according to the article for defunct pages and some that are put in a
"protective zoo" or e-hospice against their impending demise, such as
APBNews.com and NBCi.com. The creator of the sepulchre is a Yonkers
programmer who once worked for Time's Pathfinder service and observes if he
didn't save dead Web sites, "there's no proof I actually did anything."
Just Add Water
Borrowing a technique from mainframes, IBM has introduced a water cooler to
some of its laptop models. Not the kind people stood around in 50's office
movies to trade gossip but a little tiny water-filled radiator inside the
case. Now that laptop processors generate over 25 watts, using them on
one's lap without a padded apron has become uncomfortable if not hazardous,
so the higher heat-carrying capacity of water over air is expected to make
the units more efficient at dissipating waste therms. The radiators are
powered solely by convection, so no fan is required and they run quieter
than their air-breathing cousins. IBM also claims the amount of water used
in their A20, A21, and T20 models is so small that you don't need to add
antifreeze in the winter.
Razorfish Lawsuit Dropped
A Federal court judge in New York dismissed a class-action suit against the
Internet consulting firm that claimed it inflated share prices with false
info on i-Cube, a company it bought out two years ago. Plaintiffs may still
proceed I think but without the class-action big bucks incentive.
Dell Goes To War
James Vanderslice, Dell's president (and presumably commander-in-chief),
says the PC maker is in a "full-scale price war to increase market share".
Prices for components are falling about 1 percent a week, and the benefits
will be passed on to buyers within 3 days he says.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 27 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Fri, May 25, 2001 (13:59) * 21 lines
ronks, the busy techie:
Be Very Afraid
Buried in an announcement that Lockheed and Microsoft will collaborate on
bids for government e-mail and e-commerce systems was the statement that
Microsoft is developing the software for the US Navy's "next nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier". When that baby BSODs, look out. Maybe they will station
it in Madagascar. (Maybe it will just go there by mistake and run aground.)
Covad Sinking
The ISP delayed release of its annual financial statement for three months,
for unspecified reasons. One of them may have been to put off the news that
they lost $1.4 billion in the year; they also reduced previously published
numbers for earlier quarters. They say their auditors doubt if they can
remain in business; a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon people
begin to wonder.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 28 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, May 31, 2001 (21:16) * 20 lines
ronks:
Outpost Bought Out
New Hampshire based PC Connection (is that the company with the raccoon in
its ads?) has bought the former Cyberian Outpost in a stock swap for an
undetermined amount based on a formula involving the Outpost's sales in the
next three months and the average price of PCC stock for the ten days before
the close of the deal.
TLC and Dragon Deal
The Learning Company of Novato will sell speech products Dragon Naturally-
Speaking and L&H's Voice Express in the US and Canada, under a deal that
requires bankruptcy court approval. The two products are said to represent
"the majority of the $35 million retail market for speech recognition
software".
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 29 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Jun 4, 2001 (15:49) * 46 lines
Windows XP A Hacker's Paradise?
The UC San Diego Supercomputer Center reports the number of "distributed
denial of service attacks" in which a hacker takes over other PCs and uses
them as zombies to flood a target site with spurious but time- and
bandwidth-consuming requests is growing. During a three-week period in
February, the center recorded 13,000 such attacks against 5,000 sites, with
about 40 active at any time; while 90 percent lasted less than an hour, 2%
extended for days or weeks. The center estimates it recorded only about
half of the actual number of such attacks, which have numerous variants and
for which instructions are available on the Web. Steve Gibson of Gibson
Research suggests the new Net-centric Windows XP will create "a powerful
network communications standard that attackers could widely exploit",
especially with more users online all the time on DSL and cable modems. (The
article doesn't say if Mr. G thinks the XP standards are vulnerable or if
the popularity of Windows will just offer a large pool of similar targets.)
The manager of Microsoft's Security Response Center says XP will have built-
in features to prevent the zombization of PCs running it.
Microsoft and AOL Negotiate - Or Don't
Depending on who you ask and the time of day, corporate titans MS and AOL
either are or are not talking about settling their licensing and legal
concerns with each other. At one time last week it looked like both parties
had given up over Microsoft's demand that AOL not challenge it over
antitrust issues but they seem to have cooled off and started talking again.
Talks began when AOL's license to use Internet Explorer expired a few months
ago, but they have lots of other items on the menu. Viz., AOL wants a
featured spot on the Windows XP desktop and needs to come to terms with IE
even though it owns Netscape (a Web browser popular back in the twentieth
century). AOL also wants to be a player, or at least not a victim, of
Microsoft's new .Net and Hailstorm consumer-commerce initiatives. MS has a
wish list of its own, of course, besides an antitrust "get out of jail free"
Monopoly card. They want to pry open the clamshell known as AOL Instant
Messaging standards so MSN Messenger can interact with it, and they want to
add Windows Media Player to RealPlayer and other formats supported by AOL.
AOL recently dropped plans for a direct assault on the Windows citadel with
the "AOL PC", a cheap computer running GNU-Linux with a graphic user
interface by the now-defunct Eazel Inc. software developer.
"zombization" I like that.
ronks
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 30 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Tue, Jun 5, 2001 (16:59) * 52 lines
ronks again:
So MS has not actually described those "other security measures that prevent
DDoS clients from taking advantage of the openness of their sockets code"?
That's expecting people to take a lot on faith, which is not a good way to
run a security operation IMHO.
Napster Near Deal With Record Companies
MusicNet is a consortium of AOL Time Warner, BMG, EMI, and RealNetworks.
They are said to be working out the details of a contract to license their
music to Napster in Real format so long as Napster maintains some specified
security level to ensure consumers don't hear notes they haven't paid for.
The deal would also bar Napster from cutting a deal with MusicNet's enemy
Duet, a Sony-Vivendi Universal partnership. A potential obstacle is the
songwriters, who "want higher royalty rates on digital music than CD's."
Data Storage Standards Developed
Yet another consortium, this time a subset of hardware makers called the
Storage Networking Industry Association, is putting together a set of
standards to let users mix storage equipment on a system. Sun, who has not
been invited to participate for some reason, says they have no details on
the plan. Neither did the author of the story evidently, which is pretty
vague on what the need is or how it will be met.
Microsoft Tries To Enlist Press Against FSF
Seeking to use reporters as a sort of fifth column against the Free Software
Foundation, the company sent them three pages of questions it wanted them to
ask Richard Stallman who gave a talk at the NYU B-school last week. Sample
loaded question: "Does the all-or-nothing viral approach of the GPL [the
FSF's framework license] severely limit business flexibility?" It's unclear
if MS also wanted reporters to ask Mr. Stallman if he had stopped having
carnal relations with barnyard animals.
Quote Of The Day
Not exactly a response to the planted MS queries but still a nice riposte,
FSF general counsel and Columbia law professor Eben Moglen: "Microsoft,
which used to say all the time that the software business was ruthlessly
competitive, is now matched against a competitor whose model of production
and distribution is so much better that Microsoft stands no chance of
prevailing in the long run. They're simply trying to scare people out of
dealing with a competitor they can't buy, can't intimidate, and can't stop."
