DETROIT (97.1 The Ticket) In his weekly interview with Karsch and Anderson on 97.1 The Ticket, Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said he isn’t “worried about the playoffs.”

“We’re not trying to make the playoffs,” Schwartz said. “We’re trying to beat the Green Bay Packers … It’s easy to get ahead of yourself … We can’t be thinking about the playoffs. I can’t be thinking about the Thanksgiving game. I have to be thinking about the Green Bay Packers.”

He added he’s looking forward to playing back at Ford Field this week and enjoying hometown fans.

Schwartz is focused on one game at a time in the future, but how about the past? Schwartz was asked about Lions’ DT Ndamukong Suh having one his best games as a Lions player in the last game.

“There was no question he played very, very well,” Schwartz said. “There is nobody that can look at the tape and say anything else, if so they have a different agenda than what the truth is … He (Suh) got a lot of pressure … He forced a lot of double teams.”

He went on to say Suh has played “very, very consistent all season.”

He didn’t limit the praise to Suh, adding that “Nick Fairley played very very well on the inside.”

But Schwartz can’t be all work and no play — so, what does he do in the off-season when there’s no football?

“I catch a few of those HBO series,” Schwartz said. “Every once in awhile I will pull out ‘Boardwalk Empire’ or one of those, but that’s about it.”

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/11/13/jim-schwartz-isnt-trying-to-make-the-playoffs/

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) – Loading blankets and tall pallets of dog and cat food, members of Detroit Dog Rescue drove 10 hours to the region hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy to help its four-footed victims.

Detroit Dog Rescue transported nearly four tons of food in a 26-foot Ryder truck from Detroit to Staten Island, New York.

Calling the storm and its following Nor’easter “catastrophic,” one organizer said bringing help was crucial for animals who can’t fend for themselves.

The rescue group was responding to an SOS call from sister animal rescue group Guardians of Rescue in New York.

“Hurricane Sandy became the perfect storm that took human life, caused billions of dollars in property damage and uprooted families across 14 states and we know equally affected are family pets who now are living without shelter or food,” said Dan “Hush” Carlisle, co-founder and executive director of Detroit Dog Rescue.

He added: “Last week when our good friend Robert Misseri from Guardians of Rescue and producer behind the Animal Planet’s reality show ‘Pit Bulls and Parolees’ put out a call for help to the rescue community for pet supplies, it was a done deal — Detroit Dog Rescue would do whatever we could to contribute. “

DDR garnered the supplies from supporters, donors and vendors here in Detroit.

To get information on distribution, follow Detroit Dog Rescue on Twitter @313DogRescue or on Facebook@DetroitDogRescue for locations and updated information.

Detroit Dog Rescue is a grassroots non-profit that utilizes volunteers to rescue pit bulls and other neglected, abused or abandoned animals in Detroit.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/11/13/detroit-dog-rescue-brings-supplies-to-sandy-victims/

TUCSON (CNNMoney) -- There are four tech companies controlling the industry's direction: Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook. Will they still be ruling the tech field in a decade?

"At least three have established very deep moats," meaning that it's almost impossible for newer rivals to overtake them, Internet analyst Mark Mahaney (formerly of Citigroup) said Sunday during a panel discussion at the Techonomy conference in Tucson, Ariz. "Probably Apple, too."

Google and Facebook have the richest data sets on their users, but Amazon's data graph is probably the most valuable, Mahaney believes, because it tracks where customers are actually spending their money.

Apple -- the company with the highest market capitalization in the world -- has the hardest position to defend, several of the panelists said. It can't maintain its stratospheric growth without constantly pulling new rabbits out of its hat, and rivals like Samsung are chipping away at its market.

"Apple to me is the most vulnerable," said Alec Ellison, the head of investment bank Jefferies' technology practice. "It has to maintain this innovation edge."

Streaming video is shaping up to be one of the fiercest battlegrounds. Apple's long-rumored iTV could be its next game-changing breakthrough, but the cable companies are pushing back hard -- and Amazon and Google are also in the hunt.

Live sports and premium scripted programs are the video Holy Grail, according to Nielsen executive Steve Hasker. Whoever gets access to them gains a huge strategic advantage.

Which brings us to the industry's dark horse: Microsoft.

Microsoft has been left out of discussions of the Internet's Big Four because it dominates in the enterprise, not the home. Consumers don't have the same deep engagement with Microsoft's products as they do with their Facebook page or their iPhone. But Microsoft is finally, belatedly, trying to claw its way in.

