Your report for Tuesday, August 26, 2008

$3 million gift boosts life sciences programs at Lawrence Tech
An anonymous $3 million gift received this summer has provided a big boost to the plans of Dean Hsiao-Ping Moore (pictured at right) for expanding life sciences programming in the College of Arts and Sciences at Lawrence Technological University. The added financial support will be used to upgrade existing life sciences facilities, and a $1 million endowment fund will provide annual income for endowed professorships, start-up funds for new faculty, research supplies and equipment replacement and repair. Part of the funds also will be set aside for building a new life sciences laboratory, and there are plans to establish an institute of molecular medicine. More.

Innovation activity rises in state
Innovative economic activity in Michigan grew at the beginning of this year, rising from 89.9 in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 96.0 in the first quarter of 2008, according to an “innovation index” developed by scholars at the University of Michigan-Dearborn School of Management. Despite being lower than the reading for the first quarter of 2007, which was 100.0, the increase follows three successive declining quarters. The index was developed to track accelerations and decelerations in economic innovation in Michigan based on calculations of employment of “innovation workers,” trends in venture capital, trademark applications, incorporation activity, small business loans and gross job creation. Last month, all indicators but small business loans rose. More.

UM School of Nursing researcher wins $350,000 grant
AkkeNeel Talsma, an assistant professor of nursing business and health systems at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, is one of 15 winners of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's inaugural Nurse Faculty Scholar award.
The three-year, $350,000 grant begins Sept. 1 and will support Talsma's study of operating-room nurses. She will investigate how staffing numbers, training levels and operating-room interruptions contribute to nursing actions that affect patient outcomes. More.

DTE to announce new metering technology
DTE Energy Wednesday plans to announce advaanced new metering technology that provides several customer benefits. Advanced Metering Infrastructure is a new technology that will enable Detroit Edison and Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. to "read" meters without meter readers, be notified about power outages without customer input and allow customers to track their energy usage in real time. More.

Garden City Hospital adds high-tech imaging, other new tech
A campus-wide picture archiving communications system, a robust document imaging and management system and a comprehensively redesigned Web site now reside at southeast Michigan’s Garden City Hospital. Garden City Hospital officials expect the completion of the system upgrades, performed by the hospital’s healthcare IT service provider CareTech Solutions, will allow the hospital to provide better patient care and achieve greater levels of productivity. More.

Wayne State dominates eye research mini-grant list
Wayne State Unviersity received the most research awards of any institution to find the causes and cures of blinding eye conditions in the Midwest Eye Banks' 2008 grant competition. Six of the 12 research grants and two of the seven student stipends were awarded to WSU’s School of Medicine, totaling nearly $100,000. University of Michigan researchers and students also won several awards. More.

CPR gets Grand Rapids support contract, adds 10 staff
The City of Grand Rapids recently awarded a one year, $1.5 million contract to Grand Rapids-based Computer Products & Resources to provide desktop support and manage the city’s IT network.The company also announced the addition of 10 staff in tech engineering and sales. More.

State's first single-incision robotic kidney surgery done at Henry Ford
For the first time in Michigan, a diseased kidney has been surgically removed at using highly sophisticated three-dimensional robotics through a single incision. The kidney, damaged by four tumors, was extracted through an incision of about three inches near the navel of a 50-year-old patient during a complex minimally invasive robotic procedure that lasted approximately two and a half hours. That replaces a surgery that involves an incision a foot long, sometimes requires removing a rib, and has a two-month recovery. More.

Dewpoint helps clients use IT to make the most of their efforts

Lansing-based IT consultants Dewpoint continues to use technology to help its clients make better use of their assets and compete more effectively in the marketplace.

In one recent example, Dewpoint’s support services team worked with a worldwide inventory, merchandising and staffing solution provider to provide a Web-based view of the company's IT assets and contracts.

This service allows any of the client's 40,000 employees in 400 offices to move, update, or upgrade assets and renew, modify or extend contracts -- all with just a few keystrokes.

Elsewhere, Dewpoint’s technical consulting team provided an IT data center storage system for a manufacturer charged with expanding its north central Indiana operations.

Dealing with growing worldwide demand for trauma, dental implant, and orthopaedic surgical products, the company’s CEO stated that the business is faced with “making a number of quality and infrastructure investments to prepare… to compete in the health care markets of the future."

The CEO said the company is “pleased to be adding this state-of-the-art foundry to our …facilities to address growth in a very cost-effective manner."

Dewpoint’s systems and storage team, leveraged project management, business architecture, technical design and implementation expertise to successfully deliver the project on time and on budget.

To learn more about how Dewpoint can bring similar success to your IT projects, visit www.dewpoint.com.

Note: For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Dan Keelan at (248) 455-7380 or dkeelan@cbs.com.

