New Web site offers direct links to gift cards A Lansing-area entrepreneur and graduate of Michigan State University's business school and Albion College has launched GiftZip, a Web site that offers a direct link to instant gift cards. The site enables users to browse through instant gift cards from retailers in a variety of categories, including gift cards for kids, pets, sports, technology, clothes, food, travel and more. Founder Sam Hogg said he formed the concept from his own holiday traditions. “My cousin and I always exchange instant gift cards via email for Christmas," Hogg said. "We do it because it is simple and we can wait until the last minute. In terms of bringing the site together, we envisioned the concept of a mall. There is real value in being able to do shopping in one place. People like variety and choice.” More.
Google AdWords hit the MSU MBA classroom I got a chance Wednesday afternoon to see MBA students who are ahead of the game in marketing. Four teams of Michigan State University MBA students gave presentations on the Google AdWords campaigns they ran for Michigan nonprofits as part of a course called integrated marketing communications. At Google, the program is called Keywords in the Curriculum. Teams presented the results of their three-month AdWords campaigns for Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan; Looking for My Sister, a domestic violence shelter and resource center; the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness in Lansing; and the Children's Center in Detroit. More.
Rapid Repair launches mail-order repair for gaming consoles Kalamazoo-based Rapid Repair, the nationally known online repair service for digital electronics, Wednesday announced it has expanded its highly ranked service lineup to include game consoles. Owners of the most popular game systems, including the latest generation Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo devices, can now get their units quickly examined and repaired by mailing them to Rapid Repair's service depot in West Michigan. More.
New design plug-in from solidThinking
The Troy industrial design and styling software developer solidThinking Wednesday introduced a plug-in for SolidWorks 2009. The plug-in, which solidThinking and SolidWorks users will be able to download free starting Dec. 5, allows for solidThinking files to be imported directly into SolidWorks or for a SolidWorks model to be saved as a solidThinking (.st) file. More.
New software from Vertabase Oak Park-based Vertabase Wednesday announced the launch of version 4.5 of its project management software. For a screenshot tour, visit www.vertabase.com/quicktour. The company said Vertabase 4.5 creates an innovative rich Internet application experience that accelerates productivity by simplifying access to information. Users can easily import and export data, visualize data in a variety of ways and port data to a range of formats for easy sharing. More.
Darn it, why the heck did two of my biggest and most favorite technology associations have to have their big holiday parties on the same night?
Well, some things you just have to deal with, and so it was Wednesday night, when the Engineering Society of Detroit held its big holiday bash at Joe Louis Arena, and ConnecTech held its "Launch 2009" event in the amazing Ignite nightclub of the MGM Grand Casino.
First, the ESD event, featuring good stadium eats -- think hot dogs, but with chicken and salad for the health-conscious -- in the Olympia Club. Kids and their parents got to skate on the same ice as the Red Wings, an awesome experience pictured at right -- with a Santa on skates to boot. An excellent choir from Southfield High School entertained.
Next it was over to the Grand and a crowd of a couple of hundred at Ignite. A feature of this event was the presentation of the ConnecTech Technology Innovation and Achievement Award to Christopher Borroni-Bird, a General Motors Corp. executive deeply involved in GM's advanced vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt, and before that the Autonomy, Hy-Wire and Sequel.
ConnecTech also announced a new president, Sara Gozmanian, founder of Execution Partners, and new board members Matthew Ruffi, marketing solutions group at BBD|O Detroit, and Jeremy Eckhouse, partner at Element-e.
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ESD seeks judges for Future City competition In a little more than a month, more than 1,200 students from around the State of Michigan will meet at Rock Financial in Novi to compete in the 14th Annual Michigan Regional Future City Competition sponsored by The Engineering Society of Detroit. ESD says it is currently looking for judges to help judge the entries on the day of the competition Jan. 14, and no engineering experience is necessary. Being a judge involves attending the competition and undergoing a short training at 7:30 a.m. The actual judging takes place from 9 until 11 a.m. At that time, the schools display their model cities and three representatives from each team give a five-to-seven minute presentation to a panel of judges. More.
Wayne State, Lawrence Tech take steps to deal with economic crisis As a way to address the bleak economic reality confronting students, Wayne State University is establishing an action plan that will help ease some financial worries while encouraging registration for the Winter 2009 semester. More. Also, Lawrence Technological University is offering grants for an unprecedented 50 percent of tuition to 400 displaced workers to help them take advantage of new academic programs developed to help strengthen and diversify Michigan’s economy. The university is also opening up career networking opportunities to other displaced workers with college degrees. More.
Automation Alley adds 25 new members in November; nears 1,000 Automation Alley, Michigan's largest technology business association, announced Wednesday that 25 new member companies joined the organization in November. Manufacturing led the month with six new members, followed by specialized design services with five. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Rising royalties send Yahoo's Launchcast to CBS Yahoo Inc. is plugging its Internet radio service into CBS Corp.'s Webcasting network in a move driven by dramatically higher fees for airing music online. Yahoo's retreat from operating a standalone service, announced Wednesday, makes it the second major Web site this year to flee the rising royalty rates by hitching its radio operations to CBS. AOL Radio, owned by Time Warner Inc., hooked up with CBS in June. Yahoo's radio channel, called Launchcast, will combine with CBS beginning in February. In return for the helping hand, Yahoo's highly trafficked news and sports sections will feature some of CBS's top-rated radio stations. More.
Scientists ask: Is technology rewiring our brains?
