GE expected
to bring hundreds of clean energy jobs to SE Mich.
A big announcement is expected Friday
when General Electric chairman and CEO Jeffery Immelt speaks at the
Detroit Economic Club meeting at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham. In
a speech entitled "Winning in a Reset World," Mr. Immelt is
expected to explain that we can't just "ride this one out"
and assume better times are waiting. Instead, leaders need to reset
the American economy to win. Also, Immelt will likely unveil his company's
plans to build a research and development center in Metro Detroit, meaning
at least 1,200 jobs for the area's job-starved economy. The center will
concentrate on research into clean technology. More.
Troy
man's invention improves visibility of CD, DVD cover titles It's just a couple of simple
strips of plastic. But an invention from entrepreneur Craig A. Richardson
promises to change the lives of the blind and vision-impaired, and to
improve the productivity of just about everybody else who deals with
a rack of CDs or DVDs for their job. Richardson's patent-pending invention
is called the Easy See Case. He takes a normal jewel case, the type
CDs and some DVDs come in, and replaces part of the brittle styrene
plastic at the hinge with softer PVC plastic. This piece of plastic
pops out of the CD case at an angle, allowing for a much larger end
label than current CDs allow. More.
Area
machine shops discover the way to wind energy More than 50 machine shop owners and representatives
recently attended the Seco Tools “Tooling up for Wind Power Generation”
conference co-sponsored by the Sterling Heights Chamber of Commerce,
Automation Alley, and Oakland County Planning & Economic Development.
This was the first diversification
event in the area aimed specifically at helping metalcutters convert
their shops from automotive to wind energy production work. Attendees
received extensive information on how to enter the wind energy sector
including necessary tooling, equipment and available government financial
assistance. More.
Networked
Inc. adds three new business development services Bloomfield Township-based
Networked, Inc., best known for creating the Detroit area's fastest
business networking group, Motor City Connect, announced this week that
it is offering corporate clients three new business development services
-- business development strategy, training and introductions. More.
Aspentech
joins Business Improvement Team LLC The Business Improvement
Team, a consortium of independent consulting firms, Wednesday announced
its affiliation with AspenTech Consulting Group, Inc. has been providing
CRM and contact management solutions to a broad range of small and medium-sized
businesses since 1994. Aspen services include sales pipeline management,
quoting systems, customer retention through drip marketing, and more.
The Business Improvement Team (www.BizImpTeam.com)
is an interdisciplinary network of trusted providers of high quality
consulting services to all types of organizations.
Smartphone app by UM student class promotes good deeds
Beautify your world. Leave an inspirational
message in a public place. Connect with a family member. Those are just
a few of the proposed acts of kindness pushed out to users of a new
smartphone application developed by University of Michigan students.
So a user picked up litter in a fast-food restaurant
parking lot. Another stuck a note to a public restroom mirror that said,
"You are awesome." Others united with an estranged father
or brother.
DoGood, a new, free app available to iPhone and
iPod Touch users, aims to make the world a better place, its developers
say.
"We simply wanted to empower the 40 million
iPhone and iPod Touch users to collectively do acts of kindness,"
said Bornhorst, a senior computer science and engineering student. "I
can go smile at a stranger, but what if we could get 300,000 people
to do that? … The world needs something like this."
DoGood, created by the student-run company Mobil33t,
(pronounced "mobil-EET") has been downloaded more than 10,000
times since its release June 8. It has an active user base of more than
5,000, and that number is growing every day. It lets users leave stories
about how they participated in that day's deed. It also integrates with
Facebook and Twitter so participants can send a message to their friends
when they've finished an act of kindness.
"There's a tweet somewhere in the world about
DoGood every five to 10 minutes," Bornhorst said.
App store reviews praise the product's ability to
leverage technology for altruistic purposes, and they say it helps them
feel part of something bigger.
Bornhorst and his fellow developers were inspired
to create DoGood during Elliot Soloway's "Mobile and Web App Programming"
class, offered for the first time last semester.
Note: For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Jeff Lasser at (248) 455-7319 or
jeff.lasser@cbsradio.com
BDPA offers
Detroit jobseekers transportation to national career fair The Detroit Chapter of Black
Data Processing Associates is providing transportation to take jobseekers
to the National BDPA IT Career Fair in Raleigh, N.C. Aug. 7-9. The event
features 40 to 50 hiring companies with placement all over the United
States. More about the career fair at http://www.bdpa-detroit.org/Career2009.html.
More.
GR's downtown
heating grid to get upgrade
Boston-based Veolia Energy
North America announced that it has awarded a design-build contract
to Progressive Architects and Engineers to upgrade Veolia Energy’s
Grand Rapids district energy (heating and cooling) system. Based in
Grand Rapids, Progressive AE will design and install a cutting-edge
condensing heat exchanger, which is a sophisticated heat recovery technology
that will reduce the volume of fuel consumed by at least 5 percent.
