Tag archive: Michigan

Part of Dow Chemical, Dow Solar has begun production of solar shingles at a pilot plant in Midland, Michigan. Called the Powerhouse solar shingles, they are initially being sold in Colorado and will be released in twelve more states through 2012 such as Texas and California. Outfitting the average house with a roof covered in solar shingles and an energy converter box will cost consumers approximately $10,000 to $15,000. However, energy costs… Read More

America. The land of hot coffee and frivolous lawsuits. Yesterday, two Oakland County, Michigan residents filed a lawsuit against Google for allegedly tracking their whereabouts “just as if by a tracking device for which a court-ordered warrant would ordinarily be required.” The two plaintiffs own HTC Inspire 4G phones, which run on Google's Android operating system. They want $50 million in damages and a court order requiring… Read More

We are back with a new selection of videos to tickle your fancy. These videos are not all from this week, but they all made us laugh or caused our jaws to drop recently. Enjoy! Brett Favre is Sacked For a Loss! Get it? “Sacked”? This video is twice as hilarious if you have been following the sex scandal involving Brett Favre and a series of pictures he sent to a woman of him holding his junk. Apparently karma wants a piece of Favre as much… Read More

Philadelphia-based Comcast's overall score rose 9.3 percent from the prior year, according to the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index. The improvement comes as the cable operator reached out to disgruntled customers who posted complaints through blogs or on social networking sites. It's a marked turnaround for Comcast, where complaints against service ran so deep at one point that a Web site… Read More

Computer maker Dell has agreed to pay some $3.35 million to settle 34 states' allegations that the company's warranty, financing, and rebate offers were deceptive and misled consumers. The agreement has Dell paying $1.5 million into a restitution account; impacted consumers will be able to submit claims for compensation. The other $1.85 million will go towards the states' legal costs. “More than the money, this… Read More

Michigan's Cygnus Systems, Inc., a company focused on networking support and development, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit (PDF) against Microsoft, Apple, and Google for&mash;get this—using icons to represents files. But not just any icons: representational thumbnails that reflect the onscreen display of a particular document or file. Such miniaturized thumbnails are now a common feature of many software products,… Read More

Telecommunications operator AT&T has announced it will begin selling its U-verse broadband Internet and digital video service through retailers Circuit City and Walmart beginning this month. The offerings will be available in more than 600 retail locations in and near neighborhoods where U-verse services are available: right now, that includes regions of Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri,… Read More

Danish custom computer maker Zepto has found a U.S. and Canadian distributor in DenneD, LLC, making its build-to-order notebook computers available for the first time in the North American market. Customers will be able to order notebooks and accessories through ZeptoUSA.com, and the company has set up a distribution center in Dearborn, Michigan, to ensure quick turnaround without overseas shipping. “After receiving dozens of… Read More

I’ve had a chance to take a hard look at both the MacBook Air and the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and as amazing as these products are; I think you can draw a line to what likely will be the next hot notebook computer. Having said that, let’s start by talking about what makes these two products different and how they are likely to appeal to different kinds of people. I’ll leave the whole OS discussion for others, but it… Read More

The preponderance of cell phones in U.S. society may be creating all sorts of businesses opportunities that didn't exist two decades ago, but it's bad news for at least one former stalwart of the American landscape: pay phones. Over the last few years, public coin-operated phones have gone from being something one could see on many street corners and in most businesses to quaint rarities…nowadays, if you need one, you can… Read More

For some time, many of us thought that Apple, with respect to the iPod specifically, was invulnerable. It didn’t matter who ran against them from Sony to Microsoft – Apple squished their little bodies and left them bleeding in the streets.  But, as a lesson to all of us, it’s important to remember that everyone has weaknesses and that anyone can make a mistake, with the 80 GB Zune potentially the product… Read More

Only a week after the state of Texas used MySpace to track down sex offenders on MySpace, authorities in Michigan have followed the lead and done the same. On Friday, Michigan attorney general Mike Cox produced a list of 200 registered sex offenders on MySpace, which will be supplied to local authorities and made public for parents. Although all of the Texas offenders were violating the terms of their parole by using the Internet, a vast… Read More

Online retailing giant Amazon.com has announced it has acquired Michigan-based audiobook publisher Brilliance Audio in a move to increase the number (and variety) of book titles available to consumers in audio form. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; Amazon.com describes Brilliance as “the largest independent publisher of audiobooks in the United States,” and says the company will stick with its Michigan location… Read More

It has to be tough when the leader in a segment you are trying to get off the ground exits it saying they simply don’t have enough resources to get it to work. For HP this has been a long road because they have been working on products in this class since before there was a Media Center and they continue with their somewhat related Touchsmart and MediaSmart TVs with built in media capability. Gateway, who had several of the more… Read More

Following immediately on its settlements with Texas and California, music label Sony BMG has agreed to pay some $4.25 million as part of settlement agreements with 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia regarding copy protection software included on some of the labels music CDs which caused computers to malfunction and exposed users to security threats. The terms of the agreement are similar to earlier settlements with Texas and… Read More