Tech Tour
Day Eight: MSU's magnificent
The phrase 'world class' gets tossed around so much it's almost lost
meaning. But if the phrase still means anything, you've got to hand
it to Michigan State University, whose sprawling campus, 47,000 sharp
students and 5,000 faculty cover every academic discipline worth covering
with uniform excellence. State is the prototype for the nation's land
grant universities established under the Morrill Act of 1862. It was
the first institution of higher learning in the United States to teach
scientific agriculture. It still does -- but it also splits atoms, creates
advanced materials, builds whole new industries with the science of
its spinoffs and conducts nearly $400 million a year in sponsored research.
More.
ECD
adopts poison pill -- it says, to preserve tax assets Rochester Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:ENER),
the leading global manufacturer of thin-film flexible solar laminate
products for the building integrated and commercial rooftop markets,
Thursday said its board had adopted a tax benefits preservation plan
to preserve ECD's ability to fully use certain tax assets, including
the company's substantial net operating loss carryforwards. ECD said
the plan was common among public companies with significant tax attributes.
More.
New
software from WorkForce Livonia-based WorkForce Software Inc. Thursday announced the
availability of EmpCenter Predictive Dynamics software. The announcement
came at the HR Technology Conference in Chicago. Predictive Dynamics
allows organizations to accurately measure the impact of workforce management
automation on employees, customers, constituents, and profits. It is
the result of integrating Empathica closed loop survey technology, applying
analytics, and integrating these into WorkForce Software’s EmpCenter
solution to measure workforce performance. It enables employers to correlate
changes in workforce management with employee satisfaction, customer
satisfaction and more. More.
Volt project
leader quits GM Bob Kruse, who spearheaded General Motors Co.’s long-term
electric vehicle plans and led the team responsible for the upcoming
Chevrolet Volt’s lithium-ion battery pack, is leaving the automaker
to start his own consulting company, according to a story in The Detroit
News noted by AutoTech Daily. Kruse had been executive director of global
vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries since
early 2008. The 50-year-old Kruse emphasizes that his departure has
nothing to do with the potential of the Volt, which he says remains
on schedule to be launched next fall. More.
Michigan
computer pioneer Inatome to headline E2 Detroit
Officials
at Wayne State University announced Thursday that Rick Inatome, Michigan
native, life-long entrepreneur and co-founder of two multi-billion-dollar
companies – Michigan-based Inacomp and Computer City -- will talk
about the tremendous opportunities available to businesses during times
of economic downturn as one of the keynote speakers at the fifth annual
E2 Detroit conference on Thursday, Oct. 15. The event, co-sponsored
by Wayne State University, TechTown and WWJ Newsradio 950, and emceed
by WWJ’s technology editor, Matt Roush, brings entrepreneurs together
with business leaders, authors, investors and others for a program that
educates and inspires. More.
In the Blue Box: Michigan Tech helps study biofuel tradeoffs
When society jumps
on a bandwagon, even for a good cause, there may be unintended consequences.
The unintended consequence of crop-based biofuels may be the loss of
wildlife habitat, particularly that of the birds who call this country’s
grasslands home, say researchers from Michigan Technological University,
The Nature Conservancy, the University of Minnesota and elsewhere.
In a paper published
in the October 2009 issue of the journal BioScience, David Flaspohler,
Joseph Fargione and colleagues analyze the impacts on wildlife of the
burgeoning conversion of grasslands to corn. They conclude that the
ongoing conversion of grasslands to corn for ethanol production is posing
a very real threat to the wildlife whose habitat is being transformed.
One potential solution: Use diverse native prairie plants to produce
bioenergy instead of a single agricultural crop like corn.
“There are
ways to grow biofuel that are more benign,” said Flaspohler, an
associate professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental
Science at Michigan Tech. “Our advice would be to think broadly
and holistically about the approach you use to solve a problem and to
carefully consider its potential long-term impacts.”
The rapidly growing
demand for corn ethanol, fueled by a government mandate to produce 136
billion liters of biofuel by 2022 -- more than 740 percent more than
was produced in 2006 -- and federal subsidies to farmers to grow corn,
is causing a land-use change on a scale not seen since virgin prairies
were plowed and enormous swaths of the country’s forests were
first cut down to grow food crops, the researchers say.
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.
