On Monday, I had the chance to meet two very smart tech reporters who are plugged into (bad pun...sorry) the Washington tech-and-policy scene: Kim Hart and Cecilia Kang.

Hart, until a few months ago, was a tech reporter at the Washington Post who wrote a column (which I followed) called The Download. She is now at a congressional daily paper called The Hill, covering technology and writing a tech blog called Hillicon Valley (great name.)

Kang is a Post reporter who is covering tech policy and recently start her blog, PostTech. In a previous job, she wrote about the dot-com boom and bust for The San Jose Mercury News.

Congrats to both reporters for carving out this niche of the tech beat in our nation's capital and launching blogs to keep us all updated. It's absolutely necessary. They are playing to the strengths they have in their backyard, which is access and proximity to the politicians, lobbyists and tech-geeks who are instrumental in shaping technology policies across the country.

Good luck, Kim and Cecilia!

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Coast, Media
        

You may have heard about the big TED conferences that are organized around the world every year around the slogan: "Ideas Worth Spreading." At these events, hyper-smart people give talks on cutting edge -- or sometimes obscure but interesting -- topics, and the audience members are given lots of time to talk and network amongs themselves. The talks are video recorded and made available for free on TED's Website.

That basic format is coming to Baltimore's Maryland Institute College of Art, and it's called TEDxMidAtlantic. I wrote a story today that talks about how more than 100 enthusiastic volunteers came together to organize the free all-day event. The photo depicts several organizers, including Dave Troy in the middle, whose idea it was to bring the event to Baltimore.

It's gonna be a packed house. Stop and say hi if you see me!

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Big Ideas, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Events (Baltimore area), Events (DC/No. Va. area), Geeks, Social Media
        

The news that Connecticut-based Stanley Works is buying (er... merging with) Black & Decker, based in Towson, dropped like a big bomb yesterday afternoon. We covered it and so did just about everybody else with half an interest in business news.

One angle that we've pursued is the potential local impact that the move of the corporate headquarters from Baltimore County to Connecticut may mean. Black & Decker has been a prolific innovator in the realm of power tools and hardware, and such innovation typically means smart people and well-paying jobs for a region.

The companies said Monday that Black & Decker's Power Tools division will remain based in Towson. But it remains to be seen whether its Maryland location will continue to innovate at the same level after next year's merger.

I pulled some patent data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and discovered that Black & Decker ranks third in the state in terms of patents granted from 2004 to 2008. See the full state figures below.

Maryland Patent Grants, 2004 to 2008

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Coast, Research
        

In a recent survey released by CNN Money, Baltimore ranked 10th in the nation for being one of the best large regions to launch a new business. The city's Emerging Technology Center, our own incubator, got a shout-out in the ranking.

So what city was number 1? Oklahoma City.

Interestingly, there were no West Coast cities that cracked the list. The editors, in their survey methodology, explained that they placed a premium in their rankings on the foreclosure rate -- and the West Coast has been hit hard with foreclosures.

What do you think about Baltimore's ranking? Fair? Deserved? Just right?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers
        

Here's the second of guest blogger Mike Subelsky's posts interviewing local technologists. 

I interviewed a few of Maryland's most interesting technologists to find out more about their successes, failures, and lessons learned; the interviews are lightly edited and condensed by me for the blogging format. The second interview is with Christopher Ashworth (at right), creator of QLab show control software. Chris' mention of "lots of small risks" brings to mind a Tim Ferris post about Bill Gates and Dave Troy's Idea Garden.

Continue reading "Five Questions with Christopher Ashworth" »

Posted by Liz Hacken at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Big Ideas, East Coast, Startups
        

If you haven't read it yet, then run -- don't walk -- to Jay Hancock's latest, most excellent column where he talks with Yash Gupta, dean of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. In it, Gupta (left) talks about the difference in the innovation economies and cultures of Baltimore and Southern California's Silicon Valley.

He makes some interesting points. And, it seems there's a call to action somewhere in there for our business and political leaders to wake up and smell the Old Bay right under their noses.

I may be oversimplifying it, but Gupta seems to say that entrepreneurs are overly dependent around these parts on the federal government as a cash cow for contracts. Such dependence can be both financially and professionally rewarding, but stultifying -- partly because the government market is a different animal than the consumer and business market.

It was also refreshing for Gupta to point out that California has high taxes and a tough regulatory environment, and yet its Silicon Valley is still synonymous with business innovation -- so the excuse that Maryland isn't tax-friendly to businesses may be just that: an excuse.

