GLITR Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Your report for Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Dow Chemical in new algae-based ethanol venture
Midland-based Dow Chemical Co. Monday said it plans to work with Bonita Springs, Fla.-based Algenol Biofuels Inc. to build and operate a pilot-scale algae-based integrated biorefinery that will convert carbon dioxide into ethanol. The facility is planned to be located at Dow's Freeport, Texas site. "This project and the innovative technology involved offers great promise in the battle to help slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions," stated Andrew N. Liveris, Dow chairman and CEO. Algenol's technology uses CO2, salt water, sunlight and non-arable land to produce ethanol. Dow, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Membrane Technology & Research Inc. are contributing science, expertise, and technology to the project, with the opportunity for a breakthrough process for ethanol production. More.

Advanced Photonix hits positive cash flow on sales jump
Ann Arbor-based Advanced Photonix Inc. reported positive cash flow on a 28 percent sales increase to $29.7 million in its fiscal year ended March 31. For the quarter, sales were $6.1 million, up $875,000 or 17 percent from a year earlier. The increase was led by military sales, up 79 percent. For the fiscal year the sales increase was broad based across the company's markets, led by the military, telecommunications and industrial non-destructive testing markets. Advanced Photonix makes optoelectronic instruments used in advanced data networks, as well as instruments that emit terahertz radiation, a part of the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared light that is being studied for a variety of security, detection and measurement applications. More.

DTE Energy, state launch residential energy efficiency effort
Detroit-based DTE Energy Monday launched a comprehensive program to help its customers improve the energy efficiency of their homes and businesses. The program, called Your Energy Savings, will show DTE Energy customers throughout Michigan how to save money by using less energy. The initiative was one of several kicked off Monday in an energy efficiency effort of the Michigan Public Service Commission. More. Meanwhile, as for the overall state effort, Michigan Public Service Commission Chairman Orjiakor Isiogu said Michigan is entering a new era of energy efficiency to save ratepayers money. He joined utility executives and representatives of various energy-related organizations at the kickoff of an energy optimization collaborative meeting in Lansing attended by over 130 people. More.

Plante & Moran buys Cincinnati public accounting firm
Southfield-based Plante & Moran PLLC, one of the nation’s largest certified public accounting and business advisory firms, Monday announced a merger with Jackson, Rolfes, Spurgeon & Co., one of Cincinnati’s largest public accounting firms, effective July 1. More.

Kettering research helps improve child protection in side crashes
Kettering University’s Crash Safety Center worked with Dorel Juvenile Group to develop a ground-breaking new car seat safety technology that better protects children in side impact crashes. The New Safety 1st Car Seat has Air Protect, the most innovative and groundbreaking safety feature ever offered in a car seat. Developed in conjunction with Kettering University’s Crash Safety Center, Air Protect is designed to protect children in side impact collisions, putting a layer of air protection where it’s needed most, around the child’s head. More.

Nuspire Networks 'can't hire fast enough' for net security

One of the best kept secrets in Michigan IT is trying to fix that little problem of visibility.

Mostly because, the phrase of one of its founders, it can't hire people fast enough.

Security and connectivity provider Nuspire Networks Inc. was founded in 1999 by Saylor Frase and Steve Whitener as a spinout of Frase's Web development company, which he started as a Central Michigan University student in 1996.

Nuspire's first work was connecting hospitals to small clinics securely using Virtual Private Network technology, which some then doubted could be trusted to do the job. Relationships to handle connectivity for bigger tech companies like Unisys and IBM brought them to the attention of General Motors Corp., which in 2000 began using Nuspire to provide connectivity with dealers.

"To this day we still run that portion of connecting GM with dealers," Frase said.

More recently, the company has taken on work for Subaru, SPX Corp., InkStop stores and Fox TV. Those customers keep Nuspire scrambling -- they've kept up with InkStop's 300 percent annualized growth, for instance, by figuring out a way to complete a data phone infrastructure for a new store location in two weeks.

And three months ago, the company hired its first marketing and sales department.

"We never had a sales force up 'til then, but our products and services have now matured enough, and we see deals in the media now where we say, 'Wow, we should have competed for that,'" Frase said. "We're trying to raise our profile."

NuSpire has 60 employees now and openings in network engineering, corporate IT sales, sales engineering, call center support, administrative assistants, and very specific programming roles.

"We can't hire people fast enough, and it's neat to be with a Michigan company that has that problem," company marketing director Jim Hebler said.

More from the Great Lakes IT Report.