MichCon
to give businesses free programmable thermostats DTE Energy's Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. is helping its business
customers take advantage of an energy efficiency measure that residential
customers have known for years -- to install and use a programmable
thermostat. MichCon will provide free programmable thermostats and installation
in area business locations for up to 1,500 business owners who contact
the company. More.
General
Dynamics gets $58 million for Abrams tank tech
Sterling Heights-based General Dynamics Land Systems, a business
unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded contracts valued at $58 million
for Abrams Tank Systems Technical Support by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive
Command Lifecycle Management Command of Warren. The award will fund
engineering studies on Abrams main battle tanks to identify improvements
and replace obsolete parts to maintain the tanks at high operational
readiness rates. The work will be performed by existing General Dynamics
Land Systems personnel in Sterling Heights. It is expected to be completed
by Dec. 31, 2011. More.
Autism
project gets federal small biz grant A program to train parents of autistic children how to play
with their kids for maximum communication gain has won a $1.85 million
Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes
of Health. The P.L.A.Y. Project (Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters)
worked with Ann Arbor-based Biotechnology Business Consultants to secure
the award that will fund a two-year effectiveness study. More.
THE WORLD
IN TECH
IBM undercuts
Google with discount e-mail service IBM
Corp. is trying to stymie Google Inc.'s expansion into the business
software market. IBM is now selling a bare-bones e-mail service to companies
for $36 annually per worker, undercutting a more comprehensive package
of software applications that Google sells for $50 per user annually.
For that slightly higher price, Google is offering 25 times more storage:
25 gigabytes per account compared to IBM's 1 gigabyte per mailbox. Google
also throws in word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications,
as well as a video channel. None of those features are included in IBM's
package. Even so, IBM believes its service, called LotusLive iNotes,
can beat Google because it has a much larger sales force and relationships
with corporate customers going back long before Google co-founders Larry
Page and Sergey Brin were even born in 1973. More.
AP
sources: Comcast exploring stake in NBC Comcast
Corp. might spend billions for a stake in NBC Universal, a deal that
would transform the nation's largest cable TV provider into one of the
most prominent owners of TV shows, movies and other programming as well.
General Electric Co., which owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, has been
in talks with Comcast to unload part of the entertainment unit, people
familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Thursday.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are still
preliminary. More.
Amazon
agrees to Kindle suit settlement Amazon.com
has agreed that it won't remove e-books from U.S. users' Kindle electronic
readers without their permission, as part of a proposed settlement of
a lawsuit over the online retailer's deletion of a George Orwell novel
from a high school student's e-reader. Justin D. Gawronski, a 17-year-old
student in Shelby Township, Michigan, sued Amazon after it erased copies
of the Orwell works "1984" and "Animal Farm" from
customers' Kindles in July. More.
Homeland
Security to hire up to 1,000 cyber experts The
Obama administration has given a green light to the Homeland Security
Department to be more competitive and choosey as it hires up to 1,000
new cyber experts over the next three years, the first major personnel
move to fulfill its vow to bolster security of the nation's computer
networks. The announcement follows a wave of cyber attacks on federal
agencies, including a July assault that knocked government Web sites
off the Internet and earlier intrusions into the country's electrical
grid. More.
Stocks:
Manufacturing, employment reports pound shares Stocks began the fourth quarter with their worst drop in three
months after reports on the job market and manufacturing reawakened
investors' pessimism about the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average
tumbled 203 points Thursday, while all the major indexes fell between
2 percent and 3 percent. The slide intensified in the final minutes
of the day, signaling that traders were growing nervous ahead of the
government's key September jobs report due before the opening bell Friday.
The economic reports overshadowed a more upbeat assessment on housing
and added urgency to questions about how strong the recovery really
is. More.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)
tumbled 64.94 points or 3.1 percent to 2,057.48. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU)
fell 203 points or 2.1 percent to 9,509.28. The Philadelphia Semiconductor
Index ($SOX)
tumbled 15.78 points or 4.8 percent to 309.97. The Morgan Stanley High
Tech 35 Index (MSH)
fell 16.12 points or 3 percent to 518.93. The NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical
Index (DRG)
fell 4.89 points or 1.7 percent to 282.24. The NYSE Arca Biotech Index
(BTK)
fell 32.53 points or 3.5 percent to 890.42. Finally, the Standard &
Poor's 500 (SPX)
fell 27.23 points or 2.6 percent to 1,029.85.
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: Michigan Tech helps study biofuel tradeoffs
