Machines

Louise Chandler has been using typewriters since before they came with a "1" key. That was in 1960, when the new typewriters of the day featured an electric motor and all 10 digits.In those days, Chandler spent up to four hours a day in front of her typewriter. Today, if Chandler, a secretary in the Student Life office at the University of Texas at Dallas, works on the office's typewriter for more than 30 minutes, she's put it to heavy use."I'd say I use it from 20 to 30 minutes a day at peak use. It kind of depends on what I'm doing that day," she says.

There's nothing like the VCR. They come cheap and ready to go," says Dallas businessman Jim Stewart.Last holiday season, Stewart came home from an electronics store with two VCRs for his study. Stewart, married with 6- and 10-year-old daughters, wanted a second and third machine for household harmony and flexibility.The girls can watch their favorite movies while their parents record and play videotapes on other machines.Stewart's little venture didn't cost much. Two videocassette recorders, $99 each.

They look like bank machines, and the idea -- speeding a transaction -- is similar. But the beige devices that will appear in Baltimore County's three busiest libraries late this week instead will speed book borrowers on their way.The automatic book checkout machines being installed in Cockeysville, Catonsville and Towson are intended to cut checkout lines, increase circulation and free library workers to help in other ways, said Jim Fish, director of...

Stephen Dixon, the most prolific author in Baltimore, divides his 40 years of writing into three periods: The Olivetti Period. The Royal Period. The Hermes Period.He's not discussing literary matters, such as the changing styles of his fiction, known to some as experimental realism.He's talking more important things -- the gears of creation in different manual typewriters he has insisted on using to the exclusion of computers and electric and electronic typewriters.In this day of the commanding computer, he has company in other authors, letter-writers, retired people and notables, including Ralph Nader, who are wedded to manuals and shudder at electrically powered instruments that are a mite too comfortable.

WHY 2K?Does it really take so long to say "year 2000"? Abbreviations got us into this mess in the first place and now we expect to fight back with more of them.For those still in denial, the Y2K problem -- or Millennium Bug, except that it happens a year before the millennium, but let's not get into that -- is a chain reaction of terrible computer problems that will kick in when years begin with twos instead of ones.And what will happen after 00: 01 in the year 2000?Planes will show up late at airports and be misscheduled by people who don't care.

Buying a PC is easy. Prices are lower than I've ever seen; machines are more powerful and (with rare exceptions) even the no-name machines work fairly reliably.Yet most folks strain and fret too much when getting ready to buy a PC. They study magazines, ask friends, consult psychics and hang out in computer stores. Truth is - until recently - you could do pretty well by deciding how much you can afford to spend on a PC, then shopping for the most powerful machine you can find in that price range.

They cover endless miles, uphill and down, yet they go nowhere. Treadmill trackers. And they are multiplying because you don't have to learn any new skills to exercise on a treadmill, and the machines are less stressful on joints and muscles than many other fitness gadgets.According to the Fitness Products Council and American Sports Data Inc.:* From 1996 to 1997, sales of treadmills for home use alone boosted sales of fitness equipment by 14 percent, to more than $3 billion.* Treadmills accounted for $1.6 billion in consumer spending in 1997, compared to $725 million in 1996.

VICTORIA L. SCHADE just paid $9,750 to find out that she undeniably lost her seat in the Maryland House of Delegates to Democrat Mary Rosso in the 31st Legislative District last month. Ms. Schade did learn one fact for her money: She lost not by 18 votes, as originally believed, but by 6. The recount did not change the outcome, but it was instructive nonetheless.We like to think that voting machines make election tallies less subject to error, but the recount demonstrates that machines, like humans, are capable of mistakes.

PoliceEldersburg: A Westminster resident told police that a radar detector was stolen from his vehicle between 10 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday while it was parked at a automobile dealer's lot on Sykesville Road. The loss was estimated at $299.Eldersburg: A Sacramento Court resident told police Thursday that a side door and extended cab of his pickup truck were scratched between 11: 30 p.m. Wednesday and 5: 30 a.m. Thursday. Damage was estimated at $350.Sykesville: Owners of a Liberty Road carwash told police Jan. 7 that someone had destroyed the coin boxes of four change machines and five vacuum machines the previous night.

THE ANNUAL fall Comdex trade show always offers a good look at computing's near future, but once in a while it provides glimmers of something more. Several offerings at this year's event hinted that computer users may be closer to interacting differently with their machines.One fine day, people may be talking to their computers more and swearing at them less and using familiar gestures instead of mouse clicks to indicate their intentions.How might computing involve people's senses in more natural ways?

