St. Aloysius Wins Digital Donation From Tener Tech
Tener Technologies LLC of Ferndale selected Detroit’s St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church Community’s Outreach Center from a pool of Southeast Michigan nonprofit applicants to receive its first annual Digital Donation, a free, customized tech upgrade based on the needs of that particular community. St. Aloysius’ Outreach Center serves the homeless population and low-income seniors in the area, hosting more than 300 clients daily. “The computer center has really taken off and really affected the dynamic here,” explains Brother Al Mascia, OFM, outreach coordinator for the church. “It has become a wonderful gathering point and an empowering component to the center.” More.
Ford donates to SME to attract more engineers In recognition of an urgent need for new engineers, the Ford Motor Co. Fund last week made a donation of $90,000 to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation. An award of $50,000 will support the SME Education Foundation's Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies Scholarship. Former Ford PAS students who are applying to college and want to pursue a degree in technology or engineering can apply for this annual $10,000 Ford PAS Scholarship, which can be used at any accredited college or university in the United States. Also, An award of $40,000 will support the Gateway Academy, a nationwide initiative of the SME Education Foundation designed to introduce middle school students from diverse backgrounds to the fundamentals of science. More.
Chrysler begins production of big hybrid SUVs
Chrysler LLC's new hybrid electric large SUVs began rolling off the assembly line last week at its Newark, Del. assembly plant. Chrysler is offering the two-mode hybrid powertrain on both vehicles built at the plant, Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen. Both offer substantially improved MPG over their conventional counterparts. More.
UM study: small doses of cadmium can cause big lung problems
New research suggests that cadmium is one of the critical ingredients causing emphysema, and even low-level exposure attained through second-hand smoke and other means may also increase the chance of developing lung disease.
The University of Michigan School of Public Health study suggests that higher cadmium levels in the body as much as double the risk of developing a pulmonary disease diagnosis such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis. More.
MSU honored by National Wildlife Federation for sustainability
Michigan State University has been honored by one of the world’s foremost conservation organizations for its efforts to keep its campus “green.” In its just-released Campus Environment 2008 Report Card, the National Wildlife Federation found that MSU not only has the greatest number of “exemplary programs” among colleges and universities within the state of Michigan, but it is also one of the top five campuses in the nation for such programs. The report does not rank colleges, but rather lists those that have exemplary programs on specific topics. Of the 18 categories listed, MSU was recognized in seven of them. More.
The next two weeks are pretty slow on the Great Lakes IT Report's IT Calendar, the state's most comprehensive IT calendar, at this link.
Not there aren't a few cool things. This week, it's a session on sophisticated credit and tax strategies from the Detroit chapter of the Indus Entrepreneurs, as well as a Red Level Networks back-to-school event on protecting educational networks.
But it's the week after Labor Day that things really get cooking. There's a major engineering summit on global competitiveness on Mackinac Island Sept. 7-9. Other stuff that week includes an Automation Alley event on finding international sales for high-tech manufacturing, an Ann Arbor Spark event on getting the most out of a limited marketing spend, a West Michigan Science and Technology Initiative event on diversifying into manufacturing, and the Michigan Flash Fest for rich Internet applications.
But the biggie that week is a convention of nearly 1,000 seed and venture fund bigwigs, as the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds holds its 2008 annual conference at the Marriott Renaissance Center. This event is a big feather in Detroit's cap and hopefully we'll be able to show 'em just how strong our technology-based entrepreneurial community is.
For now, enjoy the end of summer and the holiday with family and friends. But as of Sept. 8: See you out there!
Note: For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Dan Keelan at (248) 455-7380 or dkeelan@cbs.com.
IT Staffing Firm S3 takes over charity running event
Runners, start your engines, lace-up your sneakers and rev up for the all new Grand Prix Shakedown 8K race on Tuesday, August 26 at 6:15 p.m. T he event will be organized and hosted by Strategic Staffing Solutions, the Detroit IT Staffing firm, along with its event partner, the Downtown Runners and Walkers. Formerly known as the Motor City Shakedown, the race is in its 15th year and, for the first time, will be run on a portion of the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix race track. All proceeds from entry fees and corporate sponsorships will underwrite 2-1-1 On the Go!, a homeless outreach program. More.
Two area companies get new Web sites
Thomson-Shore Inc., a Dexter-based book manufacturer, launched a new Web site this month at www.thomsonshore.com. Thomson-Shore staff members maintain the site through Bulldog CMS, the proprietary content management system from Ann Arbor Web developers Inner Circle Media. A Ruby on Rails application, Bulldog CMS allows Web administrators to easily update site content and navigation. More. Also, Saline-based DesignHub Inc., a creative services and marketing firm, has designed and developed the new Web site for the industrial fastener supplier Marshall Sales Inc. of Detroit and Kalamazoo. More.