Yet, the other side is hard to ignore, when billions of federal dollars are staring your local/regional economy in the face.

In an interview I did awhile back with Christian Johansson, the state's secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development, he essentially noted that the federal government is the big gorilla in the room that businesses around here can't ignore.

If the Maryland companies don't take advantage of the steady spigot of contracts that are made available each year, than other companies in other states most certainly will.

What do you think?

(photo credit: JHU)

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Big Ideas, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Government Tech, West Coast
        

Alright all you techies, entrepreneurs and risk-takers here in Maryland...Now is the time to vote your peace. Do you think Maryland has the right climate for nurturing startups?

Vote here, and tell us why you voted the way you did in the comments below.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Startups
        

...according to Indeed.com, at least. The job-hunt Web site is going all Google Trends with its slicing and dicing of job listing, unemployment and per capita data.

In June, Baltimore was No. 3 in terms of the ratio of unemployed per job posting (1 job per 1 unemployed person), while Washington D.C. was No. 1. (6 jobs per unemployed person). The top 50 metro areas were tabulated (see the full list here.) Okay, so maybe it's not the most uber-scientific analysis, but doesn't seeing Baltimore ranking high on a positive survey make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Be honest now.

Source: Indeed.com, via TechCrunch

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: East Coast, Jobs & Recruiting
        

I've been a little busy the last week putting together some print stories, but finally today got a chance to do some catching up on my blogroll. With a cup of coffee and a cup of instant oatmeal in hand (one at a time) I took a quick cruise through the Baltimore/Maryland/DC tech blogosphere. Here's a snapshot of what people are writing about:

* DCTechEvents. Scads of events and meet-ups all week, except for Friday, when apparently all the DC Techies just drink alone.

* UMBC's Ebiquity blog takes a look at the "high impact factor" of the Journal of Web Semantics.

* Entrepreneur Dave Troy takes a look at Baltimore from the train in his simply-titled post: "From the train, Baltimore looks like hell."

* Beltway Startups covers some local tech-company news, such as Merkle (of Columbia, Md.) buying Cognitive Data, and Cognitive Data buying CMS Direct. Is this a case of big fish eating smaller fish, which ate an even smaller fish?

* In one of the more pleasantly insightful Michael Jackson-inspired blog posts, local tech guru Mario Armstrong writes about the recently deceased pop singer's patent on special shoes that would help give you the illusion you're leaning forward at a 45-degree angle.

* One Fine Jay gave himself a new blog look, and he's got a post about how Twitter hashtag contests are hurting the free service. Amen, brother. Oh, and he thinks the phenomenon of bloggers generating mindless lists also stinks. Double amen to that. (I haven't done any lists for this blog, I think, though I'll concede you might see me generating an occasional list or two here; I will try, try, try to make them absolutely useful, One Fine Jay. I promise.)

* Want to learn more about Wolfram Alpha (that new computational search engine)? Somewhat Frank sat down with one of its co-founders for an interview, with video. See below.

* Technosailor, taking a cue from the Steve McNair death coverage, urges the mainstream media to report important breaking news even if it's a rumor, to hedge your bets.

* Things are looking up for Technotheory, who is off to Barcelona for the summer. Good luck! Have fun! Eat lots of tapas for me.

* EastCoastBlogging writes about Tweetdeck and Evernote as a match made in heaven. I haven't gotten into using either app yet. Should I?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Coast, Good Reads, Media, Social Media
        

Some of you have been seeing the job ads posted locally for a couple weeks now and wondered what Zynga Inc. was doing recruiting in the Baltimore area.

I'll tell you what they're doing: they're opening their first East Coast office, here in the Baltimore/Timonium area, hiring 12-15 people, and calling it Zynga East.

One of the biggest companies in the booming field of online social gaming, Zynga has come to the East Coast -- and chosen Baltimore (er, maybe Timonium) to plant their flag. If you've ever played Mafia Wars or Texas Hold'Em or Pirates or Scramble on Facebook or MySpace, you've played a Zynga game.

To lead Zynga East, Zynga hired Brian Reynolds, an 18-year veteran of the Baltimore-area gaming scene who co-founded Firaxis Games (Hunt Valley) and Big Huge Games (Timonium), which was bought last month by Curt Schilling's (yes, the retired Major League Baseball pitcher) 38 Studios.

