NEWS
July 20, 2009
In the continual cat-and-mouse game between corrections officials and the inmates they oversee, the newest form of contraband are cell phones smuggled into prisons by visitors, contractors and corrupt guards. Inmates use the devices to communicate with associates and direct criminal enterprises from behind prison walls almost as easily as if they were still on the streets. No one really knows how many contraband phones are floating around in the system, but over the last year Maryland has seen an increasing number of cases in which prisoners used cell phones to run drug operations, harass victims' families, plan escapes and even order witnesses killed to prevent them from testifying.
NEWS
By Andrea K. Walker | July 18, 2009
The president and executive director of the Maryland Technology Development Corp., started by the state legislature to help create and nurture tech businesses, will be resigning after 2 1/2 years on the job. Renee M. Winsky's resignation will be effective Aug. 28, according to the organization's Web site. The site did not say why Winsky was leaving. Winsky and other TEDCO officials did not return phone calls Friday seeking comment. John Wasilisin, TEDCO vice president and chief operating officer, will take over the post in the interim.
NEWS
By Gus G. Sentementes | June 13, 2009
Taking another cue from the West Coast tech scene, Baltimore will be the site of its own BarCamp "unconference" next week at the University of Baltimore. Organizers have scheduled the event June 20 at the university's Thumel Business Center. Following the BarCamp format, the event will not have a pre-set agenda. Instead, those who show up that morning will determine the day's program by suggesting and voting on topics. Such events usually attract artists, designers, activists and people who work in technology and the Web. "You don't have some gatekeeper telling you what you're going to see," said Mike Subelsky, an organizer and independent software developer.
NEWS
By Chris Kaltenbach | February 10, 2009
Televisions, computers, e-mail, cell phones. As technology has wormed its way into our everyday lives over the past 75 years or so, Hollywood has served as both harbinger and trendsetter. Just as imaginative screenwriters have always delighted in showing where technology might take us, trendy screenwriters have never hesitated to embrace the newest technologies as essential parts of everyday life. And nothing can popularize a new gadget like having it show up in the movies. As much confidence as Steve Jobs may have had in the personal computer he helped to invent, here's betting he really knew the PC had arrived when it started showing up in movies like 1983's WarGames.
NEWS
By JILL ROSEN | January 27, 2009
Until recently, my plant and I didn't have much to say to one another. In fact, we had nothing. I didn't talk to the vegetation and it, most certainly, didn't talk to me. But now my little croton has let me in - informing me, delighting me, even almost pestering me with frequent updates on her health, happiness and general well-being. Maybe it's got something to do with sitting next to a computer all these years, but the plant is reaching me online, with short, sweet messages sent through the cutting-edge social network Twitter.
NEWS
By Chris Kaltenbach | September 2, 2008
More stations, playing different kinds of music, with better sound. HD Radio, offering all those features, sounded like a natural. But five years after its introduction, digital radio, even with all its technological bells and whistles, is still struggling to gain a foothold in the American marketplace. "We're where we'd like to be, but we'd like to make it go quicker," says Bob Struble, president and chief executive officer of Columbia-based Ibiquity Digital, which developed and licenses the HD Radio technology.
NEWS
By Hanah Cho | February 28, 2008
Sourcefire Inc. announced yesterday that its chief executive is stepping down as the Columbia network security company struggles to meet Wall Street expectations after going public a year ago. Chief Executive Officer E. Wayne Jackson III said he is leaving after six years to pursue other opportunities. Jackson intends to stay on until the board hires a successor. Jackson's announcement came as the company, whose intrusion-prevention technology is designed to thwart network hackers, reported that fourth-quarter profit dropped 59 percent even as revenue increased.
NEWS
By New York Times News Service. | January 15, 2008
The fallout from the banking industry's woes and a slowing American economy are certainly not hurting IBM yet. The giant technology company gave Wall Street a pleasant surprise yesterday by announcing quarterly earnings that were far higher - up 24 percent - than most analysts had forecast. The news sent International Business Machines Corp. up 5.4 percent, or $5.26, to $102.93 yesterday. The IBM announcement also lifted the broader market. The strong fourth-quarter performance by IBM, analysts say, is mainly a sign that some leading global corporations may be able to sidestep the impact of a sputtering U.S. economy because they depend on the American market far less today than in the past.
NEWS
By Karen Nitkin | December 21, 2007
Kristi Giles and Suzanne Davis, both managers of volunteers at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, say they have an ace in the hole when it comes to attracting unpaid helpers: penguins. But getting those volunteers to return time and again is more challenging, no matter how cute the animals in the workplace. That is why Giles and Davis traveled to Howard County recently to hear a talk about retaining volunteers, sponsored by the Howard County Association of Volunteer Administrators. The group, which provides information and support to people who manage volunteers, had invited Ashley Klapper, assistant director of Jewish Volunteer Connections, to discuss how the volunteer population has changed and how to cope with those changes.
NEWS
By Hanah Cho | December 13, 2007
Kris Appel stood before investors this week and delivered a seven-minute pitch on the market viability of an exercise device that helps stroke survivors regain their arm movement. The presentation at a biosciences conference in Baltimore was Appel's latest effort to raise money for her startup company, which grew out of a program that trains and helps women start technology-based businesses. Called ACTiVATE, the backbone of the program gives women access to technology and research created by the region's laboratories and universities with a goal of commercializing such homegrown innovations.