The Royal Oak-based Vectorform unveiled a number of products at the Microsoft Developers Conference in Detroit that turned some heads with their flat screen interactive programs.

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Superficially, it looks like one of the earliest versions of PacMan -- the kind that were packaged as a flat table you sat at, not a stand-up video game.

But boy, once you play with it, the tabletop display computer running Microsoft Surface software and applications by Royal Oak-based Vectorform LLC has about as much in common with Pac-Man as an abacus does with a supercomputer.

The computer was the star of Thursday's Microsoft Developers Conference in Detroit, drawing a constant crowd.

Vectorform has been in the Web development business since 1999 and is still run by its founders, Kurt Steckling and Jason Vazzano, according to Joe Engalan, director of development, and Dawn Thompson, director of marketing, who showed off the computer at the conference

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There is more to a movie than the actors and actresses and directors. There are the people in lighting, the production assistants, grips, transportation, catering, and on and on. A project is like a small business in a way. And for it to be successful there needs to be trained workers. And for Michigan to be successful in the film industry it needs trained workers. That's where local colleges are coming into play by developing film industry courses to train would-be Michigan film workers.

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While the incentives lure filmmakers to the state, Michigan needs to develop a strong film infrastructure and work force to keep Hollywood coming back, said Jeff Spilman, co-founder and managing partner of S3 Entertainment Group, which teamed up with Oakland Community College to offer training in behind-the-scenes jobs.

"I can't stress the importance of sustaining the incentives to provide jobs for the people of the state of Michigan," Wenson said. "It's a true opportunity for us to diversify the economy."

As the state began offering incentives to filmmakers, OCC formed a film advisory board to identify training opportunities.

"After talking to people in the industry, we were convinced there were good career opportunities for people, whether they were recently laid off or were looking for a long-term career," said Rochelle Kaye, program manager at OCC for economic and work force development.

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Ferndale-based Lighting Supply Co. is offering free compact fluorescent light bulbs to nonprofits through a program called Bright Earth. CF light bulbs are not only energy efficient but also look to save you a pretty penny in light bulb costs in the long run.

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Lighting Supply is offering an overstock of 70,000 General Electric 22-watt CF light bulbs, which replace standard 75-watt incandescents and last 10 times longer. They also cost dramatically less to operate -- $22 per 10,000 hours versus $75 for 10,000 hours -- or $53 in savings over the life of the bulb.

Globally speaking, the 70,000 CFLs will save $3.7 million in energy costs and reduce the amount of coal burned by nearly 18,000 tons and the amount of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere by 38,213 tons.

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It's not exactly grocery shopping online yet... but it might not be far off. For right now Westborn Market has opened up an online shopping component for floral arrangements as well as a number of bakery fruit, and gift baskets.

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If you're looking for a convenient way to shop and avoid the rush on Valentine's Day and other occasions, Westborn Market is encouraging customers to visit its new online store at www.westbornmarket.com.

Floral arrangements along with a large variety of bakery, fruit and gift baskets, all starting at $29.99, are now available on the store's web site with full color photos and descriptions of each selection.

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A city without a downtown is like a book without its pages. So it's a good thing to know that Ann Arbor and Ypsi have prioritized the coming year by focusing on keeping their downtowns vibrant.

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Economic health will always affect and be affected by our downtown areas. It's good to see them among both councils' priorities. Each one is critical to each city's appeal, and both will need great care. Of course, this isn't a new concern. Ypsilanti administrators have already assembled an economic team and streamlined tax-abatement rules, while Ann Arbor's specific goal of zoning revisions is the result of a lengthy process. The plan is still being revised, and it will be important to ensure that the result makes it easier, not harder, to do business downtown.

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It's been said over and over again how influencial Michigan could be in the nation's alternative energy industry. We're surrounded by water, have windy coasts, and a whole lot of Michiganders looking for work. The state just needs a little push and bam! Michigan is the alternative energy state. That's the future, maybe.

Energy parks could also be the future. MSU released a report saying that Michigan should turn its many brownfields into alternative energy parks by installing solar panels or wind turbines. These parks would utilize the brownfields, create alternative energy, stimulate investment, and create jobs.
Hard to find a downside.

