Technology

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.

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.

Sarah Parsons' kindergarten students were on a mission: to spot the objects inside her I Spy book that began with the letter J. But a practical obstacle stood in their way. They couldn't see the pictures inside the slim, small book, they said, even though Parsons held it up for inspection. "Why not?" Parsons asked. "Too little," they said. The Parr's Ridge Elementary teacher pulled down a large projection screen and slipped the book under a document camera. Its pages instantly appeared on the screen, large and easy to see for anyone in the room.

Looking for a leader who could help it navigate an increasingly technology-centered health care world, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield yesterday tapped the head of an electronic claims-processing firm to be its new president and chief executive officer. Chester "Chet" Burrell, 60, is currently chairman and CEO of Indianapolis-based RealMed Corp., which provides claims services for insurers - including CareFirst - and doctors. He previously founded and led Novalis Corp., a health technology and consulting firm.

Underwriters priced shares of Sourcefire Inc. last night at $15 per share -- $1 more than its top estimate -- raising more than $70 million in an initial public offering and valuing the Columbia network security company at $346.7 million. The price is good news for Sourcefire, said John E. Fitzgibbon Jr., founder of IPOScoop.com, an IPO information firm based in Jersey City, N.J., "The deal was oversubscribed, it was in demand and the institutions were willing to step up and pay a little extra to buy the stock," Fitzgibbon said last night.

CHICAGO -- Boys and girls, can you say "twisted pair"?You say you don't know what "twisted pair" means? You say you don't care?You say you glaze over during explanations of high-tech household features? Yes, I know. It's not that you don't recognize the potential benefits of having a house that's wired for the future; it's just that you'd be just as happy to be told, instead: "Plug it in here and go on with your life."Alas, the leaders of the Geek Chic movement take a certain pleasure in your inability to differentiate POTS from Category 5, LANS from RG-6 dual co-ax.

WASHINGTON -- When Lee Futterfield ended a 20-year Air Force career to launch a start-up computer company, he took eight young information technology specialists with him.By the time he sold the company last year for $124 million, roughly half of his 72 staffers had been hired directly from the military or other federal agencies. And now, as he builds his second start-up, San Antonio-based SecureLogix Corp., he is luring dozens more computer personnel away from the government.Futterfield is just one of thousands of private-sector employers who are contributing to an increasingly troublesome personnel crisis for federal officials.

The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index hit an all-time high yesterday, and other stocks soared as investors seized on remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that a "revolution in technology" should allow the economy to keep growing without touching off inflation.Further emboldening investors was yesterday's report that third-quarter earnings grew at their best pace since early 1995 -- and were better than predicted by Wall Street analysts.The stock market bulls gave their performance on the 70th anniversary of the Great Crash, a Tuesday in 1929 in which the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 13 percent -- after falling 13 percent the day before.

COLLEGE PARK -- Technology that lets the Army track speeding bullets is being used by state police to catch aggressive drivers on what is perhaps Maryland's nastiest stretch of highway.Equipment developed at Aberdeen Test Center and installed in a Ford Bronco can scan more than 1,000 vehicles each hour on the Capital Beltway, providing a five-second video clip and snapshots of the region's most atrocious driving.In the first two months of full-time use, more than 600 motorists caught bobbing, weaving and bullying their way through traffic have gotten stern letters listing their transgressions from the superintendent of the state police.

An estimated 8,000 professionals, recruiters and college students from around the country are expected to descend on the Baltimore Convention Center today for the 13th annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference.The three-day conference, sponsored by Baltimore's Career Communications Group Inc., will feature workshops and seminars on engineering and technology.The centerpiece of the event will be a career fair attended by college students looking for internships and jobs after graduation, and professionals seeking better-paying and more challenging work.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.