We have come to the end of the road for this blog template. No longer will I be using Movable Type to craft my pearls of journalism for the blog-reading masses.

Starting early tomorrow, we're switching BaltTech over to the Sun's proprietary content management system, and my blog will look different to you -- and I'll have to learn a whole new way of creating BaltTech content. You won't have to do anything different -- the web address will remain www.baltimoresun.com/balttech.

But! For diligent Baltimore tech scene followers, a word of advice: I'll be updating this post with a link to this old blog format, which will be turning into an archive of sorts. This content will continue to stay live on the Internet, but when you search for "BaltTech" on Google and type in BaltimoreSun.com/BaltTech, you'll get the new blog layout -- not this one. For the historians among us, if you want to find stuff I wrote about the Baltimore tech scene over the past three years, you'll need to search on this site here, because the new site will not have these posts in its archive.

But, the good news: I'm not going anywhere. I'll still be covering tech, entrepreneurs, innovation and whatever else interests me (or my editors).

And follow me on Twitter here!

And friend-up BaltTech on Facebook here!

Seeya' around.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Avert your eyes! Avert your eyes!

This photo was apparently deemed offensive by Facebook, and unilaterally taken down from a page operated by Babble, a popular online site for parents that's owned by Disney, according to Babble.

In a blog post, Babble explains:

Facebook’s community standards specifically state, “We have a strict “no nudity or pornography” policy. Any content that is inappropriately sexual will be removed. Before posting questionable content, be mindful of the consequences for you and your environment.” And today they proved that their definition of nudity is even stricter than ever thought. Earlier this afternoon, a photo of a beautifully adorned pregnant belly was removed from the site because – evidently – it involved unacceptable nudity in the form of a painted breast.

Babble’s social media manager, Andrea Zimmerman, posted the photo in question (above) to our Facebook page a few hours ago, and it received several hundred views before it was deleted by Facebook without warning. This has happened once or twice before to photos on Babble’s account, and Facebook has responded by sending a message warning that if their guidelines are violated too many times, the account will be deleted.

I have asked Facebook to comment. Waiting to hear back.

Update, 5:30 pm: A Facebook spokesperson sends along the following comment:

While we can’t comment on individual cases, Facebook has a strict policy around the prohibition of nudity on the site. This mirrors the policy that governs broadcast television, and which places limitations on nudity due to the presence of minors on Facebook.

In the meantime, is this photo -- a giraffe drawn on a woman's pregnant body -- offensive to you? Are there, perchance, other things you see on Facebook that are more offensive, yet never censored?

Just trying to spark a conversation.....

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Yesterday, you may have followed the online back-and-forth here on the much-talked-about Chrysler ad, " Halftime in America," featuring Clint Eastwood. It was knocked off YouTube for several hours yesterday, with only a short notice from YouTube on the site saying they had received a copyright complaint from NFL Properties.

But the NFL said they quickly told YouTube the Chrysler ad was OK.

The NFL said they did not complain about the video. YouTube said they only take down videos when they receive a complaint. Chrysler was just wondering what happened to this video that they had spent a ton of money on, and why it was no longer on YouTube.

So here's the update. An NFL spokesman tells me today that a third-party vendor the NFL uses for "content identification services" had "mistakenly sent a take-down notice." (They declined to name the vendor.)

Says NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy: "We asked Google to reinstate it immediately, which it did. Our office did not object to the ad or its placement online. (It was on NFL.com yesterday after the game – and continues to be – as part of content along with all the ads that appeared in the game)."

So here's the key part: "The vendor thought the ad was part of the halftime programming, which is protected, and not a commercial."

So the vendor thought Chrysler had taken a portion of the NFL's halftime programming and put it on its own Youtube page. Ooops. Inadvertent flag on the play. Play on.

In a way, Chrysler's ad people should be commended for making such a slick ad that it got confused for NFL programming. NFL programming is very well done.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

A new study from TechNet, a bipartisan advocacy group in Washington for technology companies, says that the growth of "apps" -- from Facebook games to iPhone apps -- has generated nearly 500,000 jobs in the United States since 2007.

This study from TechNet is among the first to grapple with job creation tied to apps that include both mobile and Facebook platforms. Last fall, the University of Maryland released a study that estimated that the Facebook App Economy alone generated 183,000 new jobs.

The TechNet study breaks down the U.S. by state and region, in terms of app job density -- apps created about 466,000 jobs in the country.

(Baltimore accounts for nearly 1 percent of App Economy jobs, per the study. You'll find that number in the full report, attached below.)

Top U.S. Metro Areas With Highest Percentage of App Economy Jobs

New York-Northern N.J.-Long Island………………….. 9.2%

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont………………………. 8.5%

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara……………………… 6.3%

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue……………………………….. 5.7%

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana………………….. 5.1%

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria………………………. 4.8%

Chicago-Naperville-Joliet……………………………….. 3.5%

Boston-Cambridge-Quincy……………………………… 3.5%

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta………………………… 3.3%

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington……………………………… 2.6%

Top Ten States for App Economy Jobs (Percentage)

California…………………………………………………… 23.8%

New York…………………………………………………… 6.9%

Washington………………………………………………… 6.4%

Texas……………………………………………………….. 5.4%

New Jersey………………………………………………… 4.2%

Illinois……………………………………………………….. 4.0%

Massachusetts…………………………………………….. 3.9%

Georgia……………………………………………………… 3.7%

Virginia……………………………………………………… 3.5%

Florida………………………………………………………. 3.1%

Below is the TechNet study:

TechNet App Economy Jobs Study

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Just got word from an NFL spokesman that the NFL did not ask Google/Youtube to take down Chrysler's popular "Halftime in America" commercial, featuring Clint Eastwood.

From NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy moments ago, via email to me: "The NFL did not file a copyright complaint about this ad with Google. We have asked Google to reinstate the ad immediately. Google is looking into why the ad was removed."

I reported early this morning that the video was blocked on Chrysler's Youtube page, with a notification to viewers that the NFL had filed a copyright claim.

Indeed, the video is now live on Chrysler's Youtube page. See below:

So what happened? Chatter around the web suggests that Youtube may have a very finicky automatic copyright detection filter that went a little over-aggressive today. But I'm waiting to see the official explanation from Google/Youtube.

Update, 4:30 pm:A YouTube spokesperson emailed me to say the following:

YouTube expeditiously removes content when it receives a copyright notification from copyright owners, or from third party agencies operating on their behalf. We reinstate content when we receive a retraction from the party who originally submitted the notification. The video has been reinstated.

I replied to the spokesperson:

The NFL says they never filed a complaint about the video -- even though the video screen said there was a complaint from NFL Properties LLC. Was it taken down due to some type of auto filtering technology that YouTube uses?

Your statement doesn't really say what happened in this case. Thanks.

The YouTube spokesperson's response:

No, a video comes down when we receive a copyright complaint about a specific video from the copyright holder, or from the third party agency that they designate to make such complaints on their behalf.

Then I ask back:

So did the NFL's third party agency make the complaint? Because the NFL itself is telling me they didn't complain.

Are you confused yet? Cuz I am. How did YouTube knock off this Chrysler video for several hours today?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

I missed the Clint Eastwood/Chrysler ad spot last night during the Super Bowl halftime, but many raved about it. So I just tried to pull it up on Youtube and was blocked. Apparently, the NFL has made a copyright claim against Chrysler and the commercial, per the message that popped up.

Update, 11:15 am: The NFL just told me they did NOT file a copyright claim. It asked Google to repost the Chrysler ad. Something happened on Google's end to take this video down.
I watched the commercial, which is still on Youtube on another official Chrysler account, and my layman eyes and ears had trouble picking out the alleged copyright violation(s). Is it because there was a reference to a football game, during the actual Super Bowl? I don't know.

Any copyright lawyers out there want to share some insight? I have a request for comment in to the NFL for some clarification on what's happening here.

P.S. The "Halftime in America" video doesn't even play on Chrysler's own website, because Chrysler linked to the Youtube video, which no longer plays.

This is unfortunate for Chrysler because it is paying for paid ad links on Google, which is how I found the video on Chrysler's site. Clearly, Chrysler had high, viral video hopes for this Eastwood ad. The ad copy on the site says: Just One Person can start a chain reaction that reaches thousands. Share this video and watch as it spreads across the country.

Update: 8:20 am: I've been in touch with both NFL and Chrysler spokespeople and they're both researching what's happening, before making any public statements. 

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

I keep hearing in my travels that the young folk (teens and tweens) are using Tumblr alot. Tumblr, indeed, is on a roll.

In the context of Facebook's IPO filing, I went looking for age demographics in its S-1 filing with the SEC.

Guess what? It wasn't there.

With 800+ million worldwide users, Facebook is gargantuan. But the social networking giant hardly gave insight into the demographic undercurrents driving the website's growth, in terms of age.

We've seen some of these graphics and stats elsewhere on the Web before. Like here, for 2010 estimates. And here, for 2011 estimates.

If I were investing in Facebook, I'd like to see more reporting on their age demographic trends. How fast are their various age segments growing? What is user activity among 18-25 year-olds like? What is your most engaged age demographic from a daily-average/monthly-average user perspective?

The only on-point statement I found the filing that addresses the younger demographic is the following: "We also believe that younger users have higher levels of engagement with the web and mobile devices in general and with Facebook specifically. We anticipate that demographic trends over the long term may contribute to growth in engagement as a greater number of users will come from demographic groups that have grown up with the web and mobile devices and who spend more time online every day." (page 46)

To me, one of the biggest competitive threats to Facebook is what online tools a 13 year old is using today to share their lives with friends.

Back in 2008, this chart I found on Myspace and other networks showed that 0-17 year olds were its largest demographic. Next largest? 45-54. And women dominated the site more than men.

AOL was once pretty omnipotent. But guess what? A new generation adopted new tools and new sites. Sure, people are still using AOL (dialup, no less), but AOL is a shadow of its former self.

Another random thought: Facebook has grown, in large part, thanks to women users. Look at the user stats from the above link (yes, this one). There are more women using Facebook than men in every age category.

That's pretty impressive. Women control many household purse strings. They are financial decision makers. I'm not saying this with any gender bias. But women increasingly really are decision makers, and advertisers recognize that. This is a feather in Facebook's cap.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Social Media
        

At 4:47 p.m. today, Facebook Inc. filed its S-1 registration statement as it seeks to go public and raise $5 billion.

Some key facts: from the filing:

* The Web 2.0 company has 845 million monthly active users. It had revenues last year of $3.7 billion, compared to $1.9 billion in 2010.

* It had a profit last year of $1 billion last year, compared to $606 million in 2010.

* Facebook has $3.9 billion in cash in the bank.

* Founder Mark Zuckerberg controls 36 percent of Class A shares. Baltimore's T. Rowe Price Group, a mutual funds investor, holds 5.2 percent of shares.

* Here's a monster number: 483 million daily active users (DAUs) on average in December 2011, an increase of 48% as compared to 327 million DAUs in December 2010.

* Zyngaville! Facebook says its relationship with Zynga accounted for 12 percent of its revenues. A healthy amount, but not surprising.

* The filing says Facebook plans to list its stock either on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange (You mean they haven't decided yet?)

* VERY interesting: Because Zuckerberg controls so many shares, the company is "not required to have a majority of our board of directors be independent, nor are we required to have a compensation committee or an independent nominating function."

* Total cost and expenses for running Facebook quadrupled to nearly $2 billion in 2011, from $515 million in 2009.

* Here's a chart of Facebook's history, from the filing:

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Social Media, West Coast
        

There's been a flowering in Baltimore in the area of event planning and organizing, among the tech/entrepreneurial crowd. Social media has really connected people like never before. One of the more dynamic groups at the moment is the Baltimore Tech Facebook group, which is an organic mass of 600+ members. (Are you a member yet? And while you're at it, follow BaltTech on Facebook too, for news updates from me.)

One of the points I make in today's article is that some of the traditional groups normally behind Baltimore tech events -- TEDCO, Emerging Technology Center, and the Greater Baltimore Tech Council, for instance -- find themselves attending as many, or more, independent community events as they now organize for the community. Such as yesterday's Practice Your Pitch event, organized on the Facebook group and held at Naden/Lean in Cockeysville.

Monica Beeman tweeted about Practice Your Pitch here. And I expect local video tech guru Eli Etherton to post a video soon of all the pitches and feedback. I'll post it here when he does.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Big Ideas, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Events (Baltimore area), Social Media
        

Lookingglass Cyber Solutions, a Baltimore firm which makes some cool cyber security software that gives organizations global insight into cyber threats, said Monday morning that it raised $5 million in a series A round of financing.

Lookingglass, which got its start as an incubated company at the Emerging Technology Center in Canton, lined up West Coast and East Coast investors for the raise, which it will use for marketing, sales and deployment to enterprise customers, it said in a news release

Lookingglass's core product is called ScoutVision, which companies use to "continuously monitor their own networks, the networks of their partners and cloud-computing resources," Lookingglass says.

Lookingglass continues the trend of some local companies straddling both coasts to raise venture financing. Some have told me privately that there just isn't enough local interest in startup tech to put together a round that solely originates in Maryland or the Mid-Atlantic. An interesting post in TechCocktail, featuring Josh Konowe's experience raising money for Uppidy, is one of the latest anecdotes.

I haven't yet interviewed the Lookingglass folks, so I don't know about their personal experience.

