705 South Main, Plymouth's premiere business incubator and class A office space, said this week that it is accepting proposals for free office leases.

This opportunity is extended to start up ventures that have a great product or service but lack the capital to secure office space.

"There are so many new ventures in the area that could benefit from an office environment like ours," said Trowbridge Realty vice president and property manager Ryan Richmond. "This will allow entrepreneurs to establish a presence in a class A building without the expense."

The Salvation Army of Washtenaw County will kick off its annual Red Kettle Campaign with an event beginning at noon on Friday, Nov. 20 inside Briarwood Mall. A giant red kettle measuring 6 feet tall and 6 feet around will be set up in the Celebration Center next to the play area in the JCPenney court. 

The Red Kettle Campaign is going high tech this year with the addition of credit card machines at three kettles in Briarwood Mall and one kettle at Sam's Club in Ypsilanti. TSA-WC is the first corps in the state of Michigan, as well as The Salvation Army’s Central Territory, to use credit card machines at its kettles.

"People who don’t tend to carry cash now have a convenient and safe way to donate to our Red Kettle Campaign," said Washtenaw County Coordinator Major John Williams. "The machines don’t hold the credit card data – the data is transmitted through a secure cellular connection."

Though the students who raced Infinium hoped to be the best in the world, or at least the best in UM history, they say they're happy sharing statistics with impressive cars from the past. Michigan finished third in the World Solar Challenge in 1990, 2001, and 2005 and is the reigning North American Solar Challenge champion. The team has won that race five times.

"We still ran a great race," said interim project manager Steve Durbin, a senior aerospace engineering major "We have a reliable car. We didn't meet our overall goal of finishing first, but we proved we are one of the top teams in the world by placing so well in the competition."

Durbin credits the team's dedication and technology for the solid performance. Through the summer, a core of 20 team members worked 80-hour weeks to get the car ready to race. And a state-of-the-art lithium battery donated by A123 Systems helped Infinium achieve a high average speed approaching 60 mph.

The University of Michigan has topped Harvard University and all other universities in the United States for the amount of public interest measured by media coverage, Internet traffic and social media mentions, according to an independent national analysis released this week.

Michigan (previously ranked fourth) was followed by MIT, Harvard (previously No. 1), Columbia University, the University of Chicago, the University of California-Berkley, the University of Wisconsin, Stanford University, the University of North Carolina and Cornell University.

The survey was part of Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor's newest Predictive Qualities Indicator survey using word analysis to measure media trends and "buzz.''

Global Language Monitor President Paul Payack attributed the shift in public sentiment to the 2008 financial markets meltdown that cost Harvard's endowment $11 billion, forcing Harvard and other elite privates that relied on endowments to make major cuts in 2009.

"There's been a flight to quality with increased interest in the Public Ivies like Michigan and Wisconsin as well as more interest in technology, which helped MIT climb from 16th in the previous survey,'' Payack said. "We look at this as a branding analysis, looking at the perceived attributes people are most interested in."