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The report suggests some of these "brownfields" could be used for the installation of solar panels or wind turbines capable of generating an estimated 5,855 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power about 1.8 million, or nearly 50 percent, of Michigan's homes.

The study estimates that transforming brownfields into renewable energy parks would stimulate an investment of more than $15 billion in solar and wind energy equipment and related construction. It also would create 17,500 short- and long-term job opportunities.

"The opportunities are extremely huge," said Soji Adelaja, director of Michigan State's Land Policy Institute and the report's lead author.

Read the entire article here.

Detroit's cultural organizations are finding new ways to boost revenue by rolling out programs for the entire family.

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Among the new or revamped offerings are The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Tiny Tots Concert Series, which features shorter concerts to accommodate short attention spans. The series includes a new offering where children can meet members of the orchestra and test instruments. At the same time in the atrium, tots can enjoy face-painting and kiddy fare for sale, such as hotdogs and Cheerios.

The DIA, which incorporated child-oriented aspects throughout the museum's $158 million overhaul, also holds children's workshops and unstructured events where kids can draw in designated galleries.

The Detroit Zoo's tots workshops for 2- and 3-year-olds were so popular that Zoo Tots II for 3- and 4-year-olds will be added in February. The Detroit Symphony's Tiny Tots Concert Series consistently is a top seller.

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It's not uncommon to head on over to Royal Oak for a bite to eat, a drink, and to catch a movie at the Main Art Threatre. And, for some, it's not uncommon to go to Royal Oak to check out, or pick up, some toy soldier ware.

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Rick Berry and Dave Youngquist are co-owners of the 6,000-square-foot Michigan Toy Soldier Company in Royal Oak, a business that is the focal point, or gathering place, for the strong community of collectors of toy soldier military collectibles.

Youngquist said Michigan has one the largest group of collectors nationwide. Proof is the 20th Semiannual Detroit Toy Soldier and Figure Show, 12th Michigan Historical Miniature Show scheduled for next Saturday and Sunday in Madison Heights.

Berry and Younquist host the event that also houses the 4th Iron Brigade Militaria Show where military items are swapped and sold.

Its not surprising that Berry is the founder of the show, store owner and head of a successful collectible online business. Despite the tough economy, Berry said his holiday business was just as strong in 2008 as 2007.

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For the last 81 years Great Lakes Recycling Solutions has been recycling, and making money by doing it. They've been growing with garbage, in a way, opening up an expanded center in Huron Township.

Turning garbage into cash. Now, that doesn't sound half bad.

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Started as a Detroit rag, paper and metal scrap hauler by Henry Rosen in 1927, the firm now employs about 220 people and has managed to thrive even as the global recession plays havoc with its business.

"We were recycling before recycling was fashionable," said Ilene Bischer, a partner at GLR and Rosen's granddaughter. "People are becoming more aware of the need to recycle."

The center takes in "single-stream" household recycling from several towns and separates it in a complex machine that uses a system of optical and electrical tests to identify paper, plastics and metal. Bursts of air shunt refuse toward the correct bins. GLR ships the refuse to processors.

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People have been screaming it for months now. Clean and alternative energy could put a huge dent in the unemployment number by supplying hundreds of jobs to out of work Michiganders. And here is another one of those screams.

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Hundreds of jobs could be created in Southeast Michigan and more than 3 million nationally if President-elect Barack Obama earmarks $150 billion toward clean energy technology, according to a report released Tuesday by Dearborn-based Environment Michigan.

"Our nation can no longer afford the toll dirty energy is exacting on our environment and economy," said Shelley Vinyard, environmental associate at Environment Michigan. "Clean energy can protect our environment and rev our economic engine to generate a brighter future for Michigan."

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Dearborn is one of Metro Detroit's oldest cities and home to one of Detroit's most famous sons, Henry Ford. Over the decades it has also attracted the largest population of Arabs and Arab-Americans in America. With such history and culture, the city has accumulated a number for historical sites. Dearborn's Press & Guide asks local residents not to forget about these spots.

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One of our city's special places is the Dearborn Inn that Henry Ford had designed by famed artist Albert Kahn.

The Dearborn Inn opened in July 1931, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and features 229 rooms, including five Colonial guest homes. It became the first airport hotel in the country serving Ford's Dearborn airport.

