Beyond the fun of the visual art installations and musical performances, Light City Baltimore organizers plan to generate serious conversations about innovation at the festival's Light City U conferences — and they are bringing former Ravens player Ray Lewis into the mix.
The retired linebacker and vice president of renewable energy organization Power 52 Inc. will speak at the four-part conference series that begins March 28. The Light City U lineup also includes Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and CEO of Revolution LLC; Vivienne Ming, the founder of education technology company Socos; and Baltimore Corps President Fagan Harris, among others.
Dodge is tapping into the public’s hunger for knowledge about illness to help grow his business. Sickweather is a mobile and online application that maps illness, such as the flu, using data aggregated from Twitter and Facebook, and self-reported by users.
Baltimore’s Democratic candidates for mayor see the city’s technology community as an important source of economic development, and a potential partner in driving change at City Hall.
That’s the top-level takeaway from a Technical.ly-curated questionnaire submitted to the Democratic mayoral candidates on behalf of Baltimore’s tech scene.
The Democratic primary, scheduled for April 26 (voter registration deadline is April 5), often decides the mayor’s race in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 9-1 (PDF).
On the 15 questions we submitted, there is broad consensus. We asked each candidate to respond either “Yes,” “No” or “Not yet determined” to explain their support for those issues. There wasn’t a single “No,” and only one outright “Not yet determined.” We learned more about each candidate’s plans at a forum held at Impact Hub Baltimore on Jan. 27, which you can watch here in its entirety.
Cybersecurity startup Terbium Labs has raised $6.4 million in venture capital funding, the Federal Hill company announced Monday.
Danny Rogers, Terbium's CEO, said the cash infusion will help the Baltimore company market and improve Matchlight, the system it's developed to detect when stolen information is posted online. Rogers expects to hire five more employees this year, growing his staff by half.
"We have some big plans this year to make our product more widely available," Rogers said in an interview.
The fundraising was led by Boston-based investment firm .406 Ventures and brings the company's total raised to $9.7 million. Greg Dracon, a partner at .406 Ventures who sits on Terbium's board, said he thinks Matchlight will find customers among security teams.
For Leap Day only, Light City U, the innovation conferences taking place as part of the Light City Baltimore festival March 28 – April 3, is offering all-conference tickets for $99, more than 50 percent off of the $200 regular price. Light City U is a series of four conferences with the theme of “Powering Social Change.”
Light City U brings together leaders from four industries: health, sustainability, social media and creative arts. Ticket holders will hear from speakers including Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and Chairman & CEO of Revolution LLC; Former Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis, VP, Power 52, Inc.; Vivienne Ming, founder, Socos; and Fagan Harris, president and CEO of Baltimore Corps as they explore solutions to challenging issues.
The team is starting spring practice in Florida at IMG today. Which got me thinking on some of the top questions to be answered during Spring Practice:
1. Who is going to play QB? The rumor mill is very high on O'Korn who has the most experience playing for Houston but Morris is finally coming off his much needed red shirt year and will try to win that starting role. I expect the other QB's in camp will be red shirted or back ups. I think Peters is a 100% guaranteed a red shirt year.
2. Offensive Line: Will they move Cole to center? Who is going to fill in at Tackle?
3. LB? Who is going to set up as Michigan's starting LB's? Gedeon has some experience, Furbush hasn't played much and Bush should be a high school senior.
4. Who didn't make the trip? Right now it looks like Blake Bars and Da'Mario Jones are both going to transfer and didn't make it to Florida.
5. Where will Peppers line up? Will he be more of a Safety, Corner or RB moving forward?
6. Who is Michigan's starting Full Back? Shallman? Poggi?
7. RB rotation? Smith, Peppers, Higdon, Walker?
The rest of the defense is pretty much set and will get much deeper in the fall when Gary gets to town.
Michigan basketball is struggling right now and took another road loss at Wisconsin. They are currently riding the bubble for the NCAA Tourney.
Jimmy will coach 1st base for the Tigers on Wednesday.
Both Willie Henry and Graham Glasgow competed at the NFL Combine in Indy this weekend. Both guys are expected to be mid-round pick ups. Glasgow could go a bit earlier and Big Willie is a victim of a deep DT/DE class.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/02/michigan-monday-spring-practice-starts.html
Maryland is headed west – to San Francisco, for RSA™ 2016, the nation’s premier information security conference which kicks off Monday at the Moscone Center. The Maryland Department of Commerce will lead the CyberMaryland delegation to the conference, which draws more than 30,000 attendees and runs through Friday, March 4.
Maryland cybersecurity companies, federal agencies, and educational institutions will be well represented at RSA™ 2016. More than 30 Maryland-based cyber experts will be featured as speakers during the conference, including:
Ian Amit, vice president of ZeroFOX, will present The Newest Element of Risk Metrics: Social Media. Based in Baltimore, ZeroFOX helps organizations protect their employees and families from threats coming via social media.
Admiral Michael S. Rogers, who heads the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, will deliver remarks on Tuesday, March 1. Both agencies are headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Md.
