In the News

Ann Arborites are among the country's most prolific page-turners, according to major bookseller Amazon.com

Excerpt:

"Last year, Ann Arbor placed fourth. The 2013 list ranks Ann Arbor behind Alexandria, Va.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Miami, Fla.; Cambridge, Mass.; and Orlando, Fla...

The list "is proof that the country is reading," Sara Nelson, Amazon's editorial director of books and Kindle, said in a press release."

More here.

Software start-ups get much of the glory, but in a nice turn, here's an interesting interview with Sally Carson, co-founder of Ann Arbor-based Pinoccio.

Excerpt:

"Pinoccio is a new Open Source Hardware business, building “a complete ecosystem for the Internet of Things”. The Pinoccio is a pocket-sized microcontroller board, with wireless networking, rechargeable LiPo battery, sensors, and the ability to expand its capabilities through shields, much like an Arduino board...

Eric Weddington (EW): What intrigued you about the Pinoccio to co-found a hardware startup company?

Sally Carson (SC): Well, I was always a creative kid, always drawing or making something. And, I always loved fiddling around with gadgets and electronics. In high school, I became an audio/video nerd. I got into skateboarding and playing in bands with friends. But, a huge part of both of these hobbies was the A/V part. So, for example, I filmed tons of footage of my friends and I skating. I would make these skate videos, editing the footage down using two VCRs. I’d use a 4-track to mix in audio, or I’d splice in the audio from an old Nintendo, like from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Every time we ollied or did a trick, there would be the “bloop” sound of a turtle jumping. So, I wasn’t like, busting out the soldering iron, but I was trying to find all of the different ways I could combine the electronics that I had access to."

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The Boston Marathon bombing showed that anything can happen on a second's notice. You can never be too prepared.

Excerpt:

"You can learn a lot from a zombie.

At least that’s what a University of Michigan professor hopes her 31 graduate students took away from Tuesday’s bizarre, albeit bloody, “zombie apocalypse.” The classroom exercise was designed to get School of Public Health students thinking about what the appropriate response should be during a disaster...

"'Zombie apocalypse' sounds a bit silly, but the point of this is to show that if we're prepared for any hazard, even the unimaginable hazards, like zombies — because we know they don't exist — we are capable of preparing ourselves for perhaps anything that might occur," said Dr. Eden Wells, the epidemiology professor who teaches the course and serves as the brains behind the exercise."

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At age 83, the Jiffy mix company is rather vintage, but there's a reason it's had such a long run. And the muffins are still fresh.

Excerpt:

"Anyone who has dared venture down a grocery store's baking aisle or opened their grandparent's cupboard has probably seen one of the timeless white and blue "Jiffy" boxes that haven't changed much since the mixes were first invented by Holmes' Grandmother in 1930. What I didn't know until I did some homework, was just how great of a company is behind Jiffy mix. After a 16-minute long chat with the Jiffy mix CEO, and 11 years of studying business and economics, I knew I had discovered one of America's last great businesses. Here is seven reasons why...

5. Jiffy mix staff find meaning and purpose through their work.

When I commented on Holmes' decision not to sell off even part of his multi-million dollar company, he said "What would I do if I sold-out? Spend my life vacationing somewhere?!" The CEO of Jiffy has the right attitude. Our occupations, in balance with our relationships, give our lives meaning. To work a job just for money or to escape from community and family responsibilities is shallow at best.  A visiting reporter from Fortune magazine described  Jiffy mix as "a  decidedly chipper workplace, with friendly employees who seem to be genuinely enjoying their jobs. They greet Holmes warmly, he appears to know virtually all of them by name, and none of it feels phony."

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Michigan is a craft brewer sophisticate among the states.

Excerpt:

5. Michigan, 102 craft breweries

"Michigan is quickly moving up the ladder in the world of craft beers with over 100 breweries in the state. You may not find the big name craft brews of other states, but what you will find is some hidden gems -- and maybe your new favorite -- at local institutions like Bells Brewery and Founders Brewery."

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With the middle class finding itself increasingly priced out of college for the kids, EMU is one of a few in the country that have clamped down on tuition costs.

Excerpt:

"In 2010, Eastern Michigan University led the way as one of the nation's most cost conscious colleges when it froze tuition, room and board and fees with its 0%, 0%, 0% campaign...

This tuition restraint and other factors have recently earned Eastern a ranking of 54th out of 350 colleges for its affordability among the larger public colleges by AffordableCollegesOnline.org. There were 15 metrics used in the ranking, including tuition, admission rates, enrollment total, average grant dollars per student and average scholarship per student."

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It looks like U-M is putting up a good green fight.

Excerpt:

"Students, faculty and staff collected nearly 750,000 pounds of recyclables during the 10-week 2013 RecycleMania competition. The collection total placed U-M 11th among 365 colleges and universities participating in the nationwide competition's Gorilla Prize category.

At the conclusion of the program, the university’s efforts generated the following results:
• 31.1 percent recycling rate per person (Grand Champion category).
• 11.4 pounds of recycling per person (Per Capita Recycling category).
• 36.6 pounds of waste per person (Waste Minimization category).
• 746,025 pounds of collected recyclables (Gorilla Prize category)."

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California investors are seeing that Michigan is no longer a no man's land when it comes to having fundable companies.

Excerpt:

"Investors attracted to deals on the coasts for years overlooked Michigan as a flyover state, but those perceptions seem to be slowly changing as more outside money sets its sights on in-state companies.

Just ask Ned Tomasevic, principal of Los Angeles-based private investment firm Toma Capital Management LLC...

Toma created its fund in November 2012 with a group of 20 former CEOs and has yet to do its first deal. The firm wants to close a deal or two by the end of this year, Tomasevic said.

