Tech Tour Day 3: WiMax World talks real-world installations Wednesday's opening day of the WiMax World 2008 conference in Chicago covered the technological promise of WiMax wireless high-speed Internet access. Thursday's second day covered the real-world applications -- places where WiMax is already providing mobile high-speed service at low rates. The installations ranged from the joint Sprint Nextel-Clearwire system, Xohm, which will blanket the nation's top 100 cities, and a company called DigitalBridge that is concentrating on markets with under 150,000 population -- starting in places like Idaho Falls, Idaho. More.
ECD to speed up expansion, build solar roof products with CertainTeed Rochester Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices Inc. said Thursday that it had a new joint agreement with Valley Forge, Pa.-based CertainTeed Corp. to combine ECD Uni-Solar photovoltaic products with CertainTeed roofing products. The company expects these new products to be available commercially beginning in 2010. ECD manufactures a new type of thin, flexible solar panel based on a sheet of steel and topped with clear plastic. At a meeting with analysts Thursday, the company also announced a speedup in its expansion plans toward a goal of being able to produce one gigawatt per year of solar panels by 2012. More.
Michigan Tech gets $10 million, biggest gift in school history
Michigan Technological University alumnus Dave House has made a $10 million pledge to the university's national campaign, Michigan Tech Fund Chairman George Butvilas told the University's Board of Control at its regular meeting on campus today. It is the largest outright gift that Michigan Tech has ever received. House is the volunteer chair of the University's national fund-raising campaign, which is in its earliest stages. His giving will support Michigan Tech's strategic objective of becoming a world-class public research university by helping to recruit and retain top graduate and research faculty, as wells as deans and department chairs. More.
CMU student designs innovative medical tool
A new tool will help researchers in labs around the world improve the precision of their findings. The Chromosome Dropper Tool eases challenges of today's chromosomal analysis, which involves research using genes, embryo, clone and stem cells to help diagnose medical conditions, said Yunyan Qu, a physician assistant student at Central Michigan University who invented the tool. More.
Nuspire hiring, planning new data center, gets big deal
Commerce Township-based Nuspire Networks plans to break ground soon on another network operations center and has just landed a deal to provide network security services for one of Europe's leading network providers. The company is also hiring in several categories. More.
Electrical union, contractors to show off training center
The old days of a high school education ensuring a good job are long gone. Yet not everybody is cut out for a traditional college.
I got a look at one alternative in a recent visit to the Electrical Industry Training Center, a joint effort of Local 58 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union and the Southeastern Michigan Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association.
There, hundreds of students are taking five-year programs to become journeyman electricians. There's also a three-year program to get certified in low-voltage wiring applications like computer and telecommunications networks, a program recognized by BICSI, the Building Industry Consulting Service International.
The 50,000-square-foot center, along I-696 in Warren, looks for all the world like a community college campus, but there are several major differences.
For one thing, it's extremely competitive to get in. Thomas Bowes, assistant training director, said four out of five applicants are rejected because they can't hack the mathematics required for admission.
And for another, it's an earn-as-you-learn proposition, with the students getting a full wage and benefit package. Once you get past the first year, the local union subsidizes the training, so the cost boils down to $75 a quarter.
And once students graduate and pass the state license examination, they are qualified for a good-paying job -- $34 an hour in pay and another $15 an hour in benefits. Try THAT with some squishy humanities degree.
There's also an increasing emphasis on alternative power generation. The center itself has a small, six-kilowatt wind turbine on a mast beside the building and an 18-kilowatt solar array on its roof, and fifth-year apprentices and licensed journeymen get training at the center in renewables installation. Graduates have already participated in the construction of the Harvest Wind Farm in Michigan's Thumb.
"The future of energy will be built on the foundations of the past," Bowes said. "When you talk about moving electrons from Point A to Point B the rules don't change because the source is different."
The center is currently graduating 40 to 70 electricians a year, and starts three to four classes a year of about 20 participants.
Before each construction apprentice takes their state exam, they'll have 8,000 to 10,000 hours worth of training in the field and 1,000 hours of classroom work under their belt.
The center has scheduled a photovoltaic training event for Michigan's emerging "green collar" work force starting Friday, Oct. 3 at 3 p.m.