Nate Lesser, Deputy Director of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence in Rockville, Md., will cover the topic of Wireless Infusion Pumps: Securing Hospitals’ Most Ubituitous Medical Device on Wednesday, March 2. Established in 2012 through a partnership between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the State of Maryland, and Montgomery County, Md., the NCCoE brings together cybersecurity experts from industry, academia and government to create solutions to security challenges.
Deep Run Security is joining the CyberMaryland delegation to RSA for the first time. Based in Baltimore, the company has created SPECTRUM 2.0, an engagement and executive portal to provide retailer/hospitality, healthcare and financial executives a risk-based way to rapidly identify, quantify and manage “operational cyber risk” – the risk of breach posed by human and business process errors.
RedOwl, winner of RSA’s 2014 Innovation Sandbox competition, will feature product demonstrations in their booth, #4602 in the North Hall at the Moscone Center, during RSA. The company combines unstructured data – communications and voice – with structured data like server logs, physical security, and print logs to help identify and disrupt corporate espionage and other cyber intrusions.
The NCCoE and the Maryland Department of Commerce will host a Global Partnership Lunch on Tuesday, March 1, during which attendees will hear about partnering opportunities with the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. That evening, Maryland Commerce and the bwtech@umbc business incubator will host a Cybertini networking event that has already attracted more than 20 registrants, including RSA. Throughout the conference, Col. Ken McCreedy, USA (Ret.), Maryland Commerce’s cyber development director, will meet with U.S. and international companies and promote Maryland’s burgeoning cybersecurity sector.
For updates throughout RSA™ 2015, follow @MDBiz on Twitter. Col. McCreedy and other members of the Maryland delegation are available for inquiries and interview requests. For information, contact Maureen Kilcullen, Maureen.Kilcullen@Maryland.gov or 410.206.7171.
Next month's Light City Baltimore festival at the Inner Harbor will feature a variety of food and beverage options from local restaurateurs.
The inaugural event, scheduled for March 28-April 3, is expected to include 50 concerts, dozens of speakers at four mini-conferences, and a 1.5-mile light walk featuring the light installation artwork of 29 artists.
Themed food and beverage stations offer menus coinciding with the illuminated installations along the BGE Light Art Walk. The event is being organized by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts.
Felicia Dibabo said driving with Uber is helping her raise four kids. For Michael Walker, it’s become a full-time job over the last year.
They were just a couple of about 100 Uber drivers that attended an event Thursday at Spark, the coworking space at Power Plant Live!
Along with getting a chance to interact with Uber’s staff, the drivers also heard from one of the transportation company’s top advisors — former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
Plouffe said the intent of the event was to bring the drivers together, and mark the fact that the company now has 9,000 drivers in Baltimore — three-quarters of whom drive less than 10 hours a week. City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young and Baltimore NAACP President Tessa Hill-Aston were also on hand.
Gemstone Biotherapeutics is looking to get a second treatment for wound care to the market.
The company licensed a product that is designed to specifically heal diabetic foot ulcers from Johns Hopkins University, said CEO George Davis. With the new addition to the portfolio, the Federal Hill-based company is looking to commercialize two products at once.
Davis said the company sees a big opportunity with the new technology, which was developed out of research led by Jeremy Walston and Peter Abadir in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
The open sores that develop on the bottom of the foot affect about 15 percent of patients with diabetes, and can lead to amputations. The treatment that Gemstone licensed is a topical gel that reactivates a system of mitochondrial angiotensin receptors that weakens with age, and prohibits wounds from healing. It applies drugs that are currently used to treat hypertension to the wounds.
Even though there isn't an official announcement yet it looks like Brian Smith will be coaching the DB's. This seems like a solid hire and a guy that has worked and played for Don Brown before. Being able to have coached pro's helps recruits make Maize and Blue decisions. See yesterdays post for more details on Brian.
DPJ said this to the DetNews:“I have no timetable for making a decision; whenever I feel comfortable, I’ll make it,” he said.“Michigan has a lot of tradition, a lot of history and coach Harbaugh has them on the rise right now. Michigan State’s a Big Ten power and has developed a lot of players into NFL draft prospects, and Ohio State is another great program and having former teammates there makes it easier for me to visit and hang around guys.” He also said good things about MSU and OSU.
HS Coaches can attend all practices in Florida but they have to register. They are not allowed to bring recruits.
Speaking of Florida practices, here is the schedule:
Jellyfish is looking to make its Baltimore office a hub as it expands across the U.S., said EVP and Managing Director Kevin Buerger.
The digital marketing agency started in the United Kingdom. The Baltimore office opened after the company landed Laureate Education as a client in 2010. Since then, the operation here has grown to 75 employees, and clients include Under Armour, Stanley Black & Decker and Carfax. The size of the company’s office in Scarlett Place (near the corner of East Pratt and President streets) has also grown from about 3,000 square feet to 15,000.
And they’re not stopping there. Buerger said the Baltimore office may house as many as 120 employees by the end of 2016.
