Your report for Monday, October 6, 2008

Tech Tour Day Five: Way cool tech way up north at MTU
One of my favorite things about Tech Tour is getting to venture north of the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula. Especially since its population of roughly 320,000 is so enterprising and tech-savvy. Once again a visit to the Keweenaw country and Michigan Technological University proved both fun and fascinating, from a high-tech see-through engine (pictured at right) and research into how bear hormones may cure osteoporosis. No, seriously.

Pasty.net moving to WiMax, gets MEDC funding
I missed one of my favorite UP entrepreneurs, Charlie Hopper of Pasty.net, during my weekend Tech Tour visit -- he happened to be downstate in Lansing and Detroit. But nevertheless, Hopper made news. In an e-mail, he told me that the Michigan Economic Development Corp. has approved Pasty.net's Marquette County wireless project. He said the MEDC is releasing the first round of funding for the $1 million installation the company is completing in five rural townships -- Michigamme, Republic, West Branch, Ewing and Wells, which Hopper called "some of the most remote, difficult to serve areas of the UP." Hopper also said he's applied for an extension of the project in order to retrofit several of the company's Marquette County conventional access points with WiMax technology. More.

Flint's ParkingCarma in NYC tech demo
Flint-based Parking Carma is in a new partnership with Arlington Heights, Ill.-based Integrated Parking Solutions Inc., Anaheim, Calif.-based transportation management systems developer Econolite Inc. and the New York City Department of Transportation. The four partners will provide a smart parking application demonstration at the 15th Intelligent Transportation Systems World Congress, to be held at the Jacob K Javits Convention Center Nov. 16-20 in New York City. More.

Saginaw Future touts business attractions retentions
Saginaw Future Inc. announced Friday that it had assisted six companies that invested more than $48 million, creating 176 jobs, in the second quarter of 2008. Also, five companies won 62 government contracts valued at nearly $13.4 million. More.

CruiseCam hints at merger, buyout
Birmingham-based CruiseCam International Inc. did something unusual for a publicly held company Friday. It issued a press release saying that an acquisition, then a potential merger or mergers, will be announced soon -- and provided no further detail. More.

The Week Ahead: Crowded calendar forces difficult choices

This is getting ridiculous.

There are 62 tech events this month alone on the Michigan IT Calendar, the state's most comprehensive tech event calendar, at this link. Nineteen of them are this week.

How to choose? It isn't easy. For those interested in tech entrepreneurship, Wednesday's E2detroit conference at Wayne State University is a headliner. (Wish I could be there but for the second straight fall it conflicts with the only dates I could take the Tech Tour.)

But there's lots more, starting with Monday's Innovation Forum at the Michigan State University management education center in Troy. Then there's a medical commercialization event at Oakland University in Rochester, , a Wayne State University seminar on the new urban economy, a school Internet security event, an Automation Alley marketing plan boot camp, an IBM server event, and a Kalamazoo biotech meeting -- and that's just Tuesday.

Later in the week there's an IT education summit at a new community tech center in Lansing, a business leadership conference at Oakland U, a manufacturing technology education workshop at Macomb Community College, the monthly Help Desk Institute meeting, a Google AdWords workshop, and much more.

I'll be Tech Touring, but you all have fun at all this cool stuff!

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Minnesota software firm touts role in MSU malaria study
St. Paul, Minn-based Acuo Technologies announced Friday that its Dicom Services Grid software is being used to distribute timely information regarding the impact of malaria in the African nation of Malawi for a research product at Michigan State University. More.

Visteon shows off electronic A/C for hybrid autos
An electrically driven air conditioning compressor from Van Buren Township-based Visteon Corp. is featured in BMW's hybrid demonstration vehicle, first presented at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. Visteon has developed the system for use with hybrid systems out of its proven expertise in compressors with electrical end electronic capabilities. More.

Specialty foam maker bought out
The English specialty plastics and fiber products supplier Filtrona plc Friday announced an agreement to acquire the business and assets of St. Charles-based Lendell Manufacturing Inc. for $35 million, subject to a number of conditions being met. Completion of the transaction is anticipated during October. Lendell is a developer and manufacturer of specialized hydrophilic foam products for high-value markets in the United States and Europe. Technology development and manufacturing are conducted in its 60,000-square-foot St. Charles plant. Key markets served by Lendell include medical wound care, consumer products and cosmetics, and agricultural as well as other industrial applications. More.

THE WORLD IN TECH

Ex-McAfee exec cleared in option backdating
A jury on Friday acquitted the former top lawyer at computer-security software maker McAfee Inc. of illegally tampering with his stock option grants to boost his pay package. Kent Roberts, who served as McAfee's general counsel until he was fired in 2006, was charged with two counts of fraud and one count of falsifying accounting books. A jury on Friday found him not guilty on the fraud charges and couldn't come to a decision on the third charge. More.

Fraud plagues prepaid calling card market
Rosalba Posada can tick off a list of problems she has encountered trying to use prepaid calling cards to stay in touch with family back in Colombia. There were the cards that didn't deliver as many minutes as promised and the cards that charged extra fees to call a cell phone. There were the cards that offered several hundred minutes of calling time, but began deducting minutes if they were not all used in a single call. There was the card that had already expired when Posada tried to use it just a few months after buying it. And there was the card that simply didn't work at all. "Some of those prepaid calling cards are good for nothing," said Posada, a high school registrar who lives in Pembroke Pines, Fla., and now uses Skype, a free Internet calling service, to talk with her family. More.

CNN hands over info on author of Steve Jobs rumor
CNN-owned Web site called iReport.com, which publishes reports written by ordinary citizens, said Friday it will give the Securities and Exchange Commission information about the author of an item that claimed Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack. The early morning report, which Apple Inc. spokesman Steve Dowling said was not true, sent shares plummeting to their lowest point in a year. The stock recovered around the time the post was removed from iReport.com, but ended the day off 3 percent at $97.07 amid a broader market slide. An SEC spokesman declined to comment. Jobs, who survived pancreatic cancer, has remained quiet on the topic of his health despite appearing extremely thin in recent public appearances. More.

Google agrees to brief delay of Yahoo ad deal
Google Inc. agreed to delay the start of a Web advertising partnership with rival Yahoo Inc., giving U.S. antitrust regulators more time to review the deal. Under a plan announced in June, Google would provide advertising next to some of Yahoo's search results. The companies voluntarily held off for three months to give regulators time to assess whether the alliance will hurt competition. Microsoft Corp., the No. 3 player in Web search, and a large group of advertisers, have protested the deal because together, Google and Yahoo control more than 80 percent of the rapidly growing U.S. market for search advertising. More.

Stocks: Nasdaq gives up gains after House approval of bailout
The Nasdaq Composite Index gave up earlier gains Friday after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a financial bailout plan, following the lead of the Senate. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP), which was up 3.6% before the vote started, eventually fell 1.5 percent to close at 1,947.4 points after the bailout bill passed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) fell 157.5 points as investors welcomed news of a buyout deal for Wachovia Corp. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX), , which was ahead 2.6 percent early in the day, fell 1.3 percent. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH), which was up 3 percent early, lost 2.1 percent. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) fell 0.5 percent, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) fell 2.1 percent. The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 15.05 points to 1,099.23, with consumer discretionary and IT leading the losses among the index's 10 industry groups.

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