Incidentally, the IDC research firm reports that users of GNU-Linux rose
from 1000 nine years ago to 9 million last year.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 31 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Jun 6, 2001 (13:16) * 28 lines
New Covad CEO Fights Doom
In what the article colorfully calls "a desperate attempt to stave off
financial doom", Covad appointed a new president. He has to deal with an
unexpected $1.44 billion loss last year (a billion here, a billion there,
where did it all go), a still-pending delay in announcing last quarter's
results, and a possible Nasdaq delisting. Doom indeed.
Amazon.com puter
The former bookstore that now sells toys, hard drives, and air compressors
will offer PCs in a few months. Unlike books, Amazon won't maintain an
inventory of them but will instead have a distributor ship them. This
"virtual inventory" approach hasn't worked out for other retailers like
Buy.com, but it's been a winner for make-to-order manufacturers like Dell.
Microsoft Takes Aim At AIM
AOL Instant Messaging is the target of the new Windows Messenger due to ship
with Windows XP this fall. MS says it will allow the sharing of documents
(like NetMeeting?), transmission of audio and video files, and even remote
access to other PC's. Copyright issues? Security concerns? Hahahahaha...
ronks, of course
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 32 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Jun 6, 2001 (13:17) * 1 lines
Sounds like Windows Messenger is a repackaged Netmeeting.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 33 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Fri, Jun 8, 2001 (11:02) * 30 lines
Virtual Storage Indeed
Myspace.com had 7.5 million registered and 2.2 M active users for its free
online storage service when it vanished from cyberspace four days ago. The
CEO of the SF firm says it gave users e-mail notice six days earlier, but
some say they saw nothing until they tried to visit the site and 404'ed.
While Xdrive, i-drive, and FreeDrive remain, rival Driveway shut down four
months ago for consumers, to focus on paid storage for businesses.
Baby Domains Offered
A domain name registry offers a free domain name for infants born at Redwood
City's Sequoia Hospital through the end of the year. Presumably some older
relative needs to contact www.namezero.com to take advantage of the offer
unless the neonate is exceptionally precocious, though the hospital is in a
high-tech region. Jason.com and heather.com are probably taken already, so
if you want to be sure you might name it Torquemada or something.
Chips Drop
The Semiconductor Industry Association says global chip sales should fall
14% from last year to a piddling $175 billion, as buyers work off a glut
from last year in a slow economy. Still not all is gloom: the SIA says 2002
sales should be up 21%, and another 25% in 2003. Perhaps after hearing the
news, TI shut two Dallas plants with 1800 workers for one to three weeks.
ronks. Who else?
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 34 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Fri, Jun 8, 2001 (23:24) * 25 lines
ronks (Ron Sipherd):
AT&T Dumps Microsoft
Despite a $5 billion investment by Microsoft, AT&T has abandoned plans to
use their software for interactive TV. For 18 months or more, the hardware
(240,000 DCT-5000 set-top units) has been sitting in warehouses waiting for
MS to develop the code to run it, and it apparently is still not ready; AT&T
may convert the boxes to run as simple digital TV units and abandon the
interactive concept altogether, to promote instead a variety of Internet
services to cable boxes, PCs, and other gizmos. Microsoft's $5 B investment
is now worth $1.1 B; boo hoo. Meanwhile Steve Ballmer says he has found a
customer for his company's interactive TV software, namely TV Cabo Portugal.
Well, it's a start...
NetZero, Juno Merge
Described as "the two biggest providers of free Internet access", the ISPs
account for 7 million subscribers, and the combined firm will be the second
largest ISP, after AOL Time Warner. Both companies will become subsidiaries
of a new corporation called United Online Inc.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 35 of 142: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Jun 8, 2001 (23:44) * 1 lines
Wow!! that will be impressive . Had heard that AT&T was not going in with MS on that interactive TV deal. I don't think Bill Gates will be filing for welfare this week, however!
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 36 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Jun 18, 2001 (16:07) * 60 lines
From the article: "In a conference call yesterday [June 15] with stock
analysts, Mr. Roth [Joe Roth, Nortel CEO] revealed a troubling finding for
Nortel's business and the industry in general. The company calculates that
Internet traffic, which has climbed sharply in recent years, declined
slightly in the most recent quarter, Mr. Roth said."
What If They Built A Network And No One Came?
In the 1870's after the Civil War, the easy availability of cheap capital
led to a rapid expansion in railroad track mileage in the absence of
corresponding demand. Often the entrepreneurs built lines to towns and paid
no attention to how customers would get goods between the station and their
homes and businesses. After a few years, the bubble burst and it took
nearly a decade for the market and the economy to recover. Fast-forward 130
years: companies have spent $35 billion to lay 100 million miles of fiber-
optic lines around the world even though only about 10 percent of US
residences have high-speed links. Only 5% of installed fiber is "lit" and
the remainder is unused. So far this year, investors have lost $12.8
billion on the default of $13.9 B of telecommunications bonds, over twice
what they lost in all of last year. Those who do not remember the past etc.
AOL-Microsoft Talks Collapse
The parties don't even agree on what they disagree about. AOL says the only
area unresolved was MS insistence that AOL drop RealPlayer for Windows Media
Player, while MS says AOL wanted everything, gave up nothing, and "wanted to
sue us over XP". Microsoft's goals in the negotiations seem to be getting
AOL to agree not to raise antitrust issues in litigation and its cooperation
in the rollout of Windows XP, with its many bundled consumer features. Since
MS seems to be gearing up to do to AOL with XP and its "Hailstorm" project
what MS Office did to WordPerfect and Lotus, it's perhaps not surprising
that AOL declined to play ball (or play dead?). Besides agreeing not to sue
MS over antitrust issues (which is a pretty major concession when you don't
know what they're going to do) and ending AOL's arrangement with MS rival
RealPlayer, Microsoft wanted concessions on AOL Instant Messaging; and it's
not clear that MS really had that much to offer in return if AOL is willing
to fight back for its turf instead of seeking accommodation.
The End Of An Era
Autodesk is reported to have stopped holding its free Friday afternoon beer
parties. Sigh. One employee reacted by comparing CEO Carol Bartz's $1.5
million annual salary and $15.3 million stock options with the estimated
$532 weekly cost of 30 pizza, a keg, 6 bottles of wine and 8 bags of chips.
Quote Of The Day
"The market has had the worst correction it's had in a generation, and yet
it's still not cheap."
- Chief Investment Officer Kevin Parke at MFS: noting that Cisco, down from
$80 a share to $16.65, is still trading at 60 times its expected earnings.
Still not cheap! Wow!
AOL and Msft at it still.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 37 of 142: host (mikeg) * Mon, Jun 18, 2001 (17:12) * 34 lines
Another 10,000 jobs are going at Nortel:
Audience: Nortel Networks Employees
This morning we issued an important announcement regarding our outlook and the steps we are taking to continue to align our business to a severe economic and industry downturn and what is a period of profound adjustment for our customers.
