GLITR Friday, November 13, 2009

Your report for Friday, November 13, 2009

ESD, UM-Dearborn begin conversation on water-based development
Well over 200 people learned about the high-tech future of lighting Thursday at the initial symposium of the Michigan Solid State Lighting Association, held at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. A wide variety of speakers from manufacturers and users covered the waterfront on the use of light-emitting diodes for street lighting, traffic lights, interior lights and more. Keynote speaker Mike Bergren, former assistant field operations manager for the city of Ann Arbor, discussed the city's LED implementation program. More.

Michigan Tech leading clean diesel research project
Diesel engines are famously high-performance, reliable and economical. In recent years, they have also improved their image through advanced emissions control systems. An unfortunate side effect of cleaning up diesel exhaust, however, can be a drop in engine efficiency, which translates into increased fuel consumption. Now, a partnership led by researchers at Michigan Technological University is addressing the problem. The work is funded by a three-year, $2.8 million grant from the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory. More.

MCWT fundraiser attendance, gross proceeds rise
The Michigan Council of Women in Technology drew close to 500 IT and prominent business leaders to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn on Nov. 7 for the organization’s annual Signature Event. The fundraiser brought in more than $211,000 in gross proceeds for scholarships, research grants, technology camps and robotics programs for girls and women in Michigan. Co-hosted by Ford Motor Co., the event struck a chord with leadership of large and small regional companies as they came out in full force to support increasing the number of women in technology. This year’s event boasted three diamond sponsors -- Accenture, CSC and Fujitsu -- a first in the history of the fundraiser. MCWT officials said attendance was up 15 percent and gross receipts up 13 percent a year earlier. More.

New Dow unit buys battery technology, names CEO
Midland-based Dow Kokam LLC announced Thursday its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Kokam America Inc., a global leader in the lithium rechargeable battery market and source of Dow Kokam's superior lithium polymer battery technology. Kokam America, a Lee's Summit, Missouri-based corporation formed in October 2005, has supplied battery sustainment to the U.S. Department of Defense with advanced battery products developed, designed and patented by Kokam Co., Ltd. in South Korea.Dow Kokam also Thursday announced the appointment of Ravi Shanker as president and CEO. More.

Dow and Caltech announce next-generation photovoltaic initiative
Midland's Dow Chemical Co. and the California Institute of Technology Thursday announced a multi-year research collaboration that is strategic to both organizations' interests in solar energy. The arrangement is aimed at aligning Dow's capabilities in CIGS (copper, indium, gallium and selenium) based materials with Caltech's research in next generation photovoltaics. Together, they expect to develop new, ultra low cost, high efficiency photovoltaic materials. More.

Rate your health care experience on WhereToFindCare.com
Consumers have a new free, convenient way to gain control over their health care options. Through the use of the Michigan-based Web site, WhereToFindCare.com, consumers who share their health care experiences will contribute to quality ratings of hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, diagnostic centers and other health care providers. More.

Michigan Tech gets OK for bids on new research center
The Michigan Legislature’s Joint Capital Outlay Committee meeting in Lansing today authorized Michigan Technological University to seek construction bids for its planned Great Lakes Research Center. The $25.3 million structure will be built on the Portage River waterfront adjacent to the Michigan Tech campus in Houghton. The state will pay 74 percent of the cost. The University’s share is 26 percent or $6.6 million. More.

Report: Michigan won't push recycling despite promise of more jobs
Michigan could create up to 13,000 good-paying jobs in the recycling industry simply by increasing its recycling rate to the Great Lakes average, but instead it’s moving in exactly the opposite direction, a new report shows. Michigan’s per-capita recycling rate fell 28 percent between 1998 and 2008, from 0.36 to 0.26 tons annually, according to the report by Lansing’s Public Sector Consultants Inc. By contrast, annual per-capita recycling rates in Indiana increased 150 percent, from 0.30 to 0.75 tons. More.

THE WORLD IN TECH

Video games slump 13 percent in October
After a slight reprieve in September, U.S. video game retail sales slumped again in October, unable to escape the economic turmoil that's cutting into consumer spending and swelling the ranks of unemployed. Market researcher NPD Group said Thursday total sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 19 percent in October from the same month last year, to $1.07 billion. Year-to-date sales were down 13 percent at $11.43 billion. It is unlikely that the industry will be able to match last year's record sales, which topped $21 billion. But for a business that makes most of its money during the holidays, things may not be as bleak as they seem. Industry analysts expect November sales to pick up again. More.

Intel settles AMD's claims, but isn't off the hook yet
Intel Corp. will pay $1.25 billion to make peace with Advanced Micro Devices Inc., as the companies whose microprocessors run nearly all personal computers finally found common ground in a bitter and colorful dispute that caused international antitrust trouble for Intel. The settlement announced Thursday sent AMD stock soaring and ended a 4-year-old lawsuit in which AMD accused Intel of abusing its dominance of the chip market to keep a lid on AMD's share. Intel has about 80 percent of the microprocessor market, and AMD has about 20 percent. According to the lawsuit, Intel penalized computer makers for using AMD's chips or offered them financial incentives, payments a Toshiba Corp. manager likened to "cocaine." Executives from Gateway complained that Intel's threats of retaliation for working with AMD beat them "into guacamole." More.

Clicker.com aims to be online video's usher
Web surfing is becoming more like channel surfing as television shows, movies and music videos pour onto the Internet. That's why pointing people to their favorite TV episodes and flicks could emerge as next big opportunity in Web navigation. Former online search executive Jim Lanzone is hoping to lead the way with Clicker.com, a free service debuting Thursday. After two months of invitation-only testing, Clicker is welcoming all comers to peruse an index that includes 400,000 TV episodes, 50,000 music videos and roughly 30,000 movies that are part of Netflix's streaming library or Amazon.com's video store. More.

'Call of Duty 2' sells $310 million in U.S., U.K. in first 24 hours
First-day sales of Activision Blizzard Inc.'s "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" broke records, raking in an estimated $310 million in North America and the United Kingdom alone. The video game went on sale all over the world on Tuesday, but Activision provided figures Thursday only for North America and Britain. The company estimates that it sold about 4.7 million copies of the game in the first 24 hours in those markets, making it the biggest-selling launch in the history of entertainment. More.

Stocks: Drop in US energy use drags markets lower
A jump in the nation's energy inventories sent stocks falling Thursday as investors worried that demand for oil and gasoline is falling because of the struggling economy. The inventory report from the government pushed crude oil down 3 percent, below $77 a barrel. A gain in the dollar also weighed on prices for commodities including oil by making them more expensive for overseas buyers. A drop in energy company stocks upended an early advance led by technology shares, which rose after 3Com Corp. agreed to a $2.7 billion takeover by Hewlett-Packard Co. and as Intel Corp. said it would pay $1.25 billion to Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to settle legal disputes. The disappointing report on energy usage overshadowed more upbeat news about the economy. The Labor Department said new claims for unemployment insurance fell last week to a seasonally adjusted 502,000 from an upwardly revised 514,000 the previous week. That's the fewest claims since early January and better than economists had forecast. Also, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts' expectations. More. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) fell 17.88 points or 0.8 percent to 2,149.02. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) fell 93.79 points or 0.9 percent to 10,197.47. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) fell 1.76 points or 0.7 percent to 314 points even. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 3.41 points or 0.6 percent to 547.21. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) fell 0.63 points or 0.2 percent to 296.24. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index (BTK) fell 10.54 points or 1.2 percent to 892.95. Finally, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) fell 11.27 points or 1 percent to 1,087.24.

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