Emerging Technologies : Featured Stories

The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins will begin embedding a device this year that can restore vision to blind patients who suffer from an inherited eye disease. The FDA approved the groundbreaking device this month. 

We've assembled a slideshow of Baltimore neighborhoods taken with the iPhone app Instagram. BmoreMedia's photographer has also taken an Instagram pic in Patterson Park — and the same photo with his Nikon D700. Can you tell which is which? 

A marine research institute at the University System of Maryland appointed a new director this month and is commercializing three of its technologies. Russell Hill talks about what's next at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Science. 

Baltimore's main networking group for the tech community shook things up last year when it appointed a new executive director, Jason Hardebeck. Now, he talks to Bmore Media about his plans to make the group relevant at a time when innovators are making connections on their own through social media. His ideas include giving members more of a say in where their money goes and providing mentoring opportunities for budding entrepreneurs. And he wants Baltimore to learn how to fail.

It is, perhaps, an "only in Baltimore" story. One entrepreneur writes a blog post with an idea to create an "Innovation Community Manager" for Baltimore. A few months later, Andrew Hazlett has the job. Here, Bmore Media's Renee Libby Beck tracks Hazlett down to find out more about how he got here and what he's up to.

How do we establish a "more vibrant entrepreneurial culture" here in Baltimore? For Brian Sierakowski, Director of Business Development for the Greater Baltimore Technology Council, it's all about picking the low-hanging fruit.

New Media has always been only as important as its users make it. Certainly there's marginal value in a Twitter post about a great new restaurant or a Facebook pic of a birthday party. Such things, however, do little to add lasting value. In Baltimore and elsewhere there are people facing serious health troubles and finding in blogs, Facebook, and other online outlets a chance to build communities that wouldn't have been possible a decade ago. Here, Bmore Media's Katharine Schildt tracks down some of their stories.