Cincinnati

The world's largest consumer products company and the online search leader are working together to learn more about each other and about targeting customers.

Procter & Gamble Co. said Wednesday it has done job swaps with Google Inc., and Google employees have been at P&G's Cincinnati headquarters helping with training.

P&G spokeswoman Allison Yang said the company wants to reach more consumers who are increasingly online.

"This is all about learning," she said. "It's about putting consumers in connection with our products in the right spots."

Police in the 1970s urged citizens to "drop a dime" in a pay phone to report crimes anonymously. Now in an increasing number of cities, tipsters are being invited to use their thumbs -- to identify criminals using text messages.

Police hope the idea helps recruit teens and 20-somethings who wouldn't normally dial a Crime Stoppers hot line to share information with authorities.

A small Cincinnati start-up called Advanced Mechanical Products (AMP) has developed, and is taking orders, for Saturn Sky Roadsters converted to run on all-electric power.
The converted cars will be powered by two electric motors and a powerful LI-Ion-Phosphate battery, enabling a top speed of 90mph and 0-60mph acceleration in less than 6 seconds, with a range of around 150 miles on a single charge.

Tim Harrington sits aboard the express bus from Mason, Ohio, to Cincinnati, his computer propped in his lap. He logs on, picks through his e-mail and begins his workday during the 30-to-40-minute rush-hour trip.

His commuter bus and buses in more than 20 other cities now offer wireless Internet, according to an informal survey by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

It's hardly news when India's Tata Consultancy Services [TCS] opens a new outsourcing facility, unless it happens to be in Ohio.

TCS, one of the world's top hired guns for corporate IT and back-office services, opened its first U.S. software development center in a suburb of Cincinnati on Mar. 16. And it's hardly alone. Rivals including Accenture and India's Wipro are pursuing similar ventures in unexpected places around the U.S., from Oregon to Arizona to Georgia.