ReCellular to announce VC, expansion
Dexter-based ReCellular plans to announce a $15 million venture capital financing Thursday. The money is to be used for what the company is calling "an ambitious expansion of both employment and operations in Michigan" for the cell phone and electronics recycling company. Company officials also said the expansion would include the addition of about 40 jobs. More.
Ann Arbor-health records firm wins federal grant
Ann Arbor-based Cielo MedSolutions announced it had received a $115,000 Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Cancer Institute. Cielo will use the grant to team with the University of Michigan Health System Department of Family Medicine to design a next-generation ambulatory clinical quality improvement system based on the company's flagship software suite, Cielo Clinic. Cielo Clinic is a clinical quality management system that proactively manages the care needs of medical practice and health system patients through a patient registry, a clinical decision support engine and population management functionality. More.
Rochester company offers low-cost SEO for small biz
Rochester-based Magro International Monday launched a new search engine optimization package targeted to small and medium-sized businesses. The program aims to help businesses appear higher up on the search engine results page when their local customers use a search engine to look for their product or service. The Local Search Engine Optimization package includes six components for a one-time purchase of $599. More.
Ford says EV batteries still five years away Contrary to some of its chief rivals, Ford Motor Co. doesn’t expect the market for all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles to begin to ramp up beyond small demonstration fleets for at least five years. AutoTech Daily reports that the company also says it could take until the end of next decade before large sales volumes are achieved. More.
Digital Dialogue signs 100th credit union call center client
Auburn Hills-based Digital Dialogue said Monday that it had signed its 100th Total Member Care call center client, Clearstar Financial Credit Union of Reno, Nev. Digital Dialogue offers total member service for credit union overflow, emergency response and 24/7 service delivery through two separate channels: shared branch and a direct interface into the credit union’s core system. Digital Dialogue has more than 100 other credit union clients that use lending, new member enrollment and other services. More.
Oneupweb study: Franchisors often fail to use SEO
The Traverse City digital marketing firm Oneupweb has released a study showing that the Franchise 500 -- a listing of the globe's top 500 franchise businesses compiled by Entrepreneur magazine -- is missing out on profitable opportunities online and denying franchisees the exposure they need to be successful. The study found top franchisors often skimp on search engine optimization, leaving it up to franchisees. More.
West Dearborn promotions go online
To encourage people to take advantage of Michigan’s beautiful summer evenings, businesses in downtown West Dearborn are offering a variety of specials on Thursdays for shopping, dining and entertainment. A calendar of events, featured specials, a local business directory, maps and other information are now available online at www.DearbornWestOnline.com, the newly introduced Web site sponsored by the West Dearborn Downtown Development Authority. More.
Ann Arbor firm extends deal for biological testing devices
San Diego-based Sequenom, Inc., a provider of molecular diagnostic applications and genetic analysis products and services, and Ann Arbor-based SensiGen LLC, a privately held biotechnology company focused on developing proprietary gene-based, molecular diagnostic tests, last week announced an expansion of their global alliance to develop and market advanced diagnostic tests and systems to commercial laboratories worldwide. Included are more accurate tests for human papilloma virus, lupus and chronic kidney disease. More.
Catherine Juon is founder and "catalyst" at Pure Visibility Inc. in Ann Arbor. Pure Visibility is an Internet marketing company that is a Google Analytics certified consultant and AdWords certified. The company’s growth, profitability, and job creation successes earned it the 2008 Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center best small business award. Juon discovered the power of the Internet back in the days of IRC and UseNet while teaching abroad in the early 1990s. Read more.
Do you know a business, professional or community leader whom you think deserves being honored as a Leader and Innovator? Click here to nominate them.
Travel Michigan site vies for No. 1 in public Web vote
Michigan's state travel Web site is locked in a battle with the state of Virginia for the designation of the nation's best state travel Web site.
Michiganders who wish to vote for the home team must visit www.michigan.org/vote by Friday, Aug. 8.
The showdown originates from the Travel 2.0 Interactive Travel Trend site that provides insight to the convergence of interactive technology and travel. The winner of the final round gets bragging rights as the best state travel Web site in the country.
“The Commonwealth of Virginia is a worthy competitor,” said George Zimmermann, Vice President of Travel Michigan, a business unit of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. “However, the newly redesigned michigan.org delivers a uniquely Pure Michigan experience to Web visitors.”
Zimmerman added that participants may vote only once, "so tell all your friends, neighbors, work buddies and more to visit www.michigan.org/vote, and help make it a Michigan victory.”
