You know, craigslist.org was actually invented by a dude name Craig - no joke. Craig Newmark is his name and he took his little invention and made a boatload of cash. Craigslist, if you live in a cave, is a website that took newspaper classifieds and put them on the Internet. For free.

Oh, and Craig came from Metro Detroit, too. He blew into town and offered up some advice to Michigan start-ups.

Excerpt:

Q : There are a lot of up-start technology companies here in Michigan, what kind of advice would you give to businesses that are trying to grow?

A : Basically, just listen to your customers. And then, treat people like you want to be treated, which means good customers service. Again, it's easy to say, hard to follow through, but that kind of core value is why we've been successful building this culture of trust. We say we do well as a business by doing good.

Read the entire article here.

The country is embroiled in a pretty heated election race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. It's a historical election on both tickets with Obama being, possibly, the first black candidate elected to the office and, McCain's VP, Sarah Palin, being, possibly, the first female elected to that office.

Either way, it's time to merchandise and Ann Arbor businesses are doing just that. Their likenesses are popping up on soda, coffee, and, of course, t-shirts. And business seems to be good.

Excerpt:

Natural and organic grocer Plum Market has stocked Jones Soda Co.'s "Pure McCain Cola." But it also has sold "Obama Blend: Yes We Can Coffee," from Ann Arbor roaster Mighty Good Coffee Co.

David Myers, co-owner of the coffee company, said Obama just happens to be the first candidate to have a perfect blend of former residences - including Hawaii, Indonesia and Kenya - to inspire a new version of coffee.

"Obama Blend" has been a top seller since it was introduced earlier this month, Myers said. He has no McCain roast, but said that shouldn't be taken as his business' endorsement for Obama.

Read the entire article here.

A plan was released last week in Washtenaw County to put more of an emphasis on the arts. The plan calls for pushing for arts and culture as an integral part of the K-12 education experience, as well as offering support and services to creatives (artists, writers, designers, etc.).

Excerpt:

But in order to thrive, cultural assets - like any other - need maintenance and stewardship.

That's the goal behind a master plan for cultural development in Washtenaw County that was released Wednesday night by the Ann Arbor-based Arts Alliance during a reception at Weller's Carriage House in Saline.

The 108-page plan offers a vision of what Washtenaw County could look like if the enthusiasm and creativity of its citizens is harnessed and expressed in ways that tackle the shared challenges, said Tamara Real, director of the Arts Alliance.

Read the entire article here.

Now would be a good time to find your dream home in your dream neighborhood. As prices drop, houses in some of the area's more desirable cities become more affordable - actually, a lot more affordable.

Excerpt:

Since the market's peak in 2005, home prices have fallen about 23.2% in metro Detroit, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. Record foreclosures in the past two years have also created a drag on home values as foreclosed properties compete head-to-head with owner listings.

So, for the first time in years, buyers can find many choices in the under-$200,000 price range in communities such as Allen Park, Westland, Dearborn, Ypsilanti, Detroit, Howell, Harrison Township, Fraser, Clinton Township, Warren, Holly, Farmington Hills, Keego Harbor, Waterford, Monroe, Royal Oak and Ferndale, according to data compiled by Realcomp in Farmington Hills.

Read the entire article here.

What the heck is a widget? Well, widgets do things, on the Internet, within Web pages. That's still vague, huh? OK, here's an example: You know when you go to Google and those ads pop up that reflect what you just searched? That's a widget working. It's a web application that can be personalized to do specific things. With that said, EMU alum Mo Kakwan gets a lot of looks with his Web widget that'll make you laugh.

Excerpt:

If you haven’t heard George Washington recite the preamble to the constitution or a hamster speak French, you probably don’t know about Blabberize.com.

Don’t worry, word of mouth is helping turn the Internet oddity, created by Eastern Michigan University graduate Mo Kakwan, into one of the most talked about Web widgets around.

“I wanted to make a talking picture you could send as a postcard,” said Kakwan, 25, of Ann Arbor.

Read the entire article here.

Ann Arbor's IT sector isn't hearing all that noise about job loss and economic downturns.  It doesn't care about the "trends" of its industry. It's throwing it aside and doing quite well.

Excerpt:

Two weeks ago I wrote a story for the Ann Arbor Business Review concluding that five IT companies have announced plans to add more than 1,000 jobs in the next few years. Literally a week later, Californian network operations firm NetEnrich announced plans to locate an operation in Ann Arbor and add 225 jobs here.

Network security, software development and IT services firms may be keeping Ann Arbor's economy's afloat as other firms hold back on potential expansions.

Read the entire article here.

Let's recall Pee-Wee's Playhouse with this: Connect the dots... la, la, la, la. Connect the dots. Of course it's way more sing-song when he says it and he's prancing around like Pee-Wee does. Now, changes dots with docs and envision a system that pools medical information on patients for doctors across Michigan.