As we indicated in our announcement, we believe that this downturn will be protracted. We should fully recognize how difficult this period will be. The six priorities in our "Alignment Plan" reflect the seriousness of the situation that we, and our customers and other market participants, find ourselves in. We must continue to:
1. Accelerate our cost reduction and reset to "break even" at current business levels;
2. Return to positive cash flow by management of expenses, inventories, capital and receivables;
3. Focus business around core growth areas and exit/dispose of/transition our ownership in others;
4. Retain employees by implementing initiatives such as the Stock Option Exchange;
5. Target top customers and direct sales opportunities for incremental and new revenue and ensure superior customer satisfaction; and
6. Deliver on our key product initiatives targeting high-growth markets.
As I indicated today, and in our town-hall of last week, we are making good progress against this "Alignment Plan." The programs that we have implemented since the beginning of the year are expected to result in excess of US$3 billion in savings on an annualized basis. We have more work to do, but this is a good start.
We have thus far notified approximately 20,000 employees. Sadly, due to the protracted downturn, we will be eliminating another 10,000 positions as we continue to align with the market. We will move as quickly as we can with the aim of having this completed by the end of the third quarter.
Despite the times, Nortel Networks remains one of the best-positioned companies in our industry. Our leadership bench-strength and employees are among the best in the world. We have a world-class portfolio of solutions that lead the market today and we are on track to bring the next generation of solutions to market. Our sales and technical teams are lined up against the top service providers and are focused on delivering a superior customer experience. The challenge before us is clear: execute our "Alignment Plan" and emerge from the severe downturn and this period of adjustment as a strongly positioned company.
I want to thank you all, along with our shareholders and suppliers, for the support we are receiving during this very difficult period. I do not underestimate the toll it is taking on you and your families, and I want you to be assured that we are doing everything we can to get through this period of alignment as fast as we can.
By my retirement in April, my goal is to have Nortel Networks returned to profitability and positioned as the undisputed leader in our target markets and with the customers we serve. Although we will continue to face a challenging market environment for the near term, I am personally committed to building on our leadership, re-establishing our momentum, and getting our realignment completed.
Thank you,
John Roth
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 38 of 142: host (mikeg) * Mon, Jun 18, 2001 (17:13) * 7 lines
Dotcom casualties litter skid row
Associated Press has uncovered evidence to the contrary after visiting the soup kitchens and homeless shelters that lie on the flip side of the American dream. Depressed database programmers and the like have joined drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally ill as society's hard luck cases.
...
more...
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 39 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Tue, Jun 26, 2001 (13:26) * 85 lines
Webtoon Firms Not Ready For Prime Time
A couple years ago before the dot-com bubble burst, the Internet was seen
as
a natural vehicle for online animations and other streaming real-time
media
into the home. Alas, Ye Olde Modemme is not fast enough to handle live
video, and there are too few consumers with DSL or cable modems to keep
the
newcomer industry going. With pseudo.com and others fading to black,
only a
couple like Visionary Media and Bullseye Art, both located in Manhattan,
are
still creating products such as the WhirlGirl series featuring a female
geek/superheroine who "prevents an evil media empire from controlling
viewers' lives". The survivors are using their skills with Macromedia
Flash
to create animations for broadcast TV at a fraction of the old cost; the
article says a half-hour episode of "The Simpsons" or "The Smurfs" costs
around $400,000 to animate (not counting the writers admin costs, and
voice
actors); with Flash the estimated average cost is around $160,000. Does
this mean WhirlGirl is about to sell out to the evil media empire? Yes,
probably; the founder and "chief creative officer" of Bullseye says
"Getting
acquired and becoming part of a studio is not the worst thing that could
happen." Perhaps she will start battling evil pre-IPO upstarts.
Fastest Transistor Contest Heats Up
Actually the physical heat production seems to have diminished, with IBM
announcing its new 210-gigahertz(!) transistor needs 50% less power to
run
than current units. A single transistor doesn't seem very useful in
these
days of large-scale circuit integration, but IBM predicts it will form
the
basis of communications devices capable of speeds up to 100 GHz within
two
years. A couple of weeks ago, Intel announced a transistor for CPUs (and
therefore "not directly comparable" with IBM's, the story says) that
switches at speeds of up to 1.5 terahertz, and will form the core of
processors running at 20 gigahertz.
RIP Alpha
When it was announced by DEC in 1992, the Alpha microprocessor was the
first
64-bit CPU for general use outside of supercomputers. After Compaq
bought
DEC in 1998, they supported its development as well as that of a MIPS
chip
used in their Tandem Himalaya subsidiary. No more; in a deal with Intel,
Compaq will phase out the Alpha and the MIPS by 2004 for its one million-
plus users (though they say Alpha upgrades will continue through
2003) and
replace them with an upcoming generation of Intel's 64-bit Itanium CPU
called McKinley. That seems to leave as rivals only IBM's PowerPC and
Sun's
UltraSparc for high-performance machines.
Napster Case Drags On
It's easy to forget the lawsuit never actually went to trial; instead all
the skirmishing was (and still is) over a preliminary injunction issued
last
July by District Court judge Marilyn Patel. Napster requested an en banc
hearing by the entire Ninth Circuit of an appeal it lost to a three-judge
panel; that request was just denied. Unless they go to the Supremes, the
trial can now begin, though no date for it has yet been scheduled.
Meanwhile, the RIAA who won that appeal has filed one of its own to Judge
Patel's requirement that they provide file names to Napster in order to
get
them removed from the servers. And the Academy (as in Academy
Awards) just
sued Napster for making "live Oscar show
performances" available. Perhaps
simulated Oscar acts would be OK?
Thanks again, Ron.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 40 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Jun 27, 2001 (14:13) * 55 lines
New Patent Threatens Microsoft
Intertrust Technologies of Santa Clara just received a patent on authorizing
the use of digital media over disparate types of hardware such as PCs, cell
phones, and MP3 players. That is said to be "at the heart of Microsoft's
.NET and Hailstorm software strategies" which in turn are key components of
its Windows XP business plan. The patent breathes new life into Intertrust's
two-month-old lawsuit against MS for infringement of its digital rights
management technology patents by Windows Media Player, also an XP component.
Intertrust is said to be a business partner and ally of AOL Time Warner and
RealNetworks, neither of whom are apt to cut MS any slack out of goodwill.
Dot-Com Job Losses Slowing?
June job cuts were said to be down 31% in June from the month before, to
9,216. They averaged about 13,000 a month in January - May according to
outplacement folks Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
ISP Prices Rising
Earthlink will raise its all-you-can-eat monthly charge $2 to $22, following
AOL's recent increase to $24.
Sneezeless GMO Cat Announced
Well, the new genetically-modified feline might itself sneeze, but it is
intended not to be a source of sneezing in others. Previous bio-pet
research has focused on cloning departed Fidos and Muffys to make new copies
for grieving wealthy owners, but Transgenic Pets is working on a cat without
a protein that triggers an allergic reaction in humans. (Unfortunately,
that protein serves to keep the animal's skin moist, so the bionic cat might
have to be kept in a tub of water; they're working on that.) I'd like to
see one crossed with a chameleon so its fur changes to the color of the
pants leg it's rubbing against, but this doesn't seem to be in their plans.
