“Check, Please!” – WTTW’s highest rated local program ever – gives local residents the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions on Chicago’s diverse restaurants. The first of its kind, the show allows viewers a unique look into the Chicago restaurant world by offering diverse commentary on a wide range of Chicago eateries.

37signals offers a portfolio of unique Web-based tools, including tools for project collaboration and communication, for personal and business uses. The company’s Basecamp, Backpack, Campfire, WriteBoard and Ta-da List products are designed to provide users a more efficient and simplistic way to perform their tasks. More than 8 million users have tapped 37signals’ Basecamp suite to track more than 4 million projects, log 57 million hours of work, handle 46 million files of all sorts, and complete 43 million to-do lists.

CNT Energy (formerly known as the Community Energy Cooperative) introduced the Energy Smart Pricing Plan in 2003. This pilot program demonstrated that real-time electricity pricing can reduce strain on the electricity infrastructure, encourage energy efficiency, and save consumers money. This successful program led to the expansion of hourly electricity pricing options for residential customers in Illinois and beyond. CNT Energy currently administers the Power Smart Pricing program for the Ameren Illinois Utilities and provides technical and communications support for the ComEd Residential Real-Time Pricing Program. CNT Energy continues to lead the way in developing and implementing innovate programs that harness the potential of smart meter and smart grid technology to create benefits for consumers, communities, and the environment. More than 22,000 households in Illinois are on real-time pricing in 2011, the largest such program in the country. In 2010, customers who used this program saved, on average, 16 percent on their electricity bill, or $190 per household per year.

With its Feed Management technology, FeedBurner helps publishers of blogs and podcasts measure their audiences and sell ads, as well as enhance normal, everyday feeds so that publishers have the ability to distribute the feed for use in any RSS reader. FeedBurner enables publishers to monetize their content through sophisticated use of analytics. For the first time, thanks to FeedBurner’s analytics reports, publishers are accurately informed on who receives their feeds, how they use them, and where they are subsequently distributed. In 2007, FeedBurner was bought by Google for an undisclosed amount. At that time, it hosted over 1 million feeds for 584,832 publishers, including 142,534 podcast and videocast feeds.

Gerald Putnam is the founder of the Archipelago Electronic Stock Exchange, which foreshadowed electronic trading in equities.

Goettsch Partners’ architectural design services have won multiple awards for environmentally friendly buildings. The firm designed the first project in the country to receive the LEED CS Gold rating, a national standard for sustainable design. The design and construction of the 111 S. Wacker building focus on flexibility, efficiency and economy with some of the latest office building technologies.

LoggerHead Tools developed the Bionic Grip wrench, a new, open-ended gripping tool that combines the versatility of an adjustable wrench with the functionality of a pair of pliers. This hybrid universal tool symmetrically distributes force around the workload-distributing force over 240 degrees. The American-made Bionic Wrench has sold over 1.5 million units to date.

Finger-writing technology brings the convenience of text messaging and email right into the user’s finger by using a smooth keypad on the phone with special sensors and cutting-edge, finger-writing recognition software. This technology quickly established itself as a best-selling feature in the smart phone market in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The intellectual capital merchant banking firm Ocean Tomo has created Live Intellectual Property Auctions that enable the sale of expertise and intellectual property in a revolutionary way. The auctions were the first of their kind to facilitate the buying and selling of patents, trademarks, copyrights and domain names. Ocean Tomo’s redefinition of the IP market has led to the opening of an exchange for trading IP, the Intellectual Property Exchange International, or IPIX. Ocean Tomo is the preferred transactional advisory for this market.

Sara Lee’s new Soft and Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread looks, tastes and feels just like white bread but is made from a blend of enriched white flour and whole-grain flour. This innovative bread product redefined one of the largest food product markets in the country. Since its introduction, many companies have tried to follow in the steps of Sara Lee. However, it is the number one-selling whole grain white bread in the country.

USG’s SHEETROCK Brand Lightweight All Purpose Joint Compound with Dust Control has a special patented formula that binds up fine residue during sanding to form heavier particles that fall to the floor instead of clouding the air. Construction dust is greatly reduced, which increases worker productivity, keeps air dust-free and reduces the cost of cleanup. The ability on a microscopic scale to agglomerate fine particles before they become airborne has opened a new way to control where nuisance dust goes.