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Sunday, April 30, 2000

Microsoft on trial
The U.S. stock market on Monday will get its first opportunity to react to the government's plan to carve up Microsoft into two companies, in a potentially key trading day that could signal the extent of public confidence in the software maker.
posted 9:33:17 PM

Friday, April 28, 2000

YOJOE.COM | The 3 3/4" G.I. Joe Collector's Site
Dedicated to the G.I.Joe of the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond - G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero! YO JOE!
posted 5:35:39 PM

Government to judge: Break up Microsoft
If the proposal is accepted by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and other company officers and directors could own stock in just one of the two companies. Asked if the proposal was an attempt to punish Gates, Klein said, "This has never been about punishing any individual. This has been about protecting American consumers and the viability of the software industry."
posted 5:08:48 PM

Tech's Janitors Rally for Wages
One of the janitors at the rally, Mari Loja, works two cleaning jobs five days a week to help pay her rent and send her three children through college in her native Ecuador. Loja makes $8 an hour during her night job at Cadence, and $6 an hour cleaning offices at Logistix. Loja shares a two-bedroom apartment in San Jose with four other families. She lives in one of the bedrooms with her husband, her daughter, and two teenage cousins. She sleeps only four hours a day in a pair of two-hour shifts. "I'm very, very tired," she said. "I'm extremely exhausted and economically I'm not doing very well. It's a struggle every day. The money I make one day, goes that day. I came here to improve my life, to get a better life economically. But it's hard. I can't improve my life. We're still living in poverty."
posted 10:34:29 AM

Thursday, April 27, 2000

Has Oracle's Ellison topped Gates' net worth?
Even if Gates' holdings have been eclipsed by Ellison, Gates is still wealthier. Forbes estimates that he has $10 billion in holdings besides Microsoft.
posted 6:14:42 PM

Wazzup? Not Elián Web Parody
The animation featured photographs of Janet Reno, Elián Gonzalez, and FBI agents synched with the voices from the popular Budweiser commercials. Instead of being able to watch the spoof, site visitors now see the cease and desist letter sent by AP official David Tomlin.
posted 1:39:39 PM

Kid safe Net service launches
"It's not about being Big Brother. It's about the fact that those parents know when children go on KOLA they've been pre-screened," he said. And, he added, parents will still need to be actively involved, because the service won't be perfect protection. "Sure, the risk still exists that someone on the service might go into a chat room and pose as a child. But the difference is they're going to think twice about going on KOLA because of the way the network was built. It's so much easier to go to another online service and create another anonymous profile."
posted 1:01:52 PM

Wednesday, April 26, 2000

Young sisters, on visit to Air Force base, have dinner with Elian
Brittanie, who gave Elian a stuffed animal, said Elian was nice but quiet and they had to use an interpreter to communicate. She also told the TimesDaily that the boy looked sad. The encounter lasted only a few minutes. Juan Miguel Gonzalez gave the sisters pizza, Brittanie said. And when they left, Elian gave Ashlie a kiss on the cheek.
posted 10:31:47 PM

Pigpile on Microsoft
The states involved in the antitrust case against Microsoft are expected to join the federal government Friday in calling for the software giant to be split in two, sources familiar with the case said. The states and U.S. Justice Department are expected to propose breaking Microsoft into two separate companies, one to manufacture the Windows operating system and the other to make applications, such as Microsoft Office programs, the sources said Wednesday.
posted 4:07:32 PM

Sightsound.com to Put Miramax Films on Internet
German feature film license dealer Intertainment said in a statement that with the technology of SightSound.com, in which Intertainment holds a 26 percent stake, Miramax would enable customers to rent or buy feature films via the Internet.
posted 12:58:04 PM

Tuesday, April 25, 2000

eBay item 317033830 (Ends May-04-00 15:38:26 PDT) - ELIAN GONZALEZ FOR SALE! NO RESERVE!!
via slashdot
posted 4:21:43 PM