Tomasevic now has a two-year mandate to spend the money raised, an amount he declined to disclose other than to say it was eight figures. He said the amount could be much more because many of his investors might be willing to write a big check to buy the right company.

"I'm trying to find an owner who gets this model," Tomasevic said. "I like to be in a place with good pool of people to work with, and Michigan offers that for me."

More here.

Amidst calls for the demise of the book, it's good to see a couple of Ann Arbor's presses are still hot.

Excerpt:

"Ben Mondloch is talking about the fierce nature of the book publishing business and bears.

It's all in a day's work for Mondloch, CEO of Cherry Lake Publishing, which he started in Ann Arbor four years ago to offer educational books, and Sleeping Bear Press, which he acquired in 2012 and sells children's books.

Though book publishers had a tough time in 2012 with the Internet and economy wreaking havoc, Mondloch saw his sales jump 25%.

Sleeping Bear Press currently has more than 400 titles with another 60 in development."

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A super article on the growing spread of Metro Detroit's creative class, including input from U-M professors and a call for extending mass transit between Ann Arbor and Detroit.

Excerpt:

"In an email to me,  Christian Unverzagt, a  Detroit-based architect  who lives in Lafayette Park and teaches at the University of Michigan's Taubman College, pointed out the transformation that the  Cass Corridor  has undergone. Long home to activists and artists, its gritty, windowless galleries and practice spaces have given way to a variety of renovated spaces including Green Garage (a co-working space), Great Lakes Coffee, and small retail shops such as City Bird, Nest, Hugh, and Nora, along with several yoga studios...

With $200 billion in economic output, its economy is the same size as Ireland's, Hong Kong's, or Singapore's. It is connected to the world through its airport. On top of this, the region is home to an incredible cluster of universities and knowledge based institutions, the University of Michigan in nearby Ann Arbor, long a center for top researchers and now an emerging nexus for tech start-ups, Michigan State in East Lansing, and Wayne State in Detroit. The region's talent base is especially deep in engineering, design, and industrial know-how. Before all those assets can be fully-leveraged, suburban interests must come to the table, and transit must be extended outside the core to the suburbs and ultimately all the way out to Ann Arbor."

More here.

The dwellers of the Great White North of Alaska, which has to import many of its fresh veggies, are reading about Ann Arbor's greener greens.

Excerpt:

"Spring greens are popping up at grocery stores and farmers markets...

Woods picked up a bag of pea shoots from Garden Works organic farm in Ann Arbor....

"They're very tender, and have the same flavor as a pea pod," says Robert MacKercher, 46, who owns Garden Works. "They're very good sauteed with olive oil and garlic."

But the appeal of spring produce goes beyond the taste. As farmers markets gear up for the summer season, sales of spring greens are a healthy pick-me-up for those who eat them and those who sell them.

Says MacKercher: "It's a nice spring boost for everybody."

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One Ann Arbor firm won a nice prize at last week's Clean Energy Challenge in Chicago, while another took home a surprise gift.

Excerpt:

"The contest brought together the nation's top researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and policy makers to uncover the most promising cleantech startups in the Midwest.

SkySpecs, a University of Michigan firm that uses unmanned aircraft to monitor sewers, wind turbines and bridges, won the Invenergy prize...??At the last minute, the judges chipped in $10,000 of their own money to support Ornicept, an Ann Arbor, Mich., start-up that can track and analyze bird populations with cameras and cloud computing software."

More here.

No longer just for well-worn books, the nation's libraries are turning into lenders of all trades. And the Ann Arbor Public Library is one of the standouts.

Excerpt:

"This spring, your next packet of garden seeds may come not from a hardware store or nursery, but from your local public library.

Fighting to stay relevant in the digital age, public libraries have taken to lending all manner of weird and wonderful items: hand tools, baking pans, fishing poles, telescopes and knitting needles, among others. Don't like the memoir offerings at your local branch? Bring a USB thumb drive, plug it in at one of several massive Espresso Book Machines and print a hard-cover copy of your own memoir — or any other obscure title the library doesn't keep on hand.

In Ann Arbor, Mich., the library circulates three kinds of energy meters that patrons can take home to test how much juice their appliances use. On a recent Monday, 27 of the library's 30 meters were checked out with the 28th on hold, said Celeste Choate, associate director for services, collections and access.

Later this year they plan to begin circulating science equipment — oscilloscopes, microscopes and perhaps even a few life-size models of the human skeleton — so students can shine at science fairs. "Sometimes you need tools in order to do cool science projects," Choate said. "Not everybody can afford a pH meter."

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U-M and EMU students in the market for summer jobs would do well to head east – Detroit-area firms are hiring.

Excerpt:

"While seasonal jobs at landscaping companies, golf courses and swimming pools remain popular for teens and college students, spending the summer in degree-specific internships goes a long way toward finding entry-level jobs after graduation, recruiters say...

Quicken Loans Inc. still needs to fill about 500 of the 1,000 intern positions available this summer — nearly all of them at its downtown Detroit location, a spokeswoman for the online mortgage lender said.

"We're still looking for dynamic candidates," said Michelle Salvatore, Quicken Loans director of recruiting. "We're opening good positions every day."

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The University of Michigan just made The Princeton Review's dream list, finishing ninth on students' (and tenth on the parents') lists of colleges they'd attend if acceptance rates and money were no object.

Excerpt:

"The Princeton Review conducts our annual College Hopes and Worries Survey of college applicants and parents of applicants to report on their expectations and experiences surrounding the college application process. Respondents are readers of our annual "Best Colleges" guidebook and users of our website.

Findings for our 2013 survey are based on responses from 14,125 people: 9,955 college applicants and 4,170 parents of applicants. They came from across America, representing all 50 states and DC. Some replied from countries abroad."

More here.