Online Games

HARRISBURG - The Corbett administration said Friday that expanding Pennsylvania Lottery gambling to keno and online games would be key ways to produce more revenue from the $3.5 billion lottery system that funds programs for the elderly. The administration made the statement as part of an update on its talks with companies about privatizing the management of the $3.5 billion lottery system under a 20-year agreement. Asked about it Friday, Gov. Corbett would say only that the ideas were "on the table.

After three years at the drawing board, Adrianne Lewis has this observation to make about starting a company: "You almost have to be . . . half insane to be an entrepreneur, because you have to put everything on the line for something that has no assurance. It's all or nothing. There's not that many people cut out for that. " However, Lewis, 42, of Langhorne, thinks that she is cut out for it. Her start-up company, adTraction, is scrambling for a foothold in online games - electronic versions of bingo, dominoes and the like - that are designed as blatant advertisements and called Game-Ads.

What about Cipher Prime's business operation seems normal? Is it normal to do what the video game company's cofounders did on a recent Wednesday when they invited their competitors to their office, plied them with rum and then collaborated on product development? (Would financiers get together and show off their cool credit swaps?) Would Campbell Soup Co. find it normal to describe a new curried cauliflower soup online and then ask for donations to underwrite its recipe testing?

West Philly high plans There will be a public meeting 10 a.m. Saturday at the new West Philadelphia High School where school district officials will ask for feedback into the sale of the old high school at 47th and Walnut streets. District officials have received bids from developers interested in converting the property, which has a list price of $6.5 million, to apartments above and commercial use on the ground floor, the Philadelphia Public School Notebook reported. Private developers and charter schools have placed bids on other closed district school buildings.

Q: My wife began taking Zumba classes one night a week months ago. She gained more than 48 pounds postpartum two years ago and was miserable. I was her No. 1 supportive fan. That has changed. My wife now goes four nights a week, and I am left taking care of our two children and the house. She meets up with a former co-worker who is a woman. I never would have thought my wife would cheat on me, let alone with a member of the same sex. However, I strongly suspect it. She has grown distant, and now ridicules me saying that I am the "woman" in our relationship.

Yevgenia Arlenok does a lot of things and knows a lot of people. The 26-year-old Ardmore resident, who starts classes at community college in the fall, works at day-care centers and schools and volunteers with charities ranging from Habitat for Humanity to Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern Pennsylvania. But when she thinks about the people with whom she's closest - the ones she tends to seek out when something's troubling her - she does not turn to the folks she knows from her multiple activities.

From baroque to the big screen, the Lenape Chamber Ensemble and the Curtis Institute of Music have designed unusual presentations to introduce children ages 4 to 12 to the mechanics and magic of classical music this weekend. The elaborate melodies of Vivaldi, Handel, Pachelbel and other composers will fill the Delaware Valley College Student Center in Doylestown as the Lenape Chamber Ensemble performs classics from the baroque era. The ensemble members selected excerpts from their adult concert repertoire they thought children could recognize, and adapted their format to in-the-round to add intimacy between audience members and performers.

Finnish police are sifting through Web sites for links between the teenager who plotted a Columbine-style assault in Montgomery County and the youth who murdered eight people at a school outside Helsinki last week. The teenagers had communicated by e-mail, apparently out of a common interest in the Columbine school shootings and violent video games. The disclosure underlines how the horrific violence in Colorado still resonates among disaffected youths around the world. Plymouth Meeting resident Dillon Cossey, 14, had been trading e-mails with the Finn and "recognized the screen name and recalled having contact," said J. David Farrell, who represents Cossey.

With the popularity of video games growing like a grade-schooler's Pokemon collection, it was only a matter of time before gamers got their own cable channel. Comcast Corp. announced yesterday that it would launch G4, a cable network devoted entirely to video games, along with an accompanying Web site, G4TV.com, in April. The channel initially will be available to seven million Comcast and Insight Communications cable-TV subscribers. Philadelphia-based Comcast, the principal investor in the project, said it could get the venture off the ground for less than $200 million if it could make the channel available to 20 million to 30 million cable subscribers.

Now I've seen everything. Apparently there are people in this world who are supposed to be working on their computers, but spend so much time cruising the Internet, playing online games, and posting on Facebook that they go out and buy an application to lock them out of their fun and games, so that they force themselves to use their computer only for work and research. I'm not making that up. The app is called Self-Control, and I'm not making that up, either. Once you install Self-Control, it can't be disabled in any way, even by turning off the computer and restarting it. You install the app and set it for a certain amount of time, like three hours, and you get no access to any of your time-wasters until the time is up. Amazing, right?