The main investor is Alsop Louis Partners, an early stage investment firm in San Francisco. Vital Financial, a private equity and capital investment firm in Bethesda, MD, participated in the round.

Lookingglass disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission in August that it was attempting to raise capital, in a Form D filing. At the time, it said it was trying to raise $500,000.

The company listed its revenues as between $1 million and $5 million.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Hey, remember when I wrote about these two rascals last year who were using Baltimore city data to help you avoid getting a parking ticket?

Shea Frederick and James Schaffer are still at it with their app idea, SpotAgent.com. And, they're taking they're budding expertise in crunching parking and speed camera ticket data to drop some knowledge about Baltimore's revenues from these tickets.

It's a big money-maker to say the least. Here are some numbers they put together:

* Revenue from speed camera tickets: $9.9 million, accounting for 27 percent of the total $43 million in ticket revenue. (Another $4.9 million, or 13 percent, came from mobile speed cams.)

* Parking meter violations: $3 million, or 10 percent of total ticket revenue.

* Total number of speed camera and meter violation citations issued: 913,000

For the full report, go here to SpotAgent's site.

I'd love to hear from someone in Baltimore City government for some color commentary about these numbers. I'm emailing someone in City Hall this blog post after I post it.

And below are Shea and James from a photo in the Baltimore Sun last year.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Maybe you haven't heard: One of Gov. O'Malley's tax proposals this year is to extend the sales tax to digital products. That means digital media you download: ebooks, apps, music, newspapers, videos, ringtones, audio greeting cards and more could become subject to the state's sales tax of 6 percent. So that 99 cents iTunes song you buy would cost around $1.05.

That app you buy would go up a bunch of cents.

:: Here's the Senate bill, put in at the request of the O'Malley administration. The part about digital products starts at page 33.

The Maryland Chamber of Commerce is skeptical of this tax idea by O'Malley. Their vice president of governmental affairs, in a blog post today, said the organization will work to ensure this digital download tax doesn't become a repeat -- a Tech Tax 2 -- of the failed proposed tax on tech services in 2007.

For years, there's been a steady debate in Maryland about how to address the "sales tax loophole" on the Internet. Consumers who buy goods -- digital and physical -- from online sites that don't have any physical location in Maryland aren't charged the sales tax by the online retailer. Bricks-and-mortar retailers complain about unfair competition. (Note: See my second update below: there is a provision for this type of tax collection in the proposal.)

What other states are taxing digital downloads? I scoured the web for some info on this and I found a Wikipedia list; a proposed bill last year in Congress tried to solve the "who can tax what" conundrum when it comes to digital goods; and Amazon recently striking a deal with Indiana to collect sales tax a few years from now.

On the one hand, states such as Maryland are hurting for tax revenue to close budget holes. Maryland collects taxes on the sale of music CDs, for instance. But when that same music is digital and electronically transmitted, it does not, thus missing out on revenue.

On the other, there may be small businesses out there engaged in the digital download business who worry about new taxes.

Where do you stand?

If you're a ringtone addict, do you think you should now pay a tax? Or, if you're an iPhone app developer for instance, what does it mean to have to collect sales tax on your app sale in Maryland or elsewhere? How would this complicate your business? Or is it not that big a deal?

UPDATE at 3:25 pm: I've gone over the bill a little more closely and, of course, I have more questions. For one, how would the state go about taxing "chat room discussions" and "weblogs" (page 34)? Would this be where a user pays a fee to read or participate in these types of online media, and thus a tax is assessed and collected? (i.e. Online news paywalls?) And what about digital streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime and other services on Apple TV and Roku, for instance? The bill talks about taxing downloads, but is vague on the act of "streaming."

Update #2, at 3:50 pm: Ok, folks, some more closer reading of the bill indicates that there is indeed a so-called "Amazon tax provision" -- see page 42, 11-701(b)1 -- "engage in the business of an out-of-state vendor." O'Malley, like many other governors, does appear to want to collect sales tax from Amazon affiliates, to use the Amazon example, based on my read of the bill.  A business that's sold more than $10,000 worth of goods in Maryland over the previous four quarters, starting July 1, would be subject to collecting sales tax from customers. This type of bill provision has failed in the past, I'm told. 

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

When you run in fast local media-gossip circles like I do (ha!), you can't resist the opportunity to ask a local power player whether his foundation is still interested in buying The Baltimore Sun.

Yesterday, I interviewed Robert C. Embry Jr. (left), president of the Abell Foundation, about the philanthropic institution's increasing emphasis on funding local technology startups. Abell has just committed $75,000 to a new group called the Innovation Alliance, which will use the funds to conduct a big survey of what the tech community wants and needs.

Toward the end of my interview with Mr. Embry, I asked if Abell still has any interest in buying the Baltimore Sun. (Abell was reportedly part of a team of local investors, led by Ted Venetoulis, who had floated the idea of buying the Sun about five/six years ago.)

Embry told me that the Tribune bankruptcy (Chicago-based Tribune Co. owns the Baltimore Sun, as well as the Chicago Tribune, LA Times and other papers) muddled the prospects for an acquisition several years ago. Indeed, bankruptcy is a sort of limbo for companies in most cases.

If and when Tribune emerges from bankruptcy, Embry said, "then we would re-open the question."

I also asked Embry if Abell, which has funded high-tech energy and biotech companies lately, has any interest in funding new online journalism startups?

Said Embry: "We've spent a lot of time considering that. A lot of people have approached us with ideas, but we haven't been presented with any that are self-sustaining."

I don't know what Maryland-based online news sites have presented themselves to the Abell Foundation for funding, but I can rattle off a bunch off the top of my head that are a steady part of my local media diet.

There's Baltimore Brew (which did a fantastic job raising $24,624 on Kickstarter -- well over their $15,000 goal.)

There's CityBizList, for Baltimore area business.

And MarylandReporter.com, for state house politics news.

Are these sites "sustainable"? I don't know. At this point, they seem to have had some longevity. They are veterans, in terms of online years. That counts for something.

In fact, in addition to the Sun, which still dominates, there's still a healthy selection of print and online sources of good journalism and opinion-ating around Baltimore, and a little beyond. There's CityPaper, the Daily Record, Caroll County Times, Urbanite, the Patuxent publications, the Gazette, the Washington Post, and Center Maryland. (Update: Yes, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention the Patch sites.)

The not-so-hidden players in the local media scene anymore are Twitter and Facebook. The public has more power than ever before to push stories to the top of a traditional reporter's agenda. And the public can respond to a story -- and the newsmakers behind it -- with online persistence and inquisitiveness.

In the old days, journalists would work hard to find new angles and keep a good story alive every day. (We still do.) Today, the public does the same thing on Facebook and Twitter, if the story means enough to them (us).

Just yesterday, I watched as a story I wrote about the Abell Foundation and the Innovation Alliance immediately got some push-back in the comments section of the Baltimore Tech Facebook group.

Within a couple hours of posting the story, Newt Fowler, head of the Innovation Alliance, was immediately responding to questions from the tech community.

This is truly a revolution in news, information-sharing and accountability.

Sure, we lost the Examiner a few years back, but we've actually seen the remaining publications -- and new ones, including us at The Baltimore Sun -- start to adjust to the online world.

Anybody can make and break news, and anybody can immediately question the newsmakers -- and the news writers. This rocks.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Media, Social Media, Startups
        

Finally, RIM's two co-CEOs are stepping down. Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have been running the company for years, and while at the helm they've enjoyed many, many successes. But the two have also failed to position the company to respond to the dual threats of Apple and Android, in the smartphone and tablet wars.

RIM, who practically gave birth to the modern smartphone with the BlackBerry, has had its lunch eaten by its competitors over the last four years. Actually, make that two lunches: Lazaridis's and Balsillie's.

The company has caught a fair amount of flack for having two CEOs. I've always thought it was so odd that, in a hyper-competitive field, this one big company chose to muddle the chain of command by having two top dogs in these key positions. But wait, turns out they also had two chief operating officers, too! Noah, have you gotten all your animals aboard the Ark yet? How many RIM executives does it take to do one job?

For comparison's sake, here's Apple's executive leadership team. Notice Tim Cook is the CEO and his (apparently) direct reports are all senior vice presidents, with one also being the lone "chief" -- the chief financial officer.

At Google, the search giant recently clarified its upper echelon by making Eric Schmidt executive chairman, Larry Page as CEO, and Sergey Brin as "co-founder." Where Schmidt was once supposedly the adult in the room, while listening to Page and Brin, Page is now in charge.

Here is a previous executive team (an old web page I found via the Wayback Machine.) At one point, RIM had two CEOs, two chief operating officers, and a chief *operations* officer.

And here is RIM's new executive team web page. A bit leaner. They went from eight top execs, to five.

Having these "co-" positions at the highest levels could indicate some problems in management performance and board leadership. Sometimes, people get promoted to a "co" position as a reward for them staying with the company -- and the company doesn't have the fortitude to push someone else out. It's called executive bloat.

Sometimes, it signals the need for what is perceived as a lot of "strategic" thinking and direction, and the thought is that two people are better than one. But the lines of responsibility and accountability get muddled. And there's a danger that the co-executives sometimes end up listening more to each other than the little people down below -- their people on the front lines.

I'm not saying that happened at RIM.

I'm just saying these are the dangers of diffusing leadership responsibility. In RIM's case, they've had four people doing two key roles, and the company has been dogging it the last few years. Let's hope the new guy at RIM -- Thorstein Heins -- takes the reins of leadership firmly.

Image via The Sun/UK.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

{Note: This post was updated below to indicate that Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, who had been listed on ProPublica's website as not having a view on SOPA, does not in fact support SOPA in its current form.}

Everyone is talking today about SOPA, the controversial House bill (Stop Online Piracy Act) and what effect it may have on the Internet, freedom of speech, and e-commerce if it becomes U.S. law.

For a good overview of the bill (and it's sister bill in the Senate called PIPA), check out the Wikipedia entry for it. Wikipedia is one of thousands of websites that have gone on a voluntary blackout today to protest SOPA/PIPA. It's a fascinating day for Internet citizens. They are making their voices heard.

The Obama White House last week came out against the bills as they've been written. Here in Maryland, our state's citizens who are tuned into the debate are eagerly waiting to see what their representatives to Congress think of the pair of bills.

Sen. Cardin supports the bill in broad terms as a co-sponsor, but stated this month that he wouldn't back it in its current form. “I would not vote for final passage of PIPA, as currently written, on the Senate floor," he said in a press release quoted in Talking Points Memo.

According to ProPublica, Maryland's other senator -- Barbara Mikulski -- and eight seven representatives in the House have been silent on the bills.

UPDATED at 3:20pm: However, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, has come out against SOPA in its current form, in recent weeks. He has communicated his position with his constituents (you can see the email in the reader comments below), and an aide to the Congressman alerted me to a blog post today where he re-emphasized his position against SOPA.

UPDATED at 3:45pm: Rep. John Sarbanes put out a statement today saying he was against SOPA in its current form. I predict that we'll suddenly see a few more folks come out against SOPA now that it seems like it's becoming radioactive in Washington.

What do our other reps really think about SOPA and PIPA? Well, we don't know. Yet.

Another site, called SopaTrack, shows how much money each of Maryland's representatives have attracted from pro- and anti-SOPA/PIPA donors. Each representative has received more funding from supporters of SOPA/PIPA -- in some cases, a lot more -- than from the bills' critics.

At this point, SOPA and PIPA seem like a pair of dirty words in Washington. Does anyone really think these bills are going anywhere and won't be dead in the water in a few weeks' time?

Oh, and if you're looking for what some local (Baltimore) musicians think of SOPA, check out the latest from our entertainment blogger Erik Maza.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

In my story today, I looked at how the NFL and its teams, including the Baltimore Ravens, are now closely monitoring the proliferation of China-based websites that are selling counterfeit merchandise to unsuspecting (and, of course, suspecting) U.S. consumers.

The NFL has filed a pair of lawsuits over the past year in New York that have served to take down around 800 websites that they alleged were selling counterfeit jerseys and other unlicensed NFL products, league officials told me.

The NFL, which supports the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), is going after these website operators in what has turned into an online game of cat and mouse. It follows in the footsteps of other big brands, such as Polo Ralph Lauren and North Face, in terms of using civil actions to shut down these sites through injunctions and so-called "ex parte" orders.

The most recent NFL case, NFL vs. Momo Lee, et al. was unsealed last month in federal court in New York.

The NFL and the Ravens told me that their efforts are really new within the past year, in terms of tracking these counterfeit sites and trying to shut them down.

Some consumers are savvy and know that they're not buying "the real thing" on some of these sites -- they're just hoping for a cheap facsimile in hopes of saving money and just having something to wear on game day.

But some consumers, like Barbra Skarzynski, were genuinely duped by a website claiming to be official. She ended up with a discolored Lardarius Webb jersey, with his name spelled "EWBB." That's a picture of it below taken by Baltimore Sun photographer Kim Hairston:

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Did you hear? Baltimore's Millennial Media filed to go public yesterday, letting everyone know they hope to raise $75 million from Wall Street to fuel their mobile ad business's growth (and make its founders and early investors rich.)

Up above, those are co-founders Chris Brandenburg (left), chief technology officer, and Paul Palmier, chief executive officer.

