Technology

WASHINGTON -- China is engaged in an extensive effort to buy advanced military hardware from hard-strapped Russian defense industries and to obtain technology from Russian scientists, say concerned U.S. officials and some Russian and Chinese defense specialists.In a major effort by China to modernize its military capability, the country is in some instances buying military supplies by dealing directly with individual factories throughout Russia, rather than by going through Moscow.The Russian supplies are in some cases enabling China to get sophisticated military technology that it has been unable to buy from the West since the Bush administration clamped down on sales of such technology to China after the Beijing massacre of 1989, observers say.The most visible part of the new Russian-Chinese military cooperation was a sale recently completed by Russia to China of 24 Sukhoi-27 warplanes, aircraft that are far more advanced than anything the Chinese air force previously owned.

The faculty and staff of South Carroll High School have recently completed the first phase of the new Middle States Accreditation for Growth process.The school identified technology and career readiness as the two areas of focus for the next five years. The faculty planning committee developed long-range goals and formed teams to oversee them.The Career Readiness Team will establish strategies for every student to create a career plan, complete a resume and do a mock interview before leaving the school.

The future is now. That's being driven forcefully home in 1995 as technology commands more and more attention on the nation's magazine covers and in its news headlines.Intrigue! We've seen an Internet bandit apprehended after capturing 20,000 live credit card numbers. Though such attacks usually aren't against home computers, always take steps to guard your personal data.Power! A federal judge struck down an antitrust settlement against techno-giant Microsoft Corp. because the agreement was too soft.

Sports people have a saying, "Keep your eye on the ball" - which means to maintain your focus amid distractions. That admonition has never been more apt. In the wake of the Sept. 11 atrocities, we've understandably allowed our attention to be diverted from almost everything else. Now it's time to get our eyes back on the key issues facing the technology and business communities. Some are inevitably related to the horrors we've seen. Others will be manipulated by cynical opportunists to appear related.

You're at the controls of one of the Army's most modern tanks and the battle is heating up. Electronic equipment detects an enemy artillery unit taking aim from its position 2,000 meters off to the left and an attack helicopter, armed with deadly air-to-ground missiles, moving in fast.The situation calls for split-second decisions and your response can be the difference between being blown to bits or living to fight another day.Fortunately, it's only simulation. The action is taking place inside a building, but it is so real that in 1991 fighter pilots and tank crews used such simulators to hone their fighting skills before going off to battle in the Persian Gulf war.But now, Martin Marietta Corp.

Carroll County Technology Advisory Board wants to create easy access to public information for residents outside the Westminster area.In a meeting with the mayors of the county's eight towns this week, C. Scott Stone, board member, discussed plans for two sites.The proposed "kiosk project" would locate computer terminals at heavily traveled areas in the county.Residents could access information on taxes, permits, property boundaries, and official meeting schedules and agendas."Residents could access public information at their convenience, without traveling to Westminster," Stone said.

The state government will sponsor its first Maryland Technology College Showcase Tuesday and Wednesday at the University of Baltimore Business Center. The event, which includes exhibits by dozens of information technology companies, runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. Admission is $5.The showcase, which the Glendening administration has said is intended to educate Marylanders on the impact that technology will have on their lives, includesworkshops on the Internet, new cable television technologies, electronic commerce and on-line resources.

REDMOND, Wash. -- Ending months of bitter legal wrangling, Microsoft Corp. agreed yesterday to license a key software technology from Stac Electronics and said it will spend $39.9 million to buy 4 percent of Stac's convertible preferred stock.Conceding the superiority of Stac's technology, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant said it will pay Stac royalties of $1 million a month during the next 43 months. Further, Microsoft's preferred stock investment can be converted at $9 a share to 4.44 million Stac common shares, or a 15 percent stake.

NASA is offering companies a new kind of shoppin experience -- an exhibit hall filled with inventions they can buy.There will be the fastest American-made car; a new way to analyze mammograms; and a robot that does environmental testing in places people don't want to go.Most of the exhibitors will be federal laboratories and their contractors, said Joseph Pramberger, conference director for Technology 2002, a conference that will be at the Baltimore Convention...

Was that really him? Or a double? Even with all their technology, experts weren't certain late last week about the images of Saddam Hussein that appeared after the initial U.S. attack on Iraq. Human decoys have worked wonders in the past for other heads of state, including such figures as George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hussein, though, has been a master of deception, trotting out as many as 16 doubles by one estimate. A real-life version of Where's Waldo, he has moved from one palace to another, as many as 46 abodes in Iraq, according to news reports.