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Thursday, July 9, 2009

For Mount Airy teen hacker, job offers pour in: dad

Mount Airy-based developer Ken Weinstein, partner in www.PhillyOfficeRetail.com, says oldest son Ari, a 15-year-old Germantown Friends student currently attending computer camp on the West Coast,  "is getting job offers from Israel and all over the place," and will go on Fox TV Monday morning, thanks to his lead role in this Wall Street Journal cover story Monday.

Ari Weinstein writes code for www.ijailbreak.com, which helps iPhone users download unsanctioned software. He's been electronically precocious since he was a toddler fascinated with light switches, dad reports. Young Ari's maybe a little bored at his computer camp, but he's not going pro anytime soon, Ken adds. Ari's brothers are also little techies.

Weinstein Sr. moved to Philadelphia from Central Jersey to work for one of Joe Hoeffel's congressional campaigns in the 1980s, and has been busy in the neighborhood's retail resurgence.

He owns the Trolley Car Diner, helped organize Valley Green Bank, has with partner Bob Kaufman rehabbed a string of stores on Mount Airy's stretch of Germantown Ave. and similar strips for retail, office and nonprofit use, refurbished and leased Septa's Allens Lane Station, wants to do the same for the Carpenters Lane station, and is negotiating for, among other properties, four empty stores on Chew Ave. "I get to retire," he told me, "when all the vacant properties in Philadelphia are occupied."
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 1:06 PM  Permalink | 8 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:39 PM, 07/09/2009
    GFS is the truth. Keep up the good work, kid.
    — jatucker
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:41 PM, 07/09/2009
    Ken is a good dude. I know him from baseball. Nice to hear.
    — The Wolf
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:34 AM, 07/10/2009
    NERDS! NERDS! NERDS!
    — Teddy Beckerstead
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:44 AM, 07/10/2009
    Yea, let's glorify and encourage a teenager to illegally hack in to things. Am I the only one who thinks there's something wrong with this? It's because of hackers that we have to purchase security and programs for our computers and filter spam in our company emails. Do you really think this kid is only going to be hacking into iPods his whole life?
    — androoo
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:10 AM, 07/10/2009
    Sounds like the father is a decent guy but why is the son getting hyped for participating in borderline-legal activities?
    — kw802
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:49 AM, 07/10/2009
    I'm a server Engineer and work in a huge local datacenter....we report hack attempts to the FBI. Hacking is not a game, it may be "cool" when you are kid, but it can get you into a lot of trouble.
    — jahfakin
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:48 AM, 07/10/2009
    Apple's trying to monopolize the mobile industry through only releasing their own software which they make you buy. With a jailbroken iphone/touch, it allows for others to create software and share. Free trade.
    — robkaos
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:33 AM, 07/10/2009
    Heck, as long as the kid is an ethical hacker for security and exploit testing he can really put his expertise to good use. Look what happened to Kevin Mitnick, who spent years in prison for phreaking the department of defense and communication lines. He now runs a security firm.
    — Appleman


8 comments
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joe has been a member of Bloomberg LP’s New York Finance Team, wrote the book “Comcasted,” taught writing at St. Joseph’s University, and studied economics and history at Penn. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com
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