Below are some fun facts from Millennial Media's S-1 registration statement with the SEC for its initial public offering:

* Quite literally, the money paragraph (note the improvement in gross margin) and the rapid closing of the gap from a $7 million loss in 2010 to a $417,000 loss in the first nine months of last year: "From 2009 to 2010, our revenue increased from $16.2 million to $47.8 million, or 195%, our gross margin improved from 29% to 34%, our net loss improved from $7.6 million to $7.1 million and our adjusted EBITDA improved from a loss of $7.0 million to a loss of $6.4 million. For the nine months ended September 30, 2011 as compared to the same period of 2010, our revenue increased from $29.1 million to $69.1 million, or 138%, our gross margin improved from 33% to 39%, our net loss improved from $5.4 million to $417,000 and our adjusted EBITDA improved from a loss of $4.9 million to earnings of $650,000."

* Employee growth: "We grew from 54 employees at December 31, 2008 to 190 employees at September 30, 2011." And more up to date: "As of December 31, 2011, we had 222 employees, of which 72 were primarily engaged in product and technology and 69 were engaged in sales and marketing."

* Fascinating chart of the ramp-up in spending among the top 100 advertisers with Millennial over the last three years:

* The top four executives at Millennial are all over 30 -- and the CEO Paul Palmieri and COO Stephen Root are over 40. (Sorry for pointing this out, Paul and Stephen. But I think it should be made clear Millennial's success as a startup so far is because of some relatively veteran executives, not fresh-faced kids out of college.)

* Those four executives earned this much money in 2011:

* Co-founders Paul Palmieri and Chris Brandenburg own 11.3 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively of outstanding shares in Millennial. Investment firms Bessemer Venture Partners and Columbia Capital are tied for the top shareholder spot, at 20.6 percent each.

* Millennial's five-year lease at the American Can Co. complex in Canton is up in July 2013. It's paying between $21 and $22 per square foot for 16,000+ square feet of space. It's annual lease has gone up from $201,000 in the first year, to $361,000 in its final year of the lease.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Smartphones, Startups, Venture Cap
        

This is the year of BaltTech.

No, not necessarily my blog. But Baltimore Tech.

I'm going into my fourth (calendar) year of blogging about Baltimore's tech scene, and my oh my, how time flies.There's a lot percolating these days, but more on that in a moment.

I started blogging about Baltimore tech in June 2009.

According to my blog dashboard, I've written 757 posts (and each one was a journalistic jewel, of course) and received 2,499 comments -- of which, probably a third were complete and utter spam. (Boo. )Along the way, I've seen my own approach to how I "do" journalism evolve. I think I'm fairly open about the stories I work on, and often solicit feedback, leads and story ideas on Twitter and Facebook. (The community-powered Baltimore Tech Facebook group rocks it, btw. My Facebook page is here -- like it up for BaltTech updates.)

Most of the time, I'm flat-out overwhelmed by the responses, comments and pitches I get. It's hard to keep up. But without question, the "crowd" has a huge impact on my work, my reporting and the stories that I ultimately end up producing. It's pretty darn cool.

Looking ahead, I have some thoughts about where I want to take my coverage of the tech community this year. (And, of course, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.)

* Biotech: I feel like I am not writing enough about Baltimore's biotech industry. I'd like to do more and I'm open to ideas and pitches. I've done a bunch of "big picture" stories in my time on the beat, and I think in many instances, I need to be looking for broader trend stories. There's very little in terms of "hard news," because big breakthroughs, discoveries and projects often take years to put together. But, I think there's a mix of powerful motivations in biotech. You have researchers who want to cure major diseases, and companies that want to do the same -- plus make a ton of money. And our universities sit in the middle of the mix. Then you have economic development officials and political leaders here in Maryland really taking big, long-term bets on biotech as a major industry in the state. There's a ton more to write, and I've barely scratched the surface. How are those state biotech tax credits really working out, btw?

* InvestMaryland: It's the state program championed by Gov. O'Malley last year that's supposed to pump around $70 million in Maryland startups in the next few years. It's a complicated beast. How will it play out this year? What companies will get funded? Will it really make a difference in the startup ecosystem in Maryland? I expect to follow it closely. The first deadline is Feb. 1st -- that's when insurance companies are supposed to express their interest in participating in the state-run auction to sell off tax credits, to raise money for investing in startups. (Here are links to all I've written about the program.)

* Baltimore's tech scene: I feel like there's an interesting story to tell about Baltimore's tech scene right now, when one looks at it in terms of the universe of the Greater Baltimore Tech Council and the Emerging Technology Center. There's been a lot going on, from leadership changes to the launch of a new accelerator by the ETC. (And at least one more that's apart from the ETC effort, by entrepreneurs Greg Cangialosi and Sean Lane.) There's a lot of debate within the community about whether efforts are being spread to thin. And then of course, you have the big news of Millennial Media, which brings me to my next point......

* Millennial Media: Even before its IPO announcement last week, I had been watching Millennial pretty closely because I knew they were poised for IPO or acquisition. The good news for Baltimore is that Palmieri & Brandenburg and crew are sticking to their guns and going for IPO. This is big news for their business, and the mobile ad sector, of course, but it also has the potential to be extremely influential in Baltimore's tech-and-startup ecosystem. Founder success usually begets new founder success. Mid-level execs who are currently working at Millennial may one day have their own idea for a startup, and with their connections and talent, spin off and do their own thing. In many ways, Millennial has the elements of a deliberate and classic startup story. How Millennial handles its IPO and growth will be an ongoing story that we'll all be watching.

 Adding to the mix, I pay attention to cybersecurity, social media and work/life trends at the intersection of technology. I'm following various companies and startup ventures to see how they progress. I also do regular Q&As with Baltimore biz folks, including techies. What am I missing? What would you like to see me cover more of?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Well, this is a headache for the most esteemed newspaper in the land....

Today, at 1:25 pm, I got an email from the New York Times pleading me to rethink my subscription cancellation and re-up for an exclusive rate of 50 percent off for 16 weeks.

There's only one problem: I wasn't a print subscriber. In fact, about 8 million people got that email, too, and they weren't supposed to get it. Instead, it was only intended for about 300 people.

I've been following Amy Chozick's tweets about it -- she's the Time's corporate media reporter.

But hey -- now, I presume, every NYT subscriber knows that if they just cancel, they can get a 50 percent break on a print subscription.

Did I mention what a headache this must be for those poor folks over at the Grey Lady?

Update: Here's the official story from the NYT's Amy Chozick.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

It wasn't too long ago -- in May, actually -- when I was getting pitched by a PR representative hired by M-Edge Accessories to write about its growing business and how it was working with Amazon to sell its range of Kindle/tablet cases.

But somewhere along the way, apparently, the relationship soured.

The Odenton-based company last month filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland that accuses Amazon of unfair business practices. (The WSJ reported it this morning, saying that it was filed last week. In fact, last week, M-Edge simply amended its original complaint, which was filed Nov. 18. Anyway....)

In the complaint, M-Edge blasts the massive web with multiple accusations, including "patent infringement, unfair competition, intentional interference with contracts and economic relations, and false advertising."

Indeed, the first sentence of the meat of the lawsuit characterizes Amazon's alleged behavior toward M-Edge as "a classic example of unlawful corporate bullying."

M-Edge has 50 employees. Amazon is much, much bigger. The company makes a wide range of Kindle and tablet cases, and says in its complaint that it's products used to be top sellers. But M-Edge claims that Amazon "de-listed" them from their website. At the heart of the complaint, M-Edge says it had a contract with Amazon to pay it 15 percent commission for M-Edge accessory sales -- but in January last year, Amazon allegedly wanted to up the rate to 32 percent.

Since Amazon sales accounted for 90 percent of its business, M-Edge eventually signed a new contract in July last year, the company claims.

The allegations are interesting, and gives a one-sided view of an interesting relationship between a tiny company (M-Edge) and a goliath (Amazon) as the goliath launched the Kindle and watched it grow into a big business. I'm waiting to see how Amazon responds to the lawsuit. Meanwhile, I'm waiting for comment from M-Edge.

Here is the lawsuit, which really is more interesting than anything I could write about it:

M-Edge Sues Amazon

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Gadgets
        

I stumbled across this interesting article that looked at digital/mobile efforts in Baltimore news operations, including The Baltimore Sun and the local television stations' presence and efforts.

The article, from NetNewsCheck, gives some good context as to the local players, as we gallop into the digital frontier of the mobile web.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

I don't know if I should be mortified or amused.

Google today released its 11th annual Zeitgeist report, which looked at global and regional search trends.

Apparently the No. 1 fastest rising search query was Internet celeb Rebecca Black, who had that song "Friday", which, believe it or not, I have never actually heard. But here's the Youtube video (11+ million views!)

Google built a dedicated website for its Zeitgeist report. Here it is.

Turns out, Apple dominated the list, with the iPhone 5 (which didn't actually appear), Steve Jobs and the iPad 2, claiming three of 10 spots.

Poke around on the site, and let me know if your faith in humanity has been affirmed, or shot to heck. ;-)

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Big Ideas
        

I know there's been a lot of introspection in Baltimore's tech circles regarding where the community is heading, especially the Greater Baltimore Tech Council, but leave it to a couple local entrepreneurs to cut through the uncertainty with action, not just words.

In what was possibly the Baltimore's tech scene's worst kept secret over the last month or so, Greg Cangialosi, of former Blue Sky Factory fame, and Sean Lane, of current BTS Corp. fame, are teaming up to launch what they call a "hybrid accelerator" in Locust Point.

Here's my story today online. It's also in the print edition.

What this dynamic duo is trying to create involves a virtuous cycle of idea generation, capital allocation, market growth, and wealth accumulation for the startups they hope to nurture. And with wealth in a functional startup ecosystem comes a helping of responsibility: will you re-invest some of your money back in the community that supported you? It is this ethos that permeates other startup communities that are far ahead of Baltimore, such as Silicon Valley.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Cangialosi/Lane are investing their own money in the concept and seeking other investors to fuel their investment fund. By next year, we could be looking at half dozen or more new startups in Baltimore under the wings of Cangialosi/Lane.

I'm also aware of a few more similar projects under way, one of which I mentioned in my story, that's being explored by StartupBaltimore's Mike Brenner. And there's yet another project/idea that's percolating, that I'm hoping I can report on soon.

So, with all these ideas, is the community at a "crossroads", per se, as some believe. Or is it going through an uncomfortable growth and realignment phase? Clearly, there are a bunch of people in this town who believe there can be more value-added services and even physical locations that are offered to startups, beyond the Emerging Technology Center's orbit.

I see people moving forward to build out a more supportive ecosystem. The reality is that for many startups, they really don't need or want a big lease and fancy office space. They can be lean and bootstrap their operation from a coworking space, a coffee shop, their home, or a mix of all such options. I see Baltimore's tech community moving forward to support such alternatives to startup building. And that's a good thing.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

[Updated with comment from GBTC Chairman: See below]

The Greater Baltimore Tech Council this morning sent me a press release announcing that they just appointed a new executive director. His name is Jason Hardebeck and you may remember him as the guy who sold his Baltimore social networking company to Facebook recently for an undisclosed amount.

Hardebeck replaces Sharon Webb, who had been in the position for about a year. I did a lengthy Q&A with Webb recently about the organizational challenges the GBTC faced in a new economy, with pressures from the explosion of social media.

A press release called Webb's tenure a "transitional period."

“Sharon did a phenomenal job bringing the GBTC to this point,” said GBTC Jason Pappas, president of Hannix Inc. in a news release. “But the timing is right to reinvigorate the organization so it becomes an outstanding resource and advocate for our growing technology and industry.”

This is sudden and abrupt news. I had not heard any inklings of a leadership change. Indeed, during the last change, when Steve Kozak left the top position, the board did a leadership search. This time around, it seems that they handpicked Hardebeck for the top spot.

So, in a span of less than two years, the GBTC has gone from Steve Kozak, to Jen Gunner (interim executive director), Sharon Webb and now Hardebeck.

I'm hoping to talk to both Pappas and Hardebeck today to get the full skinny. Stay tuned.


UPDATE: Pappas tells me in a phone interview that Webb did a "very good job" leading the organization through a difficult transition period over the past 12 months. He said she was hired for her analytical skills, to help analyze the organization and re-position it for the future.

But the GBTC had come to a point where it was ready for an executive director who could act as a "Pied Piper" from within the technology community, as someone who had had highly public success as a Baltimore technology innovator.

"Sharon did a really excellent job of taking us over the past 12 months from an organization that was trying to redefine itself, and she was absolutely the right person to guide us through that discussion to figure out how we position ourselves. That was her strength. From a need standpoint, the need shifted [for the GBTC].

Hardebeck fit the bill with his recent success with WhoGlue and Facebook, according to Pappas. Plus, Hardebeck was interested in the position and had been a community advocate for years in Baltimore tech circles. The GBTC board unanimously approved the appointment of Hardebeck, Pappas said.

"We needed someone with some street cred who had 'been there, done that' in the technology commmunity," Pappas said.

For the full press release, hit the jump:

Continue reading "Abrupt: GBTC suddenly names new executive director" »

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

A Middle River start-up, Woofound, raised $750,000 in equity financing recently, according to an SEC filing today.

That's a good chunk of money for a startup in Baltimore. That's what 410Labs, co-founded by Dave Troy, raised several months ago.