Excerpt:

Doctors across Michigan will have access to a comprehensive database of medical information on patients under a deal to be announced today between the Michigan State Medical Society and the Covisint subsidiary of Detroit-based Compuware Corp. (NASDAQ: CPWR).

Compuware and the society say the network is the first of its kind in the nation, a physician-led statewide effort to "connect the docs" to improve the delivery, security and efficiency of care.

"Over time, you will be in a position where you go see your primary care physician, and your physician refers you to a specialist, and they can push this information out to the specialist, so you won't have to fill out duplicate paperwork or have redundant lab tests," said David Furst, Covisint vice president for health care.

Read the entire article here.

NASA gives Michigan a nod in its next shot into space.

Excerpt:

The state of Michigan will be honored during space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming STS-126 mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour is targeted to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 14 at 7:55 p.m. EST.


Read the entire article here.

Any city can be entrepreneurial, that's the whole point, right? But what cities rise to the top? Well, you're in luck. A study just released by the University of Michigan-Dearborn found exactly that.

Excerpt:

The 2008 “eCities” study (also called "the Entrepreneurial Cities Index”) found that many southeast Michigan municipalities “are hard at work attracting, cultivating, building and holding entrepreneurial firms.”

The study, conducted by iLabs, the Center for Innovation Research in the UM-Dearborn School of Management, focuses on entrepreneurship because of its importance to expansion and diversification of Michigan’s regional economies and the impact small businesses have on job creation.

This second annual UM-Dearborn study found that successful communities work with entrepreneurial businesses to determine their needs and carry out relationship marketing akin to private sector firms.

“Economic development agencies, local chambers of commerce, and state agencies all are instrumental in helping bring firms to a community,” said Timothy Davis, director of iLabs. “Successful local governments also have professional and empowered staffs who champion new businesses, leading them to solutions and acting as a conduit for networking.”

Read the entire article here.

One-of-a-kinds always get the attention. So it's no wonder that the Arab-American Museum in Dearborn has the spotlight.

Excerpt:

Dearborn has a sizable Arab population, and the museum is touted as the first of its kind in the world.

"We thought, we really need to have an institution to help the public understand where we come from, how long we've been in the United States ... what contributions Arab Americans have made to the United States," Dr. Ameri said.

The museum's goal, she said, is to "combat many of the misconceptions and stereotypes that exist about Arab Americans."

Read the entire article here.

Wind energy seems to be a key word as of late for Michigan. But what exactly is it and what happens and what do you do with it? Well, look no further. The Michigan Citizen Planner has those answers for you.

Excerpt:

With Michigan's growth in wind energy dependent on community adoption of the necessary wind siting laws, Michigan Citizen Planner is offering a "What You Need to Know about Wind Energy Siting and Policy Issues" workshop at nine locations throughout Michigan during December.

Sponsored by Michigan Farm Bureau and Michigan State University, the three-and-a-half-hour workshops will provide planning and zoning officials, local leaders, concerned citizens, farmers and landowners interested in wind the tools and resources necessary to create and implement a strategic plan for wind energy development in their communities.

Read the entire article here.

Not only are communities fighting for jobs, but the state, the region, and the country. The Detroit Chamber has joined a coalition revolving around the Great Lakes region to aggressively attract and retain jobs.

Excerpt:

The Detroit Regional Chamber has joined with more than 30 other chambers of commerce in the Great Lakes region to promote a federal legislative agenda for growing the region's economy.

This coalition, pushing an aggressive business agenda for creating jobs and attracting investment in the Great Lakes area, includes more than 94,000 employers, said Richard Blouse Jr., CEO and president of the Detroit chamber.

Read the entire article here.

Big Communications founder Lisa Stern told nearly 300 entrepreneurs at Wayne State University's E2detroit event that passion, culture, and values can go a long way in the business world. And she should know what she's talking about, she grew Big from a small start-up to a 90-employee company that pulled in $12.3 million in revenue last year.

Excerpt:

Big began recognizing its strengths not only as a company, but also the strengths of its employees. Culture and value became two important characteristics of the company. Positive attitude, champions of change, kind, creative, trustworthy, detailed and good communicators are some of the adjectives used to describe the company’s team members, according to Stern.

Big developed a commitment to its established culture and values. The company’s mission was centered on hiring valuable team members to exemplify its commitment.

“Culture and values are the soul of our company,” Stern said.

Read the entire article here.

The economy is struggling, that's undeniable. But, of course, there are bright spots that are equally undeniable. For instance, gourmet grocers are thriving. As this article states, the next best thing to going to Europe is eating as if you were in Europe.

Excerpt:

Despite the region's dismal economy, upscale grocers are flourishing in Metro Detroit, expanding and adding stores to serve a sophisticated and growing customer base that wants organic produce, natural and international foods, gourmet carry-outs and a glass of wine or a Sanders' hot fudge cream puff while they're shopping.

