Technology

Hackathons in which participants build online tools based on free-for-the-taking government data, or give birth to a potential new enterprise in an intense, 54-hour "Startup Weekend. " Robotics demonstrations that show how the region's students, engineers and companies are helping to turn sci-fi dreams into reality. Workshops and panels on issues such as the challenges facing women and minorities in technology, the use of digital media to promote social change, and the value of "gamification" — using game play in nontraditional ways.

No one would dispute the importance of basic math, science, and technology literacy in today's world. But is the United States experiencing a dangerous shortage of scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematical talent? The answer is complicated. "Despite the clear demand for STEM talent by domestic employers, the U.S. is failing to produce an ample supply of workers to meet the growing needs of both STEM and non-STEM employers," posits a report being released Friday by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee.

TRENTON - The idea is to bring open government principles to the era of smartphones. Under a pair of bills under consideration by New Jersey lawmakers, town council members would no longer be able to text each other during public meetings, government agencies that have websites would have to use them to provide information about their meetings, and official video and audio recordings of meetings would be included as public records. "Both of these bills are to take into effect the technological revolution we've all lived through over the last decade," said State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a prime sponsor of the proposed measures.

Don't miss the free Small Business Services breakfast event, "How Technology and Social Media Can Benefit Your Small Business," Thursday in the Public Meeting Room at The Inquirer, 400 N. Broad St. Networking starts at 7:30 a.m., and the event is scheduled to run until 9:30 a.m. You'll learn how small businesses are integrating new technologies and social media into their business models. The forum examines Philadelphia's obsession with good food and the small businesses that provide the best digital edge in serving their customers.

WASHINGTON - Earth's magnetic field is about to be shaken like a snow globe by the largest solar storm in five years. After hurtling through space for a day and a half, a massive cloud of charged particles is due to arrive early Thursday and could disrupt utility grids, airline flights, satellite networks, and GPS services, especially in northern areas. But the same blast could also paint colorful auroras farther from the poles than normal. Scientists say the storm, which started with a massive solar flare earlier in the week, is growing as it races outward from the sun, expanding like a giant soap bubble.

Wind-turbine manufacturer Gamesa, a Spanish company with U.S. headquarters in Langhorne, is working with the Department of Energy to transform wind-power technology, making it cheaper and more reliable. Gamesa has sent a turbine to the department's National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado, where scientists will load it with sensors to verify how much power is produced at certain wind speeds and otherwise check the accuracy of computer models used to design the equipment. With all the instrumentation, one might compare the turbine to a heart patient, except "this is more like an athlete," said Jeroen van Dam, senior engineer at the lab. By better understanding how the turbine works, engineers can design closer to the limits, he said.

Herbert S. Wilf, 80, of Penn Valley, emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Saturday, Jan. 7, at Lankenau Hospital. Dr. Wilf joined the Penn faculty in 1962. For him, teaching and research were deeply intertwined, his wife, Ruth Tumen Wilf, said. In 1973, Dr. Wilf received Penn's Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, and in 1996, he received the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for excellence in teaching mathematics from the Mathematical Association of America.

On the second floor of the old Victorian house, sunlight streamed through the window as Todd Loughton sat alone in the new computer center, the first visitor of the day. The small room inside the Frankford Community Development Corp. office had been dedicated the day before in a ceremony in which the mayor gave remarks and cut a ribbon. Loughton, 38, a slight man, neatly dressed, is part of the gaps in his neighborhood and the city, where 10.6 percent of residents are unemployed, the fifth-highest rate among the 20 largest U.S. cities, and an estimated 41 percent do not have access to a computer, limiting their search for opportunities.

LAS VEGAS - Handsets that listen and respond and make Apple's new Siri digital assistant look like a pretender. Cars with steering and motors all built into the wheels, so that the passenger compartment is for work or play, and the whole thing collapses for parking in tight spots. Foldable, flexible display screens - or a world where you won't even need to bring a device with you at all because you'll find connectivity everywhere. All week long, tens of thousands of inventors, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and writers are clogging Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show, looking for what Michael Lewis, at the tail end of the 1990s technology explosion, labled "the new new thing.

DES MOINES, Iowa - It's been a different presidential race in Iowa this year - quieter. Campaign headquarters have hardly been buzzing with activity, unlike the around-the-clock nature of past contests. Candidates have barely visited the state, compared with years when most all but moved here. And they have largely refrained from building the grassroots armies of yesteryear, in favor of more modest on-the-ground teams of paid staffers and volunteers. The final rush of campaigning here gets under way Monday, just eight days before the Jan. 3 caucuses, and, to be sure, there will be a flurry of candidate appearances and get-out-the-vote efforts all week.