Ann Arbor

Can Kickstarter double A2 sauerkraut production?

By Newsroom

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October 24, 2012

Sure Kickstarter is great for projects involving computer games, indie films, CD releases, graphic novels, and pop culture doo-dads. But what about fermented cabbage? David Klingenberger of Ann Arbor's The Brinery is hoping to raise enough funds to buy 12,000 pounds of locally grown cabbage, a bunch of barrels, and the staff to help him on his “40 Barrels in 40 Nights” project. Excerpt: "The Brinery, whose biggest customer is Zingerman’s Deli, is ready to double production, producing 40 more 55-gallon barrels of sauerkraut, Klingenberger said, as the local cabbage crop is nearing the end of its harvest time. He has 12,000 pounds of cabbage lined up from local farms. He also needs to purchase 40 plastic barrels, where the fermentation process takes places. And he needs to pay staff." Read the rest here.

From Mani To Mexico

By Natalie Burg

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General

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October 17, 2012

Long seen as a Bermuda Triangle for businesses, Mani Osteria has transformed the downtown corner of Liberty and Division into an Ann Arbor hotspot. Now, owner Adam Baru is adding another eatery right next door. Concentrate's Natalie Burg gets the lowdown on the restaurateur who has worked with not one, but two iron chefs.

Colleen O'Brien and Tiffany Cho at Ozone House in Ypsilanti

WorkZone Helps Youth Get Ready For Employment

By Patrick Dunn

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General

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October 17, 2012

Finding work in today's job market is tough enough. For at-risk teens, it can seem impossible. WorkZone, a program created and run by Ozone House, helps young adults to develop job-seeking skills and hone them through training and paid internships.

Craiglist rolls out mapping app, Ann Arbor a test city

By Newsroom

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General

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October 17, 2012

It's impressive for our college town to be mentioned in the same breath as Los Angeles and San Francisco. Craiglist is testing their mapping feature in several communities and we are one of them. Excerpt: "Ann Arbor joins Los Angeles and the Bay Area as a testing ground for Craiglist’s newest feature according to a report on thenextweb.com. The new application will allow apartment hunters to use a map view to find apartments in specific neighborhoods or areas." Read the rest here.

Life Technologies acquires U-M spin-out Compendia Bioscience

By Newsroom

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Education

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October 17, 2012

Life Technologies has acquired University of Michigan spin-out Compendia Bioscience. Suzanne Clancy, a spokeswoman for Life Technologies, confirms the Ann Arbor-based start-up will remain in Ann Arbor for the foreseeable future and under its current leadership. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Clancy declined to speak about Compendia Bioscience's current employment levels. Compendia Bioscience specializes in cancer bioinformatics, which is used by the pharmaceutical industry to identify novel gene targets for drug discovery and development. The California-based Life Technologies, a public company listed on the NASDAQ, plans to leverage Compendia BioScience's oncology expertise and proprietary assets to enhance its diagnostic development capabilities across multiple platforms, including next-generation sequencing, qPCR and proteome analysis. Compendia Bioscience spun out of the University of Michigan in 2006 and has been led by Daniel Rhodes ever since. It received $1.75 million from the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund in 2008. It had as many as 30 employees as of 2011, according to the company's website. Source: Suzanne Clancy, spokeswoman for Life Technologies Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Ann Arbor has the cutest street art

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 17, 2012

Blink and it's gone. Ann Arbor artist and street quirkmaker David Zinn catches the attention of a UK writer with his delightful chalk drawings. Excerpt: "David Zinn makes streets a little brighter, if only for a few hours. The chalk artist has become known in his hometown of Ann Arbor, America, for his brightly coloured little creatures dotting the pavement. Zinn, who has been "drawing for as long as [he] can remember", started the project because he wanted to create "something absurd, anonymous and temporary"." Read and see the rest here.

U-M grad catches entrepreneurial bug in college, starts Casey’s Head

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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October 17, 2012

Casey Frushour first got a taste of being his own boss while going to college at the University of Michigan. There he worked on freelance graphic design projects while studying art and design at the university. When he graduated he didn't have enough of that sort of work to support himself so he became the in-house graphic designer at a local bio-tech firm. He kept with the freelance gigs during his four years at his day job until it reached a point where he had to decide whether he wanted the job of being his own boss or continue under someone else. "It got to the point where I was making more money with side jobs than I was working full-time," Frushour says. "I just couldn't do the 80-hour work weeks anymore so I went out on my own." That was the beginning of Casey's Head. The Ann Arbor-based graphic design agency has served as Frushour's bread and butter ever since. It has reached a point now where he is starting to feel himself being stretched thin and expects to hire his first staffer within the next year. "It's a matter of finding the right person," Frushour says. Source: Casey Frushour, founder & creative director of Casey's Head Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Plight and hope for the Ann Arbor skateboarder

By Newsroom

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Health

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October 17, 2012

Concentrate has long written about the need for a skatepark in Ann Arbor, a point made all the more relevant when you consider the general hostility the community shows toward boarders. The Michigan Daily captures in words and photos why. Excerpt: "Being a skateboarder is tough. Learning tricks and having balance doesn't come easily to many people. But it's particularly difficult to be a skater in Ann Arbor. The nearest skate park is miles away, and it's illegal to be on a skateboard in the majority of the city. Fines for skateboarding can reach up to $150 and skaters' boards can be confiscated. Campus police, Ann Arbor police and private security constantly kick skaters out of parking lots, alleyways and parking garages." Read the rest here.

Ann Arborite hatches Kickstarter board game biz, The Perfect Heist

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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October 17, 2012

Karl Tiedemann has always been a fan of heist movies (think Oceans 11) and board games (Trivial Pursuit) so the Ann Arbor resident decided to combine the two into his own heist-themed board game - The Perfect Heist. "How fun would it be to play a board game about a heist where you build your own team and stuff like that," Tiedemann says, explaining his thought process behind creating the game. Tiedmann, a UIX designer for Barracuda Networks during the day, started working on it as a hobby about seven years ago but got serious about it within the last year. He launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowd fund the creation of the game, setting a goal of raising $13,000. Today he has raised a little more than $50,000 after his wife started posting about it on the popular message board Reddit creating a significant buzz about it on the Internet. "I'll probably hit $52,000 within the week," Tiedemann says. For now he's staying with his day job while keeping The Perfect Heist as a hobby business. But the Ann Arborite and his wife wouldn't mind if it grew into something bigger. "It's still an open question, 'Where do I go from here?'" Tiedemann says. "It's just a hobby job at the moment." Source: Karl Tiedemann, creator of The Perfect Heist Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

20 years of murder and mystery

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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October 17, 2012

It's murder most foul in downtown Ann Arbor every day of the week at Aunt Agatha's bookshop. And this oasis for mystery devotees in celebrating two decades of poisonings, stabbings, shootings, and whatever fatal deeds villains hope to get away with. Excerpt: "When asked her thoughts on the store's success, Agnew said that she and her husband had created not just a store, but a "community space." "We're small. We know our customers," she said. Agnew added that they are careful about how much inventory they keep and tend to order one copy of a new book at a time." Read the rest here.