To protect their R&D investment, Transgenic will sell the cats itself and
they will all be neutered to prevent knockoffs, otherwise known as kittens.
Mobile Phones Dropped
Citing a flat market, Philips will cease making cell phones, except for a
minority share it retains in a Chinese company. They got into the business
in 1996, but only managed to eke out about 3 percent of the market compared
to Nokia who has around 30%, and the division never made a full-year profit.
Ericsson has outsourced all its phone manufacture, and Motorola and Nokia
announced they would expand their outsourcing as well.
Ron Sipherd, ronks@well.com contributed these, as usual.
Thanks, Ron!
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 41 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Jun 28, 2001 (13:48) * 28 lines
ronks:
Get Ready For Spim
Jargon alert: unsolicited commercial instant messages are apparently now
called "spim". Haven't got any yet? Chances are you will soon, if you use
ICQ, AOL Instant Messaging, or one of those services. ActiveBuddy of NY and
other startups are developing automated instant-messaging software that
sends out messages for FAO Schwarz, Vans Sneakers, Radiohead ("the
alternative rock band" in case you didn't know), and others. So far they
are of the opt-in variety, but some users suspect they are harvesting buddy
IDs for later advertising blitzes. In theory users can block them by
sender, but that often involves declining to accept a message and then
confirming that in a second window. Since spimmers can quickly change names,
blocking may prove useless. Besides ICQ, which some say is already clogged
with unsolicited porno messages, the new AIM 4.7 beta includes a "welcome
screen" with promotions to commercial links.
Roadrunner vs. Acme
When James Turner returned his rental car to Acme Rent-a-Car in New Haven
CT, he found an extra $450 charged to his account. Pursuant to the agreement
which he signed but didn't read (and who reads those things), the car had a
GPS that recorded him exceeding the speed limit three times, for which the
contract said he would have to pay $150 each time. Oops.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 42 of 142: host (mikeg) * Thu, Jun 28, 2001 (16:53) * 3 lines
Appeals Court have overturned the ruling Microsoft should be split up.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/20061.html
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 43 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Tue, Jul 3, 2001 (13:15) * 48 lines
Metricom Goes Bust
The wireless ISP who runs the Ricochet wireless ISP has only about 40,000
customers in fifteen cities where it operates, not enough to make a profit.
The charges ($300 for the modem plus $70-80 per month) may be a culprit.
Anyway it filed for bankruptcy; it will continue the service for now, but
its future is unclear. Maybe Iridium will buy it, ha ha.
Napster Goes Dark
The music-sharing service has temporarily lowered its jolly roger while it
revamps to comply with the court order and convert to a fee-based version
later this summer.
i-opener Gets Black Eye
The Netpliance company who makes that web-only gizmo settled charges by the
FTC that it failed to disclose extra fees and billed customers' credit cards
without their consent. It will pay a $100,000 "civil penalty" and have to
reimburse users an unspecified amount.
Webvan Does Reverse Stock Split
25 shares will become one with a value of $1.75 at yesterday's price of 7
cents (down from around 70 cents in February), as the company seeks to stave
off de-listing by Nasdaq by a July 23 deadline.
Chips Sales Sink Some More
May 2001 sales worldwide were down to $12.7 billion, in a steady slide from
around $18 B last September and off 7% from April. Most of the falloff was
in the Americas, down 32% from a year ago. The president of the
Semiconductor Industry Association, who released the numbers, said he
expected an upturn in the fourth quarter of this year. In related news
Intel announced a 1.8 gigahertz Pentium 4, charging quite a bit more for it
($562 versus $352 for a 1.7 GHz).
Web Ad Firms Merge
Continuing the industry contraction, ValueClick of LA just bought Mediaplex
of SF for $43 million in stock.
thanks, ronks.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 44 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Jul 4, 2001 (15:27) * 11 lines
L&H Unit Gains Independence
Had to work the theme of independence in there somehow today. Actually the
Mendez division ("translation services and software provider") of Lernout &
Hauspie just exchanged masters, as the Massachusetts firm Lionbridge bought
it for $33 million. L&H originally asked $160 million for the unit which
has $80 M annual revenue, but nobody bit till the price came down by about
four-fifths.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 45 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Tue, Jul 10, 2001 (00:57) * 58 lines
ronks@well.com contributes these precious tidbytes:
New Generation Of Fiber Optic Cable In The Lab
Called hollow-core fiber, it is speculated to have the potential for a
hundred-fold increase in the capacity of a single line. Basically, instead
of using clear glass to conduct the light which attenuates over distance,
the center of the wire is air, with a casing around it that reflects stray
photons back into the median channel. It's a long way from deployment, but
if it works it could reduce the need for periodic re-amplification of the
light.
He's Ba-a-ack
Philippe Kahn, the founder of Borland and later of Starfish Software, has
taken his share of the $254 million sale of Starfish to start yet another
company with an idea he got as he assisted with the birth of his daughter.
He wanted to be able to take snapshots and quickly send them to family and
friends, but the hospital had no such facility. At that point the LightSurf
company was born (along with its human sibling Sophie). The idea is for a
cell phone attachment that takes photos and transmits them, with adaptations
(unspecified) depending on the type of receiving device. While other
companies are involved in the are, LightSurf is working "closely with
telecommunications carriers to create an entire support structure" on the
theory that ease of use is paramount for the target market of users. Just
in case, Mr. K remains CEO of the Starfish Motorola division.
So What Is An Online Division Good For, Anyway?
Many traditional stores that shoveled megabucks into web counterparts just
as the expected gold rush tanked are looking for value in the ruins. Data
mining of customer attitudes seems to be it. As one analyst puts it, "Sales
aren't there for the online folks, and margins are lower than everybody had
expected, so they're looking for other ways to give back. So they're saying
'Hey, here's our data.'" For example, Nordstrom ran an print ad for clothes
that had a woman wearing a navel ring; it was just a prop and not for sale,
but lots of people went online looking for it, so now the store offers them
and even opened a "body jewelry" store on the web.
So What Is An Online Customer Good For, Anyway?
A recent survey of 4000 adults (with 1700 responses) by BYU professors about
their online buying habits found they broke down into eight groups, with big
spenders and browsers-only separated mainly by one thing: fear of giving out
their credit card number on the Internet. Here are the categories:
- shopping lovers, 11.1 percent
- adventurous explorers, 8.9%
- suspicious learners, 9.6%
- business users, 12.4%
- fearful browsers, 10.7%
- fun seekers, 12.1%
- technology muddlers, 19.6%
- shopping avoiders, 15.6%
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 46 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Jul 11, 2001 (00:48) * 28 lines
Microsoft, Verisign In Security Deal
MS will use Verisign to "improve the security of the personal information
collected by .Net" to address concerns over the expectation that the new
Hailstorm technology will provide a pool of personal data. Wasn't Verisign
the company that was spoofed into issuing Microsoft ID digital certificates
to an unknown hacker last year?