Compuware gets new ad agency, sets major branding campaign
Dearborn-based Team Detroit has been named agency of record for Compuware Corp. Team Detroit will be working in conjunction with Compuware's marketing and communications group on developing a corporate brand image campaign which supports the company's new positioning: "We Make IT Rock Around the World." A The multimillion-dollar international advertising campaign launched this month, and will be supported through online, print, out-of-home and broadcast media elements. The agency will also be responsible for redeveloping www.compuware.com, which is scheduled to relaunch in December. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Embarq to cut 500-700 jobs Telecommunications provider Embarq Corp. said Friday it is cutting between 500 and 700 jobs and eliminating around 300 contract positions as it deals with a continued loss of telephone customers. The Overland Park, Kan.-based company said the job cuts will all come from its Network Services organization, which installs and maintains its network, and is part of the company's attempts to bring down costs. The proposed company job cuts would amount to about 3 percent to 4 percent of Embarq's work force of more than 17,000. More.
Telecom rollouts raise ire over huge utility boxes in cities
The road to advanced video, Internet and phone services is bumpy -- and the bumps can be almost as big as refrigerators. As cable and phone companies race to upgrade services or offer video for the first time, they're doing it by installing equipment in boxes on lawns, easements and curbs all over American neighborhoods. Telecommunications rollouts have always been messy, but several towns and residents are fighting back with cries of "Not in my front yard!" AT&T Inc.'s nearly fridge-sized units, which route its new U-verse video product to customers, are drawing particular ire. A few caught fire or even exploded. AT&T said it has fixed that by replacing the units' backup batteries. More.
Internet provider usage caps raise questions
Three months ago, Guy Distaffen switched Internet providers, lured from his cable company to his phone company by a year of free service on a two-year contract. But soon the company quietly updated its policies to say it would limit his Internet activity each month. "We felt that were suckered," said Distaffen, who lives in the small village of Silver Springs in upstate New York. The phone company, Frontier Communications Corp., is one of several Internet service providers that are moving to curb the growth of traffic on their networks, or at least make the subscribers who download the most pay more. This could have consequences not just for consumers -- who would have to learn to watch how much data their Internet use entails -- but also for companies that hope to make the Internet a conduit for movies and other content that comes in huge files. More.
Stocks: Broad gains lift tech sector at market close
Technology stocks closed with broad gains Friday amid quiet sector trading and a speech on financial stability by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at the Fed's meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 34.33 points or 1.4 percent to 2,414.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 197.85 points or 1.7 percent to 11,628.06. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) rose 4.75 points or 1.3 percent to 366.2 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 8.52 points or 1.5 percent to 575.22. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) rose 3.04 points or 1 percent to 313.2, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) rose 6.34 points or 0.8 percent to 852.2. The S&P 500 ($SPX) rose 14.48 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1.292.2. By sector on Friday, financials led the gains on the S&P, rising 2.9 percent, followed by consumer discretionary, up 2.4 percent, and industrials, up 1.5 percent. Energy was the only sector ending in the red, off 2.4 percent, as crude-oil futures fell back sharply after a surge in the previous session.
Best-laid plans: Media beat Obama to the VP punchMore.
Several local extras: NextEneregy offers Michigan manufacturers several opportunities in wind energy; Michigan companies tout their spots on the Inc. 5,000; and Michigan universities tout their spots on the new U.S. News and World Report rankings. Also, in Sunday's Free Press, word that the Olympic participation of Kyle Schwulst and his Electro-Jet didn't go quite as planned, and small biz columnist Carol Cain notes the coming seed and venture fund columnist as well as an Oakland County Web award. Elsewhere: More skinny on iPod redesigns; space junkes ask who owns the moon; iTunes is blocked in China and a Tibet album is the suspected reason; NASA destroys an experimental rocket in a failed launch; that new Microsoft photo site spent most of its first day offline; a CNet News.com look at the upcoming conventions; a couple of new Web sites look like TinyURL with a (questionable) revenue model; Google woos online shoppers with everybody's favorite, cold hard cash; another security concern regarding wireless networks; a review of a couple of Craigslist helpers; a history of one of my all-time Web favorites, I Can Haz Cheezburger; a pretty nice list of online election resources; fatal flaws are found in a terrorism database; a CNet podcast talks about the day when computers are smarter than people; Siemens develops a new surveillance system; a look at what life would be like on Titan if it exists; do-it-yourself hybrid car conversions grow; here's a cool way to imagine seeing in four dimensions; Google offers location services to Web sites; and Best Western loses the details on 8 million of its customers over the past 12 months (which would include your humble narrator if true).
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The Week Ahead: great stuff after Labor Day