It cannonballed into the gadget market with Surface, and it's using Windows 8 as a "one platform" link to tighten the ties between products in its vast lineup. Microsoft is quietly striking content deals that morph Xbox from a video-game console into a home entertainment hub -- one that could go head-to-head with Apple.

"We share Microsoft's excitement about Xbox," Nielsen's Hasker said. "Can they segue to own the consumer across all kinds of different experiences? That to us looks like the most interesting piece of real estate they have in the home."

Microsoft has another advantage: It's no longer in the U.S. government's crosshairs. Microsoft's consent degree -- the set of restrictions that emerged from its bruising late-'90s antitrust battle -- expired last year.

Google has taken Microsoft's place as the antitrust lightning rod. The Department of Justice is preparing what looks like a sweeping case against the company, which could end up curbing some of Google's expansion plans. Apple, too, has faced some antitrust rumblings, while Facebook risks getting smacked down for its caviler privacy practices.

Even with those threats, Techonomy's panelists agreed that it's hard to see any of the current big four losing its leadership spot. But they also acknowledged that predicting the future of tech is a fool's game.

A decade ago, Mark Zuckerberg hadn't yet dreamed up a little venture called Facebook.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Motor Trend magazine has named the Tesla Model S its Car of the Year. The magazine's staff selected the all-electric plug-in luxury car out of a field of 11 finalists that included models such as the Ford Fusion, Porsche 911 and Hyundai Azera.

It is the first time the magazine's Car of the Year award has ever gone to an all-electric car.

Just being electric wasn't enough to earn the Model S the prize, though.

Ed Loh, Motor Trend's editor-in-chief on Monday said that, with eleven finalists, it was a strong field this year. But in the end there was no question about who the winner was. "The vehicles that placed second and third didn't get more than three votes. But it was a unanimous decision for the Tesla Model S."

"At its core, the Tesla Model S is simply a damned good car you happen to plug in to refuel," editor-at-large Angus MacKenzie wrote in an article about the award.

Motor Trend calls the Model S "as smoothly effortless as a Rolls-Royce" to drive fast while having the cargo and passenger capacity of an SUV.

The Model S was one of the most efficient cars the magazine has ever tested, averaging 74.5 miles per gallon equivalent -- a measure of how far the car goes on an amount of electricity equivalent to the energy in a gallon of gasoline -- during ordinary street driving. Still, the big car can bolt from a standstill to 60 miles an hour in just four seconds, according to Motor Trend's tests.

At the New York City announcement ceremony Tesla CEO Elon Musk said, "This is a point at which the gears of history moved," adding,

"I hope that other automakers will copy us and follow through and do electric cars with more vigor."

To be eligible for Motor Trend's Car of the Year award a vehicle must be, first of all, a car rather than an SUV or truck. The magazine gives separate truck and SUV awards. It also must be either completely new or substantially redesigned for the new model year. In all there were 25 models competing for the award this year.

After testing all the models at the Hyundai/Kia proving grounds in the southwest California desert, the magazine's staffers narrowed the list to just 11 finalists. Those cars were then tested on roads and highways around the town of Tehachapi, Calif. After further debate, the writers and editors selected the winner through a secret ballot.

It's impossible to say if the Model S would have won had it been a standard gasoline-powered luxury car, said McKenzie. That's because it would have been a different car in nearly every respect. It's strong, quiet performance is attributable to its electric motors while its roomy interior is thanks to the design flexibility they provide.

The Model S can hold up to seven people when equipped with an optional pair of rear-facing child seats. Since there is no engine, both the back and front of the car can be used for cargo, giving it functionality very similar to an SUV.

The Model S ranges from $50,000 for a car that can go 160 miles on a charge to almost $100,000 for a richly equipped model that can go 300 miles. It went into production this summer, and by the beginning of October Tesla said it had sold about 250 Model S sedans. It expects to sell about 3,200 by end of this year.

One thing Motor Trend can't promise is that Tesla Model S will be a dependable car over the long haul. Only more exerience with the car will show that.

Also, Tesla Motors is a start-up in an industry that's notoriously hard on newcomers. But that's not Motor Trend is looking at, said McKenzie.

"It's not auto business plan of the year," he said.

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™ & © 2012 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- OMG! R U SRS?

With a growing number of Americans carrying Internet-connected smartphones in their pockets, text messaging is on the decline. The average number of monthly texts sent by each user fell for the first time in U.S. history last quarter, according to a report released Tuesday by independent telecommunications analyst Chetan Sharma.

U.S. cell phone customers sent an average of about 675 messages per month in the third quarter, down from around 700 per month in the prior quarter. Cell phone carriers' text messaging revenues were also down last quarter for the first time in history.

