The recent College Park study that examined politicians' use of Twitter really wasn't a surprise. Yes, many politicians use it to puff up their image. They don't respond to their "friends" on the social networking site; instead they tout their latest grocery store run or gym workout. Sometimes, they may even ignore their Twitter duties for days on end.

What's that, you say? Members of Congress use and misuse Twitter in much the same way their constituents do? Interesting...

Don't get me wrong, it is aggravating that our elected officials aren't always using this social tool as a new way to connect with the people they represent. But I wouldn't mind knowing when Senator Barbara Mikulski is going to be on CNN next, or an interview Rep. Elijah Cummings had on NPR. These people represent us, and we should care about what they're saying. It's self-interested, but it's also important.

And that isn't to say that there aren't good political twitizens out there who are expanding their outreach through the site.

One of my favorite politicians to follow is Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri. Sure -- as the article points out -- she talks about her trip to Target. But she does it in response to a constituent's question. As well as being responsive, she'll often update the Twitterverse on how she's voted on an issue, what her expectations are for bills in Congress ("Now is the starting gate, not the finish line for health ins reform. Hard work remains. I'm betting we don't get done til Rudolph ready to fly," being one of her latest tweets), and her appearances around the state so that you can go and speak to her in person.

Looking locally, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith has used Twitter to help spread the word about new resources for his residents and articles that highlight happenings in the county (photo above). Following the water main break in Dundalk on Friday, Smith tweeted about Public Works crews who will be in the area to help with the cleanup effort, and how residents can aid in the process, as well as giving words of encouragement to those who have been affected.

(Baltimore Sun photo/Lloyd Fox)

Continue reading "Have you tweeted your representative today?" »

Posted by Nancy Knight at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Technology
        

Count me as one of those saddened by the news that the U.S. Postal Service is phasing out its clunky stamp vending machines from post offices. They may not have been the most efficient devices ever created, but who goes to the post office looking for efficiency?

Why the phase-out? Well, for the usual reason - they were impractical and expensive to maintain. And with the price of stamps so high, it was particularly troublesome that the machines accept only cash. Stamps are readily available - by credit or debit card - from your local grocery store or on the Internet.

But this sense of antiquity is exactly what I'll miss. My personal favorite vending machines are the ones that display a packet of stamps and then flip them backwards out of the compartment when you buy them. Are any still in service? They had a wonderful Rube Goldbergian quality about the spring-loaded action.

Continue reading "Another tradition goes the way of dinosaurs" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Of course, we all know who to cheer for when David challenges Goliath. But what happens when Goliath is staring down, say, a worldwide corporation that makes tens of billions of dollars a year?

In other words, who do you root for in Microsoft vs. Google?

Perhaps, at this point, we should simply cheer that there’s any competition at all. Through the years, it’s become easy to mistrust Microsoft, a company that began as an upstart itself but now boasts a global market (an estimated 90 percent of the world’s computers run on Windows) with products ranging from operating systems, a cable television station, a gaming system, and, most recently, a search engine, bing.com.

There have been antitrust lawsuits filed against Microsoft’s business practices, which often squash competition, both here and in Europe. Even the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation can’t quite quell the feeling that Microsoft is a modern-day Standard Oil.

Meanwhile, Google has translated its search engine success into a growing number of Web-based services, including Google News; Gmail; Google Video; Google Maps; the controversial Google Books Library Project, in which universities from around the world have opened their libraries for Google to scan and compile; and a mobile phone operating system, Android. Oh yeah, and they named their headquarters “Googleplex.”

The two companies have gone head-to-head many times, with competing software, e-mail and instant messaging programs, and search engines. But Google’s latest project, a new operating system called Chrome due out next year, is a direct threat to Microsoft’s bread-and-butter, the Windows empire.

Americans love a winner, except when they’re rooting for the underdog. And in the ever-tightening race between Microsoft and Google, it's hard to tell which is which. But it’s becoming apparent that it’s going to take another monster corporation to keep either of these companies in check.

So bring on the competition, the innovation and (we hope) the lower prices. And when these two giants have cut each other down to size, maybe a true "little guy" can join the market — be it for search engines, software, operating systems or video games — to keep them that way.

Posted by Andy Green at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Technology
        

Just when you thought that social networking had been successfully dismissed as a fad and a frivolity, the elections in Iran show the world exactly how powerful sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be.

Since the disputed election results were announced, Iranians have taken to the streets -- and the Internet.

