NextEnergy boss sees sharp job growth from renewables industry Within a relatively few years, Keith Cooley believes that Michigan could see hundreds of thousands of new jobs in renewable energy technologies. And Cooley is in a place to help make that happen -- he's the new CEO of NextEnergy, the state's renewable energy industry accelerator. In interviews with WWJ Newsradio 950 and GLITR Tuesday, Cooley said Michigan has particular advantages during a national tipping point of transformation away from a petroleum-based economy. Cooley said he's also expecting to spend more time in Washington, D.C. than his predecessor, NextEnergy's initial CEO, Jim Croce. That's mostly because he's expecting an Obama administration to be friendlier to renewables, and this coming Congress to be greener as well. More.
Web marketing? For startups, it can be a Breeze A Birmingham graphic design firm has launched a low-cost effort to bring high-end design work to startups. Breeze Design Studio's Breeze Market Place offers fixed-price packages for small businesses for a variety of graphic design and Web services. Included are deals like $99 for a new logo (vs. $1,200 for the full Breeze Design Studio treatment) and a $1,000-a-year package deal for Web hosting, e-mail accounts, a logo and other marketing material. High-end design and Web work -- particularly having e-mail to its own domain, rather than to a Google gmail or Yahoo address -- can make a small startup seem much more substantial and gain more business, according to Rukmal "Rocky" Fernando, the company's founder and president. More.
Customer satisfaction on Cyber Monday exceeds prior month Although Cyber Monday shoppers were less satisfied with their online experience this year than they were in 2007, satisfaction is better than it was at any time in November, according to a new study from the Ann Arbor online customer satisfaction measurement firm ForeSee Results. The study collected responses from more than 250,000 people who shopped online between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. More.
Syntel declares special 50-cend dividend
Even amid an economic meltdown, at least one Detroit-area company is performing well enough to give its shareholders a nice Christmas present. Syntel Inc., the Troy IT services company, announced Tuesday that its board of directors has declared a special cash dividend of 50 cents per share. The dividend is payable on Dec. 26 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 12. More.
Free online career course expands from Michigan to nationwide With financial support and assistance from Microsoft Corp.'s U.S. Partners in Learning, students across the nation now have access to CareerForward, a powerful, free online course covering globalization, career planning, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. CareerForward first launched in Michigan two years ago when the state became the first in the nation to require online learning as a requirement for high school education. More.
Detroit-area CIOs still have modestly positive hiring plans
The need for skilled IT staff remains stable even in metro Detroit, according to a new survey.
The latest Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report found that 9 percent of chief information officers in the Detroit area plan to add staff in the first quarter of 2009, while 7 percent plan layoffs. The rest plan no changes.
The net number is positive, although below the figure in the national survey, in which 12 percent of CIOs plan to expand their IT departments and 4 percent staff cutbacks. That net 8 percent hiring increase is unchanged from the fourth quarter.
The report is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees.
Robert Half Technology provides IT professionals on a project and full-time basis.
“Businesses remain cautious in their hiring outlook, recruiting IT staff who can help them maximize the use of technology to improve efficiency, achieve cost savings and gain a competitive edge,” said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. “Investments in Web 2.0 initiatives continue to generate demand in areas such as web development and help desk.”
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French energy firm buys downtown Grand Rapids steam system Veolia Energy North America, a provider of sustainable energy services and energy plant operations and management, announced Tuesday that it had purchased the assets of the downtown District Heating and Cooling system in Grand Rapids from Kent County. The price was $2.4 million. The county has owned and operated the service since 1990. The new name of the business is Veolia Energy Grand Rapids LLC. The Veolia plant, located on Fulton Street, across from Van Andel Arena, houses four industrial boilers that provide steam to 135 customers in the Central Business District via 7.5 miles of underground pipe. More.
UM prof offers new approach to fixing software deadlocks Software deadlocks are the Catch-22s of the computer world. These common bugs can freeze the machine when different parts of a program end up in an endless cycle of waiting for one another as they access shared data. University of Michigan researchers developed a new way around this problem with a controller that can anticipate and prevent situations that might cause deadlock. Their controller is called Gadara. It's a plug-in that operates using feedback techniques similar to those that give us cruise control in cars and thermostats in heating systems. More.
UM student venture fund celebrates 10 years Charting a course for many of today's student-led venture capital funds, the Wolverine Venture Fund marks an important milestone -- ten years of providing a unique learning experience for University of Michigan Ross School of Business students. Part of the university's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and its Center for Venture Capital & Private Equity Finance, the Wolverine Venture Fund was created in 1998. It was the country's first student led venture fund and has served as a model for other university programs over the years. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Blockbuster to rent through new on-demand box Blockbuster Inc. will start renting movies and television shows through a new gadget that may give consumers another reason to bypass the struggling video chain's 7,500 stores. The new system announced Tuesday relies on a small box that connects to television sets and stores video after it's downloaded over high-speed Internet connections. The player, made by San Jose-based 2Wire Inc., is built on the same concept as storage devices made by Apple Inc. and Vudu Inc. The devices are all meant to provide a bridge between the Internet and TVs. More.