The company has also brought on new leadership in the Baltimore office. In the fall, Jim Hamilton was hired to head U.S. operations. More recently, Paramjeet Sanghera became the company’s first CTO. Both execs previously worked at iCrossing.
In March and April, entrepreneurs can take a tour of Baltimore-area incubators, and pick up some knowledge on running a startup in the meantime.
Camp Inc. is a six-stop event that’s set to move through Baltimore, Towson, Baltimore County and Columbia.
The Emerging Technology Centers received funding for the program through TEDCO’s Incubator Assistance Grant, and decided to open it up to the entire area.
“We really wanted to collaborate with other incubators in the area,” said ETC Program Manager Jackie Albright.
The programming will cover topics like crowdfunding and MVPs, and Baltimore Angels will host the final session on angel investing. Albright said the sessions will have a “bootcamp feel,” but attendees don’t have to sign up for all six.
Governor Larry Hogan today announced that MedStar Health will bring 72 jobs from the company’s other offices in the region to its new headquarters in Howard County.
The company is moving from its current location at Sterrett Place in Columbia to a 97,000-square-foot office space at the Howard Hughes Corporation’s new Crescent property at Little Patuxent and Snowden River parkways. The new headquarters is currently under construction and scheduled to open later this year.
With this move, MedStar will employ 222 full-time employees in Howard County and 1,266 employees statewide.
“MedStar is the largest healthcare provider in Maryland and Washington, D.C., and we very pleased that they are continuing to grow and call Maryland home,” said Governor Hogan. “MedStar is one of a number of companies that has chosen to expand and invest in our state in recent months, which speaks to the tremendous progress we are making in strengthening our economy.”
“We appreciate the collaborative and collegial manner in which the Howard Hughes Corporation, Howard County and the state of Maryland have worked with us to make new headquarters a reality for MedStar Health,” said Kenneth A. Samet, FACHE, president and CEO. “We look forward to occupying our new space, and we are pleased that we have been able to extend our commitment to this community and be part of the plans for making Columbia an innovative and dynamic place to work and live.”
MedStar hosts 10 hospitals, the MedStar Health Research Institute, and a number of health-related organizations in the area. As the medical education and clinical partner of Georgetown University, MedStar trains more than 1,100 medical residents annually.
To support the expansion, the Maryland Department of Commerce is providing a $750,000 conditional loan. The company is also eligible for a number of state and local tax credits.
In this day and age, it's a shock when we don't hear that someone is interviewing or going to accept a job. Well it happened folks.
The staff member to the right is a Jimmy new hire. This is former Cleveland Browns defensive QC Tony Tuioti. He seems to have been added to Jimmy's staff and we found out after a picture with a recruit yesterday. Tony played football (DT) at Hawaii and below is his college/pro coaching background.
2008-09 University of Hawaii, director of player personnel
2010-11 University of Hawaii, defensive tackles coach
2012-13 University of Hawaii, linebackers coach
2014-16 Cleveland Browns, defensive quality control coach
This is a strategic hire for the need for quality DT's in the 2017 class. I'm sure that is the reason over Michigan's opening opponent next season. :)
Sam Web is also reporting that former Philadelphia Eagles Assistant coach Brian Smith is inline for the DB coach gig. Brian was reportedly ready to join Chip Kelly in San Francisco two weeks ago. Here is Brian's Bio from the Eagles web site:
After spending eight seasons (2007-14) with the New York Jets, Brian Smith was named the Eagles assistant linebackers coach during the 2015 offseason. He most recently assisted in the coaching of the Jets defensive backs from 2013-14.
In his first season as assistant defensive backs coach in 2013, he helped in the development of first round CB Dee Milliner, who earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month honors after finishing December with 27 tackles, three interceptions and 13 passes defensed.
Smith originally joined the Jets in 2007 as the team’s quality control/offense coach and held various positions on the team’s coaching staff during his eight-year tenure with the team.
A three-year starter in the secondary at the University of Massachusetts, Smith began his coaching career at his alma mater in 2004, tutoring the team’s outside linebackers. He was named the team’s wide receivers coach the following season, where he worked with New York Giants All-Pro and Pro Bowl WR Victor Cruz.
Smith played and coached under Don Brown at UMass.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/02/michigan-thursday-updates-more-staff.html
The Charm City Circulator is set to appear on Google Maps.
Within eight weeks, Baltimore’s free bus service will be among the transit options presented for users looking to get around the city. The news was first reported by the Baltimore Business Journal.
The effort didn’t involve Google’s team descending on Baltimore, but was still a process.
Legally, the city’s Board of Estimates was expected to approve a contract with Google that allowed the company to use the data.
Before that, the work that went into adding the system was done by the staff of the Transportation Resource Information Point (TRIP), which is a program of Central Maryland Regional Transit (CMRT), said CMRT Program Manager Philip LaCombe. TRIP maintains its own website with transit info, but is undertaking an effort to make the data behind those routes and schedules more widely available.
Just like last summer, the nonprofit invested $250,000 in the medical device startup.
