Innovation : Buzz

Maryland is home to a thriving startup community, says Fast Company. The magazine ranks the Free State No. 3 on its list of the most innovative states.

Florida, Texas, Arizona and Alaska rounded out the top five. Mississippi, Oklahoma and Virginia were at the bottom three of the list, which ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

Maryland also ranked No. 4 on Fast Company's breakdown of the number of startups per million residents.

The magazine culled data from a variety of sources to come up with the ranking: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity and others. 

Woodberry's Artifact Coffee is one of the best places to get your java jolt, according to food and drink blog the Daily Meal.

The Spike Gjerde-owned venture comes in at No. 15 on its list of Best Coffee Shops in America. The Daily Meal raves about Artifact's " 'barn chic,' farm-to-table vibe" and its BYOB dinner service. (Read about Artifact's plans to serve beer and wine).

The blog editors asked shop owners and baristas to pick their favorite coffee joints based on quality of food and coffee, atmosphere and customer service to come up with its list of 33 shops and chains.

Coffee shops in Portland, Ore., and New York took the No. 3 and No. 2 spots. Ultimo Coffee in Philadelphia came in at No. 1.

An Annapolis company called Solar Wind Energy Inc. wants to build a massive energy tower on the U.S.-Mexico border, Forbes reports.

"Known as a downdraft tower, the project by Solar Wind Energy Inc., is an untested and hugely ambitious endeavor," Forbes writes. "It has, however, attracted some heavyweight partners, including GE Energy and Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., which has built everything from steel foundries to the Baltimore Ravens’ football stadium."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

There's a new vodka that tastes just like the flavors of the Chesapeake Bay, the Washington Post writes. 

Philadelphia Distillers launched the Bay Seasoned Vodka , "which is flavored with 'traditional Chesapeake seasoning'," writes the Post.

"Served neat, it has a nose of celery salt and black pepper," the review says. "The taste is dominated by red and black pepper, allspice and a bit of cardamom, with a wave of salt in the finish." The vodka may have been inspired by Old Bay seasoning, but is not a clone. 

Well that sounds like a fine addition to the Sunday brunch bloody mary. But we're wondering why a Maryland company didn't come out with this first?

Ever wish you could know how likely it is that you'll get a ticket if you skip paying the meter while you grab a cup of coffee?

Now you can, thanks to a Baltimore developer. Hampden resident Shea Frederick has developed an app called SpotAgent that can assess the likelihood of getting a parking ticket at certain times and locations, writes Atlantic Cities.

"The city’s data includes the date, time and a rough address (as well as license plate info) for every parking ticket handed out in the city in the past year," writes Atlantic Cities. "And new tickets typically appear in the database within just a few hours of landing on a windshield.
SpotAgent is available for the iPhone and Android devices. 

Baltimore was abuzz Feb. 16 for the opening of Under Armour's new retail store in Harbor East. 

More than half the store is devoted to ladies' apparel as the Baltimore sportswear company is hoping to woo some of the women who buy pricey yoga outfits from Lululemon, writes Bloomberg.

Under Armour is also getting ready to open a New York office so it can tap top design talent to create feminine sportswear.

Executive Leanne Fremar  "is working on opening Under Armour’s first New York office, where she’ll tap design talent," Bloomberg writes.

"She also inherits a unit that has been growing 30 percent a year and added the Studio, a yoga-inspired line, and Armour Bra brands last year."

Janet Stephens makes her living as a hairdresser at Studio 921 Salon & Day Spa in Locust Point. 

But her real passion is studying the ancient hairstyles of Rome and Greece, writes the Wall Street Journal in an extensive profile of Stephens, whom it dubs a "hairdo archaeologist."

"Her amateur scholarship is sticking a pin in the long-held assumptions among historians about the complicated, gravity-defying styles of ancient times," the Journal writes. "Basically, she has set out to prove that the ancients probably weren't wearing wigs after all."

Read the rest of its hair-raising feature. 

Which restaurants are dishing out the best service these days?

Baltimore's own Charleston is among the nation's best, according to Zagat. Located in Harbor East, the restaurant received 28 points out of 30 for service from Zagat reviewers. 