Additional features include The Early American Room, a fine dining restaurant; the Ten Eyck Tavern, a home-style dining establishment; a seasonal outdoor pool and 17,000 square feet of meeting space, including the Alexandria Ballroom, which Ford built to satisfy his love of dancing

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College-bound kids living in designated low-income zones, called Promise Zones, (which the state has yet  to designate), may be getting a boost in the coming months. The program, modeled after a Kalamazoo program, will pay part to nearly all of the college tuition for kids living in these areas.

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The so-called Promise Zones are modeled after a free tuition program in Kalamazoo, where an anonymous benefactor is paying full tuition for all Kalamazoo Public Schools graduates who go on to a state university or community college. The Kalamazoo program has been credited with boosting graduation rates and attracting new families to the city.

The state-sponsored plan won't be as generous, but it will help students who otherwise could not afford college.

"In Michigan, we know the link between higher education and the economy is so important," said Granholm.

All students who live in a qualified zone, whether attending public or private school, could get tuition help. Promise Zones are required to use private funds to cover at least two years of community college for graduating students.

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Something is cooking at the Red Pepper Deli, Northville's newest cafe, it's just not in the kitchen. Opened up in September, this cafe serves only raw food. No, not like raw, bloody meats, but food that doesn't feel temperatures above 120 degrees. It's said that a raw food diet is healthy and more nutritious.

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Carolyn Simon's new restaurant in downtown Northville is a raw foodist's paradise -- a place where the "pasta" is cut from raw zucchini, the sandwich bread is made of sprouted seeds, and the rich, creamy coconut pie has never felt the heat of an oven.

The cheerful, airy spot opened in September, and business has grown steadily as news about it spread through the mainstream media and metro Detroit's vegetarian, vegan and raw foods communities.

Raw foodists believe that heating food above 120 degrees Fahrenheit destroys nutrients and living enzymes that are necessary for the body to absorb nutrition. Raw food is "living," they say, while cooked food is "dead." Most adherents are vegan, meaning they eat no meat or animal products such as eggs and milk.

The diet, which dates to the early 1900s, has long been considered a fringe movement. But in the past decade, interest in it has grown dramatically as celebrities and other prominent people have tried it. Many praise it for helping them lose weight while improving their energy, stamina, mental clarity and mood.

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Dome Magazine's cover story explains how Detroit could be America's biggest greenest city.

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Keeping in mind first and foremost the quality of life of 900,000 people, I suggest that Detroit evolves, with much state and federal support, into a unique 21st-century American city. That it caters to those athletically and culturally inclined who wish to escape density and intensity of other large cities and have easy access to amenities and daily staples.

Detroit, in short, becomes a myriad of Central Parks: the greenest large city in America, indeed the world.

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Gov. Jennifer Granholm approves legislation that will advance the process to creating downtown Detroit's 3.5-mile light-rail link.

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Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm recently signed legislation that aims to create non-profit entities to build and operate rail lines in the state, and provide financing mechanisms to operate the lines.

The legislation will help advance The Regional Area Initial Link (TRAIL), a 3.5-mile light-rail line along Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. TRAIL would serve as the first corridor in a proposed 406-mile regional transit system. The line would run between Hart Plaza and the New Center.

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Albert Kahn gave Detroit a face back in the '20s in the same way the auto industry gave it a name. With hundreds of buildings, factories, and homes designed by the architect here in Detroit, he rarely gets the credit he deserves and is, oftentimes, referred to as "the other Kahn," because of post-war modernist Louis Kahn (no relation). Regardless of name weight, Albert Kahn is responsible for most of Detroit's skyline.

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Albert Kahn is America’s forgotten architect — even though in his lifetime, he (and his firm) produced more buildings than any other architect, and his design and production method changed the face of the country. Eighty years before the bailout of the auto industry, just before the Great Depression, Kahn built the most opulent of Detroit’s new corporate skyscrapers — the Art Deco-style Fisher Building. Facing the GM headquarters, Kahn’s grandest expression of civic architecture defined the unique American union of commercial and civic identity.

Detroit Auto Show 2009 this month pinned its hopes for a 21st century transformation of the American motor industry on selling the complex technologies of electric engines. The person who transformed the space and appearance of Detroit in the 20th century, though he favored technology did not depend on complexity.

