New 'L3C'
aims to help nonprofits with technology
Michigan's third "low-profit limited liability corporation" is a new
technology consultant for non-profit organizations. Ardent Cause L3C
aims to supply technology products and business methods designed to
make the work of nonprofits easier, as well as consulting services to
strengthen nonprofit operations and teams. Ardent Cause was established
by three Detroit-area technology veterans -- Rosemary Bayer, formerly
of Sun, Amdahl and CDC, Kathleen Norton-Schock, formerly of CA and Unisys,
and Diane Cairns, graduate program developer and professor at Lawrence
Technology University, and a veteran of Parke Davis and Pfizer Inc.
More.
Dow
Chemical posts big loss but shares rise... Dow Chemical Co. posted a second-quarter loss Thursday on charges
related to the buyout of smaller rival Rohm and Haas and dismal sales,
yet the company turned an unexpected profit excluding one-time charges.
Shares rose more than 7 percent. Dow Chemical said it lost $486 million,
or 47 cents per share, compared with earnings of $762 million, or 81
cents per share during the same period last year. The quarterly results
included charges related to adjusting values for Rohm and Haas inventories,
restructuring, other acquisition costs and discontinued operations.
Excluding one-time items, Dow reported adjusted earnings of 5 cents
per share. While the cost cuts have helped, the worst recession in at
least a generation has stunted sales. Dow's revenue fell 31 percent
to $11.32 billion from the same period last year, far below Wall Street
expectations. More.
...as
company announces sale of Malaysian unit Midland's Dow Chemical Co. has sold its interests in a Malaysian
subsidiary for $660 million. The Optimal Group of Cos. consisted of
an olefins plant, a glycols plant and a chemical plant in Kuala Lumpur.
Optimal was established by the Union Carbide Corp. subsidiary of Dow,
along with Petroliam Nasional Berhad, or Petronas, Malaysia's national
petroleum company, which is the buyer. More.
DTE Energy
profits rise despite sharp sales drop DTE Energy, the Detroit utility holding company, Thursday reported
second quarter net income of $83 million or 51 cents a share, up from
$28 million or 17 cents a share in the second quarter of 2008. Revenue
was $1.69 billion, down from $2.25 billion a year earlier. For the six
months, net income was $261 million or $1.59 a share, up from $240 million
or $1.47 a share a year earlier. Revenue was $3.94 billion, down from
$4.82 billion a year earlier. More.
Lansing
pharma firm gets state money to retain Pfizer talent
Lansing-based Afid
Therapeutics has been selected to receive funding from the state’s
Company Formation and Growth initiative aimed at retaining Pfizer Inc.
talent and assets in the state. The Michigan Strategic Fund board approved
$150,000 to hire three former Pfizer scientists at Afid’s operations
in the Michigan State University Bioeconomy Institute in Holland, Ottawa
County, a former Pfizer property. More.
Reorganization
and repositioning your business after experiencing a fallen supply base
is not easy. In today’s market, more and more IT service companies are
either going out of business or cutting their services; all of which
put your company at risk. Analyzing and assessing your company’s IT
supply base for vulnerabilities is imperative.
The
recent decline has made it clear that IT consulting firms are not immune
to the market forces thrashing traditional automotive and non-automotive
suppliers. Companies invest heavily in their IT consultants. However,
if the consulting firm itself becomes financially unstable and is unable
to make payroll, the vast amounts of institutional knowledge and IP
that they carry are at risk.
Recognizing
the importance of the financial stability of your business and IT vendors
is a front line strategy for risk mitigation. CIBER has extensive experience
working with companies on vendor replacement, displacement and selection
requirements. Using proven strategies with minimum business disruptions,
we can quickly replace your current vendor while preserving the IP and
human capital.
What
you need to do:
1. Collaborate with us in a casual one hour discussion about your situation
2. Evaluate our program in light of your current vendor portfolio
3. Decide if you are at a point where CIBER can help you navigate these
uncharted waters
Most recently, CIBER
has helped several firms right here in Michigan by assessing their supplier
risk, resulting in millions of savings and improved service delivery.
To find out more
about CIBER, please go to www.cibermichigan.com
or simply call (800) 324-6001 and ask for Dan Hoover.
Note: Today's Blue Box was sponsored
by CIBER. For information on how you can sponsor content in the Blue
Box, contact Jeff Lasser at (248) 455-7319 or
jeff.lasser@cbsradio.com
Weeklong
business creation event coming to Midland A tenant at the Mid-Michigan
Innovation Center in Midland, Opportunity Analysts LLC, has partnered
with several area organizations and companies to launch a week long
intensive program focused on concept generation and new business creation
called Incuba8. The event will be held Aug. 10-18 at Northwood University
and the MidMichigan Innovation Center. The program includes three separate
workshops; a Concept Crafting Boot Camp, Business Launch Weekend, and
the Business Set Up Conference. More.
Smaller
Michigan communities get infrastructure grants
Some 46 Michigan communities will get more than $14.1 million
in federal funding to support public infrastructure projects through
the Michigan Economic Development Corp. The communities were selected
from 111 applications. Grant recipients were selected on their overall
eligibility and the impact the project would have on the community.
Priority was given to projects that are ready to begin construction,
have sufficient local matching funds and have completed preliminary
cost estimates. More.