They're using Facebook to organize marches, they're posting videos on YouTube to show the world the violence used to quell the demonstrations, and the discussion is so active on Twitter that you can find more than 1,500 messages detailing the actions and reactions from around the globe. Huffington Post has a live blogger who updates his reports on a nearly minute-by-minute basis.

 People on both sides of the dispute are mobilizing their supporters and organizing their protests on a vast scale.

"Twitter" doesn't seem like such a funny word anymore.

Posted by Nancy Knight at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
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I read the article about the killing of Heather Snively, an excited mom-to-be, with what can only be described as sickening dread. The story unfolded much as I have come to expect these so-called "Craigslist killings" to occur: two people "meet" online, set up a time to get together in real life, and one ends up wanting something a bit more sinister than a chest of drawers or, in this case, baby clothes.

Unfortunately, the slaying of Bobbie Jo Stinnett is also still fresh in my mind, and I fear the Snively case will parallel it closely.

I've always been told that whenever travelling, you should never behave more recklessly than you would at home. If you'd never dream of sleeping outside alone on the dunes in Ocean City, why would you behave differently on the California coast or the French seaside?

Likewise, if you'd never follow someone home whom you'd met in a coffeeshop to pick up a few records, why in the world would you drive there alone after exchanging an e-mail?

Continue reading "Common sense is essential, online and off" »

Posted by Nancy Knight at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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After nearly two decades of service, the Hubble Space Telescope is down to its last upgrade. If all goes as planned, a repair crew blasts off next week with spare parts and instruments to keep the Hubble in business for five more years.

Not only has the Hubble popularized astronomy with its amazing photos of the cosmos -- and proved to be one of NASA's biggest success stories -- but the telescope's name has also been synonymous with repair. The tradition started from the moment it was rocketed into orbit by the space shuttle and found to have a flawed mirror. Next week will mark its fifth service visit.

In an age when earth-bound technology from laptops to dishwashers is generally regarded as disposable, it's been a comfort to see the Hubble carry on the old-fashioned way -- with a team of crack technicians regularly refitting it.

Maryland's stake in all this is considerable. The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt supervises its daily operations, while the Space Telescope Science Institute on the grounds of Johns Hopkins University manages its science.

Continue reading "One last trip for the repairmen" »

Posted by Peter Jensen at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, now being built at the University of Maryland, might fall into the category of congressional pork -- one of those government projects that could have located anywhere, but Maryland lawmakers fought to bring it here. And we're glad that they did, because the research center at UM represents the high-skilled, professional jobs that the state should be seeking and will further strengthen Maryland's ties to the federal government. 

The work to go on there, as described by The Sun's David Wood Tuesday, will occupy theoretical mathematicians, behaviorial scientists and software engineers and it should further the mission of  the National Security Agency, located at Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County, and help other U.S. agencies track and fight terrorism. The research center also is a reminder of the high-tech workers and military consultants due here as part of BRAC, the base relocation commission decisions. 

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland's senior senator, pushed to have the $40 million project  housed in Maryland, which not only expands the federal workforce here but gives the University of Maryland's off-campus research park a prestigious tenant. 

What researchers do there will be top secret, but our colleague, Dave Wood, likened it to the tinkering of James Bond's gadget wizard, Q. Get the picture?

Posted by Ann Lolordo at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Technology
        

Forget the fact that spam costs you time you'll never get back and money that probably wasn't easy to earn. Ignore the possibility that malicious links or files contained in spam might lead to the theft of your identity or bank account.

Focus for a moment on spam as an environmental scourge that damages the planet and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

You might wonder whether you should be thinking about Hormel's Spam, the canned meat product. Industrial meat production, after all, has been linked to environmental damage and the increased release of greenhouse gases.

But no. We're talking about spam e-mail.

According to a study released by McAfee, "Carbon Footprint of Spam," the world expends 33 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, or 33 terawatt-hours, to send, route, and filter spam messages. That's the equivalent of the electricity required to power 2.4 million homes, the study estimates. And that much energy use emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as 3.1 million passenger cars using 2 billion gallons of gasoline.

Jeff Green, senior VP of product development and McAfee Avert Labs, argues that spam has a major financial impact and that spam filtering saves both the environment and money.

The study finds that spam filtering saves 135 TWh of electricity per year, an amount that equates to the removal of 13 million cars from the road. And it estimates that if every e-mail in-box had state-of-the-art spam filtering, spam could be reduced by 75percent, or 25 TWh per year, a reduction comparable to the removal of 2.3 million cars off the road.

For those who haven't yet guessed as much, McAfee offers an anti-spam service.

Continue reading "Spam threatens the Earth" »

Posted by Larry Williams at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Technology