"Cindy Wolf remains 'at the top of her game', applying 'world-class technique' to 'Low Country' cuisine to create 'phenomenal' New American masterpieces at her Harbor East 'destination,'" writes Zagat, quoting Charleston fans in its guidebook. 

Zagat's list includes Next in Chicago, New York's Per Se and the Inn at Little Washington in Virgina.

The rich, velvety Bordeaux you just had with dinner wasn't always so pleasing to the palate.

That's according to Paul Lukacs, a Loyola University of Maryland professor who has written a book on the history of wine, featured in the New York Times.

In his new book "Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures," Lukacs writes that for much of history wine wasn't all that palatable, but the only option as water and milk weren't so safe to drink back then.

"It was really with the Enlightenment in the 18th century, when a series of revolutions began that would transform our understanding of grape-growing, wine production and wine storage, that wine began to resemble what we now take for granted," the Times writes. 

You can read the entire story here. 

Jane Austen aficionados from around the world are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the penning of "Pride and Prejudice" this month. 

Among those celebrating is Goucher College in Towson, writes the New York Times. It opened "Pride and Prejudice: A 200 Year Affair" Jan. 28.

The exhibit features what it bills as the largest Jane Austen collection in North America, including the first edition that was published and rare and illustrated editions. The exhibit runs through July 26. 

Writers for the New York Times Diner's Journal rounded up their list of favorite food stories. 

Along with stories in Esquire and Business Week, Times dining bloggers are reading a Baltimore City Paper feature on a Maryland father-and-son team who are making artisanal cider and mead.

"Just a few weeks ago, I was at some holiday party of the not-very-interesting variety. Then a guest opened a bottle of cider they’d brought—Millstone Cellars’ Ciderberry blend—and things suddenly got very interesting," Baltimore City Paper writes. 

The South Baltimore Recreation Center has officially reopened as a neigborhood technology center, thanks to the efforts of the Riverside community and Digital Harbor High School supporters.

Forbes takes a look at the new venue, where Balitmore City school students can learn about web design, mobile app development and digital media production. 

"The center’s grand opening was a packed house, where excited participants got to show equally excited visitors the fruits of some of their early work, providing a taste of what’s to come from the space," the magazine writes. "Shelly Blake-Plock, the executive co-director of the Digital Harbor Foundation, delivered such an impassioned welcome speech that you could almost see where all this excitement was coming from."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

America's new hotbeds of technology innovation are not in the major cities like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, but smaller ones, according to Forbes. And ranking No. 4 on Forbes' list is the Greater Baltimore region, where jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) grew nearly 18 percent between 2001 and 2012.

The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area got the top spot, followed by Riverside-San Bernadino, Calif., and San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas. 

New York, L.A. and Chicago, in contrast, all lost tech jobs in the past decade, according to the data crunched by Praxis Strategy Group. 

"As the social media industry matures and consolidates, employment is likely to continue shifting to less expensive, business-friendly areas," Forbes writes.

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Owings Mills weight loss company Medifast Inc. has rolled out a new ad campaign that has received attention from the New York Times, Mashable and Business Insider. 

"Medifast has a clever TV campaign running right now that includes a heartbreaking ad featuring customer Tina Shelley, who appears as both her former (fat) self and her new (svelte) self," writes Business Insider. "You have to have a heart of stone not to get a little choked up," the online magazine writes. 

Business Insider also talks to the creative director of Minneapolis ad agency Solve, who explains that the videos are before and after shots of actual Medifast customers who lost weight over a period of nine months. 

You can read the entire story here. And here's a link to the New York Times story. 

The New Yorker has reviewed the top classical music performances of 2012, which includes a March 26 concert that involved Baltimore-bred musician Dan Deacon.

"This event with So Percussion, Matmos, and Dan Deacon stood out for its anarchic, joyous spirit," writes the New Yorker. In its original blog review, the New Yorker writer Alex Ross describes the John Cage tribute as "one of the more entertaining and fulfilling evenings I've had in recent years."

Performances by the New York Philharmonic and the Birmingham Opera were also recognized in the list. 

Electronic composer Deacon was featured in Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year.