“Expanding our investment in Vasoptic Medical Inc. is a win-win for Baltimore,” said a joint statement released by the Abell Foundation board. “Vasoptic is growing Baltimore’s innovative tech industry and is poised to improve access to affordable healthcare for low-income populations.”
Last Saturday wasn’t the only Saturday that Kareshma Mohanty has spent coding with other women.
A year ago, the project manager at Medical Decision Logic participated in the first Bmore on Rails Workshop for Women to get a better handle on what developers are experiencing.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, Mohanty was back at Betamore for the Workshop for Women’s second edition. This year, she planned to make strides toward finishing the self-paced tutorial, which included this one on Ruby and Rails, review sessions and a few dev talks about core concepts throughout the day.
“I just didn’t accomplish what I wanted to [last year], which is why I’m back this year, to push myself over the edge and get it done,” she said.
Mohanty was joined by more than 75 other women for the all-day session. The prospect of sharing her love of programming and coding with other women was enough to motivate Fractured Atlas developer Natasha Jones to head up organizing the event, which was also supported by Bmore on Rails members and Betamore. But the act of bringing women together and introducing them to coding also has wider implications in an industry that remains male-dominated.
In six years, Social Leagues has grown from a small bocce operation in Baltimore to offering a variety of social sports leagues in six cities with 100,000 participants.
The company continues to grow with last week's announcement of the acquisition of NYC Social, a New York-based social sports league, which will be merged with its existing operation, Play Big Apple.
Now its founder, Giovanni Marcantoni, says he wants to focus on increasing the number of participants it serves nationwide to 300,000 by 2020. He ascribed the company's rapid growth to the desire of young people to do more in the offline world as social interactions increasingly move online.
"We think that this industry is very much a young and new industry," he said. "People are living online, and there's not as many ways to get out there and meet people, or to just do something with your friends."
Marcantoni, 31, said the company began "as a hobby" in 2010 when he was trying to organize a bocce league in Baltimore. They added skee-ball, then sailing, and it grew from there.
It now offers sports that range from soccer to flip cup. People can sign up with friends as a team or as free agents and be assigned to a team. Fees for the spring season range from $36 (bocce and flip cup) to $160 (sailing), but typically are around $50 to $70. The money covers a T-shirt, equipment, field rental and Baltimore Social's expenses.
Area hospitals are riddled with cybersecurity flaws that could allow attackers to hack into medical devices and kill patients, a team of Baltimore-based researchers has concluded after a two-year investigation.
Hackers at Independent Security Evaluators say they broke into one hospital's systems remotely to take control of several patient monitors, which would let an attacker disable alarms or display false information.
The team says it strolled into one hospital's lobby and used an easily accessible kiosk to commandeer computer systems that track medicine delivery and bloodwork requests — more opportunities for malicious hackers to create mayhem.
Best is the standard here at the Maryland Department of Commerce. Those words drive everything we do. And that simple promise is the foundation of our new strategic plan to drive Maryland’s economy to the heights we all know it can — and should — reach.
Created by the Maryland Economic Development Commission, the plan outlines the state’s economic forecast, achievements we’ve made in the past year, and how Commerce can continue leading the charge in Maryland. Simply put, it’s our plan to put people back to work in good, family-supporting jobs.
The commission’s plan has six steps to do just that:
Achieve Operational Excellence
Foster a Competitive Business Environment
Advance Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Expand Targeted Industry Clusters
Create One Maryland and Enhance Community Development
Improve Brand and Talent Attraction
Economic development is a team sport. My teammates at Commerce are eager to work with our partners in higher education, in local governments, in other state agencies, in Annapolis and in businesses across the state to put this plan into action. From Western Maryland to the Eastern Shore, we are dedicated to making our state one of the best places to live, work, and start a business.
I invite you to learn more about the plan. Share your thoughts in the comment section below. How can you and your organization help our state reach its full economic potential?
Every company we help start or grow, every job we help create means more and better opportunities for our friends, family and neighbors. It means better jobs for our children and theirs.
The Maryland Department of Commerce will lead the CyberMaryland delegation to RSA™ 2016, the nation’s premier information security conference, for the fifth consecutive year.
Headed by Col. Kenneth McCreedy, USA (Ret.), director of cyber development for Maryland Commerce, the delegation includes Maryland cyber companies, federal agencies, academic institutions, and other partners. The group will promote the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, bwtech@umbc, the University System of Maryland, and other state assets.
Held annually in San Francisco, RSA™ 2016 takes place this year from February 29-March 4. The conference features renowned speakers, exhibits by world leaders in information assurance, and draws more than 30,000 attendees.
“Our team is looking forward to spreading the word about Maryland’s vibrant cybersecurity community,” said Col. McCreedy, the former commander of Fort George G. Meade. “Proximity to the U.S. Cyber Command and other federal agencies – complemented by a thriving entrepreneurial environment, a highly-trained workforce, and an array of tax credits and other incentives – make Maryland a great place for cyber companies to grow and thrive.”