(That's Brian Reynolds to the left, in a pic taken Feb. 17, 1999 by a Sun photographer, when he was VP of software development at Firaxis Games, and designed the game Alpha Centauri. Sorry Brian, couldn't find a more recent pic in our archives.)

A Zynga spokeswoman told me in an email last night that Reynolds will be bringing some of his "key associates" to work with him.

Zynga East will be working on a new online game, but the company wouldn't say what it was about.

Reynolds has a deep background in building strategy games, so maybe that's what we can expect to see more of?

The Baltimore area has become a bit of a game developer's haven.

Zynga's presence here will add a new competitive dimension to the game development scene, with online gaming being white-hot right now. And Zynga itself is a buzz machine.

They've attracted something like $40 million in investment capital and they're reportedly cash flow positive, with around 250 employees. It reportedly has sales of around $100 million and is profitable, but it's privately held, so we don't know how profitable.

BusinessWeek's Valley Girl has the good lowdown on the company and how -- you ask -- it's actually supposedly making all this money. Basically, it seems people are willing to pony up a few bucks here and there to play their games. They've got 12 million daily users and 50 million monthly users, the company reports.

For a quick rundown of Zynga in the news, check this out. And my online news story is here. Good news for Baltimore area game developers? Let me know what you think.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: East Coast, Gamers, Jobs & Recruiting, Social Media, West Coast
        

Have you ever heard the phrase "Feds, Meds, Eds & Beds"?

I hadn't -- until I listened to Christian S. Johansson, head of the state Department of Business and Economic Development, drop it during his keynote address at the Maryland Incubator of the Year Awards on June 17.

In a room full of bright start-up companies, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and state biz development leaders, Johansson talked about the strength and resilience of the Maryland economy, in the face of a national recession.  A big reason for that strength, he said, is "Feds, Meds, Eds and Beds."  Here's what that catch-phrase means:

* Feds: The state benefits from tens of thousands of jobs tied directly and indirectly to federal government agencies that employ people at military and civilian facilities. (Think NSA at Fort Meade to the Social Security Administration headquarters at Woodlawn.) Contractors that do work for these federal agencies and military installations are also plentiful in Maryland. 

* Meds: The health care and social services industry is a huge employer in Maryland. Also, biotechnology is a growing, cutting-edge sector that's seen a lot of investment in recent years.

* Eds: Education. Higher education. And the research that comes out of institutions such as the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University.

* Beds: Tourism. From the Inner Harbor to the Eastern Shore to Deep Creek.

The notion of Feds, Meds, Eds & Beds sounds like a nifty marketing jingle for state leaders to use in their cheerleading and marketing of Maryland. What do you think?

Meantime, if you're interested in getting a snapshot of the Maryland economy, here are some links to peruse:

:: This state report has one of the latest overviews of Maryland's private-sector workforce.

:: The 2008 Maryland employment and payrolls data show a breakdown of public and private sector jobs, including average weekly wage per worker. (Hint: There are more workers in local and state government than federal, but federal workers have a higher average weekly salary. Gee, I wonder if that's why everybody seems to covet a job with the Feds. :-)

:: The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore has more specific stats that drill down on the economic activity in the Baltimore area, such as this chart on employment by industry.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Big Ideas, East Coast, Government Tech
        

I've been looking around the Baltimore/Washington area for people who are writing about the tech and innovation scene, or actually representing it by blogging thoughtfully and passionately on tech-related topics they care about.

I've found some and got them listed over in my blogroll on the right. These folks are all well worth a read and an add to your RSS reader. And I'm looking for more.

I also think it's important that we all look beyond our region to see what others are doing, at least on the East Coast.

Beyond this immediate area, I'm really enjoying following the New England scene through some of its tech/innov bloggers. There's a real push up in the Boston area for biotech and biosciences, which, of course, is an area that Maryland wants to be an international player in (and already is, in some regards.)

I'm digging Business Innovation Factory's blog, as well as the blog kept by its founder and chief catalyst, Saul Kaplan (@skap5), who recently called for a "national innovation agenda" in a BusinessWeek column.

Boston Globe columnist Scott Kirsner has an impressive library of print, blog and video coverage that helps get you under the hood of the scene up in Beantown. I learned from his blog yesterday that June is Innovation Month in New England. Check out his video site here. In the video below, Kirsner interviews a startup company head who's showing off a super-computer; unfortunately, the company went out of business.

Continue reading "East Coast representin'" »

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: East Coast