"A trip to Europe may be out of the question, but consumers can still go to the grocery store and get the ingredients for a meal they would have eaten there," said Linda Gobler, president and CEO of the Michigan Grocers Association. "People want to do something to make themselves feel good."

Read the entire article here.

Never mind Napa Valley how about Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula? All, so, maybe Michigan can't truly unseat California's wine country but it's putting up a pretty good fight.

Excerpt:

"Why do we carry so many Michigan wines?" says Lisa Pardington. "Because they sell."

Not only does Michigan now have enough wineries to meet consumer demand -- 56 and counting -- they are producing better wines that are making their way to the state's far corners.

"People are taking them more seriously," says Ted Ross, wine buyer at Vince & Joe's Gourmet Market in Shelby Township. "Personally, I have always been a wine snob, but these Michigan wines the last two years are getting better and better. Today, if you ask me for a good Cabernet Franc, I'll send you to Old Mission Peninsula."

Read the entire article here.

Sure, Michigan has been star struck with its recent boom in the movie industry. People love stars and celebrities. But you know what? They also love jobs. And that's what this industry is creating for Michiganders.

Excerpt:

A few years ago, as the number of commercials shooting in Michigan began fading, Meganck had to move his business Kind Services, which provides drinks and snacks for film crews, to Oregon. There just wasn't enough work here. Now Meganck is back, and business is booming.

"We went from two full-time employees to now six and a host of part-timers," he said in August on the phone from the set of "Whip It," starring Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page. He's now working on the set of "Demoted," starring David Cross. "We went from the capability of doing one movie at a time to three movies," Meganck said. "We've knocked out six features and I've probably turned down six or eight more."

Read the entire article here.

Wouldn't you love to get get an instant return on an investment? Well, you can. Spending a dollar in a locally owned business is the same as investing a dollar in a locally owned business. It's money in the community and, for instance, if it's a grocery story, you can walk out with a sack full of food.

Excerpt:

The key to restoring health back to the finance system is to re-localize - to reintroduce real relationships between lenders and borrowers and between entrepreneurs and investors.

Investors, especially those of us with our life savings on the line, have a right to know where our money is going, and an opportunity to place it in funds that reinvest in our own communities. Moving trillions of dollars out of unknown global companies and the unknowable derivatives linked to them, and into Main Street businesses, would give communities across the country a desperately needed economic boost. Simply feeding more federal dollars to institutions that ignore local investment is exactly the wrong approach.

What we need is right here in our own backyards: a system of federally regulated, community banks that fulfill the classic textbook function of acting as intermediaries between local people looking for a secure place for their savings and local people who need a loan to buy a home or finance a business.

Read the entire article here.

One of the biggest issues facing Michigan is talent loss. Well, Michigan's new filming industry is giving recent grads a reason to stay.

Excerpt:

"It's given me a job, and it's opened up a lot of doors, and it's given me some better opportunities for work," Zakalik said. "I don't know if it's necessarily going to last for more than a few years, but I'll stay here for as long as I'm getting work, and it's paying well."

A survey of more than 5,000 recent graduates of Michigan's public universities between October 2007 and March found that almost half had left the state. In the last 10 years, although the overall state population grew, the number of residents between 25 and 34 dropped by almost 20 percent.

Now, with the influx of movie industry jobs, some in that age bracket may choose to stay here - or come back.

Read the entire article here.

Detroit is the only major American city without a rapid transit system. That, potentially, will change in the next five years as the city's transit developments start to take shape. With these developments, as proven in other cities, jobs, people, and investment follow.

Excerpt:

As the years have gone on, however, the cry for mass transit in our urban areas has grown and grown.

It's a way for the poor in the inner city who lack access to reliable transportation to get and keep jobs in the suburbs – the place where the jobs are these days.

Mass transit can be a force to reduce racial segregation. It is well known – and completely deplorable -- that the Detroit area is one of the most segregated in the country. The fact that it lacks any real system of mass transit is no coincidence.

Mass transit is highly desired by the young, highly educated "creative class" who want to get around a metro area after relaxing downtown -- without having to designate a driver.

Read the entire article here.

Eleven tons of old computers equipment during a mid-September Oakland County recycling drive.

Excerpt:

The rains came, but so did carload after carload of responsible Oakland County residents who didn't want to landfill their used computer equipment. Oakland County Waste Resource Management, in partnership with Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit, collected 22,384 pounds of used computer equipment at a one day collection event on September 13 at the Oakland County Complex in Pontiac.

Computers contain lead, cadmium and mercury, which can be harmful to the environment. They also contain components which can be recycled, such as precious metals, glass and plastic. Most of the computer equipment collected at the September 13 event will be recycled. However, newer items collected may have the hard drives cleaned and be sent to local charities for reuse.

For more Oakland County information go here.