CyberMaryland’s participation in the RSA™ conference is designed to leverage the many cybersecurity assets in Maryland, attract new business to the state, and connect Maryland companies with capital as well as global opportunities. The CyberMaryland delegation will interact with U.S. and international companies, meet with colleges and universities to inform students about cyber careers in Maryland, and promote Maryland’s vibrant cybersecurity sector.
Throughout the conference, Maryland’s initiative, influence, and innovations will be showcased by speakers and presenters, through exhibits, and in the CyberMaryland booth at the Moscone Center. Sharing their expertise are Maryland-based cyber experts, including:
Admiral Michael S. Rogers, Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and Director of the National Security Agency, will deliver remarks on March 1 at 10:40 a.m. The U.S. Cyber Command, established at Fort Meade, Md., in 2010, and NSA, located at Fort Meade for more than 50 years, are among the Maryland-based federal agencies engaged in cybersecurity and related activities.
Approximately 20 Maryland companies – including Bricata, Cisco Systems, Fidelis Cybersecurity, ManTech Cyber Solutions International, RedOwl, Tenable Network Security, and ZeroFOX – will exhibit their capabilities.
For updates throughout RSA™ 2016, follow @MDBiz on Twitter. Col. McCreedy and other members of the CyberMaryland delegation are available for inquiries and interviews. For information, contact Maureen Kilcullen, Maureen.Kilcullen@Maryland.gov, (cell) 410-206-7171.
Biohealth is all over the map in Maryland. There’s the biotech corridor in Montgomery County, where companies like MedImmune LLC and Emergent BioSolutions Inc. call home. The students and academic researchers at Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland are up in Baltimore. Then there are the government agencies and their many, many contractors spread throughout the Baltimore-Washington region.
Chris Frew wanted to find a way to connect all the dots.
Enter BioHive, an online community engagement website for the movers and shakers of biohealth.
BioHive, currently in Beta mode and officially launching this spring, is designed to be a place where people in the biohealth industry can meet, re-connect, discuss industry news and work on projects together. Members create profiles, then they can share links to news articles, comment on other members’ posts and even host video conferences. Eventually, BioHive will host virtual seminars or education sessions.
The first step to building a successful product is creating a prototype of the idea you've come up with. At SmartLogic we believe in low-fidelity prototyping.
Our clients often have tight timelines, so having a process that can iterate more quickly is beneficial. A flashier mock-up can be expensive, and going straight from concept to polished prototype means it’s unlikely to reflect your final product anyway.
Why Spend Time Prototyping at All?
A good prototype will save you money, plain and simple. Your prototype will convey what the product is going to do and what it’s going to look like so you can get feedback from key stakeholders, without actually requiring the time or resources you’d need to build the actual final product.
It may be obvious to you what the product is going to do, but a prototype better translates that vision to investors, colleagues, and the development team that is building it.
This is especially beneficial if you don’t consider yourself very technical. When the product idea is fleshed out visually for the first time, our clients often discover new things about what they want, such as how they want it to work or how they want it to look.
It's hard to believe Michigan is now focused on a class of High School Juniors right now for the 2017 class. Offers are going out like crazy and Michigan is hosting a mini instate junior day today. Expected prospects to attend includes:
2017 4 Star WR Donovan Peoples-Jones
2017 4 Star CB Ambry Thomas
2017 4 Star S Jaylen Kelly-Powell
2018 4 Star CB Kalon Gervin
2017 3 star commit JaRaymond Hall
2017 3 star OL Phillip Paea
2017 3 star OL Jordan Reid
2017 LB Steven Spenner
With Michigan securing it's QB it's now time to focus on DP-J and locking down the instate talent. Most of these guys will be attending the Michigan - Northwestern game tonight.
This newspaper man Mark Smith from Albuquerque is upset about Jimmy moving Gentry to TE. Here is a quote from his article: I may very well be clueless about the entire situation. And admittedly, I have zero inside information. I’ve never seen a Michigan football practice, and have no idea how Zach Gentry looked in drills last year. But I do know that moving former the Eldorado High sensation from quarterback to tight end has my dander up. The inside information is that O'Korn has looked great in practice and has more game experience then any other QB on the roster. My guess is moving him to TE is the fastest way for Gentry to see the field. He probably still has a chance to be a QB but will not be on the two deep next season.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/02/wolverine-wednesday-michigan-having.html
Tenable Network Security Inc. is ramping up its federal sales efforts, announcing Tuesday that it has hired a new vice president to head up a new division devoted to federal customers.
The Columbia-based cybersecurity software company recruited Darron Makrokanis from San Francisco-based data analytics company Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) to fill the role.
Tenable's cybersecurity products focus on continuous monitoring. Companies and federal agencies deploy Tenable software to monitor IT assets, ranging from firewalls to desktops to wireless access points — all to track down vulnerabilities and known threats. The new federal sales division will focus on building relationships and understanding both federal agency missions and requirements, said company President Jack Huffard.
Virtual reality is immersing itself into the wider tech conversation in more obvious ways, and it’s not just because of Mark Zuckerberg’s big bet.
