Your report for Wednesday, July 23, 2008

UM study finds big security holes in banking Web sites
More than 75 percent of the bank Web sites surveyed in a University of Michigan study had at least one design flaw that could make customers vulnerable to cyber thieves after their money or their identity. Atul Prakash, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and doctoral students Laura Falk and Kevin Borders examined the Web sites of 214 financial institutions in 2006. They will present the findings for the first time at the Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security meeting at Carnegie Mellon University July 25. These design flaws aren't bugs that can be fixed with a patch. They stem from the flow and the layout of these Web sites, according to the study. More.

Neogen revenue, profit hit records
Lansing-based Neogen Corp. Tuesday announced a 33 percent increase in net income on a 19 percent increase in revenue for its fiscal year, which ended May 31. Neogen's revenues surpassed $100 million for the first time in its history in the just-ended fiscal year, coming in at $102.4 million, up from $86.1 million in the company's previous fiscal year. Net income was $12.1 million or 81 cents a share for the fiscal year, up from $9.1 million or 64 cents in the prior year. Both revenue and net income for the 2008 fiscal year established new all-time highs for the 26-year-old company. More.

New charity Web site lets you spread birthday cheer to kids
A new Auburn Hills-based charity allows you to turn a birthday into an opportunity to help children. The charity is called On Your Birthday, and it's the product of a birthday question from founder and president Tammy Alberts' then-5-year-old daughter Annie. "Annie was looking on the Internet for a new bicycle with her dad and she asked if all kids got birthday presents," Alberts said. "We told her no, that we were blessed to be able to celebrate her birthday as we did, but not all kids were -- some of them have parents who can't give them a party or presents or they're really sick and in the hospital." That bugged Annie -- given a 5-year-old's finely tuned sense of justice and fairness. "You know how kids are -- for a while she thought we should be able to give all those kids gifts," Alberts said. "But from there we started designing a company and a Web page that would let people help kids on their birthday." More.

New software from Altair subsidiary
Altair Engineering Inc., the Troy software developer, Tuesday announced the release of version 7.6 of SolidThinking, software originally developed in Italy that has grown to be the market leader for Italian design firms and industrial designers for everything from jewelry and electronic devices to furniture and yachts. More.

GM to create new, global engineering development HQ
General Motors Corp. Friday will take the wraps off a new global Engineering Development Center that the automaker says will bring advanced, fuel-saving powertrains to market faster and at less cost by reducing 10 weeks from its powertrain development process. GM will save an accumulated savings of more than $200 million in development and testing costs by the end of this year. The 450,000-square-foot building is the largest and most technically advanced powertrain development center in the world. More.

Auburn Hills firm uses tech to cut purchasing costs

Not everything connected with the auto industry is shrinking.

Auburn Hills-based Osiris Innovations Group has more than doubled its employment over the past year, and expects to double its revenue in 2008 over 2007 levels.

Osiris succeeds by helping its clients -- originally auto suppliers, but increasingly other kinds of businesses as well -- control what's called an "MRO spend," an acronym for maintenance, repair and operations, a business' nonproduction spending.

In the lingo of procurement, Osiris offers procurement services, e-procurement, and supplier enablement for e-procurement.

David Saroli is the company's president and CEO. He founded the company in 2005 after selling an earlier outsourced procurement firm.

"Most organizations totally lack visibility into their indirect spend," Saroli said.

In other words, they have very little idea how much they spend on everything from office supplies to safety supplies to nuts to bolts to gloves, and why they buy from the people they buy from.

Osiris closely analyzes that spending and a company's incumbent providers, then sets up an "e-catalog" with its own list of supplier companies, as well as selected incumbents.

Most importantly, Osiris also sets up a company's suppliers with the ability to fulfill orders by e-catalog. "That way they don't need third parties and they don't need to mix and match solutions," Saroli said.

Saroli said his company typically saves its clients 7 to 12 percent on supplies.

Osiris now has 44 employees, up from 21 a year ago, and 67 organizations using its services, up from two in June 2006. There are now 300 suppliers of various goods in the Osiris network, up from 18 in June 2006.

Osiris is also expanding its office space, adding another 5,000 square feet adjacent to its existing 11,000. And it's expanding into other markets - -the Detroit Medical Center is using its services, as are Pilot service stations.

The company's offering is hosted by Online Technologies Corp. in Flint and Ann Arbor.

The company also expects to fill 10 new job openings by the end of the year, with positions becoming available in project management, software development and customer service.

More at www.osirisinnovations.com.

Note: Today's Blue Box is sponsored by Clark Hill. For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Dan Keelan at (248) 455-7380 or dkeelan@cbs.com.

WWJ.com adds new politics feature -- and new way to listen on iPhone
There's a new news feature on wwj.com, as well as a new way to listen to WWJ Newsradio 950 -- directly on your iPhone.Apple and AOL have teamed up on a free widget that you download on your phone. It allows you to listen to any CBS Radio station directly on your iPhone. Also, WWJ Newsradio 950 has introduced a new streaming special broadcast, "Eye on Michigan Politics." More.