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Pontiac's GuidePoint offers GPS system for loaner cars
GuidePoint Systems has launched two new GPS-based products aimed at helping car dealerships protect their loaner cars and unsold vehicle inventory -- as well as increase their profitability. The Pontiac-based supplier of GPS tracking and convenience products said it has begun marketing a new Loaner Car Protection Plan to help protect vehicles loaned out by dealerships. Guidepoint also has begun selling a new Lot Protection Plan that allows dealers to protect and monitor inventory vehicles. More.

Michigan's big pharma firm, Pfizer, offers free drugs for the jobless
An assistance program offered by Pfizer Inc., the huge drugmaker with significant Michigan operations, will help many unemployed Americans continue receiving their prescription medicines when the program goes live Wednesday. "Maintain" is a unique program that helps newly unemployed Americans without prescription coverage and in financial need continue to get their Pfizer medicine free of charge for up to 12 months or until they become insured, whichever comes first. People enrolled in Maintain can get access to more than 70 medicines that treat a range of chronic health conditions. More.

Lawrence Tech leads Clinton River study
Lawrence Technological University is leading a three-year, $228,000 study to identify improved management techniques to restore a more natural flow of water into the Clinton River from its upper watershed in Oakland County. Donald Carpenter, an associate professor of civil engineering at Lawrence Tech, recently won approval for a $146,000 grant from Michigan Sea Grant, a joint program of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. The remaining funds will be provided by Lawrence Tech and partner organizations. More.

THE WORLD IN TECH

Group comes close to winning $1 million Netflix prize
A multinational group of researchers, scientists and engineers are close to winning a $1 million challenge to improve Netflix Inc.'s system of recommending movies that its subscribers might like. The online movie rental company had launched the Netflix Prize contest in 2006 to improve its predictions by at least 10 percent. The idea was to farm out valuable research to thousands of enthusiastic participants. A team called BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos submitted its solution last week, saying it has improved the predictions for what movies people will enjoy by 10.05 percent. More.

Jackson's death unleashes barrage of online scams
Minutes after any big celebrity dies, Internet swindlers get to work. They pump out specially created spam e-mails and throw up malicious Web sites to infect victims' computers, hoping to capitalize on the sudden high demand for information. Michael Jackson's death was no different, and security experts say the fraud artists are just getting started. The scams started cropping up almost instantaneously as Jackson's death was still hitting the news. As days have gone by, they've gotten more sophisticated -- and dangerous. Jackson's death "took a lot of people by surprise - the spammers, too," said Dermot Harnett, principal analyst for anti-spam engineering at Symantec Corp., a security software maker. "It might take them some time to really pounce on this issue. They are catching up pretty quickly, though." More.

Comcast to offer wireless Internet service
Comcast Corp. will become the first major cable TV operator to roll out wireless broadband outside of Wi-Fi hotspots as it launches the service in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, with at least three other cities to follow this year. Comcast will offer speeds of up to four megabits per second, faster than any other comparable, non-Wi-Fi service currently being marketed. The service is for use with laptops, but not other mobile devices. Comcast's wireless broadband, which lets users surf the Web on the go with their computers, pits it squarely against the mobile data offerings of phone companies. More.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs back to work a few days a week
Apple Inc. co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs is back at his office a few days a week after taking a 5 1/2-month medical leave and getting a new liver. Jobs, 54, will work from home on days he doesn't work from Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, company spokesman Steve Dowling said Monday. Dowling did not say exactly when Jobs returned to the office. The state of Jobs' health and the timing of his return have been watched closely by investors and the media, because few CEOs are considered as instrumental to their companies' success as Jobs has been to Apple. He is seen as the visionary behind Apple's popular iPod music players and the iPhone, which left far more experienced mobile phone makers scrambling to catch up with similar touchscreen devices. More.

Stocks: Rising oil, commodity prices pull shares higher
A jump in oil prices sent investors rushing to put money into the stock market in the final days of the second quarter. Energy, industrial and materials stocks pulled the market higher in light trading Monday as investors raced to keep up with the gains in oil. Crude rose $2.33 to settle at $71.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after China said it would boost oil reserves and Nigerian militants partly shut down an offshore oil platform. Analysts cautioned against seeing rising stock prices as a sign of conviction among investors that it was time to move into the market ahead of an economic recovery. Stocks seesawed in the early going but jumped after oil gained. More. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) rose 5.84 points or 0.3 percent to 1,844.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) rose 90.99 points or 1.1 percent, to 8,529.38. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) fell 0.13 points or 0.1 percent to 262.92. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 2.29 points or 0.5 percent to 454.1. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (DRG) rose 2.32 points or 0.9 percent to 263.68. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index (BTK) rose 0.4 points or 0.1 percent to 701.6. Finally, the Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) rose 8.33 points or 0.9 percent to 927.23.

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