A press release the other day said that AT&T is offering VR tours of tropical getaways at stores in Columbia and Lutherville as part of a partnership with cruise giant Carnival.
In the city, we’ve seen a real estate developer embrace the technology to show off new apartments. VR is also at the heart of the business model of Baltimore startup Alchemy Learning as its founders head to Techstars. Last month, Alchemy was also among Baltimore-area startups embracing VR at a Google Developers Group session on the technology. EduPal and BalitVirtual’s Will Gee were also offering demos.
Dylan McCaffrey is seeing his ranking pop up after his early commitment to Michigan. He is now a 5 star composite and #1 ranked Pro Passer on 24/7 and #18 overall. He moved up on Rivals as well, he is now the #39th player in the nation (up from 114).
ESPN has him ranked as the #1 Pocket Passer and the 25th player in the country.
What a great early pick up by Jimmy and Staff. This should help recruiting, too bad Michigan only needs a couple WR's in this class.
What to know if we have a "Rock Star" as a head coach? He was at WWE in Detroit last night:
Reports are that Jimmy is interviewing: Chip Viney, a QC coach for Oklahoma for the Greg Jackson gig. Viney is a former UCLA corner before being on Stoops staff as a grad assistant. Chip took the QC job last year. Where does he find these guys?
Jimmy has also hired to his staff former San Jose State OC Jimmie Dougherty who was rumored to be inline for the WR coach role last year.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/02/michigan-tuesday-dylan-moving-up.html
As Sam Markose is getting ready to enter the job market, he just found a lot of potential employers he didn’t know existed.
The Towson University senior is currently interning at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT). But with his May graduation looming, he got a tip from a co-worker to check out NET/WORK Baltimore at the Baltimore Museum of Industry last week.
Looking at the tables of the 30+ startups exhibiting where he had just dropped off his resume, Markos said he was discovering a new segment of Baltimore’s business community.
“It’s awesome seeing startups in Baltimore,” Markose said. “I didn’t know they existed. I thought it was just big companies like JPMorgan and GDIT.”
The companies were ready to make themselves stand out in the February setting. With Valentine’s Day having recently passed, SmartLogic brought roses.
The team behind Rowdy Orbit Impact believes tech jobs can help people returning from prison not only stay out of jail, but also lift them out of poverty.
In July, the group plans to launch an eight-month web development training program for 50 African-American and Latino men. When the program is finished, the company will help place the returning citizens in jobs. They have a specific target salary of $40,000.
“We’re not teaching people to survive, but we’re teaching them to thrive,” said Chief Strategy Officer Jorge Castillo.
The team is looking at a mix of grants or other public money and private investment to fund start-up costs both for the company and the first round of training, which is projected at $3.1 million. In the future, the for-profit company is looking to build a sustainable business model.
AT&T* is pleased to announce that Montgomery County is collaborating with AT&T and Deloitte on developing a smart cities framework to explore the various possibilities of smart transit.
This is part of a larger effort by AT&T to build a framework to help municipalities better serve their citizens as well as enhance vital services like public safety. We are bringing this framework to several initial spotlight communities and universities including Montgomery County.
Our framework is a holistic approach to help cities better meet the needs of their citizens using Internet of Things (IoT). The framework, which will initially roll out in select spotlight communities, is supported by an alliance of key technology leaders and industry organizations. Together, we’ll develop and deploy solutions that help communities address issues that are critical to them.
"As we plan for the future of transit in Montgomery County, we're actively working with partners to build a cutting-edge system that will serve our residents for decades. This collaboration with AT&T and Deloitte will provide the resources to explore futuristic possibilities which would have been difficult to accomplish alone and builds on our existing internet of things programs,' said Isiah Leggett, County Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland.
“More and more cities are realizing the impact IoT solutions can have on improving the lives of their citizens,” said Mike Zeto, general manager and executive director, AT&T Smart Cities. “We welcome Montgomery County as a spotlight city. We’re looking forward to working with them to create new opportunities in their community.”
For more information on our IoT solutions for Smart Cities, visit: www.att.com/iot
from http://baltimoretech.org/news/maryland-joins-att-smart-cities-initiative/
News is slow folks, so I'm going to do another post on the Florida - Spring Break Issue. Here is my question, If Michigan practiced in Ann Arbor during Spring Break, does it make national news? Of course it doesn't. So the real issue is that Jimmy is taking his team to IMG in Florida. If he goes to Battle Creek for practice, nobody cares.
NCAA president Mark Emmert, weighted in on Friday as he addressed the University of South Carolina board of trustees: "They're having a hard time being students and doing what students want to do," Emmert said Friday.
Emmert said while "there is nothing [Harbaugh] is doing that is against the rules," it is up to the NCAA's Football Oversight Committee to determine whether Harbaugh and other coaches can do that again in the future.
