innovation : Buzz

It's one of the best parts of returning home from a trip -- showing photos of travels to destinations near and far. It's a highlight unless the pics are out of focus, have a finger or two in them, and the list goes on. Baltimore Photo Safari is just one of the new workshops springing up around the world helping tourists avoid mistakes and make the most of their travel-based photography.

Here's an excerpt:

"Our group rendezvoused outside the Maryland Science Center for a quick briefing by Muse, who was dressed in urban safari attire: hiking boots, brown pants, checked shirt, blue cap. He showed us a series of photos, using the USS Constellation and his children as models, that highlighted various lessons: study the scene before shooting, don't overcrowd the image, and zoom in on details."

Read the entire article here.

Companies developing alternative green energy sources are known for their innovation and out-of-the-box mentality.  New Energy Technologies, a Baltimore-based company, is taking it to the extreme with two new technologies that seem like something from a Sci-Fi film.

Here's an excerpt:

"In the not too distant future, companies may spray the world's tiniest solar cells on office and residential building windows to generate electricity. New Energy Technologies, (OTCBB: NENE), a Baltimore-based firm that is developing the SolarWindow technology, is also working on a MotionPower system that grabs kinetic energy from cars, trucks and buses as they decelerate to enter maintenance facilities, parking areas or drive-in windows.

The company has developed successful prototypes of its technologies. It tested MotionPower, for instance, at a Burger King, a Holiday Inn Express, and a Four Seasons Hotel and is looking for additional test sites with high bus or truck traffic in and out of a facility.

Its SolarWindow technology not only works with sunlight, but also with artificial light, says John Conklin, who recently took the helm as CEO of the company."

Read the entire article here.

The Towson Library has started a new program for small business owners that introduces them to the free services the library offers and teaches them how to use them.

Here's an excerpt:

"The free service offers an hour of one-on-one training to business people on the use of databases, websites and print sources available through the library.

"I highly recommend it for anyone trying to break the ice in the Towson area or even Baltimore County," said Hyson. "It's a great resource. It offered us hundreds of thousand of contacts," he added, "and the driving force is that it was free."

Indeed, some of the databases available at no cost through the Baltimore County Public Library website (bcpl.info) would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars.

Among the offerings are Standard & Poor's NetAdvanatge, a source of business and investment information; Reference USA, a list of 11 million company profiles including addresses, phone numbers, numbers of employees, sales volume and product lines; and Value Line Investment Survey Online, a resource offering information and advice on some 1,700 stocks."


Read the entire article here.

Millennial Media  could soon be part of mobile giant Research in Motion. The Blackberry-maker has been in talks with the mobile advertising company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

"Under pressure in the increasingly competitive wireless market, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. is shopping for a mobile advertising network, people familiar with the matter said.

In recent months, the Canadian device maker has held talks with Baltimore-based mobile ad network Millennial Media about a potential acquisition, these people said. But the talks have stalled over disagreements regarding the value of Millennial, which serves advertisements on its own network of mobile websites. It also brokers ad sales to a group of other mobile ad networks."


Read the entire article here.

The number of spices home cooks use to prepare meals for family and friends has increased exponentially since the 1950s. The CBS Evening News takes views behind the scenes at McCormick spices to see how the company keeps up with the demand for ever more exotic spices.

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Paul Lebelle and Adam Burkowske, two friends from Baltimore, have hit the middle stages of a cross country bike tour for their Bike Free charity. The idea is to raise $125,000 to purchase bikes and helmets for the children of military personnel.

Here's an excerpt:

"The pair began their ride in Maryland on June 10 and plan to end it with several large fundraisers in mid-October in California. They have been riding about 300 miles a week while carrying 60 pounds of gear on each bike.

Burkowske said Bike Free has connected with Rotary Clubs along their route to help raise money for the cause and has paired with the USO for distribution of the bikes, which they hope to do in December.

Lebelle and Burkowske met five years ago while working in a Baltimore restaurant. Both had given up their vehicles and taken to bicycles, and both were looking for something that would give their life greater purpose.

Burkowske said he had always wanted to walk across the country, doing volunteer work along the way. He shared his dream with Lebelle."

Read the entire article here.

Scientists at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, based in Laurel, MD, want to get into the minds of amputees who use prosthetic limbs. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded researchers a $34.5 million contract to begin testing a new prosthetic limb system controlled by the amputees' thoughts.

Here's an excerpt:

"APL scientists and engineers developed the underlying technology under DARPA's Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program, an ambitious four-year effort to create a prosthetic arm that would by far eclipse the World War II era hook-and-cable device used by most amputees. The program has already produced two complex prototypes, each advancing the art of upper-arm prosthetics.

The final design -- the MPL -- offers 22 degrees of motion, including independent movement of each finger, in a package that weighs about nine pounds (the weight of a natural limb). Providing nearly as much dexterity as a natural limb, the MPL is capable of unprecedented mechanical agility and is designed to respond to a user's thoughts."

Read the entire article here.

It won't work exactly like Gene Roddenberry envisioned on Star Trek, but teleportation will likely be a reality one day. Pioneering research being conducted at the University of Maryland's Joint Quantum Institute, among others, on quantum entanglement could lead to the ability to instantly transport an item from one end of the galaxy to another.