The Middle River-based company has built a web platform that seems to help people identify their interests in the world using a straightforward ME/NOT ME dichotomy. The company is calling it "intelligent discovery," which seems to be made possible by tagging experiences.

Hmm. I'm eager to try it. Especially on mobile.

For the moment, the website is still in beta (I signed up; waiting approval to join). They've got a mobile site, and are working on native smartphone apps for iOS and Android.

So who's behind Woofound? Daniel Sines is one of the folks listed on the SEC filing. Here's some info about him over at BaltimoreTech.net.

Here's their video describing the product.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Startups
        

I just got an email from the PayPal PR folks who are touting some Cyber Monday statistics:

* By mid-day today, PayPal had seen a 514 percent increasing in mobile payments compared to the same period last year.

* And over on eBay, the Cyber Monday special of a white Apple iPad for $449 ($50 off MSRP), sold out in less than two hours today. More than four iPads were bought per minute.

Meanwhile, the LA Times says Cyber Monday this year could reach a record $1.2 billion in sales.

Did you buy anything online today?

Below is a snapshot from Costco's Website -- they sure were playing up Cyber Monday today:

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Sometimes the surest way to get noticed by a giant is to just sue them.

A small Baltimore company that sued Facebook two years ago was reportedly acquired by the mega-social-networking company earlier this month.

WhoGlue Inc., a company owned and operated by Jason Hardebeck (that's him above), said in an interview this morning that he sold his company for an undisclosed amount to Facebook in early November. The lawsuit that he had filed against Facebook -- for infringing on a patent titled "distributed personal relationship information management system and methods" -- was settled last year in a "very positive" way, Hardebeck said, and he and Facebook execs kept in touch.

"It's not typically how you introduce yourself to someone, to serve them with papers," Hardebeck said. "My experience with Facebook was very positive, very surprising, given its perception in the press and certainly from the movie [The Social Network]. It turns out that they are really good guys."

Facebook has bought several companies over the years. The WhoGlue acquisition appears to be the first acquisition by Facebook in Baltimore. [List of Facebook acquisitions.]

WhoGlue specializes in designing private social networks, for member groups, such as alumni associations. Hardebeck sees a future where public social networks interact with private networks more seamlessly.

He declined to comment on what exactly Facebook acquired from WhoGlue Inc. As part of the deal, Hardebeck ended up buying back some assets, trademarks and customer relationships from Facebook, and formed a new company, WhoGlue LLC, that can continue to operate the same business. WhoGlue had about a dozen shareholders, including the big tech company Siemens, which created the technology in the patent that WhoGlue held.

Hardebeck declined to say if the patent was sold as part of the Facebook deal. But he made clear that his company's sale didn't mean an early retirement for him. He intended to keep working in the same industry.

"Where we intend to go is where the world is going," Hardebeck said. "Eventually, public social networks will need to interact with private social networks."

"What we've beeen working on for 12 years just gets accelerated," Hardebeck said. "There's a very good chance now that we go out and get big fast."

WhoGlue consists of just two full-time employees, Hardebeck and a developer in Berlin. The company also works with contractors, he said.

I have a request for comment into Facebook. The deal was first reported by the Baltimore Business Journal.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Social Media, Startups, West Coast
        

Personally, I hate shopping when advertisers and marketers tell me to shop. And I'm just not excited by cutthroat deals on a product, just because it's a great deal and kinda/sorta what I want, but not really.

So what moves my needle? Getting my holiday shopping done as quickly and painlessly as possible, without waiting in long lines and without killing hours and hours sprinting from store to store.

I'm talking quick and painless. And if possible, while sitting on my couch.

For the past couple years, I've done my shopping on my iPhone. Yes, I'm an early adapter. But two years ago, I gave myself a test, to see if I could buy all my Christmas gifts online, with my iPhone. And I did -- while sitting on my couch. I had the gifts shipped either to my house, or direct to my relatives.

If this isn't the future, I don't know what is.

So, for this holiday shopping season, the most interesting tech and retail story to watch will be how mobile shopping fares. Will people be using their smartphones and tablets to browse for gifts from their living room? What if it really booms? How will retailers act and react? No doubt, retailers will have to cater to savvy shoppers who comparison shop in stores with their mobile phones.

Reuters put together a good story on the topic.

Some salient factoids from the article:

The 300 largest U.S. mobile merchants, led by Amazon.com Inc, will generate $5.37 billion in sales through mobile devices this year, more than double 2010, according to a recent survey by Internet Retailer.

Also:

The peak day for mobile holiday shopping is expected to be the second Sunday in December (Dec. 11 this year), according to PayPal, the online payments business owned by eBay Inc. That's the last non-work day when orders will be shipped in time for Christmas. Last year on that day, total payment volume, or TPV, transmitted by mobile devices through PayPal's system was $4.7 million. This year PayPal expects more than $10 million of TPV on that shopping day.

I wish I could say I'll see you at the mall this season. But nope, instead you'll find me on my couch, shopping.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

This past weekend, Baltimore's first "EduHackDay" was held over at Digital Harbor High School in Baltimore.

Educators teamed up with computer geeks to build web and mobile apps for education. In many ways, Baltimore is becoming a little hotbed of education technology, and this grassroots effort to percolate ideas was a great effort.

I didn't get a chance to go to the event, because I was out of town. But with the help of Mike Brenner, one of the co-organizers and an advocate and conncector of startups in Baltimore, I'll share some details.

In Mike's words, here's how the weekend-long event unfolded:

We had roughly 70 attendees: ~ 40 developres, 20 designers, 10 teachers. We let the teachers pitch their ideas, read some some educator ideas that were pitched on our wish list from a global pool of teachers, and then let developers come up and pitch their own ideas. From that, we ended up voting on our favorite ideas, ending up with 10 ideas to work on throughout the weekend.

Quick take away from me: I wanted to stimulate more activity from within our entrepreneurial community and thought education was a worthy customer / product to go after. I didn't expect folks to reinvent curriculum this weekend but I wanted to put the right problems and people in the room to show that there's a viable opportunity to build education technology products here in Baltimore. We need to be building less photo sharing apps and instead, more things that are meaningful.

The judges were:

Frank Bonsal, general partner at New Markets Venture Partners
Matt Van Italie, CAO of Baltimore City Schools, KIPP, McKinsey
Brian Eyer, Principal at Digital Harbor High School
Tom “TK” Kuegler, GP at Wasabi Ventures
Tom Murdock, Founder at Moodlerooms
Bill Ferguson, State Senator for Maryland
Scott Messinger, City Schools Teacher & Ed Tech Founder

The winning app ideas:

1st - Digital Harbor

2nd - Pluck

3rd - Pedante

4th - ParentConnect

5th - Board Speak

6th - CheckPlus

7th - Hey, Teacher

8th - What's Due?

9th - Baltimore School Watch

10th - Toader, a MakerBot project

Below are some screen shots of some of the projects:

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Apps, Big Ideas, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Events (Baltimore area)
        

If you're like me, so much of your emailing -- especially quick, short bursts -- is done while on the move, using a smartphone like the iPhone.

Shortmail, a new product launched by Baltimore startup 410Labs earlier this year, is all about short, quick messaging while tying together email, Twitter and the public Web. A few months ago, I remember asking 410Labs' cofounder Dave Troy if they were planning an iPhone app, and he said one was in the works.

Lo and behold, today it's here in the App Store. And for comparison's sake, unlike the Gmail app, which was introduced a couple weeks ago, pulled for bugs and then reinstated today coincidentally, I haven't spotted any bugs in the Shortmail app (yet). For starters, I like how you can easily claim multiple Shortmail accounts for your Twitter handles. Also, the app has some fun little sound effects, believe it or not. And overall, the design of the app is just fun and easy on the eyes. Kudos to whomever designed it.

FYI: My Shortmail is Gussent(at)shortmail(dot)com.

Here's a look at one of the Shortmail screens:

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

We're into Day 3 of the BaltTech Maryland Internet Outage survey, and I want to share an early, interesting trend from this unscientific sampling. Btw, have you taken the survey yet? If not, and you're a Maryland resident, go here to take it -- it'll take you one minute, I promise.

So here's an interesting trend that's emerging already, from 60+ survey takers. The longest period that most survey takers' Internet stopped working was 24+ hours. The next longest is less than an hour. It seems when the Internet goes down, it's either a minor glitch -- or a major one. (The two -- "less than an hour" and "24+ hours" are really neck and neck at this point.)

Please take the survey!

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

This week, I reported here on a Verizon outage that knocked out Internet service to 5,000 customers -- no wait, 22,000 customers -- including 20,000+ Baltimore city government email accounts.

It is difficult to gauge the quality, reliability and accountability of our Internet service providers. So, to follow-up, I'm conducting a survey to gather data from across the Baltimore region (and beyond, too) on these Internet outages. If you're a Maryland resident who has been affected by an Internet outage in the last 12 months, please share your experiences below.

I will share the results (though not any personally identifying information) with readers in a few weeks.

This survey will be open until Monday, Nov. 21st.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Hey -- are you an entrepreneur? Are you busy working your tail off every day to bring your dream to life?

Well, you may want to take a break on Monday to visit the state's first Entrepreneur Expo, over at the BWI Airport Marriott. There'll be lots of networking and schmoozing, I'm sure. And some noteworthy speakers, too. (Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend -- I'll be traveling that day, a "geek on a plane," so to speak.)

There is a registration fee. Details here.

TEDCO, the state agency that's lead organizing the event, says the Entrepreneur Expo will include:

• The Marketplace: home to business, university, technology transfer and entrepreneur exhibits and demos.

• Innovation Launch Pad: featuring Maryland’s coolest entrepreneurs, a panel of judges and live voting.

• Mentoring: More than 50 mentors on-hand all day for one-on-one business consultations.

• Entrepreneur Open Mic: a public forum like no other for entrepreneurs to create their own buzz.

• Social Media Clubhouse: for social media wanna-be’s up to pro engagers.

• Town Square: where all the action begins and continues throughout the day.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Events (Baltimore area)
        

Baltimore's municipal phone system -- the phones that city workers use to do their jobs -- is set for a big upgrade.

The city comptroller's office is overseeing the process, which is moving steadily along. This week, a partnership between IBM and Avaya, was the only entity to meet the requirements for the city's RFP. The next step is for the city to consider a pricing bid from them. So far, IBM/Avaya has estimated to the city that the new system - a Voice over Internet Protocal system, or VoIP -- will cost $7.6 million to implement, according to Comptroller Joan Pratt, who spoke with me on Wednesday.

I hear the city has about 7,500 phones lines. One insight into how the current system works: when daylight savings time occurred last weekend, city technicians how to go to each city building and change the time on a "key system unit" -- a central box used to reset the time on each phone in that particular building, according to Pratt. (No, city techs did not manually change the clocks on every single phone, as one tipster suggested to us.)

With the new VoIP system, a task like a time change across thousands of phones will be able to handled remotely, from one location, according to Pratt.

Interestingly, in 1995, the city upgraded its phone system -- consisting of 9,900 phones -- for $7.2 million. Here's the Baltimore Sun article about it.

In that article, the city touted the savings it would reap -- several milllion a year at the time -- from the then-new phone system. I'll try to find out if the city sees any projected savings this time around with the VoIP system.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Government Tech
        

Verizon today revised upward the number affected by an Internet outage early this week to 22,000 customers, including residential, commercial and government, according to a company spokeswoman.

Yesterday, Verizon gave me an initial report that around 5,000 customers had been affected from Sunday to Monday, from the Baltimore metro area to parts of Montgomery County. The cause: a faulty router.

I had wondered aloud on Twitter if that 5,000 number sounded right. Not to toot my horn here, but if not for my questioning, the public would not have a sense of the scope of Verizon's Internet outage. It should not have to be this way.

Should Internet outage reporting by Internet providers in Maryland be more transparent? Should Internet providers give customers -- and the media -- the scope of an outage, so consumers, business and government clients can be informed? So much of our economy and daily living now runs directly through the Internet.

This morning, Sandra Arnette, a Verizon spokeswoman, emailed me the revised number when I asked about outages for Baltimore City employees. Rico Singleton, Baltimore Chief Information Officer, said in a Facebook comment at the Baltimore Tech Page that 22,000 Baltimore city government customers were affected, and the city had to work with Verizon to design workarounds for the network. Those city customers were city employees.

Slightly confusing: Arnette told me that 22,000 was the total outage number for the region, not just for one city agency. But Singleton told me in a follow-up exchange, that, yes indeed, 22,000 city employees' email accounts were affected by the Verizon Internet outage.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

This past year, Gov. O'Malley and the General Assembly pushed forward the Invest Maryland program, which plans to pump $70+ million into early and seed stage startup companies in the state over the next five years or so, to drive innovation and job creation.

I wrote about InvestMaryland in detail here, including the tax revenue and investment mechanics behind the plan. (Basically, the state is selling tax credits to insurance companies.)

So the state will use a consultant -- who is being sought through the RFP below -- who will advise the state and oversee the various venture capital firms that will compete to receive an investment from the state. Get it?

It looks like this consultant will play a big role in creating the nitty-gritty guidelines of how InvestMaryland will work on the ground and help the state manage a portion of the fund. The consultant will be asked to come up with an investment strategy for the venture capital firms that get access to the state money to invest.

What is not transparent in this RFP is how much the consultant can expect to be paid by the state. All it says is that the contract will be paid based on "mutually negotiated terms" out of the Department of Business and Economic Development's existing fund sources.