Yahoo shares climb on hopes of $30 billion buyout bid
Yahoo Inc.'s stock rallied Tuesday on a report that AOL's former chief executive believes he can raise enough money in a worsening recession to buy the struggling Internet company for as much as $30 billion. The Wall Street Journal raised investor hopes with a story that said Jonathan Miller, who stepped down as AOL's top exec two years ago, is trying to secure financing to make a bid for Yahoo at $20 to $22 per share, or $28 billion to $30 billion. The story posted on the Journal's Web site cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. Branding the report a "rumor," Yahoo spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler declined to comment. Miller didn't immediately respond to interview requests. Yahoo shares rose 76 cents, or more than 7 percent, to close at $11.50, reflecting hopes that a new suitor may emerge for the Sunnyvale-based company. The surge left Yahoo with a market value of just under $16 billion. More.
Nokia device to challenge RIM, Apple next year
Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of cell phones, is launching a new phone next year that is designed to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerrys at the high end of the market. The N97 will feature a 3.5-inch touch screen with 50 percent greater resolution than the iPhone. It will also have a slide-out alphabetic keyboard, making it similar in overall design to the Xperia X1 recently launched by competitor Sony Ericsson. Nokia announced the phone Tuesday at its Nokia World conference in Barcelona, Spain. It said it would cost around 550 euros, or about $700, before taxes or carrier subsidies when it launches next year. It will probably be compatible with AT&T Inc.'s high-speed data network in the U.S. More.
Skyworks, ASE warn of revenue drops More signs of slowing technology hardware sales: Shares of Woburn, Mass.-based Skyworks Solutions Inc., which makes chips for cell phones and wireless networks, fell Tuesday after it cut its earnings and revenue forecasts for the current quarter, saying customer demand was declining broadly. More. Also, Taiwan-based Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc., a leading providing of packaging for chips, Tuesday that it expects its fourth-quarter revenue to decline by 25 percent to 28 percent from the previous quarter, below its previous forecast. More.
Stocks: Surges by Palm, Yahoo highlight tech rally
Technology stocks closed solidly higher on Tuesday, marked by a jump in Yahoo shares on talk about a potential new bidder, and by a late rally by Palm Inc. The sector action helped set the stage for a broader market rally following Monday's brutal sell-off. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) gained 51.73 points or 3.7 percent to 1,449.8, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) rose 2.45 points or 1.3 percent to close at 185.69 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 12.16 points or 4 percent to 318.62. The Dow industrials ($INDU) rose 270 points or 3.3 percent to 8,419.09. The The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) rose 9.62 points or 4 percent to 249.25, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) rose 21.29 points or 3.9 percent, to 572.35. Finally, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) rose 32.6 points or 4 percent to close at 848.81. The "outlook for technology stocks, and the market overall, has improved somewhat over the past two weeks," analyst Kenneth Tower of Quantitative Analysis Service told MarketWatch. "Our shortest term measures of demand are now rising and supply is falling, suggesting the likelihood of a near term rally. But the improvement is, so far, only short term and it will be some time before it impacts our weekly and monthly data."
If you're in the market for tech gadgets this holiday season, here's a really cool list of affordable options from the experts at PC World and Troy's PMV Technologies. Included are new ways to charge mobile devices, use digital photos, and cool and pamper a hot laptop, and much more. Next, a healthy helping of local extras: General Motors and Helm launch a new Web site for car restoration parts; GeneGo gets another Center of Excellence; a company offers to pay half its employees' car payments on a new GM vehicle for two years; a University of Michigan professor's idea for a 'lab on a chip kit' is one of Scientist magazine's top 10 innovations for 2008; and there's new software from dSpace. Elsewhere in Techland: a crazy profile of a mad scientist who aims to give us suspended animation (and just maybe immortality); Facebook's Marketplace relaunches; Gmail comes to the desktop in gadget form; a study confirms mobile phones distract drivers badly; Microsoft expands Vista SP2 testing; Dogpile raises money for pets in need; the CNET Daily Podcast covers how tech companies are facing up to recession; airport metal detectors could be replaced with biometric scans; Windows drops below a 90 percent market share; Apple is now quietly recommending security software for Mac owners; telcos and other groups draw up a national broadband strategy; Nombray lets you cybersquat your online identity; Windows Live gets its social makeover; Scour brings friend tracking and personalization to metasearch; a Vietnamese security firm says your face is easy to fake; Digg's CEO says the company is not for sale; 'Help Wanted' ad names the next FCC chair's priorities; Microsoft puts the data center on wheels; a look at Ford's plans to accelerate its electric vehicle future; and Animoto brings the holidays to video.
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Within a relatively few years, Keith Cooley believes that Michigan could see hundreds of thousands of new jobs in renewable energy technologies. And Cooley is in a place to help make that happen -- he's the new CEO of NextEnergy, the state's renewable energy industry accelerator. In interviews with WWJ Newsradio 950 and GLITR Tuesday, Cooley said Michigan has particular advantages during a national tipping point of transformation away from a petroleum-based economy. Cooley said he's also expecting to spend more time in Washington, D.C. than his predecessor, NextEnergy's initial CEO, Jim Croce. That's mostly because he's expecting an Obama administration to be friendlier to renewables, and this coming Congress to be greener as well. 
Detroit-area CIOs still have modestly positive hiring plans