Buzzsaw Bought Back
In November 1999, Autodesk spun off a subsidiary called buzzsaw.com who made
software that allowed architects and building contractors to exchange
blueprints and other documents over the Internet, retaining a 40% stake.
They subsequently put $22.5 million into the venture in hopes of a
successful IPO. However as you may have heard, the market for dot-com IPOs
has somewhat diminished in the last year; so Autodesk will buy back the
other 60% for $15 million and re-integrate Buzzsaw with the mother company.
Silver Lining Dept.
George Shaheen, the former Webvan CEO who got a package of $375,000 a year
for life when he quit last April, will have to go to bankruptcy court like
all the other employees and creditors to collect it.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 47 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Jul 18, 2001 (23:27) * 36 lines
ronks:
Putting The Ban In Taliban
The Afghan government has forbidden its citizens, almost none of whom has a
telephone, from using the Internet where "un-Islamic influences" reside.
Apple Profit Down
Net earnings for the most recent quarter were $61 million, compared with
$200 M in the year-ago period. Its CFO explained that some of the shortfall was due to planned inventory reductions. The company has a large cushion of $4.2 billion in cash and liquid securities to tide it over bad times, and it is battling Dell for the lead in the K-12 school market.
Russian Hacker Busted
After (perhaps unwisely) giving a talk at the hackers' Las Vegas DefCon
conference on how to break Adobe's e-book encryption, 27-year-old Dmitri
Sklyarov was arrested on charges of violating the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act. He faces five years of jail and a $500,000 fine for his role with Moscow-based ElcomSoft in writing software to decrypt Adobe e-books.
E-Books Apply For Copyright
In a first, two full-length publications issued solely in electronic form
("Business Week's Guide To The Best Business Schools" and "The Hitchhiker's
Guide To The Wireless Web") were transmitted to the US Copyright Office for
registration and sent to the Library Of Congress.
Netzeroistas Bail
Following the merger of their firm with Juno Online to create United Online, which is in trouble just like its two predecessors as online advertising
shrinks, four founders of Netzero have left, to form Layer2Networks,
described as a "broadband networking company". Which they believe the world needs yet more of.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 48 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Fri, Jul 20, 2001 (15:14) * 54 lines
ronks:
Post-Napster Peer-Based Swapping Services Proliferate
While Napster remains shut pending appeals on whether 99.4% rejection of
copyrighted file downloads is enough, other sites have rapidly picked up the
slack. Unlike Napster, which operated with distributed files but
centralized information on where they were stored, the new services (five of
the six most popular essentially didn't exist 5 months ago) are more peer-
oriented. Technically they resemble Gnutella but with better interfaces.
Record companies are thus left with the unappetizing prospect of suing all
the individual users, which will probably not happen. Some examples of
file-sharing services mentioned in the article are MusicCity Morpheus,
Audiogalaxy Satellite, KaZaA, iMesh, BearShare, and LimeWire.
An Online Grocery Success Story
Tesco.com, a division of the Tesco chain of supermarkets, is estimated to
have made $7 million net profit on $422 M annual sales, on an investment by
the parent chain of a mere $56 M. It took more or less the opposite tack
from Webvan (and of course is showing the opposite in results): it charges
about $7 for delivery, and it has no separate warehouses. Instead it uses
the chain's 690 stores as stockrooms, with staff wheeling specialized carts
that follow an efficient computer-generated route through the aisles and can
load six orders at once. The CEO's observation following his visit to
Webvan last year is worth quoting: "People were making some very strange
decisions. They were saying things like 'I'm going to get the revenue first
and work out the cost structure later.'" Worrying about costs, how quaint.
Tesco is a British chain, but they recently entered a US venture with
GroceryWorks in partnership with Safeway.
PC Sales Down
According to Gartner and International Data Corporation, worldwide sales of
PCs fell about 2% in the last quarter, the first quarterly drop in 15 years.
Sun Down
Likewise posting an unaccustomed loss, Sun Microsystems announced a
quarterly shortfall of $88 million, the first since 1989. The culprits were
Japan, where sales dropped 27%, and Europe, off 17%. Earnings a year ago
were $720 M. Excluding one-time events though, Sun made $134 M profit.
Nortel Wa-a-ay Down
The Canadian networking firm lost $19.4 billion (with a "B") for the
quarter, compared with a profit of $637 million last year. Even excluding
one-time charges, their continuing operations lost $1.6 B.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 49 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Jul 23, 2001 (18:53) * 55 lines
ron sipherd (ronks@well.com)
Popular Pop-Unders Pose Problem
A new type of advertising said to have originated at pornography sites, is
appearing with greater frequency around the Web. Called the "pop-under",
it's a separate window opened by the main page without the viewer's request.
It appears "behind" the main page unlike a "pop-up" which displays in front,
so you don't normally see it until you close your browser - or think you
have closed it, only to find one or more of the pop-unders under. The new
format raises two questions:
1. Are the Web publishers that resort to such tactics, who include
Microsoft, Primedia, the NY Times, X10.com, and Yahoo, vile excrescences fit
only for extermination? The argument goes that these ads are giving the
industry a bad name for intrusiveness, since they are not asked for and
don't appear in view at a relevant point but only when you are done surfing
and are trying to close the browser.
2. Should the pop windows (up and under) count as visits to the host's site?
X10.com uses them extensively, and if they are included it ranks as the
Web's fourth-most-visited site, ahead of Lycos; but if not, it drops to
#116. Some raters say counting pops is "as if TV ratings counted beer
commercials as prime-time programming". (Of course some beer ads may be
more entertaining, but that's not the issue here.) Jupiter Media Metrix
counts pops, Nielsen doesn't, take your pick.
DVDs Fly
...off the shelves, even as PCs and other electronic gizmos lag in sales.
Retail US sales were up 69 percent at 5.2 million units in the first half of
this year from the comparable period in 2000. So far, 20.4 M have been sold
since the format was introduced four years ago according to the story, and
460 M disks to go into them. As of February 2000 8% of US homes had DVD
units (96% had VCRs); 15 months later in May 2001 the figure was up to 12%.
Apple Poised For Takeoff?
Although it has less than 4% market share in America and less overseas, some
analysts suggest Apple's time may be here. They observe that the "price-
performance gap" between Apple computers and PCs has narrowed, so you get
about the same bang for the buck with either, and that as the Internet has
become such a focus of personal computing the importance of the operating
system has diminished (hear that, Netscape/Oracle/Sun?). Also showman Steve
Jobs has made progress in turning the Mac into a "digital hub" for consumer
editing of audio and video files, leveraging its strengths with design
professionals. The story also observes this initiative may be related to
Apple's move to open its own stores even as Gateway is bailing out of its
own: while billboards and magazine ads are fine for showing off a new
translucent strawberry-colored laptop say, you need to get people to try new
software features to appreciate them, and that means hands-on testing.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 50 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Tue, Jul 24, 2001 (09:39) * 54 lines
Popular Pop-Unders Pose Problem
A new type of advertising said to have originated at pornography sites, is
appearing with greater frequency around the Web. Called the "pop-under",
it's a separate window opened by the main page without the viewer's request.