The report also lays out a timeframe that we can expect to see InvestMaryland follow as it "comes to market," so to speak. By June next year, the DBED Secretary intends to choose the VC firms that will invest Maryland's dollars in startup companies.

VCConsultantForInvestMaryland RFP

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Over the last two days, I've gotten reports from coworkers and others on Twitter that their Verizon Internet service was down. It sounded like it was its DSL service, and the reports I picked up seemed to range from around Glen Burnie to North Baltimore. These weren't just people cheesed off about not being able to watch Netflix. These were small business owners who couldn't run credit cards, for instance.

I emailed a Verizon Maryland spokeswoman yesterday. Didn't hear back. Today, I went on Twitter and saw that Verizon had not tweeted about a significant outage in the Baltimore area. The vitriol directed at Verizon over its Internet service (just search @verizonsupport) is a bit astounding. (Sure, there are many who say they love FiOS, to be fair.)

As far as I can tell, Verizon's approach on Twitter was to handle every single customer complaint about the outage with a direct message. I could not find a record of any Tweet by @VerizonSupport that described the outage in broad, explanatory terms to Verizon's customers.

If @VerizonSupport did tweet out information about the outage, then I'd love for someone to point me to it, and I will amend and correct this blog post.

So today, I emailed the Verizon spokeswoman again, and called. This afternoon, I got an email response:

A router went down sometime late Sunday (11/6), early Monday morning (11/7) when a portion of the processing unit failed. Repairs were made and services restored around 3 p.m. yesterday. It’s my understanding that customers still experiencing difficulties need only reboot their routers at home and they should be back in business.

The statement didn't say how many customers were affected. So I emailed a followup question.

The response: Close to 5,000

Five thousand houses were without Internet service in the Baltimore area (updated: and parts of Montgomery County, too), and as far as I can tell, there was no public disclosure of this by Verizon, other than in response to my email questioning.

For comparison's sake, if you visit Baltimore Gas & Electric's website, a regulated utility by the Maryland Public Service Commssion, you'll see this super helpful map of power outages. In Anne Arundel County, six -- SIX -- people were without power on Tuesday afternoon. And BGE disclosed it to the public.

I asked Verizon's spokeswoman, Sandra Arnett, if the company would consider putting up an outage map for its phone and Internet customers.

In a followup email, Arnett told me: We don’t currently have an outage map. But, that is something we hope to develop soon to better keep our customers informed.

Verizon's telephone service is regulated by the PSC. But it's Internet service is not. The obvious question: If Internet service was regulated by the PSC, would Verizon have to do more to inform the community about Internet outages?

If you, as a Verizon customer, call the PSC to complain, it has to be about the phone service -- the PSC will just refer your Internet service complaint to the Maryland Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. I'm waiting to hear back from them to see if they received any complaints about the Verizon outage this week.

UPDATE: I spoke with Alan Brody with the Maryland AG's office and he's trying to get me some consumer complaint data for Internet service in Maryland. In the meantime, if you have a complaint about your Internet service (with Verizon or another company), you can call 410-528-8662. 9 am to 3 pm Mon-Fri). Or visit: www.oag.state.md.us/consumer/complaint.htm

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

The mobile talent wars continue to heat up.

Mobile ad network Millennial Media said that it is expanding to Southeast Asia. It hired an executive away from a competitor -- after surveying numerous candidates -- to lead a team out of an office in Singapore.

Baltimore-based Millennial is a top, independent competitor in the nascent field of mobile advertising, going toe to toe with Google and Apple and others, such as InMobi, in the hot field of advertising on mobile devices.

Millennial hired an InMobi executive in Southeast Asia, Robert Woolfrey, to launch its Singapore office.

Mack McKelvey, a spokeswoman for Millennial, said in an email that Woolfrey's hiring was "more about Robert than his previous employer," and that "numerous candidates" were interviewed. She noted that Woolfrey had six years of collective experience working in mobile in Southeast Asia.

Millennial is a story of rapid growth for a Baltimore company that's at the forefront of the quickly-shifting mobile device landscape. Millennial Media was founded five years ago. It's growth was recently recognized by Inc. magazine in a survey that showed its revenues rose more than 3,000 percent from 2007 to 2010. And revenues last year totaled nearly $48 million.

Stephen Root, Millennial's chief operating officer, told me in an interview that Millennial is looking to hire 15-20 people to be based in Singapore and to cover the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Phillipines. " It's incredibly promsing what we can do in the region," he said.

"Our growth this year has been very strong," Root continued. "Things have gone very well in the market."

Millennial has about 200 employees total, with the majority in Baltimore. The company also has offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas and Detroit. In Europe, it has an office in London and is getting ready to expand into France and Germany, Root said. Also in the works: a Washington DC office, he said.

Millennial has such a strong need for engineering talent, Root said, that it's looking to hire engineers in certain offices around the U.S., in addition to its openings in Baltimore. The company is trying to be opportunistic in hiring hard-to-find mobile talent in whatever markets they can find engineers, he said. But the bulk of the job openings -- 20 to 30 at any given time -- remain in Baltimore, Root said.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

The National Science Foundation is giving Johns Hopkins University a $1.2 million grant to fund a telecommunications pipeline that will enable researchers to move massive amounts of data each day that's equivalent to 80 million file cabinets with text.

The university says the network will allow the university to quickly transfer large data sets produced today in scientific fields such as "astrophysics, medical research, genomics and turbulence modeling." It will be built at the university's Homewood campus.

The network will be one of the nation's first, public 100-gigabit per second Internet connections, the university said in a statement.

[Above: that's fiber optic cable being stored at an Elkridge warehouse; the fiber will be used by Maryland to upgrade fiber optic connectivity across its municipalities in the next couple years.]

To put the Hopkins announcement in perspective, much of the nation went bonkers when Google announced its contest to give some lucky communities a broadband network that would offer 1 gigabit-per-second speeds. This Hopkins data pipe would be 100 times that size.

So how will this network be used? According to Hopkins, researchers will be able to access large data sets from Google, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the San Diego Supercomputing Center to do research. The University of Maryland College Park's own engineering network is involved in the project, and getting about $250,000 of the $1.2 million in funding to upgrade their equipment and connect to the new Hopkins hub.

To read the Hopkins press release, hit the jump:

Continue reading "Massive data "pipeline" coming to Johns Hopkins" »

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Happy Monday! Now get back to work. But before you do, here are some news bits you might have missed this weekend.

* Read about Sean Lane (that's him above) and his hot tech company, BTS, geared towards solving our Defense Department's communications problems in the battlefield. I did a Q&A with him, which was printed in this past Sunday's newspaper.

* Mike Brenner, over at StartupBaltimore, recapped a big deal that occurred in September: Connections Education (formerly Connections Academy), a Baltimore-based company that offers online education programs to public school systems across the country, was sold for $400 million to Pearson, a UK-based publisher and learning services company. That's a big exit for a Baltimore company. I'm waiting to hear more from Connections' CEO, Barbara Dreyer, for an update on its plans.

* And on that note.... Education Hack Day is happening this Saturday/Sunday. Designers, developers (and maybe teachers and even students?) will be gathering to build apps to help teachers and students in the classroom. In my view, education tech is percolating pretty well in Baltimore, obviously with Connections Education, but also with Moodlerooms, Laureate, StraighterLine and a host of other startups and small companies. A lot of folks care about improving education in Baltimore.

* Citybizlist pulled some numbers on what the Groupon IPO meant for some big local investors. Find out how much the Groupon stakes owned by T. Rowe and NEA were now valued at here.

What else did I miss?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, the new investment entity, Prescint Fund I LLC, disclosed that it had raised $2.25 million so far, with a minimum investment threshold of $250,000. The director of the fund is Gerald Caponera, CyberPoint's director of products.

Caponera oversees a nascent program within the company, called Prescient, that seeks to identify foreign companies with promising technologies that hope to sell to the U.S. government. That's not a typo: the new fund is called Prescint Fund, while CyberPoint's in-house program for tech development is called Prescient.

[As an aside, CyberPoint's security conscientiousness can be seen in how it teases, yet blocks, their employees' identities on its site.]

In an interview today, Caponera said the Prescint investment fund is an independent entity, with its own board, and comprised of some representatives from CyberPoint. He said CyperPoint's in-house Prescient program would be used to cultivate new companies and technologies, but the decision on whether to fund them would be made by the Prescint Fund itself.

"We set up this fund to help foreign companies cross the bridge," said Caponera. "It's a tactical fund. The goal is to make small investments to help bring foreign companies here quickly."

He said the fund would consider technologies in Maryland and across the United States, but there are also technologies in such markets as Canada and the United Kingdom that are worth pursuing.

The Prescint Fund would invest in the technologies and own the intellectual property of any derivative work that's developed, he said.

The funding approach could eventually mean technology jobs for Maryland, if new companies gain access to federal markets and locate some of their work close to the numerous federal agencies in Maryland, according to Caponera.

CyberPoint is extending a business development approach that was developed by Allen Shay, a government contracting expert who used to run a company called Prescint and is involved with the Security Technology Institute.

The original Prescint company had worked in Maryland technology circles to try to help startup companies gain access to federal government contracts, and also attract foreign investment to Maryland. (Here's a version of the original Prescint website that's since been taken down.)

Caponera said that CyberPoint acquired the Prescint business from Shay.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

This week, we've seen Google do a bunch of attention-grabbing things:

1. It launched a Gmail App in the Apple App Store, which didn't work, and then promptly pulled it. (It also redesigned Gmail for the desktop)

2. It redesigned Google Reader, which brought some howls -- and some Google+ integration.

3. It amused Google searchers the world over by making screens do barrel rolls if you simply typed in the term: "Do a barrel roll." Google said they did this to highlight new web-browser technology.

4. And it launched a Google Offers app in the Android Market.

It's been a busy week for Google, although I have to say, I'm not sure if I'm more excited about the Gmail App for iPhone, which Google is still trying to get right, or the Google Offers app. I'm not a big deals scavenger, so I can't see myself using Offers that much. I could get excited about a powerful Gmail app, but I don't know if that's what Google will really deliver for iOS.

Personally, I'd love to see a kick-butt native iOS app for Google Reader.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

A new worldwide survey of 3,000 people, including college students and young workers, shows how the Internet has become a primary medium for news, social networking and communication, and for many, as important water, food, air and shelter.

The Cisco Connected World Technology Report can be found here.

It's chock full of snapshots of the Millennial generation, such as: More than half of the study's respondents could not live without the Internet and cite it as an "integral part" of their lives. In some cases, they call it more essential than owning a car, dating, and going to parties.

Indeed, the survey found that 2/3 of global students/young workers would rather have Internet access than a car.

As Fast Company points out, the next generation of workers want full access to social media and the Internet as part of their work life. And they have a whole set of expectations that employers are going to have to grapple with, to keep them happy.

[Thanks to @jessica_lee for tweeting about the report!]

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: *NEWS*, Big Ideas, Social Media
        

For those who've been around Baltimore awhile, you'll recall the term "Digital Harbor" being given to the city in the early 2000s to brand it during the last tech bubble.

A bunch of tech companies that started back then are still around here in the city, but many aren't. But the idea of "digital harbor" still resonates for many, including entrepreneur Sean Lane.

Lane is the CEO of Battlefield Telecommunications Systems LLC, a 60+ firm that's based in Columbia and that started up three years ago to serve government customers. The news today is that BTS officially opened a Baltimore office, at the Foundry on Fort building in South Baltimore/Locust Point.

The office is for a subsidiary, BTS Software Solutions, and has about 10 employees. But the company expects to hire 40 or so people over the next 18-24 months, they tell me.

As far as I can see, this looks like a positive story for Baltimore. BTS builds mobile tactical cellular 3G networks for the military -- so soldiers can use smartphones and even iPads on a networked battlefield. I asked Sean Lane why he chose Baltimore over Columbia or further south, i.e. Bethesda or Northern Virginia, and he said the city has a lot going for it, such as talented workers, a quirky vibe, inexpensive real estate, and a good sense of place. He believes in the idea of growing the city's "digital harbor" economy and community.

I took a tour of the new office on Fort Ave. Lots of rough, exposed brick, bright sunlight, and splashes of red in the new office, which is above the Wine Market restaurant. There's even a ping pong table -- ah, those techies sure love their office games.

Here are some pics of BTS in Baltimore -- yes, that's Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler (left) cutting the ribbon with Lane :

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Here's a shout-out to Jimmy Lin, a Johns Hopkins University Phd/MD candidate who's marrying two cool ideas: mapping genomes and Internet crowdfunding.

His novel approach with his nonprofit startup, Rare Genomics Institute, earned him a spot among the 25 TED Fellows for 2012. Being a TED Fellow is a high profile honor because the group attracts big thinkers from across the sciences, arts and humanities. TED conferences all over the world are typically big events where the overarching theme is a sharing and cross-pollination of envelope-pushing ideas.

TED Fellows get to participate closely in at least one big conference. The TED Fellows program is still young, but it's had over 5,000 applicants over the past few years, with only a few dozen being selected.

Lin, as a TED Fellow, becomes eligible to be chosen as a senior fellow, which is a two-year program that brings them to four worldwide conferences to learn and share new ideas.

I believe that Lin is the first Baltimorean to be a TED Fellow. Good news!

