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Gongos offers new online focus groups
In the research world, the ability to go face-to-face with consumers from multiple markets is a valued commodity. Auburn Hills-based Gongos Research is streamlining qualitative research by offering ConsumerView, an online method for conducting in-depth, interactive focus groups. By integrating easy-to-use Webcam technology, ConsumerView offers the same high-quality insights gathered in traditional focus groups, while reducing travel and time constraints associated with conducting research in multiple markets. More.
Domino's Pizza politics poll shows a few surprises
Ann Arbor-based Domino's Pizza says Republicans and Democrats are different -- not only with their politics, but with their pizza ordering preferences, according to the Domino's Pizza Tracker Poll launched last week on www.dominos.com. Republicans spend more money per order, use credit cards more, like large pizzas and usually order them two at a time. They like to pick up their orders, although they use online ordering more than Democrats. Democrats stay in and use delivery more, are more likely to pay with cash and like more variety with their orders, more often adding chicken, side items and beverages to their pizza orders. Undecided voters fall between Republicans and Democrats in all categories but one: they are most likely to order extra-large pizzas, like Domino's Brooklyn-Style. More.
Boomdash gets new Yellow Pages deal
Ann Arbor-based Boomdash LLC, a leader in search engine and mobile marketing for local businesses, announced Tuesday its partnership with Zamp Media Inc., which does business as Pathfinder Directories, a yellow page publisher for the New Hampshire area. The partnership will allow Zamp Media advertisers to advertise online and on mobile phones. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
YouTube flips switch on new sales channel
Online video leader YouTube has opened up its version of a home shopping network in its latest effort to wring more revenue from its massive audience and justify the $1.76 billion that Google Inc. paid for the site two years ago. In the new service, unveiled Tuesday in the United States, there will be buttons under YouTube videos to offer viewers a chance to buy music, movies, TV shows, concert tickets and other products featured or mentioned in a particular clip. When one of the links is clicked, the YouTube viewer is taken to another Web site like Amazon.com or iTunes that's selling a desired song or other product. YouTube will receive a commission for each completed sale. More.
BlackBerry Storm has a touch screen you can feel
Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry, is taking on Apple Inc. with a touch-screen phone that puts a new twist on the technology. RIM is known for its e-mail-oriented phones with large keypads. With the new model being announced Wednesday, the Storm, RIM is for the first time giving up the physical keypad in favor of a large screen, just like the one on Apple's iPhone. But RIM has listened to users who find the iPhone's glass screen awkward to type on because its virtual buttons provide no tactile feedback. The Storm's whole screen is backed by springs, and when pressed, it gives under the finger. More.
Google gets into video games -- with ads
Google Inc., the leader in online search and advertising, is muscling in on video game territory - though it won't exactly be in the form of a shoot 'em up game. Google was set to announce Wednesday it is launching the beta version of "Adsense in Games," a technology designed to put relevant advertising links in Web-based games. It is an expansion of Google's Adsense program, which matches ads to the content of Web sites. Similarly, Adsense in Games will show, for example, ads targeted at young men in sports and action games. The ads themselves would be videos that players watch before or after a game, or after completing a level. More.
Fabless future; Struggling AMD spins off chip factories
For years, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s scrappy image was best summed up by an insult that founder Jerry Sanders lobbed against rivals: "Real men have fabs." Sanders meant that while many chip companies design semiconductors and outsource the manufacturing, AMD enjoyed the relatively rare advantage of owning its factories, known as fabrication plants, or fabs. Times have changed, though, and now so has AMD's commitment to hanging onto those facilities, which have become a cash drain on a struggling company. The world's No. 2 maker of microprocessors said Tuesday it is spinning off its manufacturing operations in a deal with an investment arm of the Persian Gulf state of Abu Dhabi. More.
Stocks: Nasdaq hits five-year low as tech shares plunge again
Technology stocks plunged again Tuesday as shares of Google Inc. sunk below the $350 mark for the first time in 2 1/2 years and nearly every major tech stock closed with losses as the sell-off in global equities went on unabated. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) fell 108.08 points or 5.8 percent to 1,754.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) plunged 508.39 points or 5.1 percent to 9,447.11. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) gave up initial small gains to finish down 16.81 points or 6.1 percent. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 27.24 points or 6.6 percent. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) fell 8.33 points or 3 percent to 269.98, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) fell 25.88 points or 3.7 percent to 672.67. The S&P 500 (SPX) fell 60.66 points or 5.7 percent to 996.23. The overall market closed deep in the red as investors continue to doubt the government's actions to ease the frozen credit market.
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I've never included Ferris State University on my fall Tech Tour of Michigan's high-tech universities. Boy, was I missing out. Ferris State sent me on a whirlwind tour of the Big Rapids school Tuesday, with seven stops in seven hours starting at 7 a.m. And while I'm bushed right now, I'm also charged up by the exciting technologies and programs I saw -- and how they can help Michigan transform its economy past the Rust Belt. 
Enmark marking 25th birthday with growth
