded based on number of correct answers and how quickly you get them. You even have three 50/50 tokens to use during the game to help you narrow down your choices.

The game fuses the multiple choice gameplay of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” with the stylings and soundtrack of retro game shows like “Press Your Luck” or “Card Sharks”. Big Money No Whammies. (more…)

So let’s say you own a small company and you need to find someone to design your logo or help with social media. And you want the person to be located in Philly (and why wouldn’t you?). What would you do?

Well, Alex Hillman and Linus Graybill have the answer for you. The two have launched We Work in Philly, a guide to all the people, places, companies and groups who call the City of Brotherly Love home. The site is a directory of almost anything you can think of that is located in and around Philadelphia. But when I asked co-founder Alex Hillman about it, he sees We Work in Philly as much more than that.

“We’re also hoping to inspire some Philly pride by asking people to add themselves and their affiliations to a Philly-branded website. Too often, people hear the less desirable things about Philly (if I have one more person bring up our sports fans throwing snowballs at Santa I’ll scream), so this site should make it easier to find stuff in Philly that’s positive.”

What might surprise you is that We Work in Philly is a community-edited website. Think Wikipedia for Philadelphia. That means anyone can add and edit anything on the site.

According to Hillman “Every guide and group in Philadelphia (and most other cities) is about a certain interest, and is limited to the scope of interest and knowledge of the editor. But this site is about an identity, so it needs to include a broader set of interests and knowledge. At Indy Hall, we’ve learned that the best things that have happened aren’t the ones we planned for, but instead, the ones we let happen.”

We Work in Philly is about more than working and networking; it’s about being a Philadelphian and what that means. If that sounds cool to you (and if your reading this, it should) check it out and become part of the community.

We Work in Philly
www.weworkinphilly.com

Like any good Philadelphian, any time friends or family come to visit me I take on the role of tour guide and host. The thing is, I’ve only been here a year and a half myself, so sometimes I’m not the best at pointing out all the cool stuff our fair city has to offer. Enter Lokadot (think “local” + “anecdote”, sorta rhymes with “rope-a-dope”) a free iPhone app aimed at visiting tourists and curious city-dwellers alike.

Lokadot serves up information on local attractions based on the iPhone’s built in GPS and offers plenty of options. You can tell the app whether you want it to auto play as you near something in its database, how often you want it to play new content, what kind of attractions to focus on, and how close you need to be before it points something out. In my experience wandering around the Art Museum and Center City areas for a few hours, the app did a spot on job of picking up where I was at and what was nearby. (more…)

New Hope, PA!

With social media becoming a huge part of people’s lives, it was only a matter of time until someone came up with a way to make a game of it. Social games, as they are called, have become the latest trend used by companies and organizations to involve their target audiences and make them feel like they are part of the action.

And now the Bucks County Tourism Office is joining the fun with their new social game Unforgetaways.

Running through Labor Day, Unforgetaways is a social game using platforms such as Twitter and Foursquare to engage with visitors to the area. People who want to participate just set out to finish certain tasks and then they can win prizes.

Some tasks are as simple as using Foursquare to check in at Peddler’s Village in Lahaska and post a photo online. You can then win an iPod Touch, overnight stays in the Bucks County area or tickets to Sesame Place. Not bad for doing something a lot of us were doing already.

The promotion is a first for the region and a very forward thinking idea. It’s nice to know that not only are there so many things to do right in our backyard, but that we can use our social media skills to win free stuff at the same time.

Visit Bucks County’s website for more information.

Evernote is amazing. No geek is safe in this world without it. Its mobile apps are only as limited as your imagination. Its desktop versions bring the staying power of a time capsule and the searching power of a database to your fingertips.

Okay, fine, I’m a fanboy.

One of the many simple but useful features of the service is the ability to email notes into your Evernote account. In this post I’ll list the simple steps you have to take to starts sending an RSS feed into your Evernote account, with some help from Instapaper.

Instapaper is a service that lets you bookmark long articles for later reading offline. It reformats those articles in a clean, mobile-friendly way and has advanced features like discreet folders and Kindle integration. If you use Longform.org and Instapaper together… you will never be without great stuff to read.