It appears "behind" the main page unlike a "pop-up" which displays in front,
so you don't normally see it until you close your browser - or think you
have closed it, only to find one or more of the pop-unders under. The new
format raises two questions:
1. Are the Web publishers that resort to such tactics, who include
Microsoft, Primedia, the NY Times, X10.com, and Yahoo, vile excrescences fit
only for extermination? The argument goes that these ads are giving the
industry a bad name for intrusiveness, since they are not asked for and
don't appear in view at a relevant point but only when you are done surfing
and are trying to close the browser.
2. Should the pop windows (up and under) count as visits to the host's site?
X10.com uses them extensively, and if they are included it ranks as the
Web's fourth-most-visited site, ahead of Lycos; but if not, it drops to
#116. Some raters say counting pops is "as if TV ratings counted beer
commercials as prime-time programming". (Of course some beer ads may be
more entertaining, but that's not the issue here.) Jupiter Media Metrix
counts pops, Nielsen doesn't, take your pick.
DVDs Fly
...off the shelves, even as PCs and other electronic gizmos lag in sales.
Retail US sales were up 69 percent at 5.2 million units in the first half of
this year from the comparable period in 2000. So far, 20.4 M have been sold
since the format was introduced four years ago according to the story, and
460 M disks to go into them. As of February 2000 8% of US homes had DVD
units (96% had VCRs); 15 months later in May 2001 the figure was up to 12%.
Apple Poised For Takeoff?
Although it has less than 4% market share in America and less overseas, some
analysts suggest Apple's time may be here. They observe that the "price-
performance gap" between Apple computers and PCs has narrowed, so you get
about the same bang for the buck with either, and that as the Internet has
become such a focus of personal computing the importance of the operating
system has diminished (hear that, Netscape/Oracle/Sun?). Also showman Steve
Jobs has made progress in turning the Mac into a "digital hub" for consumer
editing of audio and video files, leveraging its strengths with design
professionals. The story also observes this initiative may be related to
Apple's move to open its own stores even as Gateway is bailing out of its
own: while billboards and magazine ads are fine for showing off a new
translucent strawberry-colored laptop say, you need to get people to try new
software features to appreciate them, and that means hands-on testing.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 51 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sun, Aug 12, 2001 (13:06) * 53 lines
from ronks@well.com Ron Sipherd
Napster Foes Seek Knockout Punch
Record-label plaintiffs in the copyright suit have so far achieved a
"preliminary injunction" against Napster's operations, pending final
resolution at a trial on the merits of the case. Tuesday they asked the
judge to skip that part and issue summary judgement without a trial; they
claim essentially that there are no issues of fact to be tried for which
evidence needs to be presented, or in other words there's no reason to let
Napster put on its case because there's no possibility they have one.
Sun Gets Hot
In a full-page newspaper ad yesterday they trumpeted their partnership with
Hitachi to sell big storage systems to big companies with the statement that the only alternative was *E*xpensive, *M*onolithic, and *C*losed, playing on their main competitor EMC. Today's ad does not come out and literally say
*M*ighty *S*limy, but it criticizes Microsoft for pulling Java out of
Windows XP with the statement "Sure Microsoft believes in freedom of choice. As long as they get to choose". They also observe that you can thwart MS by downloading Java from java.sun.com any time you like.
The Edible Resume?
A Kansas company called Sweetart at www.sweetart.com takes H-P color inkjet
printers and modifies them to print images on cake icings. The units, which use food coloring cartridges in place of ink, are integrated into systems
with a scanner and a PC. And a movable arm holding the print heads, because do you know what a cake looks like after it's gone through a sheet-feeder?
They say they have sold "several thousand" systems to bakeries and grocery
stores, and one customer even uses his to create sand paintings.
Iomega Shrinks
The maker of cheesy removable storage devices (as the saying goes they
didn't invent the click of death, they just made it popular) will cut over a third of its staff, from 3300 to 2050, and take a $65 million charge as part of a reorganization plan.
Flooz Poofs
The online-currency dot-com who spent $8 million on Whoopi Goldberg ads was
created in 1999 by Robert Levitan, a co-founder of the women's Web site
iVillage. It was named for (they say) an ancient Persian form of cash, back when air travel meant flying carpets. But it never really took off, since
merchants had to modify their systems to accept the currency and consumers
had to tie up funds till they bought something. Competitors like Beenz.com
and eCash have faced similar problems. Lately, Flooz and Beenz.com have
tried to move into B2B but Flooz looks to have abandoned all hope, as they
shut their site, stopped accepting their own currency for payment, and asked retailers to remove links to Flooz.
Host Floats
At least I hope so. I'll be canoeing down the Missouri out of Fort Benton
MT next week and seriously out of touch; don't let anything interesting
happen while I'm gone, eh?
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 52 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Aug 22, 2001 (11:13) * 56 lines
ronks rides again.
@Home @End Of Road?
A financial analyst briefly summed up the prospects for high-speed ISP @Home
as "Put butter on them; they're toast." With a loss of over $346 million
and only $183M in cash reserves, a statement from their auditors to the SEC
that there is "substantial doubt" whether they can survive, and a stock
price of 49 cents (down 40 cents from a day ago) which may cause it to be
de-listed by Nasdaq unless they do a reverse split, this is not the best of
times for them. Also, a deal expired two months ago that required three
major shareholders (AT&T, Cox Communications, and Comcast) to use @Home for
their high-speed service offerings, and the former captive owners have fled.
Agilent Not Doing Too Well Either
The 1999 spinoff from H-P will boot 4,000 employees (about 9%) after an
April 10 percent pay cut proved inadequate to stem losses. They lost $219
million last quarter compared to a $1545 M profit a year ago, with sales
down 23%.
The Worm Turns
A consortium of security businesses like McAfee has been formed to fight the
attack of the killer worms such as Code Red I through LXXXXVIIII, and to
develop technology to thwart distributed denial-of-service attacks, with
input from three network firms called Arbor, Asta, and Mazu.
Paul: Glad you're back from vacation Ron!
Thanks! I enjoy writing them, though it was a relief to spend a week away
from news of technology (not to mention the Middle East, Wall Street, and
anyplace outside the Missouri Breaks). I read "Trent's Last Case" and a
history of Glacial Lake Missoula, 500 cubic miles of water that drained in
about a week onto the Palouse at the end of the last Ice Age. Blub.
An Emmy For Apple
Not to Steve Jobs for Best Supporting Actor, but to IEEE 1394 (nee Firewire)
which was developed in the 90's and included in Macs since 1999 for high-
speed data transport. Besides being used widely in TV production to
transfer images among cameras, editing gear, and computers, it "has been
adopted as a standard for high-definition television". The award should
help Apple in its drive to sell its Macs as "digital hubs" for households as
well as pros to edit home movies and the like.
