It's been an exciting week for local tech, from a bombshell announcement at Baltimore Peninsula to battling bots at last night's Beer-N-Bots event (thanks to Ed Mullin for organizing) to some truly outlandish news about a school employee impersonating his principal with AI — and getting arrested for it.
Below, we look forward to the Baltimoreans coming to Philly next month for our Builders Conference, as well as a new esports lab further south in PG County.
— Sameer, Technical.ly editor for Baltimore and DC
Image of the Day: It's tulip season at Sherwood Gardens (Sameer Rao/Technical.ly) Have a photo or chart we should feature here? Hit reply and send in your submission.
This week’s newsletter is brought to you by the Morgan Lewis Startup & Accelerate webinar series, providing entrepreneurs knowledge and tools to grow their businesses and offering investors assurance their investments are on the right track. Check out the spring schedule here.
Baltimore's coming to Philly on May 9
No, the Os aren't taking on the Phils or anything like that. Instead, some of Charm City's leading startup and economic development figureheads will head up I-95 to speak at our very own Builders Conference.
Expect panels, lightning talks and more from the likes of UpSurge Baltimore's Kory Bailey, FemEquity's Adeola Ajani and EcoMap Technologies' Sherrod Davis, among other innovators from throughout Technical.ly's markets.
The Technical.ly community learning from one another at the 2023 Builders Conference. (Torian Studios for Technical.ly)
Bowie State cements esports reputation
The southernmost of Maryland's four public HBCUs recently invested in students' STEAM education by creating a new esports lab for its students — and its esports team.
The facility is one of several moves Bowie State leaders made to build tech, gamification and entrepreneurship into the student experience. Others highlighted by Maurice Taylor, the school's vice president of IT, include a makerspace, an app to gamify studying and food delivery robots.
Bowie State University's gaming facility. (Courtesy)
News Incubator: What else to know today
• We've got a new editor on our team! Experienced tech journalist Katie Malone joins us to oversee our coverage in Philly, Delaware and Pittsburgh. [Technical.ly]
• Authorities in Baltimore County arrested ex-Pikesville High School athletic director Dahzon Darien at BWI Airport as he was about to board a flight to Houston. Darien's been charged with using artificial intelligence to impersonate school's principal in a recording with anti-Black and anti-Jewish comments. [Baltimore Banner]
• The StarTUp Accelerator at Towson University announced the 16 companies in its sixth cohort, making products ranging from a basketball-aiding wearable device to a lost-and-found app. [Towson University]
• Johns Hopkins spinout EpiWatch named Teresa Prego its new CEO amid plans to bring its app, which allows an Apple Watch to detect seizures, to market. [Baltimore Business Journal]
• A new shipping channel allowed some vessels to leave the Port of Baltimore after the Key Bridge collapse left them trapped. The Dali, whose collision with the bridge led to the infrastructural disaster, remains stuck in the Patapsco River. [Baltimore Sun]
Guru CEO Rick Nucci says generative artificial intelligence will be transformative for efficiency — but it’s critical to keep humans in the loop.
🗓️ On the Calendar
• Baltimore Code and Coffee hosts its eighth lightning talk event on April 26 at The Pava Marie LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship. [Details here]
• The Black Butterfly Network's inaugural Butterfly Rising event, featuring opportunities to buy from and network with Black-owned businesses, takes place in Pigtown on Saturday, April 27. [Details here]
• On April 30, Technical.ly Lead Reporter Alanah Nichole Davis will appear on a panel to speak about the industrial metaverse, one of the technologies changing the world of work. [Details here]
• You can learn about Microsoft's gen AI tool, Copilot, over breakfast on May 17, thanks to DP Solutions. [Details here]
• The Baltimore Neighborhood Economics Lab takes place on May 30 at Coppin State University. [Details here]
WHO WE ARE Comcast brings together the best in media and technology. We drive innovation to create the world’s best entertainment and online experiences. As a Fortune 50 leader, we set the pace in a...Find out more »
WHO WE ARE Comcast brings together the best in media and technology. We drive innovation to create the world’s best entertainment and online experiences. As a Fortune 50 leader, we set the pace in a...Find out more »
Comcast brings together the best in media and technology. We drive innovation to create the world’s best entertainment and online experiences. As a Fortune 50 leader, we set the pace in a variety of...Find out more »
