Your report for Thursday, September 4, 2008

Detroit CIOs plan strong fourth quarter hiring
A net 9 percent of chief information officers in the Detroit area expect to hire information technology professionals in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. Twelve percent of executives surveyed plan to add staff during the quarter and 3 percent anticipate reductions in personnel. The net 9 percent increase is unchanged from the area's third-quarter 2008 forecast and one point above the national average. More.

Kansas firm to commercialize MSU biofuels technology
A Kansas company has licensed Michigan State University technology that uses enzymes from a microbe in a cow’s stomach to create plants that can be more efficiently turned into biofuel. Breaking down cellulose and hemicellulose (the fiber that makes plant leaves and stems rigid) into simple sugars that can be fermented into ethanol has been a key challenge for biofuel producers. Enzymes must be added to chopped plant material. This makes the process and the final biofuel product more costly. The fact that the breakdown process also is difficult to do efficiently also increases costs. Sticklen’s corn variety for biofuel production, Spartan Corn III, contains all three enzymes necessary to convert the cellulose in plant fiber into sugars that can be made into biofuel. More.

Ecology Coatings to get investment of up to $5 million
Bloomfield Hills-based Ecology Coatings Inc. Wednesday announced an investment of up to $5 million in convertible preferred stock in the company from Equity 11 Ltd., an Auburn Hills-based private equity firm. Ecology Coatings develops patented coatings that use nanotechnology so that they are curable in ultraviolet light rather than heat, resulting in huge energy savings to users. The company said funds received from the stock will be used to retire short-term debt and to develop and expand its sales, marketing, product development and materials production activities. More.

Energy efficient plug-in hybrid bus gets first test drive
Troy-based Fisher Coachworks LLC announced that its GTB-40 plug-in hybrid transit bus took its inaugural drive at 4:35 p.m. on Aug. 15. Behind the wheel was Bruce Emmons, Fisher Coachworks' co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. This important milestone caps several years of development, funded in part by grants from the Department of Energy, and sets the wheels in motion for rapid commercialization of the bus by Fisher Coachworks. Fisher officials say the GTB-40 bus is half the weight of current hybrid buses in the market, and as a result of its energy optimized architecture, it also achieves twice the fuel economy. More.

TrueDelta offers latest auto quality data
The West Bloomfield Township-based automotive quality Web site TrueDelta.com has released its quarterly vehicle reliability results based on real-world owner experiences through June 30. This set of results even includes a couple of early 2009 models, the Nissan Murano and Jaguar XF. TrueDelta's information comes from a group of auto owners that's now 33,000 strong. Car owners join TrueDelta as "panel members" and provide TrueDelta's data through brief online surveys. In exchange for their participation, these owners receive full access to TrueDelta's quarterly results free of charge. More.

UM-Dearborn, Detroit Public TV set youth vote effort

Detroit Public Television and the University of Michigan-Dearborn have joined together “to engage young people in the upcoming election with a multimedia project that gives everyone a chance to let their voice be heard,” according to Edward G. Bagale, vice chancellor for government relations at UM-Dearborn.

In addition to the presidential race, this fall's historic election will include Michigan ballot issues on stem cell research and medical marijuana, and many contested elections for the state House of Representatives.

The core of the project, called “MiVote,” is an interactive Web site at www.mivote.org that will “enable UM-Dearborn students and others to upload videos that will explain to our presidential candidates what they should know about Michigan and its citizens,” according to Dave Manney, DPTV’s director of program development.

The Web site is only part of the effort, though. Participants in MiVote also will be seen and heard on Detroit Public Television and other media outlets in the weeks leading to the election. And at the end of October, a town hall meeting will be held on campus and broadcast on Channel 56, “tackling the issues discussed by young people in the course of the project,” Manney said.

Faculty members at UM-Dearborn are exploring ways to use the project in their classes this fall.

“This is a site that can be utilized for courses and assignments beyond the obvious choices of political science and communications,” according to Jonathan Smith, professor of English and associate dean of UM-Dearborn’s College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters. “It's easy to imagine the widest range of our courses -- composition, health policy studies, American studies, environmental science, economics, women's and gender studies, sociology and international studies -- being able to get involved in this project, whether through student contributions to the site or analyses of the materials it will contain.”

The initiative will be launched on Friday, Sept. 5, the first day of DPTV’s fall pledge drive.

Note: For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact Dan Keelan at (248) 455-7380 or dkeelan@cbs.com.

Marquette's Pioneer Surgical gets FDA OK for new product
Marquette-based Pioneer Surgical Technology Inc. has received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration to market FortrOss, a novel bone graft substitute that uses nanotechnology to advance the state of the art in orthopaedic applications. The FortrOss bone void filler is a scaffold for the in-growth of new bone and other connective tissues, when superior bone regeneration is required. More.

