California
IT firm plans to add 1,000-plus jobs in Ann Arbor area
Systems in Motion, a Fremont, Calif.
IT services firm, has chosen to locate a new support center in the Ann
Arbor region. Systems in Motion plans to create 1,084 new jobs in the
Ann Arbor region over the next five years. Additionally, the company
plans to invest $12.5 million in capital. Systems in Motion was approved
Tuesday for state tax credits by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority
board, and will also receive support from Ann Arbor Spark, the Michigan
Economic Development Corp., Washtenaw County Employment Training and
Community Services, the Michigan Department of IT and Eastern Michigan
University. More.
GLITR
Laptop Lunch offers social media marketing tips Hey, I got together with
almost 40 of my closest friends Tuesday for our latest Laptop Lunch
on social media marketing at the Franklin Grille. Besides the cool company,
atmosphere and quite possibly the best turkey sandwich in the history
of the universe, we all learned a lot about what to do -- and not to
do -- in using social media to advance our brands and businesses. More.
Meijer
adds online personal shopper to two more stores Grand Rapids-based Meijer
Inc. said it has launched Grocery Express service at two of its Chicago-area
stores. The new service combines the convenience of online shopping
with the ease, speed and attention offered by a personal shopper. The
program, which is now offered at the Meijer stores in St. Charles and
Aurora, allows shoppers to select grocery and health and beauty care
products online at www.meijergroceryexpress.com, and have them delivered
to their car at a designated location within the store's parking lot.
The charge for an individual order is $6.95. The program also offers
a $24.95 subscription for unlimited orders during a 30-day period. Meijer
will accept debit or credit cards, EBT Cash, EBT Food and checks as
forms of payment. More.
New staffer
wants to create entrepreneurial campus at Lawrence Tech Pavan Muzumdar has been
appointed as the first engineering entrepreneur in residence at Lawrence
Technological University. The position is funded by a five-year, $1.1
million grant to Lawrence Tech from the Kern Family Foundation for integrating
entrepreneurial mindset education into the curriculum for all undergraduate
engineering students. Muzumdar has set the ambitious goal of creating
a campus environment that will foster the creation of new business enterprises.
More.
Economics
Dept.: Foreclosures again drive Detroit-area home sales rise
August home sales rose in most parts of the Detroit area, but once again
it was foreclosure sales driving the increase. Figures from Farmington
Hills-based Realcomp II Ltd., a provider of online and offline real
estate sales information to real estate professionals, showed total
August sales of 6,133, up 10.8 percent from 5,535 in August 2008. However,
the rise was due entirely to foreclosure sales, which leapt 53.6 percent
to 3,018 from 1,965 a year earlier. Non-foreclosure sales fell 12.7
percent to 3,115 from 3,570 in August 2008. There is some good news
on the horizon. The rate of increase in foreclosure sales is declining
in many markets, and in Livingston County, the number of non-foreclosure
sales rose from a year earlier. The level of real estate inventory up
for sale also continues to shrink. More.
In the Blue Box: Seven essential questions for SaaS providers
Software
as a Service providers not only have to convince their clients of the
benefits of cloud computing -- they're also under pressure to deliver
100 percent uptime which means they need a robust and scalable infrastructure.
Since high availability server hosting isn’t
a core capability of most SaaS providers, many are now looking to partner
with managed dedicated server hosting companies who can deliver an always-on
experience, such as Michigan-based Online Tech.
Mike Klein, Online Tech's President, said the company
has just released an e-tips white paper that addresses the top 7 questions
SaaS companies ask managed server hosting providers before selecting
a partner.
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.
Azure sells
two more hybrid buses Oak Park-based Azure Dynamics
Corp. Tuesday announced that its partnership with Collins Bus Corp.
has sold two hybrid electric Nexbus school buses to Durham School Services,
a subsidiary of National Express Corp. NEC manages more than 16,000
school buses in North America. Nexbus uses Azure's Balance Hybrid Electric
drive train with a Collins school bus body. Collins is the largest builder
of Type A (short) school buses and Azure's exclusive partner in producing
Type A certified hybrid school buses. More.
Plex Online
enhances supplier quality management
Auburn Hills-based Plex Systems
Inc., provider of the No. 1 rated enterprise resource planning software
for manufacturers, Tuesday announced it has added features that enable
its users to more fully engage their suppliers in achieving continuous
improvements and operational efficiencies. The Plex Online integrated
ERP system delivered as a Software as a Service system includes a feature
that allows anyone in a manufacturer’s supply chain limited access
to the Engineering Change Request system so they can submit change requests
to help improve quality and reduce costs, and share the resulting savings,
by changing specifications and processes. This enhancement enables the
manufacturer to eliminate costly adjustments later in the product development
cycle. More.
Inkster
schools turn cell phones from nuisance to learning tool For years, schools have
mandated policies barring cell phones from the classroom in hopes of
avoiding disruptions to a student’s learning environment. Today,
one school district in Michigan believes cell phones deserve a spot
in the classroom. The Inkster Public School District is working with
Sprint and GoKnow Learning Inc., a University of Michigan spinoff that
focuses on helping K-12 adopt mobile learning, to transform the device
once considered a nuisance into a powerful learning tool. During the
2009 summer school session, Inkster enlisted Sprint for a trial in which
Sprint handsets loaded with the GoKnow software were integrated into
the classroom to enhance the learning environment. More.
