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DST changes may create time trials: An extended schedule threatens calendars on electronic devices

It must seem like déjá vu to Hoosier companies who again must prepare their computer networks for the confusion caused by daylight-saving time. Indiana’s first-ever switch to DST last year triggered a mass adjustment of electronic clocks essential for computers and other devices to spring ahead with the rest of the world. Now the ritual must be repeated, due to a 2005 federal law decreeing that DST start three weeks earlier and end one week later, beginning this year. The…

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Doctor grows magazine with unusual strategy: Circulation hits 100,000 nationally and still climbing

A Carmel-based doctor turned publisher is celebrating his magazine’s first anniversary by rolling out plans to take his publishing and health care businesses nationwide. Radius magazine is poised for rapid growth due to its “no fluff” content, according to its founder, Dev Brar, who founded Carmel-based Nightingale Home Healthcare in 1996. Both businesses are operating out of a new headquarters at 1036 S. Rangeline Road, and Brar is hoping the two will grow hand-in-hand. Brar is using Radius to market…

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INVESTING: Market’s in decent shape, so don’t be too cautious

I love summer. Especially June, when you know you have months of great weather left. Of course, there always are people who complain. There is always the possibility of a few bad storms now and again, but with a slight perspective on the calendar, you know how much time you have left before the cold. Too bad the stock market is not like the seasons. But in a way, it can be looked at from a weatherman’s perspective. His record…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Why are we obsessed with complex gadgets?

Why can’t products be easier to use, simpler and with fewer gadgets? Why do we have so many features we never get around to using? Buttons and dials on car radios are proliferating, and even metastasizing to the steering wheel. There are so many switches in new cars that some of them go forever unused, simply because we can’t remember what they do. Cell phones are sprouting menus within menus. Even refrigerators are getting computerized controls with a television in…

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Local software maker teams with Microsoft

Autobase Inc. has inked a partnership with tech heavyweight Microsoft Corp. that might fuel growth for the Indianapolis-based
marketing-software maker. The deal will allow Autobase to piggyback its software on Microsoft’s as the Seattle company launches
products aimed at auto dealers.

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INVESTING: Investment opportunities are out there, but where?

We are still in a bull market. It’s an old one, and on a global scale not everything is exactly firing. Bigname stocks like Apple and Google are getting knocked around, and the money you plowed into Chinese stocks a few months ago is losing ground. But on a risk-adjusted basis, we are in a place to make some decent money. You just have to know where to look. The “where” is the part giving investors fits lately. By taking…

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Technology-friendly legislation quietly advances: Bills could spur patent commercialization and more

A handful of bills pending in the General Assembly could have a major impact on Indiana’s high-tech sector. Legislation under consideration could stimulate increased commercialization of patented Indiana technology, channel more money toward development of alternative fuels, require regular review of Indiana’s certified technology parks, and more. Tech leaders are optimistic about the chances their agenda will be approved. “It’s the reason we married up with CICP,” said Ron Brumbarger, chairman of TechPoint, a trade association for Indiana high-tech companies….

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Forensic engineering firm seeks defense work: New initiative hopes to help other local firms follow in Wolf Technical’s footsteps

After 30 years in the forensic-engineering business, Wolf Technical Services Inc. has analyzed everything from deadly car crashes to patent infringement. Now, Indianapolis-based Wolf is hoping to diversify into a new area: federal defense contracting. It’s a field local corporate leaders hope Indiana will tap much more frequently in the years to come. “We don’t quite know at the moment where this could lead,” said Wolf Director of Client Relations Joseph Ward. “And that’s the fun part.” The 30-employee Wolf’s…

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Food vs. fuel debate is ignited: Price of ethanol-ingredient corn soars, squeezing margins for livestock, food

The ethanol gold rush sweeping Indiana and other states that grow its prime ingredient, corn, is threatening profit margins for livestock producers and portends higher prices at the supermarket. Perhaps no sector is more nervous these days than pork, where Indiana ranks fifth in production nationally. “Much higher feed costs are likely to eliminate the profit potential for pork production in 2007,” Chris Hurt, a Purdue University agriculture economics professor, said in his recent market outlook report. Corn, the primary…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Saving Hoosier lives depends on telemedicine technology

If you find yourself in need of advanced medical care, the Indianapolis area represents one of the best places to live. Superb resources at the nationally ranked Indiana University Hospital, St. Vincent, the Riley Hospital for Children and a whole host of other Indianapolis based medical facilities will effectively meet the challenge of providing worldclass health services. But if you live or work outside the capital city, securing life-saving services may be a different matter. The last national census disclosed…

