new products

With vacant storefronts scattered throughout the Downtown Westminster area, city officials are partnering with a Washington non-profit to try and bring business back to Main Street.

The spice company used digital marketing to build its brand and launched new products around the world.

VSPOne expects growth at its new eyeglass manufacturing facility in Halethorpe — including orders related to Google Glass. The company anticipates that the local site will make prescription lenses for the product after it launches sometime this year.

Convergence Technology Consulting relocated its headquarters to Columbia from Glen Burnie, almost doubling the space the cyber security firm occupies as it looks to sustain its growth.

Under Armour liked the work Karl-Heinz "Charlie" Maurath had done for one of its competitors when the brand tapped him to spearhead its international growth.

One evening my sister, Mary, called me, all excited about a news item she saw on ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer. Mary said that it was both sad and beautiful at the same time. The episode, in Sawyer's "America Strong" segment, was titled, "iPods Awaken Memories through Music For Those with Alzheimer's," reported by Byron Pitts.

IBM says state bears some responsibility for health exchange troubles

Under Armour will be available in over 70 of the country¿spremium points of sale and e-commerce hubs, such as Centauro, Netshoes and Paquetá.

Maryland schools among those universities clarifying application instructions to ensure they aren't violating federal law by requiring extra forms to determine financial aid eligibility

They spend hours dabbling with gizmos and gadgets, though unlikely as much time questioning how such products go from idea to concept to must have.

After the state severed ties with the contractor that built its problem-plagued health insurance exchange, officials face the looming question of what to do with it — continue throwing money at fixing it or replace it.

Maryland may have to spend an additional $30.5 million providing Medicaid coverage to Marylanders because the state's glitch-riddled health exchange website can't tell if they are no longer eligible and boot them out.

Like everyone else in the county, the cold, snowy, icy, crazy weather has been a hot topic for Harford County Public Library officials in recent weeks.

Technical glitches trap 'early adopters' in health exchange website

Susan Aplin worked behind the scenes for two decades helping run some of the biggest retail brands around– Williams Sonoma, Sports Authority, Staples, The Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Pottery Barn. But after traveling to Alaska's Prince William Sound, she found her true calling – retail with a cause and online retailer bambeco, seller of sustainable home furnishings, was born.

Happenstance brought Suzy Ganz from Wall Street to a Baltimore County manufacturer. A deep interest in the work has kept her there. Five questions for the CEO and chairman of Lion Brothers Co., an Owings Mills maker of brand logos, uniform insignia, Girl Scout badges and similar products.

More than 200 guns were sold to people legally barred from owning them as a surge in firearms sales overwhelmed Maryland's background check system, according to state police.

The O'Malley administration will propose emergency legislation to provide retroactive health coverage to people who tried to enroll by the end of December but couldn't because of the technical problems that have plagued Maryland's online insurance exchange.

Maryland's newest job-training program is part of a national movement to get employers more deeply involved with efforts to develop a skilled workforce — a shift that has gathered steam in the last decade as federal funding for training shrank.

Consumers rush to meet first deadline for health coverage

Millman has come a long way since his college days. Now a full-blown manufacturer, he oversees a suite of four photo-related companies, with two buildings in Baltimore County that smell faintly of bleach, rattle with the noise of book-stitching machines and churn out everything from T-shirts and photo books to canvas prints for major commercial retailers, including Walmart, Sam's Club and CVS.

Amid continued criticism from a political rival, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown took some responsibility Tuesday for the dismal performance of Maryland's online health insurance exchange.

The pop-up Bmore3D Store launched on Black Friday and will be open through December. Its founders say it's the first 3D-only retail store in the region and one of a relative handful nationwide.

While there will no doubt be finger pointing as the public continues to learn about the state's botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act, there can also be no doubt about who was responsible for leading the effort: Lt. Governor Anthony Brown.

Scores of independent merchants in the Baltimore area did their part Saturday to get the "Shop Small" message out for the fourth annual Small Business Saturday. American Express launched the initiative four years ago to help small shops compete with national chains and online sellers during the traditional kickoff weekend to the holiday retail season.

More than 6,000 Anne Arundel County government e-mail addresses have been switched to a new Google-based system, which replaces an older system that frustrated many workers.

Google opens one of six pop-up stores around the country at Westfield Annapolis Mall for holiday shopping season

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley promised Maryland would "lead the nation" in making Obamacare work, but the state is doing no better than its federal companion and might even be doing worse.

Under Armour is planning a $150 million acquisition of fitness technology company MapMyFitness, known for mobile applications and websites under the MapMyRun and MapMyRide brands.

Netflix changed the way people rent movies. Amazon upended the big-box bookstore. Other online retailers have grabbed market share in niches as diverse as contact lenses and pet medications. Why not disposable razors? That's the question posed by a Catonsville-based firm — along with about half a dozen other online upstarts.

An administrator with wide ranging access to the supposedly secret transactions on the Silk Road online market pleaded guilty to a drug charge Thursday after being caught in a federal sting in January.

Zestt Baltimore

Under Armour is planning to open a Brand House in New York City in the spring

Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who was tapped to oversee health care reform in Maryland, spoke for the first time Wednesday about the bumpy rollout of the effort's centerpiece, the marketplace for the uninsured. He said he is "not satisfied."

"We Will Rock You," a Queen-filled musical that has been a hit in London for 11 years, opens a U.S./Canada tour in Baltimore with helping hand from original band member Brian May.

As the nation prepared for the launch of Obamacare, Maryland was touted as a leader in adopting the president's signature program. Obama himself used a community college in Maryland as a backdrop to promote his plan — and to praise Maryland as a model.

TIC Gums in Harford County is perhaps the biggest privately owned player in an invisible part of the food industry.

Imagine tapping your need for a ride to the grocery store into your smart phone, and it connects you with someone else in your neighborhood who is headed in the same direction and willing to pick you up on the way. Lyft is launching in Baltimore at 4 p.m. on Oct. 17.

Under Armour executives are looking for ideas to improve the brand¿s Armour39 performance monitoring system and plan to award $25,000 to the winner of a competition launched Monday

The teen girls at a Howard County Library System forum for suggestions on its technology-based HiTech initiative bristled at the though of venturing toward STEM-related fields, seeing virtually no correlation between the sciences and their pastime, fashion.

In its first six days of enrollment, 326 Marylanders used a new state exchange encumbered by technical difficulties to sign up for insurance under health reform, while thousands of others created accounts to shop for health plans

Technical problems continued to frustrate people attempting to access the new state health insurance exchange on Friday The issues with the online exchange set up under national health reform prompted some analysts to suggest that the system isn't robust enough.

The new signage, which was installed on a 1.5 mile stretch near downtown last month, is part of a new Columbia Association initiative to improve way finding along Columbia's 93.5 mile pathway system.

Howard ranks 2nd in median household income

Whether it's making gourmet jams or jellies, baking bread and cakes, catering festive events or creating a packaging special dinners for one, food related businesses are becoming increasingly popular as a way to earn a living (or to add to your income). The cook's creative flair, combined with business practicality will succeed even in tough economic times, if the enterprise is given the appropriate research and planning before its launch.

Progress comes slow to a space-age town

Marylanders have been rushing to buy guns at the rate of 1,000 a day over the past two weeks, hastening the pace of an unprecedented surge in gun sales. More than 102,000 gun purchase applications have been submitted so far this year — twice the number for all of 2011, Maryland state police said Monday.