THE WORLD IN TECH

Broadcom to buy AMD's TV chip business
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will sell its unit that makes chips for digital TV sets to fellow chip maker Broadcom Corp. for $192.8 million in cash, the companies announced Monday. AMD is selling the unit as part of a program to reduce debt and improve profitability, said Dirk Meyer, president and CEO. The company is a distant second to Intel Corp. in its main market of computer processors, and competition has intensified. More.

Facebook cuts off Scrabulous after legal complaint
A highly popular Scrabble clone already pulled from Facebook in the United States and Canada continued its tumble over the weekend as the online hangout extended its block of the game throughout most of the world. Facebook said Monday it was forced to disable Scrabulous after one of Scrabble's rights owners, Mattel Inc., made a formal removal request and the developers of Scrabulous took no action themselves. The Scrabulous application remains available in India, where its developers live and where Mattel has filed a lawsuit claiming violations of intellectual property. Facebook isn't blocking Scrabulous there for now, considering the question of ownership still a matter for Indian courts to resolve. More.

IE8 to include private browsing feature
As CNET News first reported last week, Internet Explorer 8 will include a way to surf somewhat anonymously, allowing the user to suspend browsing history, cookies, and other identifying information. Mozilla had considered such a feature for its Firefox 3 release, but dropped it for technical reasons. Apple Safari also includes a similar feature. Known as InPrivate, Microsoft is touting the feature as one of several security enhancements within its next major browser release. The scenarios for using InPrivate include when you're using someone else's computer, when you need to buy a gift for a loved one without ruining the surprise, or when you're at an Internet kiosk and don't want the next person to know which Web site you visited. More.

Google joins group to offer free Wi-Fi in Milpitas, Calif.
Google is lending its hand to help revive public access to a citywide Wi-Fi network abandoned by EarthLink. Last week, The Milpitas Post Web site reported that a nonprofit group, made up of Google, I-Net Solutions, and some wireless equipment makers, is working with the city to operate the network to provide free wireless service to residents. Under a new agreement, which has yet to be finalized, Milpitas will contract with the nonprofit to provide technical support and to run the service, which will provide Wi-Fi Internet access to the city government as well as free access to residents. The free public access Wi-Fi network would operate in a similar way to the one offered by Google in Mountain View, Calif. More.

Stocks: Techs get pounded in market sell-off
Technology stocks took it on the chin by the closing bell Monday as economic concerns sparked a sell-off on the broader market, pushing the Dow down more than 240 points for the day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPQ) fell 49.12 points or 2 percent at 2,365.59. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 11.14 points or 1.9 percent, to 564.08, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) fell 5.7 points or 1.6 percent to 360.5. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) fell 3.33 points or 1.1 percent to 309.87, while the Amex Biotechnology Index (BTK) fell 11.77 points or 1.4 percent to 840.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) tumbled 241.81 points or 2.1 percent to 11,386.25. The S&P 500 ($SPX) fell 25.36 points or 2 percent to 1,266.84. All of the Dow's 30 components finished in the red, with the losses led by insurance giant American International Group Inc., down 5.5 percent after Credit Suisse analysts lowered their third-quarter profit estimate and target price on the insurance giant. All of the S&P index's 10 industry groups tallying losses -- which by the close was fronted by financials, off 2.7 percent, then consumer discretionary, down 2.5 percent, followed by materials, off 2 percent. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures closed at $115.11 a barrel, up 52 cents. Elsewhere on the Nymex, gold futures also fell, with the contract for December delivery declining $7.80 to close at $825.70 an ounce. Weakening oil prices helped the dollar erase earlier losses against most major counterparts.

All contents copyright 2008 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio & Eye logo trademarked and copyright 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. Written and edited by Matt Roush, Technology Editor, WWJ Newsradio 950, Detroit. GLITR contains material from the Associated Press, Reuters and MarketWatch.com, used by permission. For coverage comments or news tips, e-mail Matt Roush at mnroush@cbs.com or call (248) 455-7380. For marketing and advertising queries, contact Dan Keelan at dkeelan@cbs.com or (248) 455-7252. To subscribe, e-mail Nancy Ho at nancy.ho@cbsradio.com. For questions or concerns, please email Pete Kowalski, WWJ's Station Manager.

LEGAL NOTICE: This email may be considered an advertising or promotional message. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email from this station, please reply to this email by sending a reply email by clicking on the "reply" button at the top of this page or by sending an e-mail to Nancy Ho at nancy.ho@cbsradio.com. Or you can change your subscriber profile: «Reserved.Unsubscribe»

You must use this method to notify GLITR and WWJ of your opt-out request, as we cannot guarantee that other methods of notification will be effective. Please be aware that we may continue to contact you via email for administrative or informational purposes, including follow-up messages regarding contests you have entered or other transactions you have undertaken. By law, such messages are not considered to be commercial e-mail.

Note: The Great Lakes IT Report is sent in HTML format only. Please make sure you have given us permission to send you an HTML message. If you have any questions, drop an e-mail to Nancy Ho or Matt Roush.