GLITR Monday, November 9, 2009

Your report for Monday, November 9, 2009

Grant to boost Michigan science, math teachers
Addressing the shortage of math and science teachers who will equip Michigan's vulnerable students with the skills they need to compete in the work force, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation with a $16.7 million grant to establish a new statewide teaching fellowship program. The new W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Woodrow Wilson Michigan Teaching Fellowship will provide 240 future teachers with an exemplary intensive master's program in education and place those Fellows in hard-to-staff middle and high schools. More.

Michigan Tech seeks 20 profs in renewable energy, health informatics
A worldwide search is on for outstanding energy and health researchers to fill up to 20 new tenure-track faculty positions at Michigan Technological University. The competitions are Michigan Tech’s latest in a multi-year series of Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiatives, designed to enhance and expand the university’s existing, cross-disciplinary research strengths. One new initiative focuses on Energy: Next Generation Energy Systems. The other is in Health: Basic Sciences, Technologies and Medical Informatics. More.

North American Bancard moves to new, larger HQ
North American Bancard last week announced its move to a new, state-of-the-art corporate building to support their growth. The company, previously headquartered on Chicago Road in Troy, has relocated to a $25 million, 105,000 square foot building off of Stephenson Highway and 14 Mile Road in Troy. The company says it has a 12-year plan to hire 1,800 more employees in everything from sales and customer support to information technology and software developers. More.

Former UM prof's life, death -- on Facebook
Our lives are on Facebook these days. And for Eric Dey, a higher education professor who recently left the University of Michigan for the University of Virginia, death was too. Dey's farewell reception at UM was Sept. 17 and he retained community ties in Ann Arbor. Tragically, he collapsed and died Thursday morning. Dey's final Facebook profile is haunting -- a street person told him he didn't look well on a trip from Virginia to Atlanta to Vancouver. More.

NIH secures armory with Michigan company's product
Auburn Hills-based Law Enforcement Intelligent Devices LLC will be installing its locker system and Biometric Access Control System at the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The locker system will support the NIH’s entire police force that is responsible for protecting our nation’s medical research agency. The project is expected to be completed in February 2010. BACS was developed by Auburn Hills-based Patti Engineering Inc. It uses radio-frequency identification technology to secure, track and and provide full accountability for critical assets. More.

The Week Ahead: Come on out to talk water

I've decided to preserve this unpaid Blue Box detailing tech events in Michigan in the week ahead, mostly because (a.) I think it's important to the Michigan tech scene to remind you all of what's going on, and (b.) I have fun writing it. So shoot me, without (b.) maybe (a.) wouldn't be so important, I don't know.

What I do know is that this is the last week of events that's silly busy before the holiday doldrums start. Put it this way: There are 22 events on this week's calendar, 12 next week, none at all the week after that, and not all that much scheduled to happen in December.

The good stuff starts early this week, with a University of Michigan conference on next-generation transportation infrastructure.

Tuesday, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the Engineering Society of Detroit and WWJ Newsradio 950 will get together for "Michigan's Blue Economy," an event covering the economic development potential of the fact that Michigan touches 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water. That same day, Automation Alley offers an event on "Green Michigan." Sign up quick.

Wednesday, the University Research Corridor, BioArbor and Biotechnology Business Consultants offer "NIH Comes to Michigan" a daylong series of events on how the National Institutes of Health can help grow Michigan's life sciences industry.

Thursday is World Usability Day and will be marked at Michigan State University with a daylong event. There's a bunch of other stuff Thursday too, along with Automation Alley and Help Desk Institute events Friday.

See you out there!

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.

Caraco pharma gets OK for eye drug
Detroit-based Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd. said Friday that it had launched ketorolac tromethamine ophthalmic solution, 0.5 percent, following a final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration for Sun Pharma's Abbreviated New Drug Application for generic Acular ophthalmic solution on the first day following patent expiration. More.

Global Information Technology hits 10th anniversary
Lathrup Village-based Global Information Technology this month celebrates 10 years in the IT training and consulting business. Global Information Technology delivered its first computer training course back in 1999. Ten years later, they have grown into a top IT training school, offering state and local government agencies training and certification programs in the areas of Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Java, IT security, Web design and project management. More.

New Web sites for crash test firm, Up North magazine
First Technology Safety Systems of Plymouth has launched a redesigned Web site this month at www.ftss.com. FTSS is the world's largest developer and manufacturer of sophisticated crash test dummies and computer crash simulation models. More. Also, MyNorth.com, the Web site for northern-Michigan-lovers created by Traverse The Magazine publishers Prism Publications, has added a new shopping site. More.

THE WORLD IN TECH

Sony offers 'Cloudy' early to people with its TVs
In a bid to sell living room electronics and spur buzz for "Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs," Sony Corp. is offering the movie for free to U.S. buyers of its Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players starting Monday. People who buy that equipment will be able to watch the movie in any 24-hour window from Dec. 8 until it is released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on Jan. 5. Sony's move highlights the way that movies are increasingly becoming available on TVs that connect directly to the Internet as the entertainment industry strives to come up with new business models. More.

Framed for child porn -- by a PC virus
Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography. Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses -- the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen. Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites. Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer -- and might not realize it until police knock at your door. An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence. More.

Software companies eye key patent case in the Supreme Court
With the technology industry looking on, the Supreme Court on Monday will explore what types of inventions should be eligible for a patent in a pivotal case that could undermine such legal protections for software. A ruling that sides with the Patent Office could bar patents on processes and methods of doing business, such as online shopping techniques, medical diagnostic tests and procedures for executing trades on Wall Street. And it might even undercut patents on software. In a worst-case scenario for the high-tech industry, the ruling could invalidate many existing software patents or at least make them more difficult to defend. More.

New `Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
This holiday season's biggest entertainment blockbuster likely will be a sequel to a popular franchise, with jarring depictions of war and an intricate story of good versus evil. It could easily rake in more than last year's record $155 million opening weekend for "The Dark Knight." But this blockbuster is not a movie. It is "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," a video game that Activision Blizzard Inc. is releasing Tuesday. Fans worldwide are expected to spend at least half a billion dollars on the game in the first week. More.

Stocks: Markets swoon as worries about the economy return
Investors undaunted by a surprisingly weak jobs report found enough positive news to nudge stocks higher Friday. News that the nation's unemployment rate rose above 10 percent last month for the first time in 26 years didn't derail the stock market's strong gains in the week, which lifted major indexes more than 3 percent. The rise in joblessness to 10.2 percent in October, while bad news for the economy, reassured some investors that the Federal Reserve will have to hold interest rates low for some time. That tends to weaken demand for the dollar, which in turn gives a boost to stocks. Safe-haven assets like Treasurys were mixed. More. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 7.12 points or 0.3 percent to 2,112.44. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 17.46 points or 0.2 percent to 10,023.42. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) fell 1.2 points or 0.4 percent to 301.76. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 0.25 points or 0.1 percent to 534.01. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) rose 0.31 points or 0.1 percent to 291.3. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index (BTK) rose 7.41 points or 0.8 percent to 890.55. Finally, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) rose 2.67 points or 0.3 percent to 1,069.3.

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