GLITR May 14, 2008
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Your report for Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Economic report shows $4 billion '07 investment in Southeast Michigan
The Economic Development Coalition of Southeast Michigan Tuesday released its report of business attraction and expansion successes during calendar year 2007. During that period, EDCSEM member agencies engaged in business activity expected to yield a total of 117 new projects representing $4 billion in investment to the region. The total number of jobs created in 2007 was 16,610 with an additional 9,552 jobs retained as a result of these investments. More.
X-Rite CFO quits suddenly
Kentwood-based X-Rite Inc. (NASDAQ: XRIT) Tuesday announced the abrupt departure of CFO Lynn J. Lyall, who had been in the position only since March. X-Rite said Lyall left "for personal reasons." X-Rite named Dave Rawden as interim CFO and said it "does not anticipate any disruptions in ongoing talks with lenders or investors" over X-Rite's default of some of its financial covenants. CEO Frank J. Vacchiano Jr. said he's been leading the discussions with lenders anyway. More.
Flint-Sweden partnership to explore creation of fuel from city waste
State officials Tuesday announced that the city of Flint and a Swedish alternative energy firm, Swedish Biogas International, will produce alternative energy from waste removed from the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The plant will produce biogas -- an alternative energy that can fuel vehicles and generate heat and electricity. There were no immediate details on the plant's size, employment or financing. The Flint Journal reported it would cost up to $10 million initially and state and federal grants could help support it as a pilot project. More.
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State touts role in helping stop Web Ponzi scheme
State officials with the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation Tuesday touted their role in helping the federal Securities and Exchange Commission halt a $72 million international Internet fraud scheme allegedly hatched by a Swartz Creek man. The SEC recently announced that with the assistance of OFIR, the federal agency obtained an emergency court order freezing the assets of Gregory N. McKnight of Swartz Creek, the alleged perpetrator of an Internet fraud scheme that reaped approximately $72 million from more than 3,000 investors in all 50 states and at least 30 foreign countries. More.
Tech consultant creates new training portal
Saline-based tech consultants Latitude is rolling out the LatitudeU.com platform to share and sell online training and related content. LatitudeU, at www.latitudeu.com, is a public Web site, where any person or organization can learn, teach or share knowledge. Membership is free, and members can either share and sell on-line courses on virtually any subject to a rapidly growing membership from around the world. While some courses are free, others are fee-based. LatitudeU uses PayPal’s Secure Credit Card Services for all fee-based course transactions. More.
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Most Detroit business leaders think the region will be in better shape five years from now than it is today.
However, the percentage that thinks so -- 69 percent -- is down from 74 percent a year ago.
The Detroit Regional Chamber released results Tuesday from the annual survey taken before the Mackinac Policy Conference that business and political leaders will attend later this month.
The phone poll asked 200 senior-level executives from Detroit-area businesses to weigh in on the most pressing issues facing the region and state. The research was conducted by John Bailey & Associates. This is the fifth consecutive year the Chamber and JB&A have partnered together on the poll.
"The goal was to gauge the opinions of business so we could narrow the list of topics on the Mackinac agenda to those that are the most important for building a stronger Michigan," said Leslie A. Murphy, president and CEO of Murphy Consulting and chair for the 2008 Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference. "We achieved our objective by incorporating the issues the business community wants to address into our policy sessions on the island."
Other highlights from this year's business survey include:
* The high cost of health insurance is the biggest concern for businesses; regarding health care but they are not convinced a universal coverage plan is the right solution;
* Thirty-nine percent rate the Michigan Business Tax as the main state tax concern;
* The lack of regional public transportation remains an issue for business leaders;
* Poor student preparation for the workforce as well as attraction and retention of young talent are the biggest education and workforce issues for business leaders;
* Twenty-nine percent identified partisan politics as limiting Michigan's ability to transform its economy;
* Fifty-eight percent rate Michigan's term limit law a failure; and
* Among potential candidates for governor in 2010, former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer received the most support from the business community.
More from the Great Lakes IT Report.
Note: For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Dan Keelan at (248) 455-7380 or dkeelan@cbs.com.
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New health care databases from ProQuest
Ann Arbor-based ProQuest Co. unveiled ProQuest Hospital Collection at the Medical Library Association’s Annual Conference in Chicago this week. ProQuest Hospital Collection centralizes access to discovery and advisory tools essential to the practice and business of health care and is the first collection to address the expanse of hospital information needs with a single resource. ProQuest Hospital Collection assembles five top health and medicine databases, and includes full text articles from 2,100 seminal medical journals, including full text of The New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. ProQuest Hospital Collection also includes over 19,000 doctoral dissertations, providing cutting edge research, as well as resources in the burgeoning field of evidence-based medicine. More.