Ellison Claims Richest Man Title
That's right -- as we predicted last week, Larry Ellison has bested Gates to become the world's big financial banana, at least for the moment. As of market close Monday, Ellison's 689,706,050 shares of Oracle were worth a hair less than $50 billion. Gates 740,964,300 shares of Microsoft, meanwhile, dwindled in value to $49.4 billion -- pushed down in no small part by the antitrust assault Ellison helped orchestrate.
posted 3:50:25 PM

Ballmer grants options to lift employees' spirits
Steve Ballmer sent the news in an email obtained by CNET News.com to more than 30,000 Microsoft employees today. Amid the recent news swirling around the software giant, Ballmer's electronic speech was clearly designed to bolster morale that, according to several insiders, has reached new lows in recent weeks. Adding to a barrage of incentives, Ballmer said all employees would receive a one-time stock option grant equal to options received with their July 1999 review. New employees also are eligible for a grant.
posted 3:46:09 PM

Monday, April 24, 2000

Wilkens Resigns As Atlanta Hawks Coach
Lenny Wilkens, who holds the record for most victories by an NBA coach, resigned from his post with the Atlanta Hawks Monday after enduring the worst season of his 27-year coaching career.
posted 5:17:49 PM

Gadgets Drive New Jersey Man
Torrone's "geek mobile" boasts full email and Web access, a wireless video-conferencing system, a voice-activated navigation computer, and an MP3 stereo. At the heart of the system is a modified laptop running Linux. Hidden in the trunk, the machine can play hundreds of hours of digitized MP3s and is controlled by a Palm V mounted up front.
posted 12:58:17 PM

Our Ad on Your Car: $400 a Month
The ad said they could earn $400 a month by surrendering their vehicle to the same kind of ads seen on San Francisco's MUNI buses and employee automobiles sporting their companies' dot-com logos -- not to mention the Yahoo-outfitted taxicabs seen in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
posted 10:53:43 AM

Sunday, April 23, 2000

Matrix 2 rumors
via metajohn.
posted 11:11:59 PM

Saturday, April 22, 2000

Elian Gonzalez Reunited With Dad
Seized by armed agents before dawn, Elian Gonzalez was reunited with his father today after a frantic and forceful end to a five-month standoff between the government and the Cuban boy's Miami relatives.
posted 2:40:16 PM

Customers outraged by Internet outage (4/21/2000)
Pacific Bell's high-speed Internet service was back up and running in the Bay Area Friday, but customers found a new source of outrage: the way the company handled the crash. Users complained of long waits on hold Thursday calling Pac Bell's customer support lines, as well as a lack of information about when the problem might be solved. But what really aggravated them was company spokesman Rodd Aubrey's assertion that only a ``handful'' of homes with high-speed digital subscriber line service had lost their connections.
posted 2:38:47 PM

Wednesday, April 19, 2000

Microsoft Pocket PC Review
The good: Looks like a Windows desktop; easy-to-use menus; updates information from your desktop PC continuously.
The bad: Prone to crashes; doesn't consistently recognize handwriting.
The bottom line: If you already love the Windows desktop and want to take your Windows apps on the road, give this OS a try. But be prepared for some crashes.
posted 10:28:58 PM

AtomFilms aims at handhelds, cell phones
AtomFilms, a company dedicated to delivering film shorts and animation online, today is launching a mobile initiative aimed at bringing its content to bored bus riders and people stuck in long lines.
posted 1:31:50 PM

TiVo to come packaged with Web-based movies
TiVo, a subscription-based TV programming service, has teamed with iFilm Network to provide TV access to movies previously available only on the Web, the companies announced today.
posted 1:29:29 PM

Tuesday, April 18, 2000

Bucks clinch final Eastern playoff spot
With Ray Allen out, Tim Thomas made sure the Milwaukee Bucks didn't let a chance to clinch the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference slip away Monday night.
posted 11:41:46 AM

