New Oakland
U. business incubator opens in Sterling Heights A
huge crowd of more than 400 marked the launch of the Macomb-Oakland
University INCubator Monday, ushering in what officials hope is a new
driver of business innovation and job growth for Michigan. The incubator
is two buildings formerly housing stamping operations totaling 145,000
square feet. They've been refurbished into clean, high-ceilinged vacant
space through about $1.1 million in state and federal grants. Startup
companies locating in the incubator will get a variety of targeted business
resources and services. Included will be a 'kitchen cabinet' advisory
board, assistance with capital investment, flexible leases, discounted
professional service fees and more. More.
Morton
Marketing offers new Web analytics software Canton Township-based Morton
Marking Inc. Monday introduced the release of version 4.0 of Resultrak,
the company’s Web analytics and online marketing results tracking
system. The new version includes new tracking capabilities and a streamlined
user interface that makes data easier to comprehend. Resultrak is used
to track online marketing programs such as Google AdWords and other
paid search marketing, email marketing, organic search engine optimization,
and other programs used to drive targeted online traffic. The application
not only tracks the source of traffic, but also allows users to understand
which programs drive conversions. More.
New
color management system software from X-Rite
Kentwood-based X-Rite Inc. Monday announced
version 1.1 of its ColorMunki Photo & Design software. “X-Rite
continues to evolve ColorMunki by listening to our customers and enhancing
our color management offerings accordingly, supporting the latest packages
such as Corel, QuarkXPress, and Photoshop CS4," said X-Rite senior
vice president of sales and marketing Iris Mangelschots. "Version
1.1 also offers the ability to control lighting conditions under which
color is viewed. Like everything else with ColorMunki, we’ve made
this pro-like step easy.” The company said the new software offers
more precise, pro-like display control. Now, for the first time, users
can easily adjust light functionality when color matching from display
to display. More.
Economics
Dept.: Foreclosures still driving Michigan real estate market Real estate sales continue
to rise in the Detroit area, according to Realcomp II Ltd., the Farmington
Hills provider of online and offline sales information to the region's
real estate professionals. However, the reason sales are rising continues
to be foreclosures. The region saw 6,549 home sales in June, up 22.6
percent from 5,341 sales in June 2008. However, 3,593 of those were
foreclosure sales -- double the 1,795 foreclosure sales of a year earlier.
Non-foreclosure sales fell 16.6 percent to 2,956 from 3,546 a year earlier.
More.
Verizon
Wireless to spend nearly $200 million in Michigan this year
Verizon Wireless Monday announced
that it has activated 12 new cell sites in Michigan in the first half
of the year and is on target to build a total of 43 new cell sites in
2009, while spending nearly $198 million on its wireless voice and data
network in the state this year. The 43 new cell sites will expand network
coverage and increase capacity. Where possible, Verizon Wireless will
be installing permanent generators at its new cell sites, ensuring its
customers can continue to communicate during power outages, tornadoes
and other disasters. More.
MSU-developed
nanocomposite could mean more MPG
Michigan State University researchers
have developed a composite material modified with nanoparticles that
is economical and could also help automakers meet the new fuel efficiency
standards recently announced by President Barack Obama. The new nanocomposite
is based on a nanomaterial invented at MSU -- xGnP Graphene Nanoplatelets
-- which is added to sheet molding compound to make it stronger and
tougher, as well as electrically conductive. More.
Phadia offers
new consumer Web site to tout blood test Portage-based Phadia US
Inc., the world leader in in vitro allergy diagnostics and manufacturer
of ImmunoCAP Specific IgE blood testing, Monday unveiled a new consumer-focused
Web site designed to educate consumers about allergies and the benefits
of allergen-specific blood testing. Allergies are underdiagnosed in
this country, especially in children with eczema or recurrent ear infections,
and in asthma sufferers. The goal of the new Web site, www.IsItAllergy.com,
is to help educate consumers about the importance of getting allergies
diagnosed. More.
Asterand
gets deal with Danish firm Detroit-based Asterand plc,
a provider of human tissue and services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies engaged in drug discovery research, said Monday it had entered
into a Global Framework Research Agreement with Lundbeck A/S, a Denmark-based
international pharmaceutical company focused on the development of medications
for central nervous system disorders. This agreement will allow scientists
at Lundbeck’s global research locations to access Asterand's XpressBank
of human tissue and clinical data and the PhaseZero drug discovery services
platform to advance development of treatments for psychiatric and neurological
disorders. Financial terms were not disclosed. More.
Kevin
Lasser is CEO of Encryption
Security Solutions and Pure Entropy Technologies in Orion Township.
Lasser has 25 years of experience in finance, IT security, and
business building. As CEO and overseeing both operations and
sales and marketing, he leads efforts to position his companies
as world-class providers of encryption solutions to commercial
concerns and government and military installations. In 2008,
the companies were nominated for Automation Alley’s emerging
IT company of the year award. Lasser was previously president
and founder of Sage Financial Corp. which raised more than $220
million for businesses and was consistently ranked among the
“Top 10 Money Finders Group” by organizations such
as GE Capital, Pitney Bowes Financial, and Maryland National
Financial. Lasser cofounded his first business, Lease U.S. Inc.,
an equipment leasing brokerage house, after positions with what
is now National City Bank and Dana Commercial Credit. He is
secretary of the Michigan Homeland Security Consortium and chairs
its IT subcommittee. He also serves as director of the security
group for Automation Alley and the Information Systems Security
Association-Motor City. He received a bachelor’s in finance
with high honors from the University of Michigan School of Business.
