BURLINGAME - It's time to go back to basics. Trips to exotic resorts are plunging. Sales of macaroni and cheese are up. And in a digital age, consumers turn not just to familiar foods when the economic news is frightful, but also to friendly digital toys. "It's about trust and comfort at this point," says
NEW YORK - Here's another species endangered by our cratering economy: the basic, mid-priced cellphone. Pinched wallets are putting the so-called feature phone--which includes a camera, Bluetooth, text messaging and Web surfing capabilities--at risk, says Avi Greengart, research director of mobile devices at Current Analysis. Carriers, squeezed by the economy themselves, are passing over their
SOUTHFIELD - CA has announced a strategy to streamline IT service management delivery by offering a new set of unified product offerings and software integrations. "CA is changing the way IT service management solutions are delivered by making yesterday's products into today's integrated features and providing clear incremental integration paths to more complete service management,"
WASHINGTON - In 2009, we are certain to see an effort to pass comprehensive reform legislation, and all of the players in the health care system (companies, universities, suppliers, economic developers, venture funders and the general public) will be affected. White House Will Lead the Way Health care reform is a top priority for Barack
LANSING - Michigan's business tax structure changed radically on January 1, 2008. The new tax created a business income tax of 4.95 percent, a modified gross receipts tax of 0.8 percent, and tax credits for payroll, property, research and development, and other factors. It was intended to increase revenue, while decreasing the tax burden on
DETROIT - Tighter budgets, fewer job openings and the lowest capital spending since 1975 have led to one of the longest consecutive readings of low optimism according to the Index of Small Business Optimism commissioned by the National Federation of Independent Business. This year's 88.2 reading is a sign of a depressed economy and outlook,
ANN ARBOR - Several governmental agencies jointly issued final rules addressing implementation of Section 114 and Section 315 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act). If any of the following agencies have oversight with respect to your business, you may have an affirmative obligation to comply with the Identity Theft
ANN ARBOR - Stephen Rapundalo, CEO of MichBio, Michigan?s life sciences trade association, said Michigan voters should support a ballot proposal on Nov. 4 that would allow the state to use embryonic stem-cells for medical research. In a letter to the editor, Rapundalo said: "Researchers at the University of Michigan are world leaders in one
BOSTON - Yankee Group has identified five consumer segments that are driving the mass-market adoption of technology products and services. With connectivity at the core of everything they do, Anywhere Consumers are driving a shift in buying behaviors that will have tremendous economic impact during the next five years. Increased understanding of this new marketplace
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - According to a recent customer survey conducted by Rackspace Hosting, a specialist in hosted IT services, nearly 70 per cent of respondents indicated that the number of IT functions they outsource to hosting, SaaS or cloud service providers should increase over the next five years. "We are seeing a trend towards