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Weekly Happenings about & affecting the Computer World

 

Republicans to launch
'e-contract'

Republicans offer "DoubleSpeak" to counter the GORE Internet Campaign Issues.

WASHINGTON - Reuters.. House Republicans said Tuesday they plan to unveil what they have dubbed an "e-contract" -- a pledge to keep the government from getting in the way of high-technology growth. Praising the high tech industry for improving economic productivity, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a Texas Republican, said the "e-contract" would basically tell inventors and innovators "keep up the good work and we'll try to stay out of your way." Armey gave few specifics, except to say the proposal would include Louisiana Republican Billy Tauzin's ideas about how to expand availability of broadband capabilities that now exist only on some cable systems. Armey said the goal was "to tell innovators, creators, movers and shakers in electronics and computers to say you're doing such great work, the progress is so important, so rapid," while at the same time making sure that the government does not create obstacles to further growth and progress.

RITE AID, DRUGSTORE.COM
MAKE DEAL

NEW YORK (AP) - Rite Aid Corp. will spend $7.6 million for about a 25% stake in online retailer drugstore.com in a move that will accelerate the efforts of the nation's third-largest drugstore chain to sell pharmaceuticals over the Internet. Through drugstore.com, shoppers will be able to buy prescription drugs online for delivery by mail or for same-day pickup at any of the 3,800 Rite Aid stores nationwide. The deal, announced Tuesday, is also a big boost to drugstore.com's business because it will be the only online pharmacy that will have access to the more than 50 million consumers whose prescription drug benefits are managed by Rite Aid.

COMPAQ SHARES RISE AMID REPORTS

NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of Compaq Computer Corp. soared nearly 8% Tuesday amid reports it was planning to sell some of its properties, including the AltaVista search engine, to Internet investment company CMGI Inc. Rumors began sifting through the market Compaq was considering such a sale, pushing shares up, financial journalist Dan Dorfman reported on JagNotes, an investment Web site. Compaq was the most actively traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange with nearly 29 million shares exchanging hands. It finished up $1.68 to $23.81. After the market had closed, the financial news cable network CNBC also reported CMGI and Compaq were discussing the sale of a number of assets, including AltaVista.

COMPUTERS FINALLY GET SLIMMER

NEW YORK (AP) - The bulky, beige personal computer is going on a diet. Thanks to ever-shrinking components, manufacturers are introducing thinner machines with flat-panel screens that save desk space for coffee mugs and family photos. Not that your average clunker, which costs less than the svelte newcomers, is going away soon. But the arrivals, on display Tuesday at the PC Expo trade show here, signal an important deviation from the desktops that have cramped workspace and depressed office ambiance for nearly two decades. Now, you can buy a well-equipped PC for $2,000 that takes up one-quarter the space. The unconventional designs take their cue from Apple Computer's iMac, which shook up the world of desktops since its launch last summer.

MICROSOFT TRIAL TESTIMONY ENDS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Testimony ended Thursday on the 76th day of the landmark Microsoft antitrust trial, a courtroom drama that offered a unique look at the nation's booming high-tech industry and the software giant that dominates it. The trial's final witness, economist Richard Schmalensee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argued forcefully that Microsoft Corp., with 1998 revenues of $14.5 billion, isn't the entrenched monopolist that illegally wields extraordinary influence, as portrayed by the government. But the company's witness was challenged in a piercing cross-examination by David Boies, a Justice Department lawyer. Boies produced handwritten notes from Microsoft's files quoting Chairman Bill Gates about the prospective threat from the new AOL-Netscape alliance.

AOL, MICROWORKZ IN TALKS

NEW YORK (AP) - America Online is in talks with MicroWorkz Computer Corp., a maker of $200 personal computers, to offer its Internet service on desktop machines that don't use Microsoft's Windows operating system, a source close to the negotiations said Thursday. The talks, while described as preliminary, could have important implications in the Microsoft antitrust trial in Washington, where the last witness finished testifying Thursday and where a news report about the talks was introduced as last-minute evidence in the case. As part of its defense, Microsoft has argued that AOL's $10 billion purchase of rival Netscape Communications illustrates the high-tech industry is sufficiently robust that federal intervention isn't needed.

COMPUSA IN MAJOR REORGANIZATION

DALLAS (AP) - With personal computer prices on the decline, CompUSA will reduce its reliance on PC sales and turn its focus to consumer electronics, packing its stores with everything from video cameras to high-tech toys. The changes are part of a major reorganization announced Thursday by Dallas-based CompUSA, which has struggled recently with sagging profits. The company will also slash 1,000 to 1,500 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce of 21,000, and it will close four stores. As many as 10 more stores could be closed in the coming months. Traditional computer retailers have been hurt in the last year amid a drastic decline in PC prices. More than half the computers bought at retail stores this year sold for under $1,000 and a growing number are selling for less than $600.

KNIGHT-RIDDER TO UNVEIL WEB NETWORK

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Knight-Ridder Inc. is preparing to transform its newspaper Web sites into a nationwide network of regional Internet portals, hoping to target advertising to people who use the sites as their first stop in cyberspace. The announcement Tuesday by Knight Ridder chief executive Tony Ridder came one day after The Washington Post said it would transform its newspaper Web site into a regional Internet portal and The New York Times announced plans to build a portal targeting upscale users. Ridder also told analysts in New York Tuesday that the company may spin off its Internet investments in the "not too distant future," a move that could capitalize on the phenomenal stock performance of pure Internet companies.