Now let’s feed your Evernote account some tasty Instapaper links. Directions after the jump.

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Like many other North Americans, I cast away math, science and perhaps even some religions in favor of putting my faith into a rodent to decide the fate of our seasons. Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, the namesake for 1993′s movie of the same name. While I could go at length in this post about the absolute wonders of this spectacular film, and judge those of you who haven’t seen it, I must tell you what Pennsylvania is up to this year (aside from Punxsutawney Phil’s usual antics).

Our wonderful state is unveiling its fourth badge, the “PA Groundhog Day” badge. This one can only be snagged TOMORROW. Just follow these simple steps:

First, follow visitPA on foursquare at foursquare.com/visitPA

Second, check in anywhere in the world and shout “groundhog” between 12:00AM and 11:59PM EST on 2/2/2011.

Details here: http://www.visitpa.com/groundhog-day

Brought to you by our lovely friends at Red Tettemer + Partners and visitPA.

UPDATE: We’ve just gotten word via Annie Heckenberger of Red Tettemer + Partners that visitPA’s Groundhog Day badge has the most unlocks of any single-day partner badge foursquare has ever done. Wow!

As the year draws to a close, I realize that a lot of my time was spent in Brave New Worlds buying a ton of comics, or just standing around talking to Brian and/or Rob. Before we ring in the new year I wanted to take a look back at some of my favorite comics throughout the year.  Some of which have been completed and collected into trades while others continue to roll out monthly, or if your Mark Millar or Grant Morrison, whenever you get it finished. So let’s get started!

1. Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour – Bryan Lee O’Malley’s awesome series concludes with Vol.6 and is without a doubt the best in the series.  After five books of Scott being hilarious and often at times an idiot, he evolves into a, dare I say it, mature adult. Looking back on his past interactions with his friends and family, Scott faces the reality of his actions. Not all of which were that heroic in fact. What may have been my favorite moments of the book were moments that happened off the page when Scott was so busy with his own problems, and failed to see what his closest friends were going through.

2. Batman and Robin – Bruce Wayne is lost in time, many people thinking he’s dead. In the wake of his absence, former boy wonder Dick Grayson takes the mantle of the bat, while Bruce’s son Damien, becomes the newest Robin. I really didn’t know what to expect from this book, but I got some of the best Batman and Robin stories I could have imagined. Not to mention the revolving door of artists such as Frank Quitely, Cameron Stewart, Andy Clarke, and Frazer Irving. Each bringing their own unique style to the story but never sacrificing story to show off their talent.

While the series is ongoing, I’d say you can’t get any better than the first 16 issues, which dealt with Bruce’s absence and the new dynamic duo working out their own personal issues to accept their new roles in protecting Gotham City.

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Full Disclosure: Venice Sunlight are friends of several Geekadelphians. We <3 them.

This past Saturday, local Philadelphia pop punk group Venice Sunlight decided to do what many groups have done lately… released a pay-what-you-want album to the Internets. Groups like Rediscover, Finch, You Me & Everyone We Know, and of course, Radiohead, have found success with this format, so why not some of our local hometown heroes?

The four song EP, entitled Vs. the Rabid Rabbits is available here, at the band’s Bandcamp page. The group celebrated the release of this EP on Saturday at PYT, to a sold out audience of over 100 people in the Northern Liberties restaurant’s backroom. If you’ve ever been to the tiny (but cozy!) backroom of PYT, you’ll know that squeezing that many folks back there is quite the accomplishment.

Give it a listen, and learn what all the fuss was about. Congrats boys.

Venice Sunlight’s Pay-What-You-Want EP [ Bandcamp.com ]

From iPads in their exhibits to broadcasting the Liberty Medal ceremony over the Internets, Philly’s National Constitution Center has been on a streak lately with their venture into techie side of the things. And this Wednesday, they are at it again.