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

The Economic Alliance of Baltimore took 30 business and community leaders on a field trip to Silicon Valley recently. Local entrepreneur and tech-scene advocate Mike Brenner put together a thoughtful post describing Silicon Valley's startup ecosystem -- and how it compares to Baltimore.

Here's the post, over at the Startup Baltimore website.

Some key takeaways that Mike covers:

* Investors are less risk averse in Silicon Valley.... and

* Mentorship is everywhere.

Read the post for more of Mike's observations.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, East Coast, West Coast
        

If you illegally downloaded a copy of "Illegal A** 2" in Maryland, your butt may be in hot water.

Fresh out of federal court a few days ago, we learned that the makers behind the popular porn film have brought their national campaign against illegal downloading to Maryland. (In case you're wondering about the asterisks, I'm not allowed to write the word "a**.")

Third Degree Films, of Chatsworth, Calif., has been pursuing people who downloaded the film through peer-to-peer online media sharing network BitTorrent. The film typically sells in DVD format for $11.49.

In Maryland, Third Degree is seeking the identities of 118 people who they allege illegally downloaded the film. Interestingly, Third Degree claims these people all swapped the exact same file.

The Smoking Gun website reported in July that an unidentified Purdue University college student tried to quash a Third Degree subpoena that sought his or her identity. The website says the main star of the X-rated "Illegal A** 2" is "Sasha Grey, one of porn’s best-known actresses, who has also appeared in HBO’s “Entourage” and director Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 movie “The Girlfriend Experience.”

Third Degree is going after thousands of illegal downloaders of the film, according to the Smoking Gun.

Below, Sasha Grey:

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Well looky here once more! The New York Times, watching its revenues and profits drain out to the web, took a gamble in erecting a paywall -- and it seems to be holding.

Better still -- they're actually gaining digital subscribers.

William Wallace would be proud. New York Times execs have not yet had to drop their sharpened spears and nicked shields in the face of the everything-should-be-free-on-the-Internet hordes and head for the last refuges of newspapers executives, that is the twin ivory towers of academia and public relations.

In its third-quarter earnings release today, the NYT reported that digital subscriptions rose to 324,000 -- compared with 281,000 in the previous quarter, according to Bloomberg. [Here is the NYT official news release on their earnings today.] In total, the NYT has 1.2 million regular digital users.

Meanwhile, even as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Baltimore Sun (and Boston Globe and Dallas Morning News....) turn toward digital subscriptions, the Washington Post's publisher today told Politico that that paper ain't going paywall anytime soon.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Big Ideas, Media
        

Huh? Light field? What's that? And why is it in a camera?

I vaguely remember reading something about light field cameras awhile ago and passed it off as future tech that wouldn't see the market for some time.

But I was wrong.

A company called Lytro is bringing light field camera technology out of the lab and putting it in a little eight-ounce body starting at $399. They unveiled it yesterday.

The killer tech behind it is that the camera is able to capture the entire light field in your shot, and not just a single pane of light, according to the company. This effectively means that you can shoot out of focus and then re-focus the shot after it's been taken. Or you can choose to focus on a part of the photo that was previously out of focus.

No auto-focus and no shutter lag, the company touts. So you're presumably taking pictures faster. Here's a photo gallery of Lytro photos.

Killer possibilities for the photographers and photo editors of the world, for sure.

But some of us like zooming in and focusing, don't we? I mean, part of the fun of photography is making choices about what to shoot in the field. It's an exercise of the mind, not just the eye and the fingers. It's not about snapping away at everything and focusing later in post-production.

Or maybe that's what it will soon be about.

Once again, it seems photography is on the verge of changing all over again with light field technology.

Below is an embedded image of a Lytro camera shot. Click on the image with your mouse to re-focus it. Pretty cool stuff.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Gadgets
        

Well, looky here: I can't unlock my iPhone with my face? Can you?

Facial recognition to unlock the phone screen is one of the many features being introduced by Google in its latest Android update 4.0, aka "Ice Cream Sandwich." It's coming in November, but the software developer kit is being released to developers today, according to multiple reports.

Google announced the news today, along with a new flagship handset, the Galaxy Nexus, the first phone with Ice Cream Sandwich.

The updated 4.0 OS is being touted as a more refined user interface, according to This Is My Next. That site has a good rundown of the changes.

PCWorld's Sascha Segan thinks Ice Cream Sandwich could help Android flourish on phones and tablets, but the platform still has its problems with fragmentation, slooooooooow updates and poor app discovery in the Android Market.

Interestingly, Andy Rubin, of Google, told This Is My Next that he doesn't think there should be apps specific to phones and tablets. He thinks one app should be able to scale to both devices.

I have to respectfully disagree. I think accomplishing that scaling is hard to do well, and you may end up sacrificing some of the uniqueness inherent in each platform. I think people are willing to pay for a unique, specific, and refined tablet experience that can't be replicated on a smaller phone screen. I expect different -- and sometimes more -- from a tablet app than I do a phone app.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

When I finally get around to downloading iOS5 for my iPhone and iPad, I'll certainly appreciate the 200+ new features that Apple is introducing with this big, free software upgrade, such as full Twitter integration, iMessage and Reminders.

But the big one I'm looking forward to? AirPlay mirroring. (SplatF's Dan Frommer's post about his most anticipated iOS5 updates got me thinking about this topic this morning.)

So what is AirPlay mirroring and why will it matter for users and the Apple TV? (Note: As a commenter below states, the AirPlay mirroring feature is only available for iPhone 4S and iPad 2.)

AirPlay is Apple's Wi-Fi content-streaming technology that enables you to push music and video from your iDevice to your television, with Apple TV ($99) as the wireless intermediary that makes it happen. Since I've owned an Apple TV, I've streamed photos, videos, and music from my iPhone to my TV. For instance, I take a bunch of photos of my kids playing outside and later, when we're inside, I flash those photos quickly on my TV. Wirelessly. Simply.

Now, AirPlay mirroring will allow you to mirror the entire iPhone or iPad, including all your apps. Suddenly, you can presumably start playing an iPhone game, and shift it to play on a bigger screen.

Or how about that Keynote or PowerPoint presentation you've been preparing? Imagine you have a demonstration to present to a group, and there's a 50-inch TV in the conference room. You bring your slim Apple TV and your iPhone/iPad and, bam!, you're giving a presentation without a laptop.

I really believe if Apple sets up a couch, a big-screen TV, an Apple TV and an AirPlay-enabled iPhone or iPad in each Apple Store, the company will see its Apple TVs fly off the shelves in short order. So much for Apple TV as a side "hobby," as Steve Jobs once called it.

I really believe AirPlay mirroring can be the sleeper hit feature of iOS5, which actually drives more hardware sales for Apple.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: *NEWS*, Apps, Big Ideas, Gadgets, Wireless
        

I just got an email from our corporate parent's help desk notifying us of a BlackBerry outages affecting email, text messaging and Internet service.

How many other corporate IT departments are sending out such an email across the U.S. this morning? And how many municipal governments, who rely on BlackBerrys for critical communications, are also affected?

In Baltimore, the city employees' BlackBerry services are down, according to Rico Singleton, in a brief email. He did not provide a number for city workers affected.

Reuters reports that Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, is saying that some clients are experiencing outages in the Americas. It's the third day of outages around the world for the Canadian company, and a serious setback for its legions of business customers who rely on these smartphones for communications.

Search for "BlackBerry outage" on Twitter to find remarks and other news articles about the topic.

For you loyal BlackBerry users out there, is this outage the last straw? Will you switch to iPhone or Android or Microsoft phones?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

The two tech events that should be on everyone's calendar this week will offer up a double-dose of networking opportunities and food for thought.

First, tomorrow night is the annual TechNite, the annual showcase hosted by the Greater Baltimore Tech Council, featuring some tech exhibitions and major networking opportunities. Also, there's a bit of a milestone here: this year's TechNite's top two major sponsors, for the first time, are technology companies: Advertising.com and Millennial Media.

This is significant, in my view. In the past, the top sponsors have usually been deep-pocket service providers, such as law and accounting firms. It's gotta be a feel-good moment for those in the tech community to see two of the biggest names in local tech take the top sponsor spot. Tickets are here -- can you get your company to pay for it? :-)

The second big event is Friday, at the University of Maryland College Park: It's the UMD Technology Startup Boot Camp, starting at 10 a.m. I've been to this in past year's and it's a cool day of programming and networking, ripe for people interested in partnering with University talent or getting access to some professional business plan development.

Here's the full agenda.

Unfortunately, you won't see me at either TechNite or the boot camp, because I've got some family commitments. But I'll be following the tweet streams closely.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

For the latest update, see below.

Facebrick?

It happened to me this morning: I downloaded the new Facebook app update for the iPhone and minutes later, my iPhone 4 fell into a dark coma.

I reset it several times (hitting the power and home buttons at the same time), then plugged it into my computer and iTunes. Twenty minutes later, it was back to normal. I deleted the Facebook app and reloaded it a few minutes ago.

It wouldn't download to my phone.

This appears to be a common problem, if you look at Twitter and search for "Facebook iPhone brick." Or just search for "Facebook iPhone." How common? Don't know yet. But it's clear Facebook has some type of quality control issue with the app.

On Apple's discussion forums, people have been talking about an apparent bug in the Facebook iPhone app. Check out: "Did the Facebook app update kill my phone?"

Did the Facebook update brick your iPhone? What are you doing about it?

UPDATE: At about 2:30 pm today, a Facebook spokesperson emailed me the following statement:

“We test all products vigorously before we launch them. However, as with all new technology products, occasionally unexpected bugs will surface once people start using products on a mass scale. We are committed to providing the best user experience possible, and are listening to and following up on feedback.”

In a followup email, I asked when an update that fixes the problem will be released, this person replied: "Will come back to you on this."

So, I guess we wait.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

"For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through." -- Steve Jobs, as quoted in the Economist.

Journalists routinely pepper their copy with everyday terms that sometime have deeper meaning in a medical setting. Today, I'd like to consider the term "obsessive," as it has been applied to Steve Jobs in articles about him since he died last week.

A search of the Nexis news database turned up the word "obsessive" in connection with a Steve Jobs-related article a total of 68 times in the past week.

Numerous news reports have noted Mr. Jobs' "obsessive" attention to detail and perfection in the products he brought to life. Indeed, when you get past the tribute articles and dig deeper into Mr. Jobs' past, you find stories of him being tyrannical and harsh as a leader, paying exacting attention to details that he undoubtedly paid other top executives to monitor. But the vision of Mr. Jobs that we seem to get is of someone who just can't help but be involved in every single minute step of the process of product development and marketing.

So, I ask: Did Steve Jobs have obsessive-compulsive disorder? A search via Google today didn't turn up much, except for an OCD blogger taking on the topic (sort-of). Type into Google News "Steve Jobs" and "obsessive" and you find articles where journalists and bloggers used the term to describe him, i.e. "obsessive visionary."

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder? Many people's frame of reference about OCD is really informed by compulsive behaviors. Checking the lights, checking the door locks, checking the stove knobs, walking on sidewalks a certain way -- the behaviors that an OCD sufferer HAS to do. If not, they risk overturning their entire daily routine.

But not many really consider the "O" in OCD -- the obsessive thinking, the repetitive thinking, the attention to detail. The inability to not think about something for long stretches of time -- even if you just don't want to think about it any longer.

Or, to note the phrase Mr. Jobs uses himself, the inability to sleep well at night when thinking about something to no end. There are many, many people in this world who sleep very well at night without obsessing about the supposedly minor details that Mr. Jobs apparently did. So why did he?

Here's the NIH's definition of OCD. Sufferers with severe OCD often have a real hard time functioning in daily life. But as with many types of medical diagnoses, there's often a spectrum of behavior and functionality.

Look -- I never met Steve Jobs and I'm not trying to commit an armchair diagnosis here. I don't have a medical degree. People keep referring to his "obsessive" behavior as a leader and innovator, and I think the question is worth pursuing. What makes "genius"? What are the qualities of a true innovator? Does obsessiveness play a role?

My hope is that the official biography of Steve Jobs, due out later this month, really gets to the heart of Mr. Jobs' psychological state. If not, author Walter Isaacson will have missed a huge opportunity to inform us about the inner workings of the inner mind of Steve Jobs.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

I recently caught up with Sharon Webb, the new-ish CEO of the Greater Baltimore Tech Council, for a nice long chat about technology, the GBTC, and entrepreneurial activity -- oh, and raising multiples. (She's a parent of triplets and I have twins.)

Since I've been covering local tech the last 2+ years, I've definitely noticed a big surge in networking and startup events. The GBTC is sometimes involved, sometimes not.

So the main line of questioning I took with Sharon was: Can the GBTC be relevant in a world where anyone (with a half decent reputation and set of connections) organize meetups, talks, breakfasts, panels and events.

Here's the full interview with Sharon. Take a look.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Big Ideas, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Events (Baltimore area), Social Media
        

Can you say: D'oh!

Recently, Netflix said it was going to raise prices and split off its video streaming service from its DVD rental service.

The plan was to maintain Netflix.com as a streaming-only service. And a new venture, Qwikster.com, would be for customers interested in only DVDs.

But, customers hated the idea -- and left in droves. Netflix slashed its third-quarter subscriber forecasts by a million, according to the WSJ.

So today, Netflix reversed course. In a blog post, the company said "two websites would make things more difficult" for their members. And, no more price increases, the company promised.

