New Service

A Howard County Internet service company is beginning to sell subscriptions to a kids-only Internet service, an innovation it says can help parents -- and corporations -- control access to pornography on the Internet.The new service from Clark Internet Services Inc., called KidzNet, is being introduced as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to uphold last year's Communications Decency Act (CDA), which makes it a crime for a person knowingly to circulate "patently offensive" sexual material to on-line sites accessible by those under 18.Opponents of the law say the Constitution allows most limitations on free speech only when censorship is the least restrictive way to protect a "compelling" government interest.

As corporate scandals and a sluggish economy sent stocks tumbling in recent years, Cecil Federal Savings Bank in Elkton noticed that jittery investors were eager to put their cash back into the safety of a bank savings account. But until recently, customers were reluctant to deposit more than the $100,000 limit covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., depriving the small community bank of a larger share of deposits. A new service is allowing Cecil Federal and a growing number of small Maryland banks to safeguard funds beyond federal insurance limits by swapping customer deposits through a nationwide network of banks.

Sweeping changes to Baltimore area bus routes take effect Sunday, part of what the Maryland Transit Administration is calling a "new, improved, expanded" bus system. State Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan says the changes to about 30 routes will bring better service - with bigger and more frequent buses on many lines and improved on-time performance - for tens of thousands of customers. "We are poised for a successful transformation of the MTA," Flanagan said. But for Robin Dranbauer and her neighbors in the eastern Baltimore County neighborhood of Chesaco Park, the MTA's new Greater Baltimore Bus Initiative looks more like a cutback.

WASHINGTON -- A new spymaster will for the first time coordinate clandestine activities across all 15 U.S. intelligence agencies, a move aimed to address one of the key recommendations of a presidential commission on intelligence failures. The new chief -- known publicly only by his first name, "Jose," because he is still an undercover officer -- will head a new National Clandestine Service, responsible for running spy operations at the CIA and managing the spy activities of the other intelligence agencies.

With companies gearing up - no pun intended - for the fall and the holiday selling seasons, midsummer is down time in the consumer electronics cosmos. Not the case in the world of online music. Roxio, the company that refined the art of burning CDs, is preparing to launch its new service, called ... Napster! The roaring success of Apple's iTunes music service has opened the gate for other new Web players. There's BuyMusic, RealNetworks, AOL and Amazon in the distribution queue, and even Microsoft - surprise!

Baltimore and the Bahamas' Freeport have a lot in common. They're both cities with a mix of tourist areas and heavy industry, and both often play second banana to a national capital. Now the two cities are linked by a direct air service that began Thursday. Vision Airlines, a U.S. carrier known for its occasional role as a charter contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency, will offer twice-weekly service between Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Freeport, a vacation destination that in recent years has been eclipsed by bustling Nassau.

Phoneless in Baltimore? Roommates Shaun Flynn and Matthew Welch have been these past three weeks, and it has made life, well, interesting. They are among the thousands of Maryland residents whose requests for phone service got caught in the logjam caused by the 18-day strike by the Communications Workers of America against Verizon Communications Inc. The CWA and Verizon ended the strike Aug. 23 - more than three weeks ago. But the telephone giant, the...

Southwest Airlines, the carrier largely credited with making Baltimore-Washington International Airport one of the fastest-growing airports in the country, announced yesterday that it will expand for the fourth time in less than a year, adding service to Albany, N.Y. The Dallas-based airline did not announce whether the new service will include flights between Albany and BWI, saying more detailed information will be released this month. But since coming to BWI in 1993, Southwest Airlines has quickly built the airport into its primary East Coast hub. And each time the airline has added a new East Coast city to its schedule, there usually have been new flights to and from Baltimore.

Struggling to distinguish itself in the fierce battle for passengers, USAir will begin offering a more spacious "Business Select" service early next year in 16 cities, including Baltimore.The new service features convertible seats and a moveable cabin divider that slides up and down the aisle. By flipping a lever, flight attendants can convert the usual economy layout -- three seats on either side of the aisle -- into a roomier arrangement with three seats on one side and two on the other.

Tracking down cellular phone customers -- in the office, at home and on the road -- is about to get easier.A new service being tested in the Baltimore-Washington area by MCI Communications Corp. and Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems allows a phone customer with an MCI personal 800 number to receive toll-free 800 calls on his cellular phone. That same number also can be used to reach cellular customers at home or in the office.The new service means that callers no longer will need to fuss with "roaming" codes to reach cellular customers who have driven out of the service area.