The NCC is helping classrooms across the country celebrate Bill of Rights Day, by launching a free webcast show that will raise and answer questions in classrooms across the country. Experts from the NCC will also be live blogging to dish out all kinds of insight about the Bill of Rights’ history.

You can learn more about this exciting new program at the NCC’s official website.

Bill of Rights Day Webcast
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
www.constitutioncenter.org/hallpass

For those of you who fear crowds and hate the outdoors, the National Constitution Center is hosting a webcast of the upcoming 2010 Liberty Medal ceremony on 6ABC’s official website. This is kind of a big deal, as the NCC has never webcast the ceremony over the Internets before.

Unfamiliar with what’s going on? Bill Clinton is awarding Michael Sheen, who in a stunning turn of events will be played by Tony Blair, the 2010 Liberty Medal.

Why? Blair’s been working hard to advance peace in Northern Ireland and since leaving his role in the government, has “continued to facilitate productive dialogue between diverse groups, as Quartet Representative to the Middle East for the United Nations and through the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.” Good guy, that Blair.

The webcast starts at 7pm. For more info, hit up the Constitution Center’s official website.

2010 Liberty Medal Ceremony
Monday, September 13th, 2010, 7pm
www.constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal

This Saturday’s 104.5 Block Party at the Piazza brings OkGo to the popular hangout in Northern Liberties. But the treadmill dancing band isn’t all that’s invading the Piazza. All of Philadelphia’s hip, social media loving Twitterati will likely be in attendance, and we’ve teamed up with PYT and Vitamin Water for a fun, Foursquare event.

Head to the Piazza and check in at PYT at 4pm to help create Philly’s first Foursquare Super Swarm. After you’ve checked in, head over to the Vitamin Water tent and show them that you’ve checked into PYT to prove you were there. Why?

Our own Timmy Q (of Big Red Tank) whipped up a stellar looking Super Swarm 2010 t-shirt that you’ll be able to get at the event. Check in to score a free “I Went to Super Swarm Philly 2010 & All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt” shirt at the Vitamin Water tent. I’ve put a picture of the shirt after the jump.

So that’s it Geeks. 4pm. PYT. Check in, get a shirt, and potentially nab a Super Swarm badge on Foursquare.

104.5 Block Party at the Piazza [ www.radio1045.com ]

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A new app and web platform just reinvented the TV-watching experience. Released early last month, PHILO is turning TV watching into an interactive experience like never before. Think of it this way, it’s Twitter + Foursquare + TV. Yes history buffs, it’s named in honor of the inventor of television itself, Philo T. Farnsworth.

Avid lovers of social media and television might already be accustomed tweeting/updating FB statuses to mention their favorite TV shows, especially on the airing night of new episodes. However now, thanks to PHILO you can unlock awards and score points for watching buzz-worthy shows. As any good, social app should have these days, there’s also options to post to Twitter and Facebook.

Just like Foursquare, users get awards for accomplishing set achievements, such as checking in the same TV show. Unfortunate for most, it appears as though timing won’t be allowing us to unlock the Swarm badge-equivalent on PHILO while watching Lost.

Unlock cool awards such as this one, “Freedom”

However, paying homage to our awesome city, as all three founders are Penn graduates, they’ve included a “Freedom” award, which can be unlocked by watching a secret combination of Philadelphia-related programming. I, personally, would enjoy the “Art Vandelay” award, which I can almost surely bet is unlocked by watching Seinfeld.

Whether it be sports, reality TV, or a beloved network primetime drama, people can discover new shows, check out what’s trending or simply engage in your fun, commentary-filled, group watching experience akin to “Mystery Science Theater 3000.”

PHILO screenshots from the iPhone app

Getting started is dead simple, right now there’s a free iPhone app with Android and BlackBerry apps on the way. Find friends via scanning your address book, Twitter, Facebook and email contacts or do a look up using name or phone number. Enter your zip code and you can pull up the listings from local cable/dish providers, effectively serving as a handy channel guide as well. No smartphone? Not a problem, as you can still join the fun on their website.

Get PHILO onto your compatible iDevice from the iTunes App Store [FREE].

Learn more at PlayPhilo.com