Michigan
Strategic Fund invests in Venomix
The Michigan Strategic Fund board,
based on a Michigan Economic Development Corp. recommendation, has completed
a $1.8 million convertible Series B investment in Venomix Inc., the
company announced Tuesday. MSF, located in Lansing, is charged with
promoting economic development in the state. Venomix, based in Kalamazoo,
is developing a new generation of insecticides based on the peptides
spiders use to kill insects. More.
San
Diego investment group to fill former Pfizer building The future of a former Pfizer
Inc. building at 6901 Portage Road in Portage will be unveiled Friday
at 10:30 a.m. Carl Sedlak, lead investor for 6901 Portage LLC, a San
Diego, Calif.-based investment group that recently was the winning bidder
to buy the former Building 298, will speak at the conference. Sedlak
credits the incentives provided by the state of Michigan and the local
communities, in addition to the Kalamazoo Promise, for differentiating
this area and placing it in a unique position to attract new jobs. More.
ECD
gets 10-megawatt solar panel deal Rochester
Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices Inc. Tuesday announced a 10-megawatt
supply agreement with Inovateus Solar. Inovateus, based in South Bend,
Ind., expects to make the purchases of ECD's Uni-Solar thin photovoltaic
panels between now and the end of 2011. Inovateus Solar will use Uni-Solar
PV laminates for building-integrated photovoltaic systems in commercial
rooftop applications. ECD resumed production of its solar panels in
late June after shutdowns that lasted four to six weeks across its various
production centers. The company blamed slack demand. More.
GCC renames
loan servicing platform GCC Servicing Systems, a
Southfield-based mortgage servicing firm, announces the re-naming of
its loan servicing platform as G/Serv. GCC Servicing Systems automates
all aspects of loan servicing and data management for mortgage companies,
servicers, banks, and credit unions. More.
Wayne
State University law school adopts social media
Wayne State University's law school Tuesday
said it was joining in the modern social media movement, with the school
itself and several professors writing blogs, and others establishing
interactive accounts on sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. That's
where the students are, after all. More.
We
all are really good at using Excel spreadsheets to tabulate and analyze
numbers. Now, we can do even more using the latest visualization technology
from iDashboards, a Troy-based software company. Turn them into lively,
at-a-glance insightful dashboards. Simply upload them and see the results
in interactive Web-based dashboards. For techies, you can even write
SQL queries against the spreadsheets, treating them as database tables
of a relational database.
With the recent launch of software-as-a-service
(SaaS) offering by iDashboards, you simply upload your spreadsheets
and visualize that information in web-based dashboards. The dreary look
of rows and columns of data gets an instant makeover. Those numbers
suddenly start telling a story.
There is no other software to download; all you
need is Internet access. The subscription cost for this service is $50
per month per user with a three-user minimum. Each user gets a secured
access to their dashboards through a password protected login.
To learn more about iDashboards and their
products, visit www.iDashboards.com.
Note: Today's Blue Box was sponsored
by iDashboards. For information on how you can sponsor content in the
Blue Box, contact Jeff Lasser at (248) 455-7319 or
jeff.lasser@cbsradio.com
ITC gets
site approval for Kansas power line project In a decision that will
hasten the availability of reliable, renewable energy to consumers,
ITC Great Plains LLC Tuesday received siting approval from the Kansas
Corporate Commission to build the first phase of its 345-kilovolt Kansas
Electric Transmission Authority project. ITC Great Plains is a subsidiary
of Novi-based ITC Holdings Corp. This first phase of the project involves
the construction of an 89-mile transmission line between Spearville
and Hays, Kan. More.
Altair adds
another program to HyperWorks 'community'
Troy-based Altair Engineering
Tuesday announced the addition of Sculptor from Optimal Solutions Software
LLC, a provider of shape optimization software for computational fluid
dynamics, to its HyperWorks Enabled Community. HyperWorks customers
can now download the latest version of Sculptor, along with 24 other
available third-party software applications, at no incremental cost
using their existing HyperWorks software license system at www.hyperworkscommunity.com.
This brings the total number of applications available under the HyperWorks
platform to 52. More.
ISSYS
licenses microtube technology to California company Ypsilanti-based Integrated
Sensing Systems Inc. announced that it has signed an intellectual property
licensing agreement with Affinity Biosensors LLC of Santa Barbara, Calif.
Affinity is developing and commercializing methods of measuring and
monitoring particles, cells, bacteria, and viruses using resonating
micromachined tubes. Specialists in MEMS technology, ISSYS has developed
resonating silicon microtubes for more than a decade for a variety of
applications. The licensing agreement allows Affinity to use ISSYS'
microtube fabrication technology to develop more advanced versions of
their unique particulate sensors. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Intel's
strong numbers suggest the PC business is on the mend Intel Corp.'s second-quarter
results bolster the company's position that the computer business is
on the mend after its roughest patch in years. Intel is the world's
biggest maker of microprocessors, the electronic brains of PCs. More
than three-quarters of the world's PCs use Intel chips. The company
late Tuesday posted second-quarter sales substantially stronger than
Wall Street expected, and its outlook suggests there's more good news
to come. The stock jumped 7 percent in after-hours trading. That's not
to say that personal computers are flying off the shelves. PC makers
are still hurting, which shows how brisk business for Intel might take
months to translate into better numbers for its customers. More.