Azure Dynamics loss grows, but hybrid truck firm gets orders
Oak Park-based Azure Dynamics Corp. (TSX: AZD) this week reported a loss of $7.9 million or 4 cents a share in the quarter ended March 31, compared to a loss of $6.5 million or 3 cents a share in the first quarter of 2007. The development-stage developer of hybrid and electric powertrains for commercial vehicles reported revenue for the quarter of $400,000, up from $200,000 in the first quarter of 2007. The company reported several operating milestones for the quarter, however, including major orders. More.
Grandville's Trivalent makes IT acquisition
Grandville-based Trivalent Group, one of Michigan’s largest technology integration firms, Tuesday announced its acquisition of Grand Rapids-based IT firm iQ Consulting, Inc. Established in 2001, iQ Consulting is a full service technology firm specializing in Microsoft and Novell products and technology and planning, design and implementation of IT solutions. IQ Consulting’s customer base will now become part of the Trivalent network, further expanding its product and service portfolio. The agreement enables Trivalent to increase its presence statewide and marks the $20 million company’s seventh acquisition since 2003. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Nor was the future of the iQ employee base. More.
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THE WORLD IN TECH
Craigslist countersues eBay, saying it broke antitrust laws
Online classifieds giant Craigslist countersued its minority owner, eBay Inc., on Tuesday, alleging the online auctioneer is violating federal and state antitrust laws. EBay attempted to quash competition with a series of actions relating to its own classifieds site Kijiji, which launched last year in the U.S., according to Craigslist's complaint, filed in state Superior Court in San Francisco. EBay internally calls Kijiji the "Craigslist killer," the complaint claims. San Jose, Calif.-based eBay said the allegations are unfounded and unsubstantiated. More.
MySpace tells AP it has won $234M spam judgment
The popular online hangout MySpace has won a $234 million judgment over junk messages sent to its members in what is believed to be the largest anti-spam award ever, The Associated Press has learned. A federal judge ruled against two of the Internet's most prominent spam defendants, Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines, after the two failed to show up at a court hearing. Wallace has earned the nicknames "Spamford" and "spam king" for his past role as head of a company that sent as many as 30 million junk e-mails a day in the 1990s. "MySpace has zero tolerance for those who attempt to act illegally on our site," said MySpace's chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam. "We remain committed to punishing those who violate the law and try to harm our members." More.
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Reports: Icahn considering bid to oust Yahoo board members
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is reportedly loading up on Yahoo Inc.'s stock in preparation for a possible attempt to shove aside the Internet icon's board and bring the company's disillusioned suitor, Microsoft Corp., back to the bargaining table. As he mulls whether to lead a rebellion, Icahn has accumulated about 50 million Yahoo shares, a stake of roughly 3.6 percent in the Sunnyvale-based company, both CNBC and The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Both media outlets cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. Icahn hadn't returned messages seeking comment as of late Tuesday. He faces a Thursday deadline to submit an alternate slate of directors to oppose Yahoo's board at the company's July 3 annual meeting. Yahoo representatives declined to comment about a possible showdown with Icahn. More.
Wireless patient monitoring at risk from proposed Internet frequencies
Losing the audio feed during "Monday Night Football" may seem like a crisis for some sports fans, but it's nothing compared to losing the signal that monitors a critically ill hospital patient. The technical glitches share a potential source: the proposed use of unoccupied TV airwaves for high-speed Internet service across the country. While television networks and wireless microphone users have been fighting the idea, the medical community is also sounding the alarm over possible interference from unlicensed portable gizmos operating in a nearby spectrum. The spectrum's valuable wireless real estate has attracted technology companies and consumer advocates who say it shouldn't remain vacant. More.
Stocks: H-P sinks, Yahoo gains as techs eke out small gain
Shares of Hewlett-Packard fell more than 5 percent Tuesday on news of a blockbuster deal to buy Electronic Data Systems, while Yahoo Inc. shares jumped more than 5 percent as reports surfaced that activist investor Carl Icahn may mount a proxy fight to oust the Internet company's board of directors. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 6.63 points or 0.3 percent to close at 2,495.12. Rising from earlier lows, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) ended at 12,832.18, off 44.13 points, or 0.3 percent. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) rose 3.19 points or 0.8 percent to 406.31 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 2.12 points or 0.4 percent to 598,.67. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) fell 0.78 points or 0.3 percent to 298.03, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) fell 6.24 points or 0.8 percent to 748.53. The S&P 500 ($SPX) fell 0.54 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,403.04.
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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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