Illinois mobilizes fire inspectors with Troy firm's software
Troy-based TradeMaster Inc., creator of MobileEyes mobile fire inspection software, said it had recently completed a significant project for the Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal. The office's Division of Fire Prevention includes 15 inspectors across three regions who conduct 15,000 inspections annually. More.

Big live blog, green efforts part of 'Three Days in the D'
The world's largest live festival blog and green initiatives will be among the new features of the "3 Days in the D" event trifecta this Labor Day weekend, the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau announced Tuesday. Three signature events, the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, the Detroit International Jazz Festival and the Chrysler Arts, Beats & Eats are jointly marketed as "3 Days in The D." Spearheaded by the DMCVB and the City of Detroit, "3 Days in The D" is in partnership with each event, helping to set the stage for one of the most popular and active weekends of the summer, Aug. 29 - Sept. 1. More.

THE WORLD IN TECH

Yahoo's profit tumbles 18 percent as woes deepen
Yahoo says its second-quarter profit dropped 18 percent. It marks the latest in a long stretch of disappointing results for the Internet company. Yahoo earned $131 million, or 9 cents per share, in the three months ended in June, compared with $161 million, or 11 cents per share, at the same time last year. Analysts had projected earnings of 11 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial. The disappointing performance announced Tuesday intensifies the pressure on Yahoo's management to find a way to lift the Internet company's sagging stock price after rebuffing a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft in May.

Court affirms online content law unconstitutional
A federal appeals court Tuesday agreed with a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional a 1998 law intended to protect children from sexual material and other objectionable content on the Internet. The decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia is the latest twist in a decade-long legal battle over the Child Online Protection Act. The fight has already reached the Supreme Court and could be headed back there. More.

Breaking up not so hard to do with Slydial
The old song had it right: Breaking up is hard to do. But a free new phone service called Slydial might make it easier to get through that and other awkward moments -- without actually having to talk to anyone. Slydial lets you connect directly with another person's cell phone voice mail, bypassing the traditional ringing process that often results -- sometimes disastrously -- with someone picking up on the other end. Users call (267) SLY-DIAL from either a cell phone or a landline, and are prompted to enter another person's cell phone number. After playing a short advertisement -- unless users pay a subscription fee or 15 cents per call to skip ads -- Slydial puts callers directly into their target's voice mail. More.

HP-EDS deal price at issue in court hearing
A shareholder group is trying to pressure Electronic Data Systems Corp. into demanding more than the $13.2 billion that Hewlett-Packard Co. has offered for the technology services company. The group said Monday it intends to ask a judge in Collin County, Texas, to postpone the shareholder meeting EDS has scheduled for July 31, when investors are scheduled to vote on whether to approve HP's takeover of the Plano, Texas-based company. A hearing is set for Thursday on the group's request. More.

Stocks: Broad market manages a gain, but chips, Net stocks fall
Technology stocks staged a late rally Tuesday as most issues erased their losses and closed with gains on a day that was highlighted by the reaction to weak earnings outlooks from the likes of Apple Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 24.43 points or 1.1 percent to 2,303.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 135.16 points or 1.2 percent to finish at 11,602.5, with 21 of its 30 components landing in the green. However, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) tumbled by 16.44 points or 4.5 percent to 345.45 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 4.77 points or 0.9 percent to 545.7. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) rose 0.38 points or 0.1 percent to 302.99, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) rose 21.83 points or 2.7 percent to 832.98. The S&P 500 ($SPX) rose 17 points even, 1.3 percent, to finish at 1,277 even.

Matt's Favorites

Late breaking news: Around 6 p.m. Tuesday we learned that the University of Michigan solar car racing team had apparently won its fifth North American championship. Links here and here, and Go Blue! (And better luck next year to our fellow state entrants from Michigan State and Western Michigan. MSU couldn't quite muster an entry, while WMU's car was damaged in testing and had to drop out.) Next, a couple of local extras: a contest to celebrate the new Borders.com gives you a chance to win a nice library; and for a greener man cave, pick this Earth-friendly garage fridge. Elsewhere: fascinating news of the first paper-based transistors; a new idea for an ultra-cheap, ultra-green computer; they may have figured out what causes toxic algae blooms; NASA may hitch rides to the Space Station on Japanese rockets after the Shuttle's retirement (geez, first the Big Three, now this); in other space news, how about floating colonies on Venus? -- hey, at 50 km up, the Venusian atmosphere is fairly Earthlike; the Hollywood Reporter says plans are moving forward for three-dimensional TV; in a case of glorious overkill, behold the world's largest subwoofer; Verizon adds 1.5 million subscribers in the second quarter; Microsoft turns to users for the next generation of Xbox games; and both Google and Microsoft improve their mapping technology.

All contents copyright 2008 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio & Eye logo trademarked and copyright 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. Written and edited by Matt Roush, Technology Editor, WWJ Newsradio 950, Detroit. GLITR contains material from the Associated Press, Reuters and MarketWatch.com, used by permission. For coverage comments or news tips, e-mail Matt Roush at mnroush@cbs.com or call (248) 455-7380. For marketing and advertising queries, contact Dan Keelan at dkeelan@cbs.com or (248) 455-7252. To subscribe, e-mail Nancy Ho at nancy.ho@cbsradio.com. For questions or concerns, please email Pete Kowalski, WWJ's Station Manager.

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