The quarter goes in, and then the magic begins. Lights flash, bells ring, balls roll, flippers flip. David Silverman is in pinball heaven. And he barely had to walk out his back door. For some 25 years, Silverman has been buying arcade pinball machines, those gaudily colored, delightfully cacophonic games of skill that involve a steel ball, a bunch of rubber bumpers amid a sea of flashing lights and a pair of electronic flippers that serve as the only thing between million-point success and hole-in-the-floor oblivion.

THE PROBLEM:: "Easy Park" machines in Fells Point have been vandalized, making their hours of operation a mystery. THE BACK STORY:: Watchdog seeks enlightenment. Why would anyone want to tamper with the hours-in-effect stickers on the parking machines on South Broadway in Fells Point? What purpose does this serve, other than to confuse the public and drain people's wallets? On several occasions, Watchdog has spotted machines on South Broadway near Pratt Street and at Aliceanna Street that have their hours-of-operation stickers either gouged out, scraped off or simply colored in with a black marker.

Vapotherm Inc. is waging a comeback after revenue at the Stevensville respiratory device maker disappeared two years ago. The company's only product, an innovative machine that heats and moistens air to help patients breathe better, was still gaining market share during the summer of 2005 when disaster struck. Its device was in more than 900 hospitals and the eight-year-old company was about to reach the break-even point. That's when Kevin Thibodeau, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, was calling on a hospital in California and a message from a Vapotherm distributor flashed on his BlackBerry: One Pennsylvania hospital had reported that a Vapotherm machine had become contaminated with a bacterium called Ralstonia.

Agents from the Maryland comptroller's office and city police officers raided a South Baltimore bowling alley this week and seized eight illegal video poker machines, money and alcohol, state authorities said yesterday. Comptroller Peter Franchot's office said no charges have yet been filed against Charm City Duckpin Lanes in the 3500 block of S. Hanover St. "The comptroller's office is serious about going after illegal sales and gaming in Maryland," according to a statement issued by Franchot.

Amit Evron looked down at his creation yesterday with admiration. There was his robot, M&M, fulfilling his classroom assignment by designing works of art. Competing against eight other robots, M&M won top honors, the People's Choice Award, with its multicolored spiral designs splashed across white poster boards. "I don't think I could do that," the Johns Hopkins University senior said of the efforts of the robot, which he created with partner Alican Demir. Perhaps he can't. But Evron and Demir created something that could, merging academic areas that are often considered opposites: art and science.

Although Maryland's election Tuesday concluded with isolated glitches, voters elsewhere encountered a smattering of machine failures, late-opening precincts and harried poll workers that could sustain calls for more paper-driven elections nationwide. In troubles reminiscent of those Maryland suffered in the primary two months ago, precinct hours were extended in eight states after voters from Denver to Indianapolis were caught in snaking lines when electronic voter check-in systems crashed or inadequately trained volunteers proved unable to start the machines.

A new lottery sales system being installed at thousands of convenience, liquor and grocery stores statewide has experienced breakdowns of up to several hours at a time this week, officials said yesterday, causing frustration among store owners and heartburn for avid players in search of their daily numbers. Customers have let store owners hear their displeasure - especially those who can't play the popular Keno game. "You should see the looks on their faces," said John Christopoulos, an owner of Christo's Discount Liquors in Ferndale.

Eleven-year-old Brad Hill was walking on a ministep machine while tossing a ball from one hand to the other. It took a lot of concentration, but somehow he was able to talk, too. "I figured I'd give it a try, and I came here, and I liked it, and it was fun, so I decided to join," he said. The "here" he was talking about was FitWize 4 Kids, a just-for-kids health club that opened April 1 in Columbia. "The main thing that I like about this is the machines - they're made for kids," Brad said.

They look like ATMs but when the right password is punched in, prescription drugs - all generics - pop out instead of greenbacks. And soon these machines, which encourage doctors to prescribe generics instead of more expensive brand-name drugs, could be coming to a physician's office near you. The machines allow doctors to give patients their first prescription of a generic drug free, straight from the machines. Patients cannot access the machines without authorization. If the patient requires a refill, the doctor writes a regular prescription for the generic drug to be filled at the normal price at a drugstore.

Americans' electronic election tallies still are not safe or reliable, according to a thorough review by the Government Accountability Office, and won't be in time for the balloting in 2006. The problem: lack of meaningful national standards for how the machines should work and how to independently verify results. The solution: Fully fund and support the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which is assigned to set these standards, and ensure states abide by them. Maryland, which is doing a lot of testing on the voter side of the equipment, has its set of standards, for example; California another set. North Carolina set its own standard, including a wise requirement that companies submit a copy of the source code that runs the machines so it could be examined - then last week approved machines made by Diebold, which had refused to submit its source code.