Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs)

From Wiki

So what are MAVs and why should students of entrepreneurship care? According to a basic definition given in Wiki, “The term micro air vehicle (MAV) or micro aerial vehicle refers to a type of unmanned air vehicle (UAV) that is remotely controlled.” Washington Post called them Robobugs. In our world of increasing big and small things, MAVs could certainly impact a wide range of human endeavor. Watch the video below and think about apps. Hank

Have A Happy Friday: An keep your turbo-encabulator working

Followup to comment Scott Wilson and LG eXpo Ph

Last week Scott Wilson in comments to a blog about the Droid docking station made a link to a phone just released for use on AT&T networks, the LG eXpo phone. The buzz around the phone is centered around the projector that is an accessory for it as demonstrated toward the end of the video below. Such a projector line, named pico projectors, is entering the market from Texas Instruments. You can buy one to experiment with at this link. I’m certain the tech boards will be all over this phone as it moves into general use. Of additional interest is the fingerprint reader which authenticates user identity. Should help with lost and/or stolen phones. Watch the video for grins. Hank

Local Firm’s Stock Skyrocketing

From icx web page

A little known local company resides in Purdue Research Park; it is named Griffin Analytical, LLC. Griffin has been supportive of Purdue’s Entrepreneurship Certificate Program by hosting Learning Community classes in the past, and by addressing Krannert’s MBA classes, my MGMT649, Marketing in a Global Economy in particular. Griffin was started in  2001 and is directly involved in detection of bad stuff like the recent would-be Christmas bomber  Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to pull off. Griffin relies heavily on a strong relationship with Purdue University’s world renowned analytical chemistry department as a source of its competitive advantage.

Griffin was acquired by icx Technologies some time ago which is a publicly-traded company. Of interest is what has happened to icx’s stock price given the Christmas-bombing event. See the stock price graph below from here:

From finance.google.com 1/2/2010

We can see that icx’s stock price was bouncing around under $5/share until Christmas, after which it has more than doubled. That’s not bad by any standard. You can bet such stocks, and in this case, Purdue’s influence, will only increase in the future. Go Purdue. Hank

Electrics come to Indiana

The local press (Journal & Courier) recently (12/24/09) ran an article (p. C6) “3rd electric vehicle maker eyes Ind.” Most people, especially those out of work, might say “GOOD.” I say, “What’s wrong with this picture?” Basically, firms from foreign countries are moving to locate mostly assembly in the US. The brain-work, which used to be called “INNOVATION,” is taking place outside the US. In this article, a Finish company named Think Global operating in the US as Think North America is discussed. Another Hoosier-based company in the battery business, Enerl owns 31% of Think. You don’t think firms with strong foreign ties are sucking up to our current throw money at everything trough? Read on..

Another big player among U.S. battery makers is Indianapolis-based EnerDel, a subsidiary of New York-based Enerl. Enerl formed EnerDel in a 2004 joint venture with Michigan-based auto-parts maker Delphi and Japanese conglomerate ITOCHU. Unable to resist the lure of the battery-savvy East, EnerDel bought a majority stake in a Korean battery manufacturer in October. This gives the American company the capacity to produce battery packs for approximately 45,000 full-electric vehicles, or 450,000 hybrid-electric vehicles.

However, EnerDel suffered a setback when the Norwegian electric car company Think Global ran out of cash in December. The company has a contract with Think Global to manufacture batteries for 10,000 vehicles. EnerDel has now applied for a $480 million loan from the Energy Department to double its production capacity for hybrid vehicle battery packs at its Indiana plant by 2011 and to build a second plant capable of producing enough batteries for 1.2 million hybrid-electric vehicles by 2015.

With billions in cheap government money available, it is no surprise that there is a rush to line up at the withdrawal window. The Department of Energy has already received 75 applications asking for $38 billion in loans; the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program is authorized to issue only $25 billion. From here:

If you back up and look at the forest, not the trees, the cost per job for such employment is extremely high, and most of the $$$$ is going elsewhere. We need to turn our own entrepreneurs loose. Hank

Brutti Boy’s New Trick

Brutti Boy

Brutti is an eight year old AKC Golden Retriever who I have written about before regarding him being a certified therapy dog for Delta Society. He recently started doing “something” on his own that is dog-entrepreneurial. Over the years, Brutti has gone to our mail box stand with me to retrieve our morning newspaper, Lafayette’s Journal & Courier. I pull it out of the box, and Brutti carries it for me to the house, some 150 feet away. No big deal, right?

With the somewhat inclement weather, our delivery guy started placing the paper in a plastic sleeve, tied at one end. Sometimes, the tied end sticks out of the box a little bit. Brutti, about once a week now, of his own accord, “brings the paper in” after his initial morning’s nature call. If you can imagine a 100 pound Golden wagging from nose-to-tail, that’s Brutti when he returns with the paper. He does this on his own without any prompting. And that readers, is dog-entrepreneurial – see a problem and solve it. Hank

Have A Happy Friday & A Great New Year