Read
more.
Do you know
a business, professional or community leader whom you think
deserves being honored as a Leader and Innovator?
Click here to nominate them.
Linux Box says open source on the
grow, plans hiring ahead
Ann Arbor's Linux Box, which has spent
the last 10 years writing custom open-source software applications for
a long list of clients, says its business is growing rapidly enough
that it's likely to boost staff by 50 percent to 20 within the next
year or two.
"The future is really positive,"
said Linux Box co-founder Elizabeth Ziph.
She said a recent Gartner study shows that
more than half of American companies have used open source software,
and the percentage is much higher overseas.
"I think almost anybody that we talk
to knows about open source, and when I talked about open source five
years ago people looked at me as if I had fallen from the moon,"
Ziph said.
Note: For
information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue Box, contact
Jeff Lasser at (248) 455-7319 or
jeff.lasser@cbsradio.com.
THE WORLD IN TECH
Barnes
& Noble to open electronic bookstore Retailer Barnes & Noble
says it will take on Amazon.com with an electronic bookstore that will
allow customers to buy books to read on a variety of handheld platforms
and computers. The New York-based retailer says the store will provide
access to more than 700,000 titles and up to 1 million titles within
the next year. It says the store would be the world's largest eBookstore.
The bookseller is competing against Amazon.com Inc.'s early lead in
the category. Electronic books have been a large focus for Amazon with
its support of the Kindle reader. More.
Google
offers 'guided tour' of the moon
Google Inc. is offering a more wide-ranging
view of the Moon, 40 years after humans first landed there. To commemorate
Monday's anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew's first steps on the lunar
surface, Google Earth is adding a guided moon tour with astronauts Buzz
Aldrin and Jack Schmitt, who was a pilot on the later Apollo 17 mission.
The free software also offers panoramic images shot by the Apollo astronauts,
new video footage and other features. More.
Netgear
to help Internet subscribers measure use How many gigabytes do you
consume per month? Not many people can answer that question, complicating
the efforts of Internet service providers to get their subscribers to
stay below a certain amount of data per month. In August, Netgear Inc.
plans to introduce a $190 router that will provide the first easy way
for users to get a grip on their Internet traffic. Netgear said it will
include the feature on future models, eventually making it a standard,
and provide software upgrades for older devices. Most Internet service
providers set a limit for how much their subscribers are allowed to
download each month. Those limits are mostly set high - it's 250 gigabytes
per month at Comcast Corp. But some ISPs, led by Time Warner Cable Inc.,
have tried to set low limits, then charge extra for each gigabyte of
data beyond the cap. More.
Qwest to
double broadband speeds in some cities
Qwest Communications International Inc. is
doubling its top Internet download speeds in some areas to keep up with
the offerings of cable companies. The phone company said Monday it is
introducing a plan with download speeds of up to 40 megabits per second
and upload speeds of up to 20 mbps in parts of 15 cities, including
Denver; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Salt Lake City; Seattle and Vancouver,
Wash.; and Minneapolis/St. Paul. It costs $110 per month for the first
year when combined with home phone service. More.
Stocks:
Techs stumble as overall market frets about recovery
Investors are taking the numbers
and running with them. Stocks jumped again Monday, giving the Dow Jones
industrials their sixth straight advance, as investors got more robust
earnings news from big companies and data that suggest the economy is
closer to a recovery. News that CIT had struck a financing deal that
will keep the troubled commercial lender out of bankruptcy also drove
the market higher. A 100-point gain pushed the Dow back into the black
for the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 climbed to its highest
finish since November. CIT Group Inc.'s deal with bondholders stoked
the market's growing sense of optimism, which got a big boost last week
from a string of good earnings news. The company's future was cast in
doubt after negotiations with federal regulators for bailout funds fell
through. Its failure would have been a blow to investor confidence and
would have hurt industries like retailing, which has suppliers who rely
on CIT for financing. The market also got a stream of news that bolstered
the argument that the economy is heading for a recovery. The Nasdaq
Composite Index (COMP)
rose 22.68 points or 1.2 percent to 1,909.29. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU)
rose 104.21 points or 1.2 percent to 8,848.15. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index ($SOX)
rose 3.64 points or 1.3 percent to 294.13. The Morgan Stanley High Tech
35 Index (MSH)
rose 5.39 points or 1.1 percent to 478.57. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical
Index (DRG)
rose 2.89 points or 1.1 percent to 269.26. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index
(BTK)
leapt 111.09 or 16.3 percent to 792.24. Finally, the Standard & Poor's
500 (SPX)
rose 10.75 points or 1.1 percent to 951.13.
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All Rights Reserved. Written and edited by Matt Roush, Technology Editor,
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Print Story
A
huge crowd of more than 400 marked the launch of the Macomb-Oakland
University INCubator Monday, ushering in what officials hope is a new
driver of business innovation and job growth for Michigan. The incubator
is two buildings formerly housing stamping operations totaling 145,000
square feet. They've been refurbished into clean, high-ceilinged vacant
space through about $1.1 million in state and federal grants. Startup
companies locating in the incubator will get a variety of targeted business
resources and services. Included will be a 'kitchen cabinet' advisory
board, assistance with capital investment, flexible leases, discounted
professional service fees and more. .gif)