Here's an excerpt:

"According to the quantum theory, everything vibrates," theoretical physicist Michio Kaku tells NPR's Guy Raz. Kaku is a frequent guest on the Science and Discovery channels. "When two electrons are placed close together, they vibrate in unison. When you separate them, that's when all the fireworks start."

This is where quantum entanglement � sometimes described as "teleportation" � begins. "An invisible umbilical cord emerges connecting these two electrons. And you can separate them by as much as a galaxy if you want. Then, if you vibrate one of them, somehow on the other end of the galaxy the other electron knows that its partner is being jiggled."

This process happens even faster than the speed of light, physicists say."

Listen to or read the entire article here.

Baltimore County Schools students will soon have their game faces on -- their game developers' face, that is. Baltimore County Schools says it will add the new curriculum using serious games.

Here's an excerpt:

"Along with Learning Port strategies, the public school district has developed a program called L.i.V.E., or Learning in a Virtual Environment, which includes a "virtual high school" and a game development contest that will encourage students to create games based around topics related to science, technology, engineering, and math.

Baltimore, Maryland-area schools hope that the program will both generate interest in the sciences and prepare students for technical careers later in their lives."

Read the entire article here.

It only took Phileas Fogg 80 days to travel around the world in the Jules Vernes novel. A Maryland family -- mom, dad, two daughters and one son -- have returned from a seven-year voyage during which they circumnavigated the globe.

Here's an excerpt:

"After living the past seven years in this cabin the size of a hotel bathroom, the Crafton family seems in no hurry to clear out now. On a muggy, sun-drenched morning, all five of them -- knees just touching, lives completely entwined-- sit cheerfully in the sailboat that has been their home since they pulled away from this Severna Park dock in 2003.

Kalena, 18, who went through puberty and adolescence in this room, has her eyes fixed on a laptop slideshow of their travels that's playing on the galley table. For her, college awaits on land. Her mother, Kathleen, fingers a Melanesian carving she picked up in a trade during one of the family's countless island anchorages; the relaunch of her nursing career can wait until next week. Jena, 22, and Ben, 15, settle in for yet another telling of the family's greatest adventures (such as the three-day trek into the mountains of Papua New Guinea, or the village festival no white people had seen before)."

Read the entire article here.

It's one of the bright sides of a struggling economy, entrepreneurs creating new businesses. With credit tight, new business owners in Baltimore are looking beyond the confines of a traditional brick-and-mortar business to other opportunities that require less capital.

Here's an excerpt:

"Street vendors like the Quints are popping up on new corners, with city-inspected stainless steel food carts in tow. At the end of last year and into this summer, applications for street vending licenses shot up, said Alvin Gillard, Baltimore's vendor board chairman. The city still hasn't caught up with processing all of them.

It was an expensive lesson, but following his graduation from Yale University Roy Skeen, a history major, realized he didn't have a lot of skills that would land him a professional position. Farming in Baltimore, however, can be learned on the job. He's not alone. A growing number of young people are returning to the farm.

Here's an excerpt:

"Skeen moved back to his hometown, Baltimore and is now working the land on an urban farm. He finds the work hard, but satisfying, in an almost spiritual way.

"To me, the magic of seeing a cucumber on the vine, it was like a circle, and my psyche was connected. Here's something that was in front of me every day of my life and I never knew where it came from."

Skeen is not the only young person yearning for a simple, more spiritual life. The National Future Farmers of America � an organization kids join in junior high and high school � has seen its membership soar. It now boasts 520,000 members � the most in its long history."

Read the entire article here.

Fire Chief James Clack doesn't rely on radios or meetings at the firehouse to talk to officers and firefighters in Baltimore's Fire Dept. He turns to social media, and he's one of the first fire chiefs in the country to do so.

Here's an excerpt:

"In the age of the Internet, some fire departments have tried to limit what makes it online, but some chiefs have used technology to allow them to better communicate with firefighters and officers.

Baltimore Fire Chief James Clack has been one of the most proactive chiefs in the country when it comes to using social media.

"I really have a lot of ways to interact with our workforce," he said during a session at Firehouse Expo today that also include Syracuse Fire Chief Mark McLees and Memphis Fire Chief Alvin Benson."

Read the entire article here.

What's it take to be a mayor in the 21st century? A good grasp of social media and pushing out information to constituents is one thing, according to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

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When then-Mayor Martin O'Malley announced plans to redevelop a large swath of East Baltimore that would require the displacement of more than 500 families, it was met with a healthy dose of skepticism. Flash forward and the plan is being hailed as the model for other cities.

Here's an excerpt:

"The question is: Can we Americans be more sensitive than we were after World War II, when "urban renewal" forced inner-city residents - mostly black - to abandon their neighborhoods? The prime excuse then was to "eradicate blight." But the uses of the lost neighborhood land often told a different tale: flashy public projects, real estate opportunities for developers and massive freeways that plowed through low-income and minority areas.

Notwithstanding redevelopment around the Inner Harbor, much of Baltimore's inner city was a poster child for deindustrialization. It saw riots in the 1960s, a massive middle-class exodus, waves of drugs, crime, property "flippers" and slumlords.

The Casey Foundation was initially skeptical when Baltimore's mayor, now Gov. Martin O'Malley, asked for help with a $1 billion-plus plan to acquire and demolish hundreds of homes in the Middle East neighborhood, just north of the Johns Hopkins campus. The idea was to create an 88-acre community for life sciences research facilities, retail development and market-rate housing."

Read the entire op-ed here.