The Richest Of Them All
At the close of the market Monday, Ellison's 690 million Oracle shares were worth $51.6 billion -- a mere $4.6 billion less than Gates' $56.2 billion, 741 million-share, Microsoftian fortune (both men have other assets, but we're ignoring those for the sake of over-simplification).
posted 11:32:47 AM

Monday, April 17, 2000

FBI seeks stolen laptop holding secret information
A laptop computer that may have held classified information disappeared from the State Department about two months ago, and the FBI is Investigating whether it was stolen, the State Department said today.
posted 10:24:13 PM

DVD for STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE
I went to Suncoast today and the employee there mentioned that the Phantom Menace DVD should be out Sept. 12, and that it will have deleted scenes, story board comparisons, and 3 different audio tracks including commentary by Lucas. There are other extras also, but I forgot what they were.He said the price was going to be $39.99.
posted 1:57:45 PM

Saturday, April 15, 2000

Going Public in a Lousy Week
It's been an awful week for tech stocks. That's prompting a lot of companies to postpone or pull new offerings. But not everyone is bailing out.
posted 10:43:49 PM

Friday, April 14, 2000

losers dot org And LOSERS dot ORG is your guide.
posted 11:16:18 PM

Hey, Babe, Wanna Call ... Chad?
Tore Loding wishes he never heard of adultbuffet.com. That's because a few weeks after a romp one night through that site's adult offerings, the 24-year-old San Francisco State University journalism student got a $357 phone bill that made him consider swearing off pornographic websites. Like an increasing number of scammed surfers, Loding, by clicking through an agreement attached to a movie he wanted to download, inadvertently took with it a piece of software that reset his modem and dialed a number in Chad, a country in central Africa.
posted 4:13:32 PM

Dow Tumbles 616; Nasdaq Sinks 361
The Dow Jones industrials and Nasdaq composite index both suffered record one-day point drops Friday as a new inflation report sparked furious selling that turned into panic as the session wore on. A government report Friday morning of an unexpectedly strong rise in consumer prices in March intensified a sense of easiness that has pulled stock prices lower all week. The figures rekindled worries that the Federal Reserve not only would raise interest rates again at its upcoming policy-making meetings, but might be more aggressive in trying to cool down the economy.
posted 3:00:50 PM

EBay the site of JenniCam moving sale
And while she may have taken a loss on the bed, five portfolios of 4x6-inch photographs of herself that she'd been meaning to get rid of brought in a whopping $3,010.23 - a grand total that made her jaw drop, she says. Initially expecting little more than $25 per set, she brought the auction to an end April 5 - four days earlier than planned - after bids continued to skyrocket.
posted 2:31:49 PM

Microsoft secret password could allow access to Web sites
Microsoft said its engineers included a secret password using the phrase "Netscape engineers are weenies!" in Web site authoring software that could allow hackers to gain unauthorized access to potentially thousands of Web sites.
posted 11:06:08 AM

Thursday, April 13, 2000

Kozmo.com hit with lawsuit in wake of MSNBC.com probe
After an MSNBC.com investigation revealed potential discriminatory practices by Internet delivery company Kozmo.com, a Washington, D.C. based advocacy group and two black city residents filed a class action suit against the company Thursday, claiming Kozmo violated federal and city civil rights laws by primarily serving white neighborhoods.
posted 4:38:56 PM

Wednesday, April 12, 2000

A look at Microsoft's first 11 employees
Associated Press
On Dec. 7, 1978, the entire work force of Microsoft Corp. got together for a group photo prior to moving the company from Albuquerque, N.M., to the Seattle area. Of those 11 people, only one - chairman Bill Gates - is still with Microsoft. The rest went on to a variety of activities from cattle ranching to professional philanthropy. Many are still involved in high-tech ventures.
posted 10:51:30 PM

PayMyBills.com pays up for PayMe.com
Online bill payment site PayMyBills.com announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire person-to-person payment site PayMe.com. The two Idealab-backed companies gave few details of the deal, saying only that it was an all-stock transaction and that they expect it to close in May.
posted 8:49:24 PM