And Then There Were Two
Two gigahertz, no waiting. Eighteen months after it offered a CPU that ran
at one GHz, Intel will offer a 2 GHz processor starting next week. AMD will
release its 1.5 GHz Athlon chip then too.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 53 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Aug 23, 2001 (11:07) * 51 lines
ronks rides again.
Infrared, Release 2
Infrared beams have long (well OK over ten years) been used in low-bandwidth
applications like TV remotes. Researchers at Penn State have developed a
technique that involves a lattice of echoing IR beams to create a 2-gigabit/
second network within a room; previous attempts foundered on scattering of
the beams creating a kind of IR echo, which they claim to have solved with
"a holographic filter". While IR has some defects relative to radio waves
used for most wireless nets such as the inability to go through walls, it
has some major advantages. Such as the inability to go through walls, which
makes eavesdropping from outside much harder and prevents one room-net from
interfering with another. Also, IR is an unregulated wavelength unlike the
radio spectrum. If low-level radio waves are ever found to pose health
risks, IR will be at an advantage there too. Plus it keeps the room warm in
winter..
Wanted: Chirpy Accountant
One day after Ernst & Young, auditors for Excite@Home, announced in a filing
to the SEC that the ISP might not generate enough cash to survive, they were
replaced by their client with another auditor. A spokespern for Excite said
"I know the timing looks kind of funny." What a sense of humor those guys
have. The ostensible reason is that AT&T owns 23% of Excite, and they
wanted to use the same auditor for consistency. Ya sure you betcha.
Big Brother Loves You
It's unlikely that the IRS will soon adopt the ubiquitous slogan from
Orwell's 1984, but in practical terms they're moving that way. They just
let a $10 million contract to Peoplesoft for a "customer relationship
management" system, no doubt to keep taxpayers from going to a competitor.
By next year, tax preparers will be able to access information on their
clients' accounts, and by 2004 (twentieth anniversary; coincidence?) IRS
agents and members of the public will be able to view their tax history
online. "Perfect information about every customer" is the goal, according
to a Peoplesoft VP. Oh, and of course the connection will be "secure".
Online Broker Loses
Things are so bad in the stock market that even the brokers are in trouble.
TD Waterhouse, the third largest Internet dealer after Schwab and Fidelity,
says it suffered its first-ever quarterly net loss. It was $22 million in
the hole compared to a $35 M profit a year ago, with commissions down 36%.
The volume of trades was off 18% from the previous quarter, to 101,700/day.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 54 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Aug 27, 2001 (13:33) * 65 lines
Flooz Bamboozled
A couple of weeks ago the online-currency site stopped operating and
merchants stopped taking their e-money. Last weekend the company officially
went out of business. BTW another similar site called Beenz.com also
suspended its operations last week, and Buy.com told the SEC it may have to
close though it later said it would keep going for now. Anyway, one factor
in Flooz's demiiz seems to be a bunch of credit-card-number-nappers in
Russia and the Philippines who bought around $300,000 of flooz-bucks in the
last three months with stolen ID. When Flooz's credit card processor
learned of the fraud from complaints by the real cardholders, it stopped
crediting Flooz for the transactions, holding up around a million dollars
which "created an untenable cash flow situation".
IBM Builds Tube Switch
They took a step closer to the "post-silicon" era by making a carbon
nanotube 10 atoms wide they can turn to "true" and "false" states like a 1/0
bit. They say they need to do another couple years' R&D before they can
determine if the technology is practical to manufacture in volume, but if it
is they believe they can achieve a transistor packing density of 10,000
times that of silicon, which may run into its physical limit in 10-15 years.
Now We Know
One distinction of Web advertisements is that their effectiveness can be
measured accurately with "click-through", the number of times people respond
to an online ad by clicking on it to visit the vendor's own site and buy
something, unlike say magazine and TV commercials where one can only guess.
Procter & Gamble even decided a few years back to base its online ad
royalties on click-through volume. Alas, an article today notes that
accountability has turned out to be Web ads' weakness not its strength, as
advertisers discover that almost nobody clicks on those colorful animated
dealies. Various reactions are surfacing: marketwatch.com will simply stop
reporting click-through rates (well, that should solve the problem); other
vendors will use "view-based conversions" that attempt to measure the number
of people who visit their site after an ad has been sent to their browser,
though that may raise some privacy questions. And some quote retailer John
Wanamaker, who said more or less that half his ad budget was wasted, he just
didn't know which half.
Cable Beats DSL
A report from Cahners research says there are 5.3 million US cable modem
users compared to 3.1 M DSL customers, and that for the last nine months the
sale of cable modems has exceeded DSL modems by 30-50%. They cite two
problems with DSL: one is that it often requires dealing with two or more
vendors who try to blame the other for any problems in lieu of fixing it;
the other is that DSL providers keep dying, like Northpoint and Covad.
Computer Error Of The Week
A glitch blamed on video processing at HBO inserted scenes of African women
playing basketball into a drama called "Six Feet Under" about a family who
runs a funeral home.
ronks
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 55 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Aug 29, 2001 (10:34) * 47 lines
ronks:
Lucent Drop Prompts Questions
With its stock down 91 percent in the last year and a half, current and
former workers at Lucent regret their participation in the company's stock
purchase plan and taking bonuses in now-worthless stock options. But
outside of that, they're asking why their employer sank 30% of its 401(k)
investments in its own stock. And "sank" is the word. Economists involved
with pensions funds suggest that the trustees' need to act "with prudence"
dictates no more than 10% should ever be invested in a single company.
Gateway Dumps Staff, And Most Of World
The PC maker, whose sales are concentrated almost entirely in the weak
consumer market and who is battling Dell in a margin-eating price war, saw
its revenue drop last quarter to $1.5 billion from $2.2 B last year, and
lost $21 million compared with a net profit of $118 M in 2Q2000. They
earlier axed 3,000 staff, but they are laying off another 5,000 or a quarter
of the remaining employees, and eliminating all operations in the Asia-
Pacific area and nearly all in Europe, leaving only a small Latin America
overseas presence.
AT&T, Bells Duke It Out In DC
A bill working its way through the US House of Representatives would free
phone companies from having to open their local networks to rivals like ISPs
and DSL providers at wholesale prices, claiming they would (they say)
install more high-speed bandwidth, for the ultimate benefit of the consumer,
if they could charge for it whatever the market would bear. ISPs and DSL
providers, backed by cable companies including AT&T, seem to think their
having to pay more would not be in the public interest. The two sides have
already spent over $10 million in lobbying pro and con. Current betting is
that the Bells may prevail in the House but will lose in the Senate.
Sun Casts A Cloud On Domain Names
In what one called a "scare tactic", Internet domain-name registrars got a
letter from Sun's lawyers last week demanding they refuse to register any
sites with names that include the words "sun", "enterprise", "ultra",
"cobalt" and several others that Sun claims exclusive rights to. Companies
like Enterprise Rent-A-Car (www.enterprise.com) expressed dismay.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 56 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Mon, Sep 3, 2001 (16:38) * 62 lines
This is the funniest thing ronks has ever written (Flops of Tomorrow, about the catalapult)
Flops Of Today
Flooz.com filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy; it says it has about $296,000 in
assets and $14 million in debts. It blames a $300,000 credit-card fraud for
contributing to its demise; the actual amount was not so much, but it
triggered a panic among its card processors who stopped payments to Flooz.