 

HATCH TELLS SUPPORTERS HE'LL RUN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch has told supporters he intends to run for the White House despite Texas Gov. George Bush's standing as a prohibitive front-runner for the GOP nomination, a Republican official said Tuesday. This official said Hatch declared his intentions at a meeting of supporters Friday. The official said Hatch conceded Bush's status in the race and said his hope was to be an alternative should the Texas governor stumble. Hatch's aides said to expect an announcement from the Utah Republican in the next week. But many of his colleagues considered a Hatch candidacy a foregone conclusion. The developments came as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott lamented the prospect of having three Republican senators seeking their party's presidential nomination.

AOL INVESTS IN SATELLITE TV SERVICE

LOS ANGELES (AP) - America Online will invest $1.5 billion in DirecTV creator Hughes Electronics Corp. in an agreement that gives AOL a new high-speed option and deepens ties between the world's largest Internet provider and the leading U.S. satellite TV service. The deal announced Monday seeks to combine AOL's Internet services with Hughes' digital television system. Company executives said the deal would help increase DirecTV's subscriber base while boosting the market for AOL's planned interactive TV and high-speed Internet services. The agreement also advances AOL's campaign to acquire the broadband platforms necessary to offer customers faster, more diverse services.

PANEL WEIGHS INTERNET TAX OPTIONS

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) - A commission created to recommend future tax policy on Internet commerce struggled Monday to resolve how to solicit private money to operate and avoid a perception of bias. When Congress created the 19-member Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce last year, no federal money was provided. Instead, lawmakers directed the panel to figure out a way to accept private donations and in-kind contributions such as office space. But at its inaugural meeting Monday, several members said an initial proposal for each member to contribute up to $150,000 each could lead to perceptions of bias against state and local governments in favor of well-heeled companies represented on the panel such as AT&T, MCI Worldcom and Gateway Inc.

U.S. SAYS WORLD BETTER
PREPARED FOR Y2K

NEW YORK (AP) - The U.S. believes the world is better prepared than it was six months ago to cope with the Year 2000 computer bug - even though key countries like Russia and China still face serious problems. Six months after the first global conference on the millennium bug, experts from over 170 countries will meet Tuesday at the U.N. to assess progress in dealing with Y2K problems and preparations for coping with possible computer glitches. "My sense is there has been a sea change in the preparedness of the world in the last six months since we pulled everyone together for the first time in December," said John Koskinen, head of President Clinton's Council on Year 2000 Conversion.

SOME SPRINT CUSTOMERS GO DIGITAL

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Residential customers in three cities will get a first shot at Sprint Corp.'s new digital-age phone service, which will allow them to talk on the phone, send a fax and check e-mail - all at the same time. Sprint's new ION or Integrated On-Demand Network promises delivery of local and long-distance phone service and high-speed Internet access all through a single connection to home. Sprint estimates consumers now are paying a total of $150 to $200 a month for such services and have to deal with three or four companies. It proposes a flat monthly rate, likely between $100 to $150, plus installation and equipment costs.

MCI, PAUL ALLEN TO INVEST IN METRICOM

LOS GATOS, Calif. (Reuters) - Metricom Inc. said Monday that MCI WorldCom Inc. and billionaire Paul Allen plan to invest $600 million in the company in exchange for an 87% stake. Metricom, a leading provider of wide-area, portable wireless data services, said Allen's firm, Vulcan Ventures, and MCI, the long distance phone company, will provide $300 million each to fund the launch of Metricom's Ricochet mobile data service. Ricochet lets Internet and electronic mail users get connected without telephone modems. The system works by broadcasting signals back and forth from transceivers mounted on utility poles to small radio modems connected to subscribers' computers.

AOL EUROPE MAY STRIKE BACK
WITH FREE SERVICE

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - AOL Europe is considering offering free Internet access in Britain to counter the rise of new online companies such as Freeserve and to jump-start its growth in the region. AOL Europe lost its lead in the UK Internet market last fall after electronics retailer Dixons Group Plc launched Freeserve, a service with no monthly subscription fee. It is struggling to gain share in Germany, Spain and other European countries where incumbent phone companies have built solid positions in online services.

Gore says Internet technology
key to jobs

DENVER (AP) - In seven years, nearly half the workers in America will be employed by industries that either are producers or intensive users of information technology, Vice President Al Gore said Tuesday. During a campaign swing through Colorado, the vice president released a report from the Commerce Department that said new digital technologies are changing the way Americans work, live, communicate and play. "Six and a half years ago, there were just 50 Web sites around the world. Today there are more than 6 million," Gore said. "Today, information technology is changing the way we live, learn, work and shop." From 1995 to now, information technology industries have grown to less than 1% of all retailers, but account for a third of the nation's economic growth.

MICROSOFT TO REQUIRE PRIVACY PACTS

WASHINGTON (AP) - Microsoft Corp., the largest advertiser on the Internet, has decided it will not buy ads next year on Web sites that fail to publish adequate privacy promises to consumers. The announcement to be made Wednesday comes less than three months after IBM, the second-largest advertiser on the Web, made a similar decision. The actions by the two companies come as the Federal Trade Commission prepares its recommendations to Congress on whether tough new federal privacy laws are needed to protect consumers online. The Microsoft announcement was expected at a computer conference in New York and will take effect after the end of the year.

 

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