Tag Archives: Michigan State University
Universities Buying Up Tons Of .XXX Domain Names To Protect Brands
Now that buying .XXX domain names is an option, universities are snapping them up in an effort to protect their brands. These universities include the University of Kansas, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, Purdue University, Ball State University, Grand Valley State University, Central Michigan University, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University, etc. None of these universities will be doing anything at all with the .XXX domain names.
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Categories Ball State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Central Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, ICM Registry, Indiana University, Mark Land, Michigan State University, Penn State University, Purdue University, Rick Fitzgerald, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, University of Pittsburgh
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Michigan State University Alumni Design Memo Touch, A Tablet Made For Senior Citizens
The Memo Touch is a tablet with limited functionality that was designed for senior citizens. The Memo Touch is a reminder tool for those that struggle with short-term memory loss. Family members can add calendar events, phone numbers, and a to-do list. You can also share photos and add personalized messages. The Memo Touch sells for $299 and it has a $174 six-month subscription or a $300 12-month subscription. The tablet has a three month return policy where buyers can opt to receive a refund or have the tablet restored to Android roots. Memo Touch was founded by Michigan State University alumni Merilee Griffin and Carrie Beia. Below is the press release:
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Team Of Michigan State University and University of Michigan Professors and Students Developing App For Detecting Cancer In Poor Countries
Michigan State University professor of civil and environmental engineering Syed Hashsham, Michigan State University professor Jim Tiedje, and University of Michigan professor of Chemical Engineering Erdogan Gulari is working on a low-cost and hand-held device for nations with limited resources to help physicians detect and diagnose cancer. The device is called the Gene-Z device, which can be operated using an iPod Touch or Android tablet.
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Gig.U Network Brings Super High Speed Internet to 28 Universities
A group of American universities have banded together to offer their campuses high speed computer networks beyond anything that is currently commercially available. The Gig.U project will offer one-gigabit connections to university campuses and their surrounding areas, which the project hopes will draw companies to the areas. The New York Times reports that in the test program in a small area near Case Western, three startups moved to the neighborhood within three months.
Categories Arizona State University, Aspen Institute, Blair Levin, Case Western Reserve, Duke University, Elise Kohn, George Mason University, Gig.U, GigU, Indiana University, Michigan State University, North Carolina State University, University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Hawaii, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, University of New Mexico, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of Washington, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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Spark Capital Reneged On Lauren Leto’s Start-Up Bnter [RUMOR]
When Sarah Lacy interviewed Spark Capital partner Bijan Sabet about the danger of venture capital firms investing in similar companies, she indirectly found out about some drama between Tumblr and BNTER after doing some follow-up investigation. Lacy found out from three sources that Spark Capital had reneged on a term sheet that was offered to BNTER, a start-up based in New York founded by Lauren Leto.
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How A Single Tweet From Scott Bartosiewicz Costed Chrysler As A Client [UPDATED]
Earlier this month, Chrysler fired their social media firm New Media Strategies because a tweet was sent out on behalf of the company that said “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f**king [edited] drive.” This tweet was accidentally sent out by 28-year old Ferndale, Michigan resident Scott Bartosiewicz, who used TweetDeck as his default Twitter client.
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Mich. State University Engineering Researchers Developing Algorithm To Match Suspect Photos With Police Sketches
Researchers at the Michigan State University Engineering department are working on developing an algorithm that would match police sketches to suspect photos. The algorithm combines artist sketches with crime databases to find suspects based on their physical features. The algorithm identifies the similarities between the sketch and photo like eye, nose, and chin shape. Director of the Pattern Recognition and Image Processing lab at MSU Anil Jain is spearheading the project.
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Lauren Leto Raises Funding For New Startup Called BNTER
You may know Lauren Leto best as being the co-founder of TextsFromLastNight.com. Now Leto is working on her second start-up called BNTER. Leto raised funding for BNTER from several angel investors that include Founder Collective (Chris Dixon), SV Angel (David Lee), and High Line Venture Partners (Shana Fisher).
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Numa Numa Guy Gary Brolsma Conducts Michigan State Marching Band [Video]
I think Gary Brolsma will be forever remembered as the Numa Numa guy that has touched all of our hearts. Last time I heard about Brolsma, he was dancing in a Geico commercial to the song that made him famous Dragostea din tei. Now it looks like he is doing some gigs at various colleges. Go Spartans! This is just another reason why I’m proud to be a Spartan myself.
*Props to Ryan Goodrich for sending over the video.
Categories Gary Brolsma, Michigan State University
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Mich. State Alumni Ben Bator and Lauren Leto’s TextsFromLastNight.com Hits 3.5 Million Page Views Per Month
Ben Bator and Lauren Leto are a couple of Michigan State University alumni (just like me!) that launched a website called TextsFromLastNight.com. The levels of website traffic that TextsFromLastNight is impressive. The website receives about 3.5 million page views per month.
TextsFromLastNight grew at a viral pace just like FML. The website is making money from advertising, t-shirt sales, mobile phone applications, and even a book deal with Penguin Group’s Penguin division. Bator and Leto were considering going to law school right after graduating from Michigan State, but the success of TextsFromLastNight hindered those plans.
Between Bator and Leto, they have to look through about 10,000-15,000 funny text messages that were sent in to the website. Visitors to the website enter their area code and a funny text message that they received recently.
Some of the funny messages that are currently on the homepage include:
(304): My life is like a Sweet Valley High book but with lots of alcohol.
(410): Its Shannon Doherty lazy not Forest Whittaker lazy
(440): you were so drunk you slurred your pauses
(201): I am no longer a man. I just realized I prefer Spongebob to college football.
This past February, Bator and Leto launched their website on Blogger.com but noticed that their traffic grew from 500 visitors per day to 15,000. They moved their website from Blogger to their own domain name on April 16th. Between the two of them, they had less than $10,000 in savings and from investors.
Within one week of moving their website to their own domain name, they hit 240,000 page views and their server crashed. Several days later, traffic hit 460,000 page views.
The two even gave credit to former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick about their idea. During the months of September 2002 – October 2002 and April 2003 – May 2003, the former Detroit mayor sent over 14,000 text messages to his chief of staff Christine Beatty.