NetObjects will cease to be an object itself; the Redwood City software
maker says it has shut down and will auction off its assets. 48 percent
owned by IBM, its stock has sunk from $46 six months ago to 28 cents now.
Come to think of it, I remember a product called NetObjects Fusion which I
though was pretty successful, though I can't recall what it did.
Flops Of Tomorrow
I think the Patent Office must have a silly season in the summertime.
Rodney Java of San Francisco received patent # 6024264 for a hiker's
headgear (specifically not a hat, please) consisting of a retractable hood.
On top is a swiveling pyramid covered with solar panels which power
electric motors that run fans. "The purpose of the fans is to cool the
head", he notes helpfully. Wait, there's more. Attached to a built-in
water bottle are two tubes and pumps; one "delivers a measured portion of
drinking water to the hiker", presumably in the vicinity of the owner's
mouth. Another sprays water into the twirling fan blades which is "directed
onto the head of the user in the form of a cooling mist". The unit also
includes a net to draw down over the face, ostensibly for protection against
insects but possibly, the story notes, to hide the fog-enshrouded, motorized
twirling-pyramid-topped user from recognition. Rudolf Susko of Edmonton
California (all these guys are from California - coincidence?) received
patent 6,210,285 for a human-body-tossing "beach catapult". His application
states that "Its use will be in ejecting projectiles into the air .. wherein
projectile means people." "The use of the present invention has not been
documented to date", he observes candidly, though its utility to certain
organized crime syndicates is obvious. "He sleeps with the flying fishes"
could become a new tag line. How it works: "Upon releasing the seat
[containing the victim], the tensile bows are capable of recovering original
positions and thrusting the seat in an inclined path, whereby an occupant
placed therein is ejected into a free flight." Hopefully toward the water.
And Mr. Larry Dunks (I am not making these names up) of Oroville got patent
6,152,461 for a covered wagon "which can be converted for use to a picnic
table with benches and then back to a ranch wagon configuration for lawn
decoration". I wonder if it could be catapulted into the ocean as well.
Measuring Web Effectiveness, Chapter MDCCCLXVIII
An analyst for Jupiter Media Metrix noted recently that "retailers find it
difficult to measure their Web sites' impact on in-store sales". Well, duh.
But he goes on to say that while online sales pay back directly less than
half the money spent on them, the benefits in helping customers do pre-sale
research, in customer service, and in operating efficiency constitute the
primary benefits to the merchant. Consequently, thinking of a Web site
solely as a "transaction engine" for sales is apt to lead to failure. And a
Forrester Research analyst examined techniques used by catalog companies
such as Sharper Image to track Internet-based sales, even when placed by
phone; they use a different product code for the same item displayed on
their Web site and in their paper catalog, so they can track purchases to
their source.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 57 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Wed, Sep 5, 2001 (14:05) * 33 lines
ronks 10/5/01
There seems to be a great deal of skepticism over whether the HP-Compaq
merger is good for their customers or the companies themselves, and whether
in fact it will survive antitrust scrutiny or the shareholders' vote to
approve. Compaq stock was down over ten percent after the announcement and
HP shares sank more than 18%. Regulators are likely to ask if the public
needs one less PC brand in stores now that Packard Bell and Acer have left;
they may have been turkeys (PB and Acer, not the regulators) but they
provided some competitive pressure. While the new company is expected to
focus more on services and paid support there was a brief mention that it
hoped to make a splash with an unnamed new "server operating system" that
would compete with Sun and MS.
Ellen Hancock Bails
The former IBM executive who joined Exodus Communications three years ago as
CEO has "unexpectedly quit", though her replacement says she left by mutual
agreement: the stock price of the website operator has sunk 98 percent and
it accumulated $3 billion of debt as it acquired rival GlobalCenter. In the
last two months, three board members have quit and the CFO was replaced.
Dell Buys Dell
Michael Dell exercised his options yesterday. He bought 4.2 million shares
of the PC maker named by him and after him. It was not a bad deal, since
his options price averaged $3 and the rest of the world has to pay over $22
for them. He now owns 296.2 million shares personally, and his wife and a
trust he controls hold another 49.1M, for a total worth around $7.7 billion.
Yes, but is he happy?
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 58 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Sep 6, 2001 (14:04) * 35 lines
Butter PDA Available
A fifty-pound Palm VII made of butter, and first place winner at the
Minnesota State Fair (though the category is unclear; "50-lb. slippery
yellow PDAs" seems too narrow to attract many entries), is being auctioned
off on EBay at . Purchase
money will be given to the Minnesota 4H Foundation. The article says the
device is compatible with toast and any flavor of jelly.
EBay Picks WebSphere
Speaking of EBay, they evidently need something more robust than a buttery
PDA themselves to drive operations; they just let a contract worth an
estimated $50 million to IBM to use WebSphere for their "e-business platform
software". Bragging rights are probably part of the deal, with EBay as a
trophy client; it's big, it's profitable, and it's growing, something that
many other e-commerce sites are not (in case you didn't know). Its volume
of transactions from 35 million registered users can be prodigious,
especially at the end of an auction period. IDC and Giga estimate last
year's revenue from this type of software at $2.2 billion and $1.6 B
respectively, with a 40% annual growth rate. Maybe now IBM will auction off
those dumb WebSphere spacesuits.
Disney To Rent Movies On Demand
They signed up with the News Corporation to operate movies.com, where users
with video-on-demand facilities will be able to view new films directly from
the Net with the ability to stop and restart them, and users without VOD
will be able to download them to their PC for viewing. Charges are
anticipated to be on a par with store rentals and pay-per-view. Another
group of five studios (MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner) is
working on a similar service.
Topic 80 of 96 [news]: In the news of business and technology
Response 59 of 142: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sun, Jan 20, 2002 (20:50) * 30 lines
PenCam Is Here
The lead for Most Useless Gadget Of 2002 seems held for now by a new device
that combines (as its name implies) a pen and a video camera. Its purpose,
which vendor Upper Deck feels the world has been waiting for, is to ensure
that a baseball or like memento has been signed by the person whose name
appears on the orb.
How it works: the superstar, or a flunky, swivels the
camera lens up toward his rugged face to "establish identity"; then it is
turned back toward the tip of the pen as he signs his name, or perhaps marks
it with an X or whatever.
The images "are sent wirelessly [so the PenCam
also includes a transmitter?] to a computer and entered into a database";
the video file is then matched with the signed object for sale to a fan.
Its first live test was with Michael Jordan, whose response was "he wanted
us to make it lighter and smaller", understandably. Signing with both hands
is probably awkward.
Cyberboy Is Here
Not a cartoon hero, but "a combination personal organizer, MP3 player,
digital camera [with video capture], audio recorder, and FM radio", all it
needs is a pen attachment and you could sign baseballs with it while playing
music and checking your calendar. At $3