(Well, like Dell, right
here.)
NYC
bank heist makes for an unexpected set of Tweets "So
tired today," Annemarie Dooling tweeted early Tuesday. "really
really tired. ugh." A couple of hours later, things really really
picked up. "My bank was just held up -- with me in it. HSBC 34
and 8," the 26-year-old Web producer tweeted her 1,900 or so followers
just after 9 a.m. under her Twitter name, TravelingAnna, referring to
34th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. "Also my whole trackball
is GONE!!! I'm locked in the bank still." And thus began a rather
unusual Twitter thread -- a bank heist, or at least its immediate aftermath,
in 140-character-or-less updates. Was it the first bank heist to be
tweeted? The folks at Twitter Inc. did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. More.
Chinese
order stop to shock therapy for 'Internet addicts'
China's Health Ministry has ordered a hospital
to stop using electric shock therapy to cure youths of Internet addiction,
saying there was no scientific evidence it worked. Linyi Mental Health
Hospital in eastern Shandong province used the treatment as part of
a four-month program that has so far treated nearly 3,000 youths, the
China Youth Daily newspaper has reported, citing the psychiatrist who
runs it, Yang Yongxin. The ministry said in a statement posted on its
Web site late Monday there is no domestic or international clinical
evidence that electric shock therapy helps cure Internet addiction.
Electric shock therapy is most often used to treat severe depression.
More.
Comcast
online video trial grows to 23 networks Seventeen
more cable TV networks said Tuesday they are joining an online video
trial by Comcast Corp., a move that tacitly acknowledges advertising
isn't enough to support shows streamed over the Internet. The networks
join a growing roster of content providers -- including CBS, HBO, Cinemax,
TBS, TNT and Starz -- that have agreed to participate in Comcast's test,
bringing the total to 23 programmers since the initiative was announced
in June. In coming weeks, Philadelphia-based Comcast will be testing
the service, which gives 5,000 subscriber households access to cable
TV shows online without an extra fee. The trial will let these subscribers
watch hundreds of movies and TV shows that previously could not be streamed
over the Internet legally. More.
Stocks:
Dismal employment numbers push markets lower Mixed economic data reminded
investors of the challenges businesses still face and left the market
zigzagging all day Tuesday. Investors were pleased that Goldman Sachs
Group Inc.'s second-quarter earnings easily surpassed analysts' forecasts
thanks to big gains in trading and underwriting. But the release of
the results came as something of an anticlimax, as anticipation of a
strong report sent the entire stock market soaring Monday. Johnson &
Johnson also had better-than-expected results, although its profits
fell 3.5 percent. In economic data, retail sales posted their largest
gain in five months in June, but much of that increase came from higher
gas prices. Prices for gas have fallen sharply since mid-June amid increasing
concerns about energy demand, so the higher sales figures may not be
sustainable. Investors were also uneasy after a separate report showed
wholesale prices rising far more than expected last month and the most
since November 2007, due partly to higher energy prices. That sent Treasurys
falling and their yields climbing. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)
rose 6.52 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,799.73. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU)
rose 27.81 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8,359.49. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index ($SOX)
rose a sharp 4.32 points or 1.6 percent to 269.61. The Morgan Stanley
High Tech 35 Index (MSH)
rose 1.42 points or 0.3 percent to 445.28. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical
Index (DRG)
rose 1.87 points or 0.7 percent to 263.6. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index
(BTK)
fell 3.91 points or 0.6 percent to 649.95. Finally, the Standard & Poor's
500 (SPX)
rose 4.79 points or 0.5 percent, to 905.84.
All contents copyright 2009 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS Radio & Eye logo trademarked and copyright 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. Written and edited
by Matt Roush, Technology Editor, WWJ Newsradio 950, Detroit. GLITR may contain material from the Associated Press, CNET, News.com, MarketWatch.com or Reuters, 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, or with general questions or concerns, contact Pete Kowalski, WWJ's station manager, at
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Rochester
Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices Inc. Tuesday announced a 10-megawatt
supply agreement with Inovateus Solar. Inovateus, based in South Bend,
Ind., expects to make the purchases of ECD's Uni-Solar thin photovoltaic
panels between now and the end of 2011. Inovateus Solar will use Uni-Solar
PV laminates for building-integrated photovoltaic systems in commercial
rooftop applications. ECD resumed production of its solar panels in
late June after shutdowns that lasted four to six weeks across its various
production centers. The company blamed slack demand. 
Turn those spreadsheets into lively dashboards
"So
tired today," Annemarie Dooling tweeted early Tuesday. "really
really tired. ugh." A couple of hours later, things really really
picked up. "My bank was just held up -- with me in it. HSBC 34
and 8," the 26-year-old Web producer tweeted her 1,900 or so followers
just after 9 a.m. under her Twitter name, TravelingAnna, referring to
34th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. "Also my whole trackball
is GONE!!! I'm locked in the bank still." And thus began a rather
unusual Twitter thread -- a bank heist, or at least its immediate aftermath,
in 140-character-or-less updates. Was it the first bank heist to be
tweeted? The folks at Twitter Inc. did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. 