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Michigan's universities will not only be creating the next generation of minds to move into the state's workforce but they might be on their way to creating the work itself. Universities across the state, through various expansions, developments, and research projects, will be creating a large number of jobs in the coming years.

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Michigan State's FRIB and U-M's purchase are high-profile examples of how universities throughout Michigan are taking a prominent role in trying to rescue the state's troubled economy.

The universities were once largely uninterested in dirtying their hands by working with local governments and businesses to create jobs.

"That's changed--a lot," Boulus said. "Maybe we didn't have to play this role 15 or 20 years ago, when the auto industry provided so many jobs."

Today, every public university in the state can point to some initiative with business or government that has job creation as its focus.

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Sometimes music happens that changes things. Influential music ebbs and flows, there are peaks and valleys. There are a few that lead while most follow. The Stooges was one of those leaders. It's hard to argue the Stooges' place in rock history. And the man behind those three-chord, punk rock riffs, Ron Asheton, was found dead in his Ann Arbor home last week. A tribute to Asheton will be held on Jan. 17 at the Music Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Detroit.

Will Iggy show up?

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Three high school friends in Ann Arbor — Mr. Asheton; his drummer brother, Scott; and the singer James Osterberg, who later changed his name to Iggy Pop — formed the nucleus of what was first called the Psychedelic Stooges. Influenced by free jazz, garage rock and Chicago blues, the Stooges’ first two albums — “The Stooges” and “Fun House” — are the best showcase of Mr. Asheton’s sound: two- or three-chord riffs with an open, droning, low E string and solos filtered through distortion and wah-wah pedals.

After the high point of “Fun House,” things became more complicated. The bassist, Dave Alexander, was fired, and the band was dropped by its label, Elektra. Iggy Pop, individually, was signed by David Bowie’s production company, MainMan. A new guitarist and songwriter, James Williamson, joined the group. On “Raw Power,” the band’s final studio album, Mr. Asheton was demoted to playing bass.

The Stooges lasted from 1967 to 1974. Having progressed from a noisy, anarchic joke to a great, confrontational rock band and back to a joke, the members were broke and addicted to heroin, except for Mr. Asheton, who increasingly took responsibility for holding the band together from day to day.

Read the entire article here.

For more information on the tribute go here.

Gran Torino hit the theaters with a bang and a splash and Michigan was all over that thing. In the next few months nearly a dozen of other films will be released that were filmed here. And next year, well, that number could be doubled. Especially if the studios come in and put up a few stages. Dearborn and Allen Park are in talks right now to possibly be a few of the takers of those studio stages.

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Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly on Thursday said he recently took the deputy director of the Mich-igan Film Commission on a guided tour of Dearborn as a way for the deputy director to gauge the possibility of housing a movie studio in Dearborn.

"(The Michigan Film Commission) has strong interest in southeast Michigan," O'Reilly said. "They want to have studios in a number of areas in the state, including the Grand Rapids area and Traverse City.

"The city of Dearborn has been proactive in the area of attracting filmmakers. We were the first community in the state to change an ordinance allowing filmmakers to shoot on public property without getting permission from the city. They just have to go to the police department."

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The electric car isn't exactly within reach, but it's getting closer, slowly, but getting closer. GM, who seems to be taking baby steps with the project, has announced that it will keep the production of the lithium battery -- the main source of the cars power -- in SE Michigan. However they haven't decided exactly where. The Volt itself will be built in the small Detroit enclave of Hamtramck while the generators for the engine will be coming from Flint.

Maybe the battery production will be somewhere between the two.

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In a symbolic boost to the state's sagging economy, General Motors Corp.'s confirmed today it will launch battery production in southeast Michigan for its upcoming Chevrolet Volt extended range electric car.

As part of a multi-pronged, $1 billion advanced battery development strategy to bring the Volt to market by 2010, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner unveiled several initiatives today.

They include the selection of Korean company LG Chem as the supplier of lithium-ion battery cells. LG Chem's subsidiary, Compact Power, based in Troy, will be involved in the battery supply chain as will A123 Systems, Hitachi and Cobasys.

GM expects work on the Michigan battery plant will start later this year, with production starting in 2010. The automaker is expected to use an existing company facility and hopes to disclose the site by June, pending the approval of government incentives.

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