#1 point Mark made was that Jimmy isn't breaking the rules, which means the other coaches are mad they didn't think of it. The other point, is the players get to practice without worrying about class and homework. That seems like a benefit to focus and getting better. Plus Jimmy said they are going to be playing mini golf while in Florida! If you can't have fun playing mini golf, then your not living! :)
Jimmy also made a few points on Friday at the sold out MDen autograph session: "I guess [SEC commissioner Greg Sankey] is stating a case, but it doesn't hold water to me," Harbaugh told the Detroit Free Press on Friday. "It's not an addition of time; it's the same amount of time. It's 20 hours. We'll be on the same rules and guidelines every other team will be under on spring practice.
"I think there's been some humor about it. I think it's comical that he's taken exception to it."
Zach Gentry is now a full time TE, which leaves O'Korn, Morris and Speight fighting out for the starting QB job. I didn't include Peters who will be in Spring Ball but is pretty much guaranteed a red shirt. (while I was typing, I left out the "r" in the last word of the last sentence by mistake and it made me laugh)
In other position moves, Khalid Hill is going to work at fullback and Mason Cole will take some snaps at center. Peppers if fully healthy and the early enrollees are doing well in the weight room.
The Spring Game will be on Bo's Birthday on April 1. The game will start at 6:00 and will be considered Michigan's first night Spring Game. I hope the weather is warm. This news made the ESPN bottom line on Friday.
Michigan Basketball lost a close game to Maryland on Sunday.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/02/michigan-monday-wonders-if-it-isnt-in.html
If White Marsh was a person, his ears would be burning.
Arsh Mirmiran, a developer behind the Stadium Square residential and office project in South Baltimore, used the Baltimore County suburb as his punching bag to explain why he's so bullish on South Baltimore as a great place to live and work.
"There's nothing for them in White Marsh," said Mirmiran, partner of Caves Valley Partners, talking of 22- to 35-year-old millennials.
Mirmiran was one of five panelists at the Baltimore Business Journal's "Future of South Baltimore" event Friday, which attracted a sold-out crowd of nearly 500 people to City Garage, the new innovation space created by Under Armour on South Baltimore's industrial waterfront. The panel also included Josh Fidler, co-chairman of Chesapeake Realty Partners, Marc Weller, president of Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank's Sagamore Development, Demian Costa, managing partner of Sagamore Ventures LLC and City Councilman Eric Costello, who represents South Baltimore.
Does Maryland’s cold weather have you dreaming of beaches and sun that are out of reach? You might not have time to book a vacation, but now you can experience fun on the high seas through virtual reality thanks to AT&T and Carnival. Starting today, customers can go to their local AT&T stores in Columbia, Lutherville or Laurel and test out the Samsung Gear VR, which will allow them to experience the sights and sounds of being on a warm and sunny cruise in Barcelona, Mexico or other popular destinations. This virtual reality content is first-of-its-kind so head out to your local AT&T store to check it out!
Samsung Gear VR1 – designed to accelerate virtual reality into the mainstream – provides an untethered, fully-immersive experience with 360-degree content for an extremely high quality mobile VR experience. Built to work with Samsung's Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ and Note5, the Gear VR headset lets people enjoy an ever-growing library of premium and entertaining games, apps, photos and videos.
Consumers will also be able to enter a sweepstakes to win one of 10 seven-day cruises on Carnival Corporation's Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line brands by checking the virtual reality experience and sign up via an in-store tablet or by visiting www.vrcruisewlcl.com. The sweepstakes is available Feb. 19 to Mar. 11.
"Our customers know they can come to an AT&T store to experience the future of a connected life. The Samsung Gear VR is awesome, especially with this great content from Carnival. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to show it off," said Brian Shay, president, Retail Sales and Distribution, AT&T.
"Samsung Gear VR delivers an innovative way for people to transport themselves to far-away locations from around the world," said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America. "Now, people can immerse themselves into a one-of-a-kind cruise line adventure, powered by virtual reality. We are excited to work with the premier brand in leisure travel to bring the complete cruise line experience to AT&T's stores across the U.S."
"Globally, the growing popularity of cruising vacations is far outpacing land-based vacations, by a 23 percent margin," said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, the world's largest leisure travel company. "But there are still many people who have not had a chance to enjoy the one-of-a-kind experience we provide with one of our 10 cruise line brands. With most of the U.S. dealing with winter weather, the timing for this launch is designed to give people a fully immersive look at why cruising is a great vacation – and helps remind them to think about going on a cruise when planning their next vacation."
from http://baltimoretech.org/news/experience-a-tropical-vacation-while-at-your-local-baltimore-att-store/
With a new focus on designing virtual reality for employee training, Alchemy Learning is a member of the latest class of the Techstarsaccelerator in Boulder, Colo.
The company started in edtech, and got its first experience designing a VR environment for the classroom during a pilot with the International Neuroscience Network Foundation. That gave the team experience using Unity game engine to design for virtual reality, and seeing how the tool could be used to enhance learning. But ultimately, they identified a wider potential market of VR experiences to add experiential learning to corporate training or professional development.