Taylor
OK's solar school bus safety lights at stops The Taylor School Board has approved sponsored Solar School
Bus Stop Lights, through the National Adopt-A-Watt Program. The program
will increase safety for school children and generate new revenue for
clean energy projects for both the Taylor schools and City of Taylor.
It is projected that 50 new solar lights will be installed at school
bus stops in Taylor. Sponsorships of $2,000 per light will completely
pay for the lights. Revenue raised in excess of the cost of the lights
will be divided evenly between the school district and city. More.
THE WORLD IN TECH
U r pwned:
text messaging paves way for hacking Getting a text message is akin to someone sliding a piece of
mail under your door: You may not have asked for it, you can't stop
its delivery and you have to deal with it whether you want to or not.
The fact that text messages appear on mobile phones without any interaction
from the user, and sometimes with limited interference from the cellular
network operators, can give criminals an opening to break into those
devices, as three teams of researchers showed Thursday at the Black
Hat security conference here. More.
Microsoft
CEO tries to sell Yahoo deal Microsoft
Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer is trying to improve the bad feeling Yahoo Inc.
investors have about the companies' search-advertising partnership.
Yahoo's shares plummeted 12 percent Wednesday after the deal was announced,
and they continued dropping Thursday, ending 4 percent lower at $14.60.
Ballmer said he doesn't understand why. "Nobody gets it,"
he said at a meeting of financial analysts at Microsoft headquarters.
Yahoo shareholders likely were hoping for a cash payment from Microsoft,
which didn't end up happening. But the CEO said Yahoo investors should
be pleased that the deal erases Yahoo's search costs and lets it keep
88 percent of the revenue from advertising sold alongside search results
on its Web site. More.
Game
makers pause, reload; are price cuts next? Kathleen
Byrnes and Justin Choi, a married couple attending medical school at
Tulane University, say $40 is just too much to fork over for a Nintendo
Wii game they might not enjoy. They haven't bought one since last fall,
when they picked up "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed." Since
then? "Nothing really interesting came out," said Byrnes,
23. Their reluctance helps explain why this is a rough summer for the
video game business. More people than ever are playing the games, but
it's been a while since a blockbuster title arrived. Consumers are watching
their money more closely in the recession and managing to resist games
that can cost as much as $60. The trends came into focus Thursday as
Sony Corp. and Nintendo Co. each reported console sales are dropping.
Sony posted a loss for the April-June quarter, while Nintendo Co. revealed
a large drop in its profit. More.
Defendant
in Massachusetts music swapping trial; 'I did it' A
Boston University graduate student accused of illegally swapping music
online nonchalantly admitted in court Thursday that he has downloaded
and shared hundreds of songs by Nirvana, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins
and other artists. Joel Tenenbaum, 25, of Providence, R.I., was called
to the stand by recording industry lawyers who accuse him of copyright
infringement. The case in U.S. District Court in Boston is only the
nation's second music-downloading case against an individual to go to
trial. Last month, a federal jury in Minneapolis ruled a Minnesota woman
must pay nearly $2 million for copyright infringement. More.
Stocks:
Earnings reports extend market's big July rally Stocks added to an already impressive run Thursday as another
round of earnings reports gave investors new reasons to be optimistic
about the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose its highest
level in nearly nine months with a gain of 84 points and the Nasdaq
composite index traded above 2,000 for the first time since October.
The latest reports struck a theme that has played out for weeks: Times
are tough but companies aren't doing as badly as feared. Many have chopped
costs to produce profits well beyond the market's modest expectations.
A surprise drop in the number of people continuing to seek unemployment
benefits gave investors even more reason to put money into stocks. More.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)
rose 16.54 points or 0.8 percent to 1,984.3. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU)
rose 83.74 points or 0.9 percent, to 9,154.46. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index ($SOX)
rose 0.4 points or 0.1 percent to 301.05. The Morgan Stanley High Tech
35 Index (MSH)
rose 3.58 points or 0.7 percent to 492.12. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical
Index (DRG)
fell 0.58 points or 0.2 percent to 280.19. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index
(BTK)
fell 5.79 points or 0.7 percent to 878.18. Finally, the Standard & Poor's
500 (SPX)
rose 11.6 points or 1.2 percent to 986.75.
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
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Reorganization
and repositioning your business after experiencing a fallen supply base
is not easy. In today’s market, more and more IT service companies are
either going out of business or cutting their services; all of which
put your company at risk. Analyzing and assessing your company’s IT
supply base for vulnerabilities is imperative.
Microsoft
Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer is trying to improve the bad feeling Yahoo Inc.
investors have about the companies' search-advertising partnership.
Yahoo's shares plummeted 12 percent Wednesday after the deal was announced,
and they continued dropping Thursday, ending 4 percent lower at $14.60.
Ballmer said he doesn't understand why. "Nobody gets it,"
he said at a meeting of financial analysts at Microsoft headquarters.
Yahoo shareholders likely were hoping for a cash payment from Microsoft,
which didn't end up happening. But the CEO said Yahoo investors should
be pleased that the deal erases Yahoo's search costs and lets it keep
88 percent of the revenue from advertising sold alongside search results
on its Web site. 