Up until this debacle, Netflix could do little wrong. But their reputation has taken a hit with these changes, course reversals, and back-trackings. Is this a chance for competitors to swoop in?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

[Image via Apple.com]

The news that Steve Jobs had died flashed on my iPhone last nite -- and hit me like a punch in the gut. My wife and I were talking to my mother on my iPhone when the AP alert dinged. I looked around on my kitchen table as the news sunk in. On the table were two iPhones and a new MacBook Pro. Nearby, an iPad lay on its back.

Here I was surrounded by stuff that this man had willed into reality. And all these gadgets were now an intricate and important part of my life. Ninety percent of the photos and videos I've taken of my three young kids have been with iPhones -- and Steve Jobs put them in my hands.

We don't just build and use tools to make things. These tools, in turn, re-make us.

So much has already been written about the impact of Steve Jobs on the world of technology and business, and on industries such as computers, music, and software.

But this blog post isn't about that. This is about the impact his vision has had on me and my family.

Ever since my young daughter was about six months old, she was handling an iPhone. She learned the sounds and images of animals on it. She learned her numbers and letters on it and later, an iPad. She was touching digital screens with fingers that were only a few millimeters wide.

She has grown up in a touchscreen world that largely Steve Jobs help bring about in the last four years. Now, when she sees a screen, she touches it, expecting the digital world to also deliver her a tactile experience.

This is new for all of us.

At 2 1/2, she started using the MacBook Pro and playing basic games that helped sharpen her memory. She has an incredibly scary memory already.

So last night, as I was tweeting my thoughts on Jobs' death, I pulled up Apple's website, which had posted a photo of Jobs and a warm message. My daughter sat on my lap and asked: "Daddy, who is that?"

I actually choked up. I said, "That's the man who invented our iPhones."

"Awwwwww," she said, with a smile. I couldn't bring myself to tell her he had died.

I came to appreciate -- and afford -- Apple relatively late in my life. Their products were never cheap, but they often satisfied and delighted, usually. And of course, Apple itself wasn't always hitting homeruns with its products, but on balance, its last decade has been pretty amazing.

No, I grew up in a PC household, where my computers were more like pack mules than exquisite machines. Oh and they were loud, with buzzing and whirring fans at all hours of the day and night.

My first Apple product was a 30GB iPod with video, seven years ago. I'm sure the iPod was the "gateway drug" for many who've adopted Apple products in recent years. It was different, small, powerful and easy to use. When it came time to buy a desktop computer a few years later, I had arguments with my wife over whether we should stay Mac or go PC. She was highly skeptical. She wanted to stay PC because it was compatible with her job's software. I wanted to go Mac because I believed it would help my creative exploits on the Web.

I won that argument (but have lost many, many since.) And now, my wife is indeed a Mac convert. (Guys -- it's a LOT easier to open up the wallet nowadays for tech purchases when the spouse is on board.)

From there, we got iPhones, iPads and a MacBook. They've all "just worked" wonderfully. The retail experience and customer support at the Apple Store in Towson is, by and large, excellent. It's just always crowded.

In my view, I think so many people -- tech geeks, customers, fanboys -- connected with Steve Jobs not only for his flair and showmanship, but in his ability to make you believe that he had your best interests in mind. This was part of the mythical "reality distortion field" that so many thought Steve Jobs could ensnare people with -- it even has its own Wikipedia entry. He projected the attitude of a guy who didn't tolerate crap for himself, and he wasn't going to let you, his customer, deal with crap either.

His passion and zeal for making cool stuff was real, and he brought us all along for the ride.

Thanks for the wonderful ride, Steve. RIP.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Can your wallet take the debut of another iDevice?

Today, at 1 PM Eastern/10 am Pacific, Apple's Tim Cook will take to the stage at the company's Cupertino, Calif. headquarters to unveil what many believe to be a new iPhone.

I expect the fireworks to be more about some killer software (i.e. rumors of a very "world changing", powerful voice integration/assist feature) rather than hardware, though there will be some hardware upgrades, too.

It's been more than a year since Apple came out with the iPhone 4, which has been a smash success despite the early complaints about its antenna. (Remember "antennagate"?)

I'll be posting highlights here of the announcement as it happens, and will share links to other resources online that are covering it, too.

Places I'm watching Apple live-blog updates: engadget.com and gdgt.com.

Stay tuned.......

UPDATE:

The event has started. So far here's what's new:

* Apple introduced a new App called "Cards," which allows user to design their own greeting cards with their photos on their mobile device. Apple then ships it via USPS. Watch out, Hallmark!

* So far, there's been a lot of rehashing of the new features coming via iOS5, the next software update for iPhone, iPod and iPad devices.

* A new Apple app called Friends and Family, for sharing locations with trusted groups of people. Watch out, Foursquare.

* Just introduced: The Apple iPhone 4S. Same design as iPhone 4, but new electronic guts inside, include a dual-core processor chip. Also, it's a "world phone", meaning it works on both GSM and CDMA networks. CDMA is common in the US but GSM is huge in Europe. Apple going for world domination.

* New tech: a digital voice assistant that makes it easier than ever to interact with your iPhone and retrieve information. We'll see how it works IRL.

* Sprint gets invited to the iPhone party! So now AT&T, Verizon and Sprint -- the big three -- will have the iPhone.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

The next version or generation of the iPhone is expected to be announced tomorrow at Apple's headquarters, and it will likely go on sale in the next few weeks.

The likelihood that you'll be able to buy one before Christmas? Zilch.

Okay, maybe I'm being over-dramatic, but ... remember trying to get hold of an iPad, an iPad 2 or an iPhone 4? It wasn't THAT easy. You had to hustle and think ahead. And you usually had to have the stamina and patience to -- gasp! -- wait in a long line.

A survey last month projected unprecedented demand for the new iPhone. [CIO covered the survey here.]

So what is the tech media saying about "iPhone 5", aka "iMaggedon"?

Take a look:

* PCWorld's looks at the theories of what to expect.

* 9to5Mac.com throws water on the iPhone "5" rumor and says we're really only getting a souped-up iPhone 4.

* This WSJ piece talks about what many others have speculated -- the newest iPhone will have enhanced voice and speech recognition abilities.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: *NEWS*, Smartphones
        

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today said it won a huge government contract to supply 44.75 million doses of its anthrax vaccine, worth up to $1.25 billion over five years.

Emergent's Biothrax vaccine is the only anthrax vaccine approved by the FDA. It has already delivered 55 million doses of the vaccine under various previous contracts with the federal government.

The Rockville based company has a manufacturing plant in Baltimore that's currently under renovation, and is not operating.

According to a press release this morning: Initial deliveries under this award are expected to commence in 2011 with 8.5 million doses scheduled to be delivered during the first contract year. Deliveries are scheduled to continue, subject to availability of funding, through September 2016. The company retains the ability to modify the timing of deliveries depending on manufacturing yields and other factors.

The press release is available on the jump:

Continue reading "Emergent BioSolutions Inc. scores $1.25B anthrax vaccine contract from Feds" »

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, BioTech
        

An analyst with Forrester Research predicted today that if Amazon.com launched an Android-based tablet in the fourth quarter, it could end up selling three to five million units -- a significant chunk that could eat into the iPad's market, according to a Reuters report.

The article notes that Apple has sold 30 million iPads, while its rivals -- Motorola, Research in Motion and Samsung, to name a few -- haven't been serious competitors.

What I like about this speculation:

1) Amazon has had some success with the Kindle, so these rumors point to indications that it may be gaining confidence in designing hardware. And apparently, Amazon is willing to sell the Kindle at a loss, and make its money through ebooks -- so it is indeed a "nasty competitor," per the Forrester analyst.

2) E-books are turning into a big business, and Amazon is a huge player -- meaning that users of an Amazon tablet will have access to a robust ebook marketplace at their fingertips. Amazon is also selling other virtual goods -- i.e. music, videos -- as well as physical goods. I wonder how an Amazon tablet can change the retail physical-goods buying experience, as opposed to just the virtual one.

What doesn't make me optimistic about an Amazon tablet offering:

* Apple's now got 100,000 iPad apps. Android Honeycomb has a pittance of around 300, according to Forrester/Reuters. Tablet buyers want confidence that they will have a deep catalog of apps to choose from. Not a month goes buy that I don't discover a new iPad app that completely changes how I use the device. App developers aren't building tablet apps for Android. It's the chicken-egg scenario all over again for Amazon.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: *NEWS*, Gadgets
        

The impact of the Internet on a university education is real.

About half of college presidents say that their online university courses provide the same educational value as those that students take in physical classrooms, but only a third of Americans feel the same, according to a new Pew Research Center report released yesterday.

(Mind you, in my view, it behooves college presidents to trumpet the value in their online courses, partly because such courses offer flexibility and attract non-traditional students. Also, the profit margins of such courses are generally higher.)

The survey showed that more than three quarters of institutions now offer online courses. Half of the presidents believes that most of their students will be taking courses online.

Some other findings direct from the report:

• 15% of college presidents say most of their current undergraduate students have taken a class online, and 50% predict that 10 years from now most of their students will take classes online.

• Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely digital.

• Most college presidents (55%) say that plagiarism in students’ papers has increased over the past 10 years. Among those who have seen an increase in plagiarism, 89% say computers and the internet have played a major role.

• The leaders of the nation’s colleges and universities are a tech-savvy group. Nearly nine-in-ten (87%) use a smartphone daily, 83% use a desktop computer and 65% use a laptop.

• College presidents are ahead of the curve on some of the newer digital technologies: Fully half (49%) use a tablet computer such as an iPad at least occasionally, and 42% use an e-reader such as a Kindle or Nook.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Computer scientists at the University of Maryland have built a first-of-its-kind smartphone app that automatically connects students and staff with campus police by opening up video and audio feeds on their devices.

The app is called "M-Urgency," and for now, it's going to work with Android phones. An iPhone version is coming for the campus.

I have more details in my Sunday story about the app and the burgeoning business of campus security apps.

But don't expect those quaint "blue light poles" -- the ones with the phones that patch you through directly to campus security -- to go the way of the dodo bird anytime soon.

[Image source: Sinclair.edu]

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Apps, Gadgets, University Tech
        

I recently sat down for an interview with Dave Troy -- CEO of 410Labs and longtime Baltimore-area entrepreneur -- over Skype. You'll see a tightly edited portion of that interview in the above video.

A more in-depth representation of the interview can be found at this link.

Troy is not your ordinary computer geek. He's a bit of a Renaissance man, in fact. His interests vary from computer programming to the environment to politics. At the intersection of many of his interests is his belief in the power of technology and the Internet to improve society, and specifically, the functioning of government, for the people, by the people.

I've thought some about how technology impacts government, and I've taken to heart one of the central points of Evgeny Morozov's recent book, "The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom." Morozov gives examples of how the Internet was used in other countries, not only by government critics and revolutionaries, but by the established government power structure to further monitor and repress people.

This is the larger debate we face as a society. Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus are all wonderful tools for connecting people. But there are also powerful interests -- governments, corporations, etc. -- that are increasingly handling their dealings with individuals with more sophistication.

Case in point: Techdirt today reports on a DOJ report obtained by security blogger Chris Soghoian that showed requests for warrantless "emergency" ISP requests quadrupled in 2009.

And in other news: The Obama Administration refused to release the Bush Administration's legal rationale for allegedly illegal wiretapping of Americans.

So yes, the power of the Internet cuts both ways for us, at the same time enabling and hindering our freedoms in the hands of different players.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Big Ideas, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Geeks, Startups
        

The Inc. 500/5000 was recently released and it ranked the top fastest growing Maryland companies, based on their three-year revenue growth rate.

This is a GREAT list that offers insight into the revenues of dozens of privately held companies. (Admit it: you're nosy like me and want to know what all these small companies are all making around us!)

There are numerous technology companies on this list, some of which I've written about, such as Millennial Media and Aegis Mobile (Maryland's high-tech firm of the year).

The list also is an indicator of the types of businesses that are strong in Maryland: innovative energy and technology companies, systems integrators, cybersecurity and software and project management firms. Firms that deal in government contracting are, of course, well represented.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Multiple reports breaking now about Steve Jobs resigning from the CEO post at Apple:

* WSJ has the press release.

* Fortune's post.

* And Reuters has a blurb.

* Engadget's take. Shocking indeed. But he has been fighting serious illness.

* Techcrunch's report.

* And the Twitter search stream for "Steve Jobs."

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 6:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

We all know by now that social media, specifically networks such as Twitter and Facebook, played a big role in connecting people after yesterday's earthquake. [Note:Did you see my story about it?]

Well, the folks at Twitter sifted through all those messages yesterday and then emailed me with some interesting facts, including Baltimore's first earthquake tweet.

The tweet came from Verna-Catherine (@prettyinbluee_) Her first tweet was "Earthquake?" (see above)

At first, as you see by her tweets, she thought someone was breaking into her house. Then, she grabbed her dog and her TV.

Here's the tweeter -- she's fast with her texting. Someone in the media should think about hiring her!

My favorite tweet of hers: "People just happy that something interesting happened in MD."

Some other earthquake facts from Twitter, courtesy of PR person Jodi Olson:

* A Tweet can reach your followers in less than a second. So in areas far from the epicenter, some people read Tweets about the quake before they felt it.

* Within a minute of the earthquake, there were more than 40,000 earthquake-related Tweets.