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Advocacy firms finding business in confused patients: Health care complexities creating new industry

Duane Etienne’s role as the leader of a local elder-care agency provides him the benefit of knowing how to navigate the intricacies of the modern medical maze more than most. Yet, the 65-year-old admitted he still had trouble deciphering the fine print on his parents’ insurance policies. “It’s just too complicated,” said Etienne, president of the local CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions. “I work this business every day, and it’s complex for me. But I’ve got people I can go…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Out of spotlight, state efficiency initiatives advance

A pair of state studies last year attracted little public attention, but were highly-if warily-anticipated by business and industry, labor organizations, trade and professional groups, educators, local government officials, and even state agencies. The legislatively created Government Efficiency Commission served up its recommendation, followed, after the election, by the Office of Management and Budget’s Government Efficiency and Financial Planning office Program Results: an Outcome Based Evaluation (PROBE) analysis sought by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. The Government Efficiency Commission offered some…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Will telecommuting kill your chances for promotion?

Office life has never been a particularly attractive one. No office, no matter how exciting or extensively outfitted with Aeron chairs, is going to be mistaken for a human habitat. Our species long ago outgrew living in tiny little caves with flickering lighting and strange stains on the floor, except at work. In Cubeville, there is often isolation, but no privacy. Thoughtful reclining is easily mistaken for laziness. Office parties and office politics are frequently undertaken by the same people….

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Tech firm Powerway seeking rebound

Powerway Inc., the Indianapolis-based maker of manufacturing quality-control software that grew like gangbusters in the 1990s
and aimed for an initial public offering, has endured a dog of a half-decade. But that soon could change. Powerway just hired
an IT industry turnaround expert as CEO.

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Daniels administration subtly shifting ethanol strategy

Folks in central Indiana who were watching probably took advantage of the section of President Bush’s State of the Union address on energy independence Jan. 23 to grab a drink or check in on the Indiana University post-game show. While the president’s energy proposals probably didn’t generate a lot of attention in urban areas of the state, the mere mention of ethanol in Indiana outside the collar counties makes lots of Hoosier ears perk up-both ears of corn and human…

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Generator-maker finding new ways to get energy

I Power Energy Systems, which makes natural-gas-powered electric generators that are the primary power source of corporate
and college campuses, is a novelty in Indiana. After all, coal is still a cheaper source of electricity than is natural gas.
But I Power is developing applications for electric generators that burn biogas from sources ranging from garbage to ground-up
corn.

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Corporate shopping spree: Massive Guidant deal helps make 2006 a record-setting year for local M&A activity

Last year was a record-shattering period for the Indianapolis-area merger and acquisition market, thanks in large part to the loss of one public corporation. Guidant Corp.’s acquisition by Boston Scientific Corp. for $28.4 billion last year and the related sale of its vascular business to Abbott Laboratories for $4.1 billion made the 2006 Big Deals list bigger than ever. That’s because the two deals made up about 85 percent of the $38.5 billion of M&A activity tracked down by the…

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A lonely number for IPOs in Indiana: Calumet joins short list of Indiana companies to go public this decade

A little-known refining and petroleum products company on the city’s west side has the distinction of being the only company in the state to go public in 2006. Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP filed its initial public offering last January. It completed the process in June by selling 5.7 million shares of stock at $21.50 each, ultimately raising $122.5 million. Shares since have nearly doubled in value, thanks in part to rising prices in the petroleum industry. While Calumet’s decision…

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BULLS & BEARS: Are ingredients in place for a market ‘melt-up’?

A couple of years ago, I quoted legendary market analyst John Mendelson, who predicted the “mother of all short squeezes,” causing a market “melt-up.” So far, nobody would say we’ve experienced anything resembling a melt-up. In the two years since Mendelson’s report, I haven’t seen the words “melt-up” used. That is, until the last couple of weeks, when I saw it twice. In early January, Barron’s columnist Michael Santoli was describing the state of the market. He said valuations by…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: We need less of ‘cool’ and more of ‘can do’

I’ve been accused of being both technology-besotted and technology-averse. I’m neither one. I’m just interested in using technology in appropriate ways. I’m fond of reminding people that a pair of scissors is perfect for a job that a pair of scissors can do. Scissors don’t need Tim Allen-style enhancements. An example popped up from reading “The Soul of a Chef,” by Michael Ruhlman, where I ran across the statement by a young chef that a computer system made the difference…

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