In 2007, michigan.org was the most popular state tourism Web site in America. On Wednesday, June 25, michigan.org set a new record for volume with 69,573 visits and 39,777 click-throughs to Michigan tourism industry Web sites, the biggest single day in the site’s history.
Michigan.org has continued to show growth in number of visitors this year. Web surfers turned to the site nearly four million times through May, up from three million during the same months of 2007, an increase of 31.6 percent.
Tourism is a vital industry in Michigan. Visitors spend $18.1 billion annually traveling in Michigan, generating $874 million in state taxes, and accounting for 192,000 jobs statewide.
Travel Michigan markets the state's tourism industry and provides valuable visitor information services. More at www.michigan.org.
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
Verizon, unions for 65,000 employees continue talks Verizon Communications Inc. is back in talks with two unions about new labor contracts for 65,000 workers. The Communications Workers of America, the largest of the unions, said negotiations had resumed Monday morning after ending at 2 a.m. Verizon's contracts with the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers were set to expire Saturday at midnight. But the unions "stopped the clock" on the expiration because progress was being made in the negotiations. Their members continued to work under the old contracts. More.
Qualcomm star to lead Motorola's handset unit into independence
Motorola Inc. snagged Sanjay Jha, the chief operating officer of Qualcomm Inc. and a star of the wireless industry, to head its handset division as that unit prepares to become an independent company. Jha will also be co-chief executive of the parent company, sharing the responsibility with incumbent Greg Brown until the spinoff next year. Brown will take responsibility for Motorola's other two divisions. Brown said Jha "brings a whole host of different ingredients to the table," including customer relationships, technical expertise and leadership abilities. Jha, 45, has a doctorate in electronic and electrical engineering. In addition to being Qualcomm's chief operating officer, he was president of the Qualcomm division that made chips for cell phones. Analysts uniformly praised the appointment. More.
Chinese gadget entrepreneur dreams of a global brand
His company's gadgets are barely known abroad. But Aigo CEO Feng Jun, a boyishly exuberant walking advertisement for the fast-growing Chinese electronics maker, is out to change that. Seconds after meeting a reporter at a business conference, the burly, baby-faced 39-year-old whips an Aigo computer memory card out of his wallet and throws it to the floor to show its durability. He plucks an Aigo digital camera off his belt and snaps pictures. Then he plays back the conversation on his MP3-equipped watch, also from Aigo. "We want to be another Samsung, another Sony," said Feng, who started the company in 1993 with $26 from his mother. More.
ImClone hints at dim view of Bristol Myers offer
ImClone Systems Inc.'s board of directors said Monday its initial view of a $4.5 billion buyout offer from cancer drug partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is that it "substantially undervalues" the company, with chairman Carl Icahn personally against the deal. Despite calling the bid too low, ImClone said its board formed a committee to weigh the offer. The board also said it is considering splitting the company into two units to focus on Erbitux and its developing pipeline separately. The New York-based companies are partners on the colon- and head-and-neck-cancer treatment Erbitux. They are also currently developing the drug as a lung cancer therapy. More.
Stocks: Motorola gains fail to boost tech stocks at the close
Technology stocks put in a largely downbeat trading performance Monday as the sector's action was highlighted by Motorola Inc. naming a new co-CEO who will also oversee the company's wireless handset business. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPQ) fell 25.4 points or 1.1 percent at 2,285.56. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 0.69 points or 0.1 percent to 553.65, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) managed a gain of 1.52 or 0.5 percent to 339.7. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) rose 4.79 points or 1.6 percent to 307.71, while the Amex Biotechnology Index (BTK) fell 11.97 points or 1.4 percent to 837.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) fell 42.17 points or 0.4 percent to 11,284.15. The S&P 500 ($SPX) fell 11.3 points or 0.9 percent to 1,249.01. A slide in oil prices weighed on energy and commodities-related stocks, a day ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates. Financial shares rebounded from early selling pressure that came after HSBC Holdings posted $10 billion worth of bad debt. Meanwhile, some heavy selling was seen in the energy and materials sector, which sold off along with commodities.
Got quite a few local extras as we continue to get caught up with last week's stuff: a Bloomfield auto inventory software supplier announces integration with Carfax and Paychex; a Japanese auto supplier opens a tech center in Northville; the Michigan Wind Energy Task Force offers the state's manufacturers opportunities to break into the wind biz; Grand Rapids' Adtegrity.com reports better profit on a huge revenue jump; and this Michigan State University research literally boosts Michigan spirits. Elsewhere: Facebook workers may cash in soon on stock options; Twittervision adds translations; a report says Apple is ramping up iPhone production.
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