* Twitter hit about 5,500 Tweets per second (TPS). For context, this TPS is more than Osama Bin Laden's death & on par with the Japanese quake.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: *NEWS*, Smartphones, Social Media
        

Word is out on the Internets [MacRumors] that Best Buy is offering the iPhone 3GS for free with a two-year contract with AT&T.

It's a "Deal of the Day" so this may mean it's only a one-day deal.

If you've never owned an iPhone before, should you jump on it?

My recommendation: If you must get an iPhone, save your pennies up and get the iPhone 4. Or at least wait another month or two for the next generation iPhone.

The iPhone 3GS was an excellent phone -- 18 months ago. But there's a lot you can do now with iOS that seems clunky on the 3GS, i.e. Facetime and Skype video chatting with ease. iPhone 4 is also a faster experience, and the retina screen causes far less eye strain. If you sign up for a two year contract with 3GS, that's a long time to go with yesterday's tech.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Gadgets, Smartphones
        

Baltimore biotech startup BioMarker Strategies, which is based over at the Science + Technology Park at Johns Hopkins in East Baltimore, filed notice today with the SEC that it's intending to raise $4 million in equity financing.

So far, the company has raised $1.1 million. This would be the second time in about two years that BioMarker has sought to raise money from private investors; it has also tapped into the state's biotech tax credit, to lure investors to invest in them.

BioMarker describes itself "a tissue-based cancer diagnostics company" that's working on a live tumor cell testing platform for improving the treatment cancer. It's received funding from the National Cancer Institute.

I wrote at length about BioMarker in 2009 (my, how time flies!). Here's the story if you want to learn a little about the company's history and founders.

[Correction: Earlier, this post incorrectly stated the number of times BioMarker has sought to raise money. I regret the error.]

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Stop the presses: Now we have word that Apple, not content to rest on its iPad and iPad 2 laurels (and profits), is indeed preparing an iPad 3! With a better display!

Get the real scoop from the WSJ, who's on it.

It's coming in "early 2012." And no, this one probably won't have Flash capability either -- get over it already!

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

Fresh off Twitter, supporters of Baltimore mayoral challenger Otis Rolley are letting it be known that Steve Jobs's wife -- Laurene Powell Jobs -- has donated to his campaign.

See some tweets here: http://twitter.com/#!/search/laurene%20jobs

I've reached out to the Rolley campaign and to Steve Jobs himself (I think I have his email) for confirmation. I can't seem to find any contact for Laurene Powell Jobs.

A search of Maryland's campaign finance database shows that a "Laurene Powell Jobs" donated $2,000 to Rolley on Aug. 3.

A woman by the same name also gave $1,000 to Bill Ferguson.

The news was broken on the Facebook page, Baltimore Tech, by Tom Loveland, a Rolley supporter. See here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/baltimoretech/

I'd love to get confirmation of this from the real wife of Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs, just to make me feel comfortable. Laurene -- if you read this, shoot me an email at gus.sentementes@baltsun.com. Thanks.

Update: Dan Fee, a Rolley spokesman, said in an email to me:

Yes, Otis was very pleased to receive a contributions from Mrs. Jobs. She is a nationally renowned education advocate and as the only candidate in the race who has proposed a plan to improve Baltimore's education system, we were honored to receive her support.
Otis reached out to her because of her strong support for improving schools for every child.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

If there's one thing entrepreneurs like to do, it's network. And Maryland's entrepreneurs are apparently about to get that in a big way this November. The state's technology development entity, TEDCO, is spearheading the first Entrepreneur Expo on Monday, Nov. 14, at the BWI Airport Marriott in Linthicum Heights.

The event is taking place during the worldwide Global Entrepreneurship Week. [Registration is $99. More details here.]

The event has the title of "Harnessing the Power of Innovation in Maryland."

The first quote in the official press release today is from Gov. Martin O'Malley ("Entrepreneurship is part of the engine of our state's economy"), who has seized job creation through technology as one of his economic goals. [Remember O'Malley's InvestMaryland initiative passed earlier this year in the General Assembly, which pumps $70 million into tech startups around Maryland?

So, based on the agenda and the "about" page on the expo's site, we can expect an event filled with budding entrepreneurs, potential investors, legislators, university officials and federal lab officials, to name a few. Hit the jump for the full press release:

Continue reading "Maryland to hold first "Entrepreneur Expo" in November" »

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Events (Baltimore area)
        

In a report today from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 13 percent of Americans indicated that they use their cellphones to avoid real-life interactions with others.

The survey tosses out a number of statistics on the habits of American cell phone users.

Some more:

* Half of all adult cell owners (51%) had used their phone at least once to get information they needed right away. One quarter (27%) said that they experienced a situation in the previous month in which they had trouble doing something because they did not have their phone at hand.

* Cell phones can help stave off boredom – 42% of cell owners used their phone for entertainment when they were bored.

* One third of Americans own smartphones. And it's in that demographic's usage patterns do you have a window into our mobile future: Fully nine in ten smartphone owners use text messaging or take pictures with their phones, while eight in ten use their phone to go online or send photos or videos to others. Many activities—such as downloading apps, watching videos, accessing social networking sites or posting multimedia content online—are almost entirely confined to the smartphone population.

[Thanks to @johnbhorrigan, who tweeted out the Pew report.]

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Apps, Big Ideas, Gadgets, Smartphones, Wireless
        

Big news on a Monday: Google is buying Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion -- a 63 percent premium over Motorola's stock price.

Google CEO Larry Page laid out some of the rationale for Google buying the handset maker, which makes cellphones tied to Google's Android platform, in a company blog post this morning.

Already, bloggers and tech journos are slicing and dicing the deal for meaning.

* Business Insider makes the point that with Google owning a hardware maker now, it's competing head-to-head moreso than ever with Apple.

* Larry Dignan over at ZDNet's Between the Lines blog gives six reasons why the deal makes sense. Among them: Google is getting tons of patents for wireless via Motorola, and patents help you ward off lawsuits. Also: mobility is the future of computing and Google needs to better integrate the hardware/software experience for Android.

* Here's the Wall Street Journal's straight-news take on the deal.

* So is Google now a "mobile company"? New York Times' DealBook discusses.

* Engadget's post is worth checking out, if only for the Photoshopped Google hearts Motorola graphic.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Gadgets, Wireless
        

Why is Men's Health always hatin' on Baltimore?

The latest indignity from the magazine, which featured a story today on its homepage titled: The Top 10 Muscles Women Love", disses our natives' technology/gadget habits.

Mashable reports on a survey by Men's Health that ranks 100 U.S. cities in terms of "iPad friendliness."

Plano, Texas, came in first place. Baltimore came in 97th. (Toleda, Ohio, came in last.)

Ouch.

Mind you, in March, Baltimore ranked #58 on their list of most socially-networked cities in the U.S.

Hey, at least we're not Stockton, Calif., which ranked 98th in the iPad friendly survey and 95 in the social media networking survey.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: *NEWS*, Gadgets
        

Hey Baltimore: Here's your chance to make a buck off your own parking spot.

Parking Panda, a Baltimore web startup, recently went live with its website -- parkingpanda.com -- which can also be accessed by mobile phone browsers.

Parking Panda is kinda like the Airbnb (a site that lets people pay for or rent out homes and apartments for travelers) of parking.

People who are looking to make a little extra money off their unused or lightly used parking spot can list it for rent on the site. And people who are looking to park in city neighborhoods -- perhaps during big events such as baseball or football games, or the upcoming Grand Prix -- can turn to it to find a spot they can rent with their smartphone.

The site is the work of Nick Miller and Adam Zilberbaum, two young guys from Baltimore who won a startup competition in the city in the spring. They are currently working on their startup in New York City, at the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, but they plan on returning to Baltimore to jump-start their business.

[I wrote a story about Parking Panda and the trend of business accelerators recently.]

And they're hoping the Grand Prix, over Labor Day weekend, will generate demand for their app as people struggle to find parking downtown.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: *NEWS*, Apps, Big Ideas, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Smartphones, Social Media, Startups
        

So it looks like Amazon is trying to make the Kindle experience more social. There's a good write-up in The Atlantic that discusses the new social features of the Kindle and the website, where the e-reader's public notes feature is integrated with Twitter and Facebook.

I'm not a Kindle user so I don't have a feel for how much of a demand users have to be "social" on Twitter/Facebook while trying to read a book.

Amazon's been steadily adding "social" features to the Kindle platform over the past year. But do you want to be social while trying to enjoy the peace of mind of reading a book? I dunno....

I guess I can see some usefulness in it.

As The Atlantic writer notes, readers may enjoy the ability of sharing lending versions of e-books with others in their social networks.

But it's also not in Amazon's interest to make it too easy for people to mass-lend their e-books, cuz it could potentially hurt Kindle sales. Or not?

Tim Carmody, over at Wired, has a good rundown of the details of how Amazon's pimped-up social network is behaving for users. Growing pains are evident.

I suspect we're seeing the early stages of social network experimentation for Amazon. There are rumors they're building their own tablet to compete with the iPad. Building a social network around books (and Amazon does music, and millions of other stuff, too) may be just the beginning.

Amazon could build a social network that incorporates and integrates both the virtual AND physical worlds better than anything out there right now that Apple/iTunes or Facebook/Twitter or Google/Microsoft could ever hope to accomplish. One that's powered by its deep reservoir of customer reviews and integrates well with its Amazon hardware, i.e. e-readers and tablets.

(Image via FastCompany)

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: *NEWS*, Apps, Gadgets
        

Localist.com, a Baltimore-based startup that's developed a social calendar platform, announced today that it had scored deals with eight universities which will use its platform for connecting students with events.

Here are the universities:

* DePaul University - Chicago, Ill.
* Emmanuel College - Boston, Mass.
* Georgetown University - Washington D.C.
* Towson University - Towson, Md.
* University of Delaware - Newark, Del.
* University of Rhode Island - Kingston, RI..
* Virginia Military Institute - Lexington, Va.
* Williams College - Williamstown, Mass.

In addition to these eight, BaltimoreCollegetown.com is also using Localist's platform. Eleven other universities are currently using the Localist platform.

This is more good news for Localist, whose founders used to operate it as a consumer-facing Website, but switched gears last year to sell it as a white-label product to universities and other organizations. They're now serving 105,000+ students.

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, East Coast, Entrepreneurs & Risk Takers, Startups
        

Give a big hello (and "follow" on various social networks) to Andrew Hazlett, the Greater Baltimore Tech Council's new "innovation community manager."

Catch his blog here.

Back in June, I wrote about this new job created at the GBTC. It's great to see someone else who's going to be writing about the tech and entrepreneurial scene in Baltimore.

Andrew has a pretty diverse background, as he writes, in journalism, government, urban public policy and book publishing.

I'm looking forward to following the stuff he does. 

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: *NEWS*, Big Ideas, East Coast, Events (Baltimore area), Social Media
        

Later this week, I'll be taking a four-week parental leave to stay home with my wife and our new babies.

Yes, that's right. Plural.

Some time in the next 3-4 days, we expect to add twins to our family, a boy and a girl. We already have a 2.5 year old daughter, who can't wait to be a big sister, she insists.

So, I'm hoping the Baltimore/Maryland tech community can help me and The Sun stay in the loop on local tech happenings for the next four weeks or so. July and August are usually slow months in the news business, as people cycle through their vacations.

But we still have a daily newspaper and a website to deliver to y'all!

If you have news, just send tips to one of my editors, Liz Hacken, or to my email. Hit me on Twitter at @gussent. I can't promise I'll get back to you in any reasonable time frame, but please be assured I'll be reading my messages and trying to act on them as best I can.

I'll be sporadically blogging here whenever I find some time away from changing diapers and monitoring feedings. (Of course, any spare time I do manage to find I just may end up using for sleep!)

In the meantime, I'm interested in any helpful high- or low-tech technology that parents of twins have relied upon to help them manage and make their lives easier. What do you recommend? Is there a favorite iPhone/iPad app parents are using these days to help track their newborn's growth and patterns?

Is there, perchance, an app that can turn 3 hours of sleep into six hours of sleep?

Posted by Gus Sentementes at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: *NEWS*
        

There's a new email service on the block as of today, and it's called Shortmail. But do we need another email program? you ask.

Well, if you're overwhelmed with spam, tired of long-winded dissertation-type emails, and suffering from inbox overload, maybe you do.

Shortmail, created by 410Labs, is the latest offering in the nascent trend of short email services. It's somewhere between traditional email and Twitter. Whereas Twitter has a 140 character limit on messages, Shortmail has a 500 character limit. It integrates nicely with Twitter, too.

For instance, my Twitter account is @gussent, and my Shortmail address is automagically gussent@shortmail.com.

You can merge your Gmail and Twitter contacts into your Shortmail contacts.

But I think one of the most useful features of Shortmail is that you can keep a message private, or make it public, via your own Shortmail personal page (i.e. shortmail.com/gussent.) This can definitely come in handy, especially in my job as a journalist.

The folks behind 410Labs include Dave Troy, an entrepreneur and vocal advocate for Baltimore's tech scene, and Matthew Koll, a veteran entrepreneur.

The company also makes other other social communication products, including Replyz.com, which helps you get answers to questions in a social-y, Twitter-y way, and Mailstrom, an inbox analytics tool that aims to be the Mint.com of your email life.

For more details on Shortmail's launch, which happened officially in San Francisco this week, check the news release here.