Computer

Spurred by rising reports of family violence, the Anne Arundel Department of Social Services has developed an innovative computer system to better track child abuse cases.The department is the first in Maryland to use computer technology to record and retrieve reports ofchild abuse, which have doubled in the last decade.Instead of spending hours filling out lengthy forms by hand, county social workers can log on to the computer to file a report, find afoster home or check whether a family has a history of violence.

* Second of two parts on home computers.The immense drop in the price of personal computers means that you now can get more computer for less money than ever before.But the decline in computer prices can lead to confusion. If you are a newcomer to computer science, you need to sort it out.A couple of years ago, most people couldn't afford (nor had they any real reason to buy) much more than a compatible equivalent of the IBM personal computer. Such machines, devoid of bells and whistles, commonly were called "plain vanilla clones."

A small California start-up company, EO Inc., has unveiled the first "personal communicator," a hand-held device that combines the capabilities of a pager, phone, fax, computer and electronic organizer.The device, to be available in the second quarter of next year, will be priced from $1,999 to $3,299, depending on options.In addition to AT&T, EO is backed by two Japanese companies, Matsushita Electric Industrial Corp., which makes Panasonic products, and Marubeni Corp., a Japanese trading company.

Christmastime might seem an inappropriate time to raise the specter of the Grinch, but burglaries and thefts increase around the holidays, and computers are just as easy to carry away as stereos and televisions.Computer owners, including those who become computer owners for the first time over the holidays, would be wise to take precautions against theft and loss.A television or stereo is easily replaced, as is the computer itself. But the increasingly popularity of portable computers and the standard use of hard-disk drives capable of storing the equivalent of thousands of pages of paper documents mean that the thief may be taking programs and data files that represent hours, days or even years of work.

Jimmy Miller rides around all day looking for trouble, and with a computer in his car it doesn't take him long to find it.The Anne Arundel County police officer is one of four in the county to have a "smart" car -- one equipped with a computer that makes tracking down stolen cars, boats and guns quick and easy. But the department is in danger of losing the equipment that Officer Miller says helps him to be a more productive officer.The $929,000 that Acting Police Chief Robert A. Beck asked for to expand the program to 23 more cars was cut from the $950 million operating budget County Executive John G. Gary sent to the County Council this month.

PITTSBURGH -- Selling a business computer used to be a simple affair.Computer stores marketed desktop machines to individuals and small businesses. Computer makers and resellers sold minicomputers to midsize companies. Computer makers peddled their mainframes to large corporations. Sales grew. Markets were well-defined.But the rapid march of technology has changed all that. It has overrun traditional market positions, and left behind a radically altered terrain. Though smoke still shrouds the landscape, several important changes are discernible.

County police charged a 36-year-old Baltimore man after an attempt to steal $5,000 worth of computer equipment, including a desktop computer and a printer, from Comp USA in the 6600 block of Ritchie Highway.Police said a man entered the store at about 11 a.m. Tuesday, placed computer equipment in a shopping cart and headed for the store's front exit.The man told store employees he had a work order in the car and would bring it into the store for their inspection after he put the items in his car, the police report said.

In the new film "Johnny Mnemonic," Keanu Reeves plays a 21st-century data courier who is required to carry 320 gigabytes of information in his "wetware," or computer-enhanced memory cells. That movie, which opened Friday, is obsessed with the storing, finding and retrieving of data. And it is not alone.In "Sleepless in Seattle," Meg Ryan uses a computer to find a man she knows only as a voice on a radio talk show. And in "The Last Seduction," Linda Fiorentino uses a computer to make a list of cheating on their wives.

The headlines were sensational:"Crackdown Launched on Computerized International Child Porn Ring.""Raid Targets Computer Child Porn Ring.""Agents Crack Down on Hi-Tech Computerized Child Porn."The stories were equally breathless and chock full of silly stuff about computers as instruments of the devil. But given the number of questions I got from people who were suddenly concerned about "computer pornography," I thought it would be a good idea to explain what happened.First, the facts: On March 4, U.S. Customs agents raided 40 homes around the country in search of material from a Danish computer bulletin board service that offered digitized photographs of children in pornographic poses.

Bigger and bolder, with more unlimited potential and hype than anything that's gone before.We've been given a glimpse of the future during this summer of 1995. It's not surprising that some of it doesn't compute when measured by conventional investment standards.It's a bet on the potential of tomorrow. Yesterday seems old hat.* There's explosive profit:For example, Dell Computer profits more than doubled in the last quarter from the year-earlier period, and Hewlett-Packard earnings jumped 66 percent.