What does a teenage brain on Google look like? Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people? These sound like concerns from worried parents. But they're coming from brain scientists. While violent video games have gotten a lot of public attention, some current concerns go well beyond that. Some scientists think the wired world may be changing the way we read, learn and interact with each other. There are no firm answers yet. But Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatrist at UCLA, argues that daily exposure to digital technologies such as the Internet and smart phones can alter how the brain works. For instance, he asserts that when the brain spends more time on technology-related tasks and less time exposed to other people, it drifts away from fundamental social skills like reading facial expressions during conversation. More.
Fitch: Outlook negative for U.S. IT sector
The outlook for the majority of the U.S. information technology sector is negative for 2009, Fitch Ratings said Wednesday. Worldwide IT spending will decline 2 to 3 percent in 2009, led by hardware and semiconductors, headwinds that will hurt profits and weaken credit profiles, the ratings agency said. "Fitch believes declining macroeconomic trends could pressure companies that lack product depth and geographic revenue diversity," it said. "While the small and medium business market has been a source of growth and strong focus of the IT industry the last few years, Fitch expects this market to contract in 2009." As a whole, the U.S. IT industry has some $250 billion in cash, of which more than $100 billion is estimated to be overseas. While long-term concerns remain, Fitch said it did not expect a significant increase in defaults in the near term. More. (Fitch also warned on the cable and telecom outlooks.)
The phone that feels the flu before you do Did your parents tell you to remember your scarf when you went out, so you wouldn't catch a cold? Today, the advice might be: Remember your cell phone. A maker of over-the-counter cold and flu remedies released a program this week for the T-Mobile G1, also known as the "Google phone," that warns the user how many people in an area are sneezing and shaking with winter viruses. The "Zicam Cold & Flu Companion" will say, for instance, that 8 percent to 14 percent of the people in your ZIP code have respiratory illnesses, representing a "Moderate" risk level. To give germophobes and hypochondriacs even more of a thrill, it also says what symptoms are common, like coughing and sore throat. Matrixx Initiatives Inc., the Arizona company that makes products under the Zicam brand, gets the information on disease levels from Surveillance Data Inc. -- which gets its data from polling health care providers and pharmacies. More.
Stocks: Marvell powers sector back into the black
Technology stocks closed higher Wednesday, powered by Marvell Technology, whose shares jumped more than 20 percent on better-than-expected quarterly results. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 42.58 points or 2.9 percent to 1,492.38, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) jumped 12.38 points or 6.7 percent to close at 198.07 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) was up 9.43 points or 3 percent to 328.05. The Dow industrials ($INDU) rose 172.6 points or 2.1 percent to 8,591.69. The The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) rose 6.2 points or 2.5 percent to 255.45, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) rose 15.11 points or 2.6 percent, to 587.46. Finally, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) rose 21.93 points or 2.6 percent to 870.74. The Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey found mortgage applications rose sharply last week as borrowers rushed to lock in lower rates. The ADP national employment index found the U.S. private sector shed 250,000 jobs in November, the biggest such loss in seven years. In other data, the Labor Department said the productivity of U.S. workers was slightly stronger in the third quarter than previously reported. And the Institute for Supply Management said nonmanufacturing sectors of the U.S. economy contracted at a record pace in November. Another grim reading of the American economy came from the Federal Reserve, which released the findings of its 12-region survey Wednesday afternoon. Read more. Oil and gold both fell.
Tons of local extras: an Okemos supplier touts a more efficient hybrid battery tester; California company to showcase a production EV at the Detroit auto show; Stryker Corp. boosts its dividend 21 percent; a Plymouth company rolls out a new in-car laptop computer mount; Kalamazoo Valley CC offers a tech careers overview course; and energy gift certificates are available from Consumers. Elsewhere in Techland: New York-based Ceiva Logic Inc., inventor of the digital photo frame, has introduced Sit on Santa’s Lap, which lets anyone virtually sit on Santa’s lap and create a festive online video that can be sent instantly to family and friends across the globe. Visitors also have the option of embedding their holiday videos on social networking sites, including Facebook, Digg and Delicious. Also, IDC sees a decline in the U.S. PC market next year; Wikipedia hopes to make editing its pages more user-friendly; professors aim to give students a Web analysis tool; a Microsoft unit gets an ad deal with Activision Blizzard; the NFL is preparing its first three-dimensional broadcasts; the U.N. plans an asteroid response framework; nanotech may create speech-powered phones; Google's free-wheeling research days winding down; experts say DHS needs new ideas on cybersecurity; Adobe warns of shortfall, job cuts; a report says the Department of Justice was hours away from filing suit against Google before it pulled the plug on its Yahoo deal; what may be causing the video glitches at Apple and Netflix; a new worm uses familiar brands to lure victims; a server glitch at SonicWall leaves networks unprotected; the billionth Logitech mouse scampers off the assembly line; mobile broadband speeds may hit a blistering 42MB next year; a panel says government data mining programs lack oversight; Microsoft's Massive ratchets up in-game ads; a new Firefox extension turns Amazon.com into an illegal free-for-all; Google and the Hallmark channel team up for TV ads; and the latest scorecard on tech layoffs.
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I got a chance Wednesday afternoon to see MBA students who are ahead of the game in marketing. Four teams of Michigan State University MBA students gave presentations on the Google AdWords campaigns they ran for Michigan nonprofits as part of a course called integrated marketing communications. At Google, the program is called Keywords in the Curriculum. Teams presented the results of their three-month AdWords campaigns for Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan; Looking for My Sister, a domestic violence shelter and resource center; the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness in Lansing; and the Children's Center in Detroit. 
One Wednesday night, two tech holiday parties
Darn it, why the heck did two of my biggest and most favorite technology associations have to have their big holiday parties on the same night?