Scheduled to speak on Michigan's renewable energy future are Michigan Lt. Gov. John Cherry, NextEnergy director of marketing and communications Mark Beyer, and Clean Water Action Michigan organizer Steve Gutterman.
The three day long educational event will familiarize 150 state-licensed IBEW electricians, contractors, and electrical inspectors with installation and design issues pertaining to photovoltaic systems.
The training program features nationally recognized expert John Wiles, Program Manager at the Southwest Technology Development Institute at New Mexico State University on Friday. This will be followed by two days of intensive hands-on training to acquaint licensed electricians with the installation issues which are unique to solar electric systems.
Tours of the center are available throughout the event.
Note: Today's Blue Box was sponsored by the the Electrical Industry Training Center, a joint effort of Local 58 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union and the Southeastern Michigan Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association. For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Dan Keelan at (248) 455-7380 or dkeelan@cbs.com.
Pfizer animal genetics unit moves to Kalamazoo Pfizer Inc.'s Pfizer Animal Genetics business unit is relocating its research and development, lab operations, customer service and quality assurance functions from Harahan, La., to downtown Kalamazoo. The move will add about 20 positions at Veterinary Medicine research and development's headquarters in Kalamazoo. More.
Oakland University to get new human health building
Oakland University will receive state funding for a new Human Health Building, thanks to the capital outlay bill passed by the Michigan legislature and recently signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The measure, part of an initiative to address funding projects for state university and community college campuses, will provide $40 million of the $61 million total cost of the building. The proposed 157,300-square-foot Human Health Building will house the School of Health Sciences and the School of Nursing as part of a broad effort to address the looming shortages in the health care industry and widen the university's economic impact on the region. More.
Caraco Pharma settles with union; 4 percent raise due Detroit-based Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd. announced Thursday that members of the Local 3, Service Employees International Union, CTW, have ratified a new labor agreement covering approximately 400 production and packaging employees at all of Caraco's facilities .The new four year agreement will be effective through Sept. 21, 2012. It replaces the agreement originally set to expire Sept. 12, 2008. The company said in a government filing that it would give workers a 4 percent raise. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Verizon says outsourcing aids in many data thefts The reliance of restaurant chains and retail stores on outside companies to handle credit-card processing and other information-technology functions is partly to blame for a rash of consumer data breaches over the last few years, according to data sleuths at Verizon Communications Inc. Even a chain with thousands of restaurants might have only 100 employees in information technology, so it uses outside vendors for many IT functions, said Bryan Sartin, director of the investigative response team at Verizon Business. More.
Chinese snoop on Skype, but are they alone?
A Canadian researcher has discovered that a Chinese version of eBay Inc.'s Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including "democracy." The revelation is not only of interest to rights groups that monitor Internet censorship. The discovery also likely intrigues law enforcement and intelligence agencies in other countries, because they have been bothered by the growing use of Skype, which claims 338 million users across the world. More.
Senator urges DOJ to monitor Google, Yahoo deal
A key senator is urging the Justice Department to keep up its investigation into the antitrust implications of the Internet advertising partnership that Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. plan to launch this month. In a letter Thursday, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, said his panel concluded that "important competition issues are raised by this transaction." He urged the Justice Department to "continue to monitor the state of competition in this industry." The Justice Department is already examining the deal to decide whether to intervene, and had no comment Thursday beyond reiterating that the review continues. More.
Copyright board leaves royalty rate unchanged The federal Copyright Royalty Board on Thursday left the royalty that songwriters receive on sales of CDs and digital downloads at 9.1 cents per song for the next five years. Both songwriters and music sellers applauded the ruling - but for different reasons. Apple Inc., which had threatened to shutter its iTunes store if the rate increased, appeared to have scored a clear win. "We're pleased with the CRB's decision to keep royalty rates stable," Tom Neumayr, an Apple Inc. spokesman. The Recording Industry Association of America, representing record labels, was pleased that the rate was frozen for the first time since 1977, meaning that if song prices increase, royalties will make up a falling percentage of the companies' costs. More.
