Electronics

Armed robbers grabbed a man's electronic reader in Severn and fired a shot into the ground when he tried to take it back, then struck him with their car as they sped off, Anne Arundel County police said. Police said the man told them around 4 p.m. Sunday that he was reading on his Kindle when two men approached him from behind. One demanded the reader, shoved him to the ground and took the reader, and the second man pointed a gun at him when he tried to take it back, and fired into the ground, police said.

Maryland courts are accepting public comment through Sept. 21 on policies for the soon-to-be-installed electronic system that will allow the courts to receive, send and keep documents in computerized case files. Policy issues that have not been decided yet include those for access to electronic records and fees for remote access to the materials. Written comments should be sent to Sandra F. Haines, Esq., 2011-D Commerce Park Drive, Annapolis, Md., 21401. The Court of Appeals will meet Oct. 18 to consider the remarks.

Like a few thousand other vacationers one Saturday this summer, my wife Novia and I pulled into the crowded parking lot at the end of the boardwalk in Ocean City , looking forward to an afternoon of sun, sand and souvenirs. Unlike anyone else there, though, we were completing a meandering 520-mile journey that began a few days earlier in the mountains of Western Maryland - a journey in our a fully electric car, a 2012 Nissan Leaf. That's right, we drove all the way across the state on nothing but electrons.

Behind the scenes - and several forests' worth of pulp - work is underway to transform Maryland's courts into a system that is nearly paperless. Plans call for the first courts in the state to go electronic in fall of 2013. The guinea pigs are the circuit and district courts in Anne Arundel County. Statewide appeals courts will follow. By the end of 2016, all Maryland courts are to be e-courts. The cost: $45 million, said Ben C. Clyburn, chief judge of the District Court and who heads the project.

Paul P. Snead, a World War II Navy veteran and self-employed electronics repairman, died of kidney failure May 27 at the Dove House hospice in Westminster. The Mount Airy resident was 86. Mr. Snead was born in Pikesville, the son of a homemaker and a Baltimore police officer. He left Randallstown High School to join the Navy, where he served as a radioman aboard a ship at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After receiving his General Education Development certificate and an honorable discharge from the Navy, Mr. Snead returned to Baltimore, where he married the former Shirley Warfel, who had grown up near his childhood home.

Just beyond the entrance of the Maryland Live Casino, row and row of video slot machines clang and beep and flash, beckoning would-be gamblers to insert bills - or even a credit card. Sprawling across a space larger than three typical Wal-Marts, the casino at Arundel Mills Mall, scheduled to open June 6, also features gaming consoles hooked into video feeds of real-time dice rolls, roulette wheel spins and card deck deals. "We are really concentrated on turning it into a really dynamic environment," said Joe Weinberg, managing partner and president of gaming forthe Cordish Cos., the Baltimore-based development firm that built and operates the casino.

Pigtown resident Daryl Landy believes he's one of a growing number of Americans striving for better, not bigger, living quarters, and last week he launched a new online magazine devoted to living, working and playing in small spaces. Rohous Magazine went live Wednesday. The electronic magazine, available on iPads and the Internet by subscription, will highlight home furnishings, products, decor and do-it-yourself projects. It will feature a different city each month (the first issue focuses on Baltimore)

Maryland may eventually do away with tollbooths on the state's highways, bridges and tunnels and switch to electronic toll collection. A preliminary report by the Maryland Transportation Authority concluded that converting its seven toll plazas is feasible but would cost as much as $180 million. Transportation officials initiated the study as they look for long-term savings and ways to reduce travel time and increase highway safety. "It's something we're interested in doing.

Doctors who have access to computer test results order more tests than doctors who don't, according to a new study that challenges an assumption about electronic health records. The study in the March issue of the journal Health Affairs found that doctors with access to computerized images ordered 40 to 70 percent more imaging and lab tests. The study authors warn that pushing for more health information technology might not deliver cost savings from reductions in duplicative or inappropriate tests and could drive up costs.

Maryland's 46 acute care hospitals can now all share information electronically on patients admitted, discharged for transferred. The “encounter level” data can be passed along in real time via the Maryland Health Information Exchange , a statewide system of secure information sharing among hospitals, doctors' offices and health organizations, according to Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who announced the system recently. Some hospitals also are sharing lab and radiology reports, consult notes and other clinical data.