$4 million in new orders for Synergy Computer
Bingham Farms-based Synergy Computer Solutions Inc. announced this week that it has won several new projects with customers in the health care, leasing, energy and communications industries. The value of the deals totals $4 million. All make use of Synergy's Right Shoring business model, a combination of operations in the United States and India. More.

Economics Dept.: Michigan biz index plunges
The Michigan Business Activity Index, combined by Comerica Bank, fell 4 points in June after rising 2 points in May. It has now declined in five of the last six months. The June level of 87 was the lowest reading since July 1998. So far this year, the index has averaged 3 percent lower than it was in all of 2007. "With the Michigan-based auto companies reeling due to the overall weakness of the national economy and the increased preference for high-mileage vehicles, the downtrend in the state's economy appears to have accelerated," said Dana Johnson, Chief Economist at Comerica Bank. More.

THE WORLD IN TECH

New music site gives fans a cut of tune sales
Being a trendsetter can be pricey. As any fashionista or gadget hound knows, the latest frocks and tech toys don't pay for themselves. But a new Web site is trying to make it profitable for music lovers to stay ahead of the curve - by paying them when other people purchase MP3s they've bought. Berkeley, Calif.-based Popcuts, which publicly launched its Web site in early August, charges users 99 cents per song. Thereafter, whenever someone else buys the same song, those who have already bought it get paid in credit that can be redeemed for more Popcuts music. The earlier you buy a song, the larger your cut of future sales. And while credit is currently the payment option, the site's founders hope to eventually pay users in cash, too. More.

New home door locks can be controlled online
What if locking the front door of your home while you're away were as easy as hopping on the Internet? At the CEDIA Expo in Denver this week, Ingersoll-Rand Co.'s Schlage unit is showing off door locks that can be wirelessly set or opened via the Internet, from a mobile phone or a computer. The battery-operated locks have keypads that are locked and unlocked with 4-digit access codes (or old-fashioned keys, as a backup). Users who forget to lock a door and want to enter their code remotely can hop onto a Web portal or an application added to their mobile phones. These password-protected portals also let people change, activate or disable the codes. The company says the wireless signals sent to the locks are encrypted. More.

Internet traffic grows 53 percent from mid-2007
International Internet traffic kept growing in the last year, but at a slower rate than before, and carriers more than kept pace by adding more capacity, a research firm said Wednesday. The findings by TeleGeography Research are important because some United States Internet service providers say they are struggling with the expansion of online traffic, and are imposing monthly download limits on heavy users. The figures from TeleGeography don't exactly correlate to average Internet usage by U.S. households, but give an indication of wider trends. TeleGeography said traffic grew 53 percent from mid-2007 to mid-2008, down from a growth rate of 61 percent in the previous 12 months. More.

New eBay site has social, environmental aim
Most consumers probably associate eBay Inc. more with vintage lunch boxes and low-priced electronics than with laptop bags made from recycled plastic by women in New Delhi. The online auction operator is trying to change that perception with WorldofGood.com, a Web site launched Wednesday to sell goods produced with social and environmental goals in mind. EBay developed the site with World of Good Inc., a startup focused on "ethical supply chains" behind consumer products, and licensed the group's name for the marketplace. World of Good will get a share of the revenue from the site, which had been operating for the past six months as an online community focused on the social impact of business. The site will sell fixed-price goods that purportedly have some positive effect on people and the planet. The goal is to help consumers align their social values with their shopping decisions, WorldofGood.com general manager Robert Chatwani said. More.

Stocks: Tech stocks add up another day of losses
Many leading technology stocks closed in the red Wednesday as the sector lost its early momentum and added to the previous session's losses. Semiconductor stocks were hit particularly hard as several industry analysts said a glut in memory chips is weighing on the sector. Read more. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) fell 15.51 points or 0.7 percent to 2,333.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 15.96 points or 0.1 percent to 11,532.88. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) tumbled 14.83 points or 4.2 percent to 335.54 and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) fell 8.08 points or 1.5 percent to 544.2. The Amex Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG) fell 1.73 points or 0.6 percent to 309.14, while the Amex Biotech Index (BTK) fell 1.45 points or 0.2 percent to 823.46. The S&P 500 ($SPX) fell 2.6 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,274.98. Blue chips were mixed as an upbeat report on the manufacturing sector failed to offset worries about a global economic slowdown. The Commerce Department reported factory orders rose by 1.3 percent in July, better than the 0.8 percent forecast by economists.GM stock jumped 5.8 percent as Ford rose 1.3 percent.

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.