“We’re very proud of some of the platforms and experiences we created, but this is an opportunity where we can put some of that prior knowledge and experience, but the opportunity is significantly larger,” cofounder Henry Bluesaid by phone from Boulder, where he and cofounders Win Smith and Jonathan Wilson will be located for the next three months along with 10 other startups. The other part of the team will remain at the company’s offices in South Baltimore. Blue said the three cofounders plan to return to the city after the accelerator program is complete.
We are really going to have to get used to this. Michigan just lost their brand new Recruiting Coordinator Matt Doherty to Miami. He hasn't even worked for Jimmy that long and Miami came calling to get him. Matt had worked with new Miami coach Mark Richt at Georgia.
This moved caused another move, as we have suspected for some time that Jimmy has hired Devin Bush, Sr. as a Defensive Analyst. This is a great hire for many reasons. Bush is a very well known HS head coach in Florida, a former star at FSU, former 1st round draft pick and of course son of current EE Devin Bush, Jr. If he is able to move the needle to get more Florida talent to Ann Arbor, this will be considered a great hire.
I expect Michigan still has a staff spot open after "Soup" Campbell went to UConn.
Sam Webb is saying that former Wisconsin S and Michigan grad assistant Aubrey Pleasant might be in line to replace Greg Jackson. Aubrey is currently a Defensive Quality Control Coach for the Redskins.
Michigan seems to recruiting "across the street" MI LB Antjuan Simmons with he velocity he had hoped to see. Antjuan has visited Michigan twice this month as walking a few feet from Pioneer High School doesn't seem to be an issue. Position of need, plus a stone throws from his HS to Michigan Stadium - lets find a way to make this happen please! Don Brown seems to be leading his recruitment, as Simmons seems like a perfect fit for his system.
Chad Henne resigns with the Jags.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/02/michigan-friday-staff-is-changing.html
It’s an exciting time to be a small business in Baltimore County.
Biotech and edtech startups are thriving locally, thanks in part to Baltimore County’s Boost Loan Fund program, which launched in October 2014.
The Boost Loan Fund is a loan program funded by revenue generated from Maryland’s video lottery terminals. The recipients — small, minority, woman and veteran-owned businesses throughout the state — receive loans of $50,000 to $250,000, which are then used for start-up and gap funding, improvements and acquisitions, and for working capital. To date, over $2 million in loans have been approved for local businesses.
Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz challenged the Department of Economic and Workforce Development, which administers the Boost program, to exceed the 50 percent target goal of reaching minority, women, and veteran-owned business. The result: more than 75 percent of all Boost Loans went to these business owners. The county is actively reaching out to its next round of applicants to keep the momentum going.
Baltimore’s health department believes an online training platform will expand access to training for a drug that reverses the effects of a heroin overdose.
Through the city-run website DontDie.org, citizens can watch a video of Health Commissioner Leana Wenadministering naloxone (also known as Narcan), and complete a four-question review. They receive certification for naloxone, which is required by law before administering.
Naloxone, which is available as an injection or nasal spray, completely reverses the effects of an overdose from opioids, which include heroin, fentanyl, morphine and prescription drugs. Public health experts including Wen have long called to make it more widely available to people who know others who are regular drug users, and have sought to train EMS workers, police and members of the public who come into contact with users.
From the outside, 14 West Mount Vernon Place is the kind of beautiful, well-maintained, 19th-century building for which the Mount Vernon neighborhood is known. But that staid aesthetic is just skin deep.
Inside the building, innovative things are happening at one of Baltimore’s largest legacy media organizations.
The building houses the headquarters of the Agora companies, a collection of media companies that publish a variety of financial, health, travel and special interest books and newsletters. Started in 1978 as one company, the Agora companies have since grown, transforming into a global consortium relying on the innovations of in-house technology teams to power that expansion.
Most recently, the organization launched 14 West, a company focused on recruiting and administrative services, and on maintaining the culture that powers the rest of the Agora companies’ work.
Sixteen years ago, when HR Director Elizabeth Massing started with Agora as an intern, the organization was comprised of one company of about 200 employees. Today, the collection of companies includes multiple entities and about 850 employees in Baltimore alone. It’s a lot of growth, but according to Massing, in some ways, the organization still feels like the same company she started with all those years ago.
This is going to be a regular occurrence, Michigan will be losing assistant coaches every off season to head coaching jobs, promotions and NFL gigs. The Wolverines lost a quality coach yesterday as DB coach Greg Jackson headed to the Dallas Cowboys. Michigan still has a DB coach in place with Greg Zordich and I was a bit surprised that Jimmy had two coaches in the secondary last year. So he does have a bit of flexibility on where he wants to go next.
I know my dad and other might suggest Charles Woodson, but he has new job at ESPN for big dollars once a week. If you want to consider a former player, you might want to think about someone like Marcus Ray.
This is a bit old, but USA Today reports that Jimmy spends $10,000 a day when he uses a private plane for recruiting. This is exactly what he should be doing and it's worth every penny. The time savings, flexibility and ability to see multiple recruits on the same day is worth the cost. I wouldn't be surprised if a Michigan donor picks up most of this tab anyway.
from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2016/02/michigan-thursday-loses-mr-jackson.html
Best is the standard here at the 