A bill that would legalize Internet wagering in Pennsylvania is to be introduced next week by State Rep. Tina Davis. The Bucks County Democrat confirmed Thursday that she might introduce the measure in Harrisburg as early as Wednesday. Davis - whose district includes Parx, the state's top-grossing casino - cited recent moves by New Jersey and Delaware as the reason Pennsylvania needed to get started on the issue. "We wanted to get the conversation going," she said. "We're working on some changes" to the bill.

HARRISBURG - The Corbett administration said Friday that expanding Pennsylvania Lottery gambling to keno and online games would be key ways to produce more revenue from the $3.5 billion lottery system that funds programs for the elderly. The administration made the statement as part of an update on its talks with companies about privatizing the management of the $3.5 billion lottery system under a 20-year agreement. Asked about it Friday, Gov. Corbett would say only that the ideas were "on the table.

West Philly high plans There will be a public meeting 10 a.m. Saturday at the new West Philadelphia High School where school district officials will ask for feedback into the sale of the old high school at 47th and Walnut streets. District officials have received bids from developers interested in converting the property, which has a list price of $6.5 million, to apartments above and commercial use on the ground floor, the Philadelphia Public School Notebook reported. Private developers and charter schools have placed bids on other closed district school buildings.

What about Cipher Prime's business operation seems normal? Is it normal to do what the video game company's cofounders did on a recent Wednesday when they invited their competitors to their office, plied them with rum and then collaborated on product development? (Would financiers get together and show off their cool credit swaps?) Would Campbell Soup Co. find it normal to describe a new curried cauliflower soup online and then ask for donations to underwrite its recipe testing?

Whoever thought a little game of bingo might interest a venture-backed San Francisco social media company? Well, RockYou Inc. liked the online growth of Bingo by Ryzing enough to buy the Center City social gaming developer Ryzing L.L.C. for an undisclosed amount last week. A statement released by one of Ryzing's investors indicated that Ryzing's team, headed by Manu Gambhir, will join RockYou, which intends to maintain and expand the Philadelphia office. Wayne Kimmel, a partner in the Artists & Instigators venture fund, said Ryzing currently has 10 full-time equivalent employees, including six in Philadelphia.

Q: My wife began taking Zumba classes one night a week months ago. She gained more than 48 pounds postpartum two years ago and was miserable. I was her No. 1 supportive fan. That has changed. My wife now goes four nights a week, and I am left taking care of our two children and the house. She meets up with a former co-worker who is a woman. I never would have thought my wife would cheat on me, let alone with a member of the same sex. However, I strongly suspect it. She has grown distant, and now ridicules me saying that I am the "woman" in our relationship.

LAS VEGAS - Bally Technologies Inc. showcased its most popular games, including Cash Spin, on several platforms here this month at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E). There was Cash Spin as a traditional slot machine; Cash Spin on an iPod, Droid, BlackBerry, and iTouch tablet; and Cash Spin as an online game at the Bally Interactive booth at the Sands Expo & Convention Center. As one of the world's largest suppliers of slot machines and systems that operate casinos, Bally and companies like it are gearing up for what many say will be gambling's next frontier: the Internet.

Now I've seen everything. Apparently there are people in this world who are supposed to be working on their computers, but spend so much time cruising the Internet, playing online games, and posting on Facebook that they go out and buy an application to lock them out of their fun and games, so that they force themselves to use their computer only for work and research. I'm not making that up. The app is called Self-Control, and I'm not making that up, either. Once you install Self-Control, it can't be disabled in any way, even by turning off the computer and restarting it. You install the app and set it for a certain amount of time, like three hours, and you get no access to any of your time-wasters until the time is up. Amazing, right?

When Tim Quirino needed cash to help him get through his senior year at Drexel University, he knew what to sell. His ad on eBay read something like this - Available: World of Warcraft avatar ranked second in his realm, plus his castle, virtual gold, weapons, and other accessories. Within a week, he pocketed a very real $1,000 for a very unreal set of assets. Fortunately for Quirino, now 26, the transaction was a smooth one. He got his money, graduated with a degree in graphic design, and went on to cofound the popular-culture blog Geekadelphia.

Yevgenia Arlenok does a lot of things and knows a lot of people. The 26-year-old Ardmore resident, who starts classes at community college in the fall, works at day-care centers and schools and volunteers with charities ranging from Habitat for Humanity to Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern Pennsylvania. But when she thinks about the people with whom she's closest - the ones she tends to seek out when something's troubling her - she does not turn to the folks she knows from her multiple activities.