More.
Compuware
to add farmer's market in atrium Compuware Corp. employees
received an e-mail this week announcing there will be a farmers market
every Thursday in the expansive atrium at its downtown Detroit headquarters.
The Eastern Market AM Fresh Farm Stand will be held from 11 a.m. to
2 p.m. from June 25 to Oct. 29 at Compuware, One Campus Martius in Detroit.
Compuware officials said they'd feature locally grown fruits and vegetables
but will also include fruit and vegetables sourced from further away
to provide a wide range of choices. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Turmoil
fuels 'hacktivist' attacks on Web sites For about 90 minutes Wednesday,
visitors to the Oregon University System's Web site found themselves
taken for a ride they didn't ask for. They were redirected to another
site under the control of a hacker, who posted an 89-word screed criticizing
the protests in Iran. "We never cheated in elections," the
site read, in black and red. The message included invective aimed at
President Barack Obama and made derogatory comments about Iranian opposition
leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims the June 12 presidential election
was rigged. As Internet attacks go, this type isn't uncommon, and the
site was quickly restored to normal, and no virus was served up. What
the incident shows, though, is how political turmoil can spill quickly
into unexpected parts of the Internet, as sites that have nothing to
do with a conflict often get hijacked and turned into bully pulpits
for so-called "hacktivists" bent on advancing a political
cause, rather than making money. More.
Yahoo's
new CEO promises to get company's 'mojo' back Yahoo CEO
Carol Bartz echoed the turnaround promises of her predecessors as she
presided over the first shareholder meeting since her hiring, yet she
left little doubt the slumping Internet company's new boss isn't the
same as the old bosses. Like Terry Semel did in 2007 and Jerry Yang
again last year, Bartz assured shareholders Thursday that she will polish
Yahoo's tarnished brand and end a three-year financial funk that has
depressed the Sunnyvale-based company's stock. But her message resonated
with more flair and spunk than the more circumspect styles of Semel
and Yang. More.
Microsoft
says Vista buyers to get free Windows 7
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that prices
for the Windows 7 computer operating system are largely in line with
those for Vista, and that consumers who buy PCs before the new system
goes on sale in October will get free upgrades. To drum up demand among
people who aren't in the market for a new PC, Microsoft also said it
is taking limited pre-orders for Windows 7, selling some for as little
as $50. Windows 7 is Microsoft's first new operating system in almost
three years. More.
PC
makers race to comply with China's Web filter Days
before a deadline abruptly imposed by China, computer makers are scrambling
to comply with an order to supply Web-filtering software with PCs amid
concerns about what it might do to their reputations. Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard
Inc. and Taiwan's Acer Inc. -- the top three global producers -- are
asking regulators for details of the order that takes effect July 1
to provide Green Dam Youth Escort software with every laptop and desktop
PC sold in China. The conflict reflects the clash between the authoritarian
government's efforts to control information and China's high-tech ambitions.
More.
Stocks:
Stocks jump, led by homebuilders and retailers Investors rushed back into
stocks as profits at a handful of companies indicated the economy might
be gaining strength. Homebuilders and retailers led a broad rally Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average surged 173 points after four days of
losses. The day began with better-than-expected earnings reports. Lennar
Corp.'s orders for new homes jumped 63 percent during the second quarter
and its revenue beat expectations. And retailers gained following a
report from Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. The home furnishings store said
its fiscal first-quarter earnings climbed 14 percent as sales rose following
the liquidation of rival Linens N Things. The third successful Treasury
auction of the week helped boost confidence that Washington will be
able to raise enough money to fund its economic recovery programs. Investors
also applauded the Fed's announcement that it would let expire some
of the emergency lending programs it set up last fall as the financial
crisis intensified. The upbeat news helped traders look past unexpected
increases in claims for unemployment benefits. The Nasdaq Composite
Index (COMP)
rose 37.2 points or 2.1 percent to 1,829.54. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU)
rose 172.54 points or 2.1 percent, to 8,472.4. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index ($SOX)
rose 5.18 points or 2 percent to 263.26. The Morgan Stanley High Tech
35 Index (MSH)
rose 7.59 points or 1.7 percent to 450.54. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical
Index (DRG)
rose 3.71 points or 1.4 percent to 262.54. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index
(BTK)
rose 18.48 points or 2.7 percent to 695.76. Finally, the Standard &
Poor's 500 (SPX)
rose 19.32 points or 2.1 percent to 920.26.
All contents copyright 2009 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio & Eye logo trademarked and copyright 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. Written and edited
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Smartphone app by UM student class promotes good deeds