Lowermybills.com offers deals for the thrifty
Lowermybills.com has rates from about 1,000 companies representing telecommunication, financial and utility services that range from gas and electric bills to home mortgage rates. Customers can search by ZIP code and sign up for a new service online.
posted 5:29:21 PM

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

VA Linux offers inexpensive desktop PC
Most experts agree Linux is too technical for average computer users, however. VA is aiming this system at Web site developers and people already familiar with the operating system.
posted 9:57:57 PM

Nation Shocked By Pre-Natal Shooting
Investigators are trying to determine what led an unborn child to fatally shoot his twin with a .38-caliber revolver during an altercation in their shared Albuquerque womb Monday.
posted 4:47:22 PM

Group blasts Internet Explorer 5.5 for lack of Web standards
Web Standards Project group leader Jeffrey Zeldman said he was surprised to find out last week through a Microsoft press release that IE 5.5 would not support W3C standards, which Microsoft and other computer industry leaders, including Netscape Communications, Microsoft's rival in the browser market, agreed to support a few years ago. Most notably, Zeldman cited the planned lack of support for portions of CSS1 (Cascading Style Sheets level 1), a standard established in 1996, and DOM (Document Object Model) 1 Core.
posted 1:14:30 PM

Who Wants to Find a Multi-Millionaire on the Web
Multi-millionaire Rick Rockwell will speak at a press conference to launch a new web site dedicated to successful bachelors and bachlorettes ``to Find a Multi-Millionaire.'' The site is intended to be a meeting place for like-minded individuals to create long-term friendships and relationships.
posted 10:33:10 AM

Jet Li Eyed As Kato for Universal's 'Green Hornet'
The project is based on the radio series and 1960s TV show about a green-masked crusader who battles crime with his karate-chopping partner, a role made famous by Bruce Lee in the TV series.
posted 10:23:31 AM

Monday, April 10, 2000

Majority of handhelds may be given away
Wireless Internet access through digital devices from Palm, Handspring and Microsoft, along with Web-enabled cell phones, will skyrocket in popularity over the next three years, according to Ken Dulaney, vice president at Gartner Group. With that popularity will come old-fashioned marketing techniques. Prices will drop significantly on products, with many of the devices given away for free in exchange for signing long-term service contracts.
posted 8:28:49 PM

Supervisors Taking Muni to Ballgame/But S.F. Mayor Brown, security detail will travel to Pac Bell Park in Lincoln Town Car
The test for the Muni will be its ability to deliver service both for the ballpark and for the normal weekday evening commute. With a 1:20 p.m. starting time, tomorrow's game should be over just about the time the rush begins.
posted 8:10:02 PM

Sunday, April 09, 2000

Tellme starts talking with new Web service
Tellme Networks tomorrow will announce a service that lets consumers dial a toll-free phone number and use spoken commands to connect with or find restaurants, airline information, news, weather conditions, and stock quotes.
posted 10:12:43 PM

Friday, April 07, 2000

Fake roach creates real scare
via crazysexycool . An Orkin Pest Control commercial that features a realistic-looking roach crawling across the screen has given a number of viewers the creeps. Two people even threw things at the imagined intruder, damaging their TVs.
posted 2:54:27 PM

AOL was outshined at Internet World
Elsewhere at the show was Tachyon, a two-year-old company that offers high-speed Net access to companies via satellite. Satellite Net access isn't really new technology, but plans like Bill Gates's Teledesic wireless data service aren't scheduled to begin service for several years, and this outfit has customers in place and offers service in a few continents already.Tachyon demonstrated its service by hooking a dish up to the roof of the L.A. Convention Center, the site of Internet World. Tachyon sales guy David Nichols humbly offered to run all the Net access needed for the whole show from one of Tachyon's antennae.
posted 2:42:40 PM

Topless Bar Probed for $27,000 Credit Card Bill
The bill totaling $26,974.50 would buy more than 2,600 so-called table dances, in which performers dance right in front of individual customers, or more than 5,300 drinks, the Albuquerque Journal calculated.
posted 9:21:25 AM

