A roundup of the most interesting stories from other sites, collected by the staff at MIT Technology Review.

Object of Interest: Pepper Spray
A short New Yorker piece about the history of pepper spray, including a good breakdown of the science behind it.
—Rachel Metz, IT editor

“An important part of one’s success as a [gubernatorial] nominee is getting the mentions and being perceived as a credible candidate,” Laura Hussey told Southern Maryland News, responding to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s endorsement of Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown for governor.

Hussey, an assistant professor of political science at UMBC, notes that Brown is a front-runner in the election and endorsements like Rawlings-Blake’s can deter potential rivals, but Brown will face challengers.

Attorney General Doug Gansler has already raised millions for a gubernatorial bid, and U.S. Rep. “Dutch” Ruppersberger and Del. Heather Mizeur are widely considered to be possible contenders. Hussey says Ruppersberger is already established in Maryland and would be popular, but he lacks the mystique of lesser-known candidates. She anticipates that Mizeur has a strong future in Maryland politics, but may not yet have the exposure for a gubernatorial run. Gansler, she suggests, would need to boost his name recognition outside of Montgomery County.

Microsoft redesigned its systems to aid U.S. surveillance programs, but whether it did so voluntarily or under duress is unknown.

In July of last year, Microsoft began publicly testing an online e-mail and chat service called Outlook.com. Soon afterward, according to the British newspaper the Guardian, the company reëngineered it in a way that allowed the National Security Agency’s PRISM surveillance program collect chat data before it was encrypted.

EBay dips its toes into the 3-D printing pool with an iPhone app that lets users customize accessories.

EBay announced Friday that it is getting into 3-D printing with a new iPhone app called eBay Exact that lets users customize jewelry and accessories that will then be 3-D printed and sent to them. Functionally, it’s not mind-blowing, yet it shows just how far 3-D printing has come in the past few years and gives a hint of where it could go next.

2 1/2 Minutes with Rob Rosenbaum, TEDCO executive director

By: Katie Secret, Staff

Jaclyn Borowski

Rob Rosenbaum heads the Maryland Technology Development Corp.

How has TEDCO changed since you’ve been in charge?

I’ve brought much more of an entrepreneur culture to TEDCO. It had vestiges of acting like a state-funded organization, which it was and still is. But I’ve brought much more of a pure entrepreneurial focus and have gotten the team to think about how we can incorporate and include more private sector involvement rather than just relying on state funding.

What are the challenges of getting technology to market for entrepreneurs?

The biggest challenge is not the technology but the people and management team behind it. The real decision is ...

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/print-edition/2013/07/05/2-12-minutes-with-rob-rosenbaum.html