Stocks: U.S. stocks, techs included, fall steeply on economic fears Technology stocks put in a disappointing performance Thursday, as the sector slumped along with the broad market following several negative reports on the state of the U.S. economy. The tech sector was also feeling some impact from new figures on worldwide semiconductor sales, which showed more weakness coming from the memory-chip market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) tumbled 92.68 points or 4.5 percent to 2,069.4. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) fell 348.22 points or 3.2 percent to 10,482.85. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) fell 14.68 points or 4.8 percent to 288.55 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 22.39 points or 4.8 percent to 441.33. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) fell 3.25 points or 1.1 percent to 291.07, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) fell 26.24 points or 3.4 percent to 750.1. The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 46.78 points, or 4 percent, to 1,114.28. Crude-oil prices slid 4.6 percent to $93.97 a barrel, and the energy sector stumbled 10 percent in the broad market. Next was materials, down 7.2 percent, and industrials, off 6.3 percent. The financial sector was next, falling 5.4 percent, after the Securities and Exchange Commission extended its ban on short selling to as long as Oct. 17, or up to three business days after the passage of the bailout plan. But it won't make the ban permanent. Jobless claims remained at their highest level in seven years, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as people in the hurricane-hit states of Louisiana and Texas filed for benefits. For the week ended Sept. 27, seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose 1,000, to 497,000 -- the highest level since late September 2001. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported factory orders for August fell 4 percent, the biggest such drop in two years.
Once again a ton of local extras, exceeding GLITR's 15-story daily limit: Azure Dynamics issues stock instead of cash to two more directors; Ann Arbor's ERT Systems gets a new reseller; Bright House offers prez, VP debates on demand; the Michigan Venture Capital Association names its next 'Executive in Residence'; Verizon beefs up reception at Joe Louis Arena; Chrysler Financial helps build the first eco-friendly Habitat for Humanity home; and Gale launches a huge new online content marketplace. Elsewhere in Techland: the new Nintendo DS will come with a camera; an industry group says August chip sales rose 5.5 percent; showgoers are increasingly viewing art fare on screen, not on stage; Sony's new e-book reader has a light and a note-taking stylus; troubled times may be ahead for technology, too; another look at how a shaky economy may mean another tech mess; Flickr has an iPhone friendly beta redesign; Estonia posts its cybersecurity strategy; a new phishing attempt targets bank customers; Apple's deadline for iPhone push notification passes; Ballmer says Zune is coming to Windows Mobile; Google Trends offers all the news that's fit to exploit; a report says Yahoo may be planning more layoffs; national cybersecurity group says people can do more to prevent ID theft; research find security holes in several major Web sites; Toyota suddenly rethinks plug-in hybrids; a new energy idea is tapping the power in trees; TCP flaws put Web sites at risk; tech M&A spending takes a big hit; and Virgin Galactic rejects $1 million for the first space porn.
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.
LEGAL NOTICE: This email may be considered an advertising or promotional message. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email from this station, please reply to this email by sending a reply email by clicking on the "reply" button at the top of this page or by sending an e-mail to Nancy Ho at nancy.ho@cbsradio.com. Or you can change your subscriber profile: «Reserved.Unsubscribe»
You must use this method to notify GLITR and WWJ of your opt-out request, as we cannot guarantee that other methods of notification will be effective. Please be aware that we may continue to contact you via email for administrative or informational purposes, including follow-up messages regarding contests you have entered or other transactions you have undertaken. By law, such messages are not considered to be commercial e-mail.
Note: The Great Lakes IT Report is sent in HTML format only. Please make sure you have given us permission to send you an HTML message. If you have any questions, drop an e-mail to Nancy Ho or Matt Roush.
E-Mail Story
Print Story
Wednesday's opening day of the WiMax World 2008 conference in Chicago covered the technological promise of WiMax wireless high-speed Internet access. Thursday's second day covered the real-world applications -- places where WiMax is already providing mobile high-speed service at low rates. The installations ranged from the joint Sprint Nextel-Clearwire system, Xohm, which will blanket the nation's top 100 cities, and a company called DigitalBridge that is concentrating on markets with under 150,000 population -- starting in places like Idaho Falls, Idaho. 
Electrical union, contractors to show off training center