THE WORLD
IN TECH
Actual people
physically gather to talk Twitter Twitter
was a trending topic Tuesday - and not just on Twitter. Actual people
were physically gathered at the Skirball Cultural Center for the two-day
conference dedicated to the micro-blogging site. Company co-founder
Biz Stone opened the conference with a 40-minute speech about the origins
of Twitter and its goal to make a positive global impact, citing the
site's importance in organizing political protests worldwide. More.
New
deal sought in dispute over Google book plan A
$125 million settlement of a lawsuit that would give Google Inc. the
digital rights to millions of out-of-print books will be renegotiated
in light of the U.S. Department of Justice's contention that the deal
probably violates antitrust law, lawyers involved in the case said Tuesday.
Lawyers for The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers
and other plaintiffs said in court papers that they and Google met with
senior Justice Department officials last Thursday and agreed to work
with the government to resolve concerns. The case involves Google's
plans to scan millions of books and make them searchable and available
for purchase online, with publishers and authors getting most of the
money from the sales of books that are still protected by copyright.
Google says the service will revitalize works that might otherwise be
forgotten. More.
Industry
group: OK for for iTunes to block Palm Pre Apple
Inc. appears to have clearance from an industry group to block rival
Palm Inc.'s Pre phone from connecting with the iTunes software. The
$200 Pre was launched in June as a direct competitor to the iPhone,
and became the first non-Apple device that could directly connect to
iTunes. It did that essentially by pretending to be an iPod. Apple has
crippled that function by updating its software. More.
Intel
CEO: PC sales could rise in 2009 The
worldwide personal-computer market is pulling out of its slump quickly
and could defy predictions by growing this year, Intel Corp. CEO Paul
Otellini said Tuesday. Otellini's comments at a conference Tuesday were
more bullish than many analysts have been. Market research firms IDC
and Gartner have both predicted a year-over-year decline in PC shipments
in 2009, which would be the first such drop since 2001. The market has
been dragged by a clampdown in corporate spending on new PCs, and some
computer companies are already looking to next year for an upturn. Sales
of cheap little "netbook" computers, used primarily for surfing
the Internet, have been a bright spot, but those machines ring up low
profits for PC and chip makers. Intel is the world's top maker of microprocessors,
the "brains" of PCs. More.
Stocks:
Rebound in commodities sends stocks higher A rebound in commodities
drew investors back into the stock market and helped push stocks to
new highs for 2009. Major stock indicators rebounded Tuesday from a
drop the day earlier to end at their highest levels in 11 months. The
Dow Jones industrials rose 51 points after falling 41 on Monday. After
soaring 50.1 percent since hitting a 12-year low in early March, the
Dow stands 170 points below the 10,000 mark - a level the average first
crossed in March 1999 and hasn't been above since October. In an about-face,
the dollar weakened against other major currencies. That helped lift
commodities like oil and gold as well as energy and material stocks.
Financial stocks also rose sharply. The gains came as the Federal Reserve
began a two-day meeting on interest rates. Investors are hoping the
central bank will provide a clearer indication of when it might raise
rates. More.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)
rose 8.26 points or 0.4 percent to 2,146.3. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU)
rose 51.01 points or 0.5 percent to 9,829.87. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index ($SOX)
rose 2.93 points or 0.9 percent to 329.33. The Morgan Stanley High Tech
35 Index (MSH)
rose 3.59 points or 0.7 percent to 542.32. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical
Index (DRG)
rose 0.4 points or 0.1 percent to 287.17. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index
(BTK)
fell 7.93 points or 0.8 percent to 957.04. Finally, the Standard & Poor's
500 (SPX)
rose 7 points even or 0.7 percent to 1,071.66.
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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In the Blue Box: Seven essential questions for SaaS providers
Twitter
was a trending topic Tuesday - and not just on Twitter. Actual people
were physically gathered at the Skirball Cultural Center for the two-day
conference dedicated to the micro-blogging site. Company co-founder
Biz Stone opened the conference with a 40-minute speech about the origins
of Twitter and its goal to make a positive global impact, citing the
site's importance in organizing political protests worldwide. 
The
worldwide personal-computer market is pulling out of its slump quickly
and could defy predictions by growing this year, Intel Corp. CEO Paul
Otellini said Tuesday. Otellini's comments at a conference Tuesday were
more bullish than many analysts have been. Market research firms IDC
and Gartner have both predicted a year-over-year decline in PC shipments
in 2009, which would be the first such drop since 2001. The market has
been dragged by a clampdown in corporate spending on new PCs, and some
computer companies are already looking to next year for an upturn. Sales
of cheap little "netbook" computers, used primarily for surfing
the Internet, have been a bright spot, but those machines ring up low
profits for PC and chip makers. Intel is the world's top maker of microprocessors,
the "brains" of PCs. 