A Hip Club for Square Teens
Teenagers in Austin, Texas, are banding together to create a new social and networking club for young techies and budding entrepreneurs, and they are hoping the trend will catch on.
posted 8:53:51 AM

I-Opener Orders Reneged
"Netpliance has simply taken orders for a product and then, after the purchase, changed the terms." Griego said he's received a barrage of email from other customers with outstanding orders who think that terms are being applied after the fact.
posted 8:36:35 AM

Thursday, April 06, 2000

Hi Girls, Anyone want to chat?
posted 11:30:15 AM

I-Opener -- no longer a $99 Linux PC
While it moved to eliminate the ability to modify its device, Netpliance has created a developer program for I-opener. The program, called Developer 100 Pilot Program, will provide 100 registered software developers with I-openers that can be modified
posted 10:30:34 AM

Young Web masters
"It's pretty good, considering we have no real commercial advertising," said Scott, noting they make no money for their efforts. So far, the only real reward they've gotten from the project, they said, is how it keeps them in touch.
posted 10:02:33 AM

Wednesday, April 05, 2000

Microsoft undergoes voluntary breakup, announces new divisions
posted 2:30:23 PM

Peapod seeks to recover millions from ex-CEO
The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition today that William Malloy was lured to the Skokie, Ill.-based company from AT&T's wireless business in September with a $2.5 million signing bonus plus a $2.5 million loan earmarked for the purchase of Peapod common stock. Under terms of the deal, the loan would become a gift after five years.
posted 12:15:11 PM

Net-connected DVDs face crowded market
The device, which plugs into the television and is called the Neo iDVD, combines two hot items on consumers' wish lists: DVD players and Internet access.
posted 12:12:33 PM

Tuesday, April 04, 2000

Kozmo suffers glitches after redesign
As of 4:15 p.m. PST, Kozmo customer representatives confirmed that the site was being plagued by a series of malfunctions that began as soon as the site opened for business this morning and unveiled the site redesign.
posted 11:13:43 PM

Microsoft Campus Bombed

posted 4:36:11 PM

George Lucas Says He's Sorry
Tells 60 Minutes that Jar Jar Binks was a 'mistake' and that 'it won't happen again.'

hehehe
posted 4:32:05 PM

Register.com, About.com Ink Marketing Pact
Register.com Tuesday struck a deal with About.com to become the exclusive domain name registrar on the network of vertical sites.
posted 12:35:26 PM

Ex-Microsoft workers hit the data mines
Data mining allows businesses to take their databases of Web site and customer information and create highly detailed reports on usage and trends, and then make predictions based on those reports.
posted 10:18:33 AM

Monday, April 03, 2000

Sega unveils online gaming, free console strategy
Sega of America, anticipating serious competition in the cut-throat video game business, will unveil on Tuesday a radical shift in its business strategy by offering its own Internet service and giving away to subscribers its Dreamcast video console via a $200 rebate.
posted 4:21:10 PM

Microsoft violated antitrust laws
A federal judge has concluded that software giant Microsoft violated antitrust laws by leveraging its monopoly position in the market for operating systems to capture the market for Web browsers.
posted 2:38:29 PM

A Fool Is Born?
I then explained that he could buy a piece of a company he liked, called a share, and rather than having $10.30 at the end of the year, he might have $12 if the company did well. And that the more he added to it, as time went by (in say 20 years), he might have a couple thousand dollars that might be enough to buy a horse (OK, I don't really know how much horses cost, so I might be way off here). I said that there was no guarantee, but if it was a good company, the longer he held that piece, the more likely it was to do well. At this point, however, my son forgot about horses.
posted 11:17:36 AM

Bay Area Climbers Begin Attempt to Conquer Everest's Trash/Tons of debris litter world's highest peak
Chang is one of several climbers from the Bay Area who will be part of a larger expedition planning to climb Mount Everest not only because it is there, but because it badly needs a spