Philadelphia Soul Do Marketing Research

The Philadelphia Soul are getting ready for the 2009 season, and what better way to do so than this: A camera that measures how long you look at an ad for the team. The billboard, done by Moto Media, contains a camera that can see if people watching are male or female and their approximate age. All together now: Weird.

The camera doesn’t record anything, says Moto Media. KYW 1060 reports that “some don’t see a problem with the cameras” but also notes that “others say if there’s a camera, people need to be informed.” Oh.

Camera Planned for Local Digital Billboard Raises Concern [KYW 1060]

No Privately Owned Cars By 2030?

Hey, look: The executive director of PenTrans (Pennsylvanians for Transportation Solutions. Why only one ‘n’?) says we might not have privately owned cars by 2030.

How well do you think some of these “alternative” modes of travel are doing in Philadelphia?

You have PhillyCarShare where it’s working out so well that you have a private provider coming to Philly to compete with them. You have many market-based solutions to do these kinds of things and conserve energy. It may come a point where in 2030, people aren’t using privately owned cars.

Far out, man. I don’t know; I feel like most of my friends would have a car if (a) there was a place to park it and (b) they could afford one. And some people don’t even drive? Trust me: If they give me a license to drive, they can give anyone a license to drive. Don’t worry: Chances are, you won’t even hit anybody. I’m a bad driver, and even I only hit one person, and it was just with my side mirror.

Working on a new transit age? [Metro]

Comcast To Sell You Internet Forever

Yesterday, Comcast and other companies announced plans for WiMax, the future of wireless Internet.

Apparently Brian Roberts was on a bus once and got a lot of work done on this bus, using fast Internet. So he was like, “Hey, we should all get fast Internet!”

The new technology, called WiMAX, will transmit high-speed Internet, movies, television shows, sports games, and other digital data from about 200,000 existing cellular-telephone towers to laptop computers, telephones and other devices. The deal creates a new company called Clearwire Inc. Its owners will be Comcast, Sprint Nextel Corp., Intel Corp., Google Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Bright House Networks L.L.C.

They have agreed to collectively invest $3.2 billion. Comcast’s share is $1.05 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. “We’ll be on the offensive in wireless with world-class partners. It is exciting. Our customers will know that the Comcast experience will be not just in your home but wherever you want it,” Roberts said.

Hooray, super-fast Internet! Well, super-fast Internet sold to you by Comcast, so it’s not really all that exciting.

Oh, yeah, everyone knew this new faster technology was coming when Wireless Philadelphia started, but nobody really seemed to care.

Comcast signs ‘Internet-on-the-go’ deal [Inquirer]

Hovercrafts From Philly To Baltimore! Umm, Yay?

We may never have flying cars or hoverboards, but we’re at least going to get something futuristic-sounding: The Mid-Atlantic Hovercraft Organization.

John Anderson of Mount Holly, a partner in the organization, is in talks with government officials. He plans to have stops on the Delaware River in Pennsylvania (Bristol, Bensalem, Philadelphia) and several more in New Jersey. The hovercraft would travel from Pennsylvania and Jersey to Baltimore.

A hovercraft journey to Baltimore (from Bristol) would take roughly two hours, carry 110 passengers and cost $45. Now if somebody could only figure out a reason to go to Baltimore.

Would you take an airboat to Baltimore? [The Intelligencer]

Advanced Gadgets Available, We Just Don’t Want Them

The Inquirer has a big piece today on commuting, and how the commute has lengthened in the past 50 years or so. The morning train ride from Chestnut Hill to Center City used to take 28 minutes, now it’s 34. A flight from PHL to LAX used to be 5 hours, now it’s 6. Everybody sits in traffic everywhere. Et cetera.

Apparently, though, we could solve these problems if we consumers would just want to solve them, says grandson-of-the-former-mayor Richardson Dilworth, a Drexel assistant prof:

“A lot of the bottlenecks are social,” Dilworth said. “We could make cars fully automatic, where a driver just plugs in a destination, but auto manufacturers don’t think there is adequate demand, so they haven’t developed that technology. Electric cars are being bottlenecked by the refueling issue.”

Wait, we could do all of that? I want those items! And where the hell is my hoverboard?

Editor’s note: Please do not Google Image Search “jetsons” while safe search is off. Do it for your own eyes.

Farther, faster? Not anymore [Inquirer]

Dunkin Donuts Tomorrowland Open On South Broad

Recently, a new Dunkin’ Donuts opened at 809 S. Broad Street. On Friday, it had an open house, complete with samples of the new store’s wares and a presentation of a giant check to CAPA from the franchisee.

Why was yet another Dunkin’ Donuts (re)opening in this city a cause for so much celebration? (Well, “so much celebration” relative to the opening of other donut stores that don’t get a press release sent out.) The answer is simple: This is a Dunkin Donuts from the future.

From the press release:

As one of the first “New Concept” stores to open nationwide, some of the remodeled highlights of the Philadelphia store include:

• An updated image featuring a new logo that contemporizes the current Dunkin’ Donuts logo, but maintains the core DNA of the brand
• A new warm bakery display and a baker/merchandiser at the front counter offering samples of warm, freshly baked products throughout the day

Ooh! A new logo and… uh… freshly baked products throughout the day! And samples! Not to mention the new menu items the “Dunkin’ Brands’ culinary team” has created, including warm baked goods (muffins, danish, cookies), three varieties of flatbread sandwiches and mini breakfast pizzas.

Truly, we are living in remarkable times.

Dunkin’ Donuts Introduces New Restaurant Design and Menu at Restaurant Re-Opening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [PRNewswire via Philebrity]