More than half of cell phones in use in the United States are smartphones, according to Sharma. And dozens of their applications offer "free" text messaging services, which allow wireless customers to send and receive texts by piggybacking on their existing data plans. That means people who download those apps -- such as Microsoft's Skype, GroupMe, Google Voice, Kik, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger -- are able to bypass the expensive texting plans offered by wireless companies.

What's more, an increasing number of free text messaging services are being baked into the smartphones themselves. Apple's iMessage service and Research In Motion's BlackBerry Messenger allow iPhone and BlackBerry users to instantly message one another over their data plans, rather than via text message.

Texting may appear to be an insignificant cost on customers' cell phone bills, but it's actually an incredibly expensive way to send data. Text messages max out at just 160 bytes, which means the standard 20-cents-per-message plans cost wireless customers an astounding $1,250 per megabyte.

That's why text messaging has been a lucrative business for cell phone companies. Last year, texting represented 19% of wireless carriers' data sales for customers under contract, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In order to avoid the financial blow associated with shrinking text messaging volumes, some carriers have begun to change their business strategies. Both AT&T and Verizon introduced shared data plans earlier this year, which give customers unlimited texting and voice minutes in exchange for an allotment of data that they can use across multiple devices. As the gigabytes rack up, so too do AT&T and Verizon's sales.

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Detroit Mayor Dave Bing Announced in a statement Monday evening that a search for a new Chief Operating Officer (COO) is underway.

A blow to the Bing administration came late last week when Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown resigned suddenly to take an out-of-state job in the private sector.

Four days after news broke of Brown’s departure, it’s still unclear exactly what prompted Brown’s hasty resignation.

The mayor’s office has been mostly quiet about the matter, with only one brief statement from Bing Monday evening wishing Brown good luck in his new position and declaring a search for someone to fill Brown’s position.

"Chris Brown played a significant role in helping to redefine City of Detroit operations,” Bing wrote in a statement. “His departure will surely leave a void. The process of finding a replacement to fill the role of Chief Operating Officer will begin immediately. I wish Chris much success in his new opportunity. ”

Brown’s short tenure as Detroit COO saw the major restructuring of City services and contracts amid a financial crisis. The restructuring process has been an ongoing battle between union leaders and the Bing administration.
Before his post as COO, Brown served as vice president of DTE Energy where he spearheaded the startup of an off shore wind power system for DTE.

Last week Brown resigned from the City of Detroit to take a job with the Denmark-based wind power company Vestas. The company’s North American headquarters is in Portland, Oregon where Brown will serve as President of Vestas America and Vestas Group Vice President.

Browns turnaround and cost cutting experience as the City of Detroit’s COO could come in play in his new post where he is expected to oversee the company’s “operations and current implementation of cost savings and organizational adjustments” according to a Vestas press release.

While Brown has not made a public comment about his decision to step down from Detroit, in a statement from Vestas announcing his new post he said he would work to improve Vestas’ operations.

“My approach will be to understand what we need to continue to do well and address those areas in which we can improve our operations. I’ve learned that building healthy relationships with customers, employees and the community is an important component to success,” Brown said.

Brown joins a long list of city officials who have resigned during the Mayor’s three years in office.
Among those who stepped down during Bing’s tenure are Deputy Mayor Saul Green; Police Chief James Barren; Police Chief Warren Evans, fire commissioner James Mack Jr.; Chief Operating Officer Robert Buckler; Chief of Staff Shannon Holmes; Group Executives Al Fields and Sue Carnell; Coleman A. Young International Airport Director Delbert Brown; chief administrative officer Charles Beckham; Communications Heads Karen Dumas and Dan Lijana; Finance Director Tom Lijana; Deputy Director of Recreation Lee Stephenson; Director of Planning and Development Warren Palmer; and Director of Detroit Workforce Development Department Larry Hightower. 

Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, floated the idea of running again for the RNC chairman position on Sunday.

Asked directly if he would run again on C-Span, Steele said, "It's not a bad idea. I can go shake up the house a little bit more, what do you think?"

"Are you serious?" asked the host.

"We'll see."

Asked when he would announce a decision to run, Steele said, "Oh, I've got time for that."

Steele deflected a question about whether current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus should stay on for another two years. "That's going to be something the members have to decide," he said. Steele then proceeded to tout his tenure from 2009 to 2011. Steele also declined to say whether Priebus deserved another term on a conference call on Monday. In the same call, he defended his record in the 2010 midterms.

The Washington Examiner reported that Priebus is leaning towards running for reelection. Priebus won election to the chairmanship in 2010 after Steele's tenure came under criticism for running large debts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/michael-steele-rnc-chairman_n_2118749.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices

Pop-up businesses seem to be springing up everywhere in Detroit in recent months. One of the most anticipated of these may be a new east side satellite of the popular southwest Detroit coffee shop Cafe Con Leche, currently open for business in Detroit's Lafayette Park neighborhood until the first week of December. Like the original, the offshoot cafe offers a selection of beverages with a decidedly Latin flavor like Cuban coffee, Spanish hot chocolate and mate, an Argentinean tea.

The Huffington Post spoke about the new business with proprietor (and HuffPost blogger) Jordi Carbonell, an immigrant from Barcelona who opened the shop five years ago with his wife, southwest Detroit native Melissa Fernandez. A week into the enterprise he shared his thoughts about the neighborhood, architecture and future prospects of the pop-up cafe.

Tell us about the your new east side shop.

The name of the venture is called Cafe Con Leche del Este. We have an opportunity to do a pop-up business in a second place [to] try the market [to see] if a second coffee shop can work for us [and] for the neighborhood.

To do this pop-up, it was a collaboration with different organizations from the neighborhood like the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, the design group RogueHAA, the owners of the Lafayette Shopping Plaza and the Jefferson East Business Association (JEBA). It was amazing. In like two months we started talking and tried to move everything and we set up everything.

The reception of the neighbors has been pretty amazing. They're really excited. That area had a coffee shop seven years ago, Paris Cafe, that closed. It was over there 14 years. And it looks like for this seven years it was a topic of conversation between them: "Why don't we have another coffee shop?"

How did the pop-up come about?

Customers come in here. They live in the area. They started asking me about checking out Lafayette Park. They know the owners of the hotel. Detroit Economic Growth Corporation found out about that. They are involved with the neighborhood and they came to ask me: "Eh, we heard you are interested over there, we can help you." They [are] helping businesses do pop-ups in other areas of Detroit like Indian Village, University District -- 7 Mile and Livernois. I wasn't really interested because some customer asked me about that. It was a combination of people.

Cafe Con Leche used to be located across I-75 on Bagley, but it didn't seem that you got a lot of foot traffic. How does the new location compare to that?

It's different. You had to create the flow of the people, the flow of traffic. It wasn't really a route for people. In Lafayette Park it's already full of people passing [by]. There is already interest from downtown, people coming from the Grosse Pointe area, and it already [has] neighbors living just a few feet from the location.

How does it compare to your current location on Vernor and Scotten?

We tried to be in concordance with the architecture of the buildings. The architect of the building was Mies van der Rohe, one of the famous architects. Even the menu and the layout we tried to do in concordance with the architect's style. If I'm going to stay, it's going to look like something more that Mies would like. More minimalist. The one coffee shop we have right now we're trying to do more bodega or Latin warehouse.

I'm trying to adapt to the needs over there. I found that the neighborhoods are different, maybe in backgrounds and ethnicities, but the needs are the same. They needed space for networking, space to communicate or relate to the community. It was needed here more than what I was thinking when I [started] it. In a week or so over there, it was the same needs. Detroit needs these kind of place

Read more here 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/cafe-con-leche-detroit-jordi-carbonell_n_2119055.html?utm_hp_ref=detroit

A top Detroit appointee says the city is once again in danger of running out of money.

Program management director William "Kriss" Andrews told Detroit’s financial advisory board Monday that without state help or other adjustments, the city will run out of cash in December.

Andrews says that fate can be avoided, though. Detroit has bond money sitting in an escrow account controlled by the state.

But Andrews says state treasurer Andy Dillon will only release the money if he thinks Detroit is meeting certain benchmarks.

“It requires joint action by the administration, the City Council...And some elbow grease," Andrews aid. "We need to work hard to make this happen. And people need to work together.”

Andrews says the state has outlined terms in a so-called “milestone agreement.”

One of those terms: the City Council must approve two big contracts:one with the financial firm Ernst & Young, the other with law firm Miller-Canfield.

Council member Andre Spivey says he expects those will be a "bone of contention."

Spivey said the impression that those firms-especially Miller-Canfield--had a hand in negotiating the city's consent agreement with the state, has raised some questions about their ongoing role.

Spivey didn't rule out approved the contracts, but said "We need the public to know everything is above board. And I think that to have some transparency is key.”

The Council is set to vote on those contracts next week.

Some people at the meeting questioned whether that consent agreement—and the financial advisory board—are still valid at all, since voters overturned Michigan’s emergency manager law.

City and state officials insist that both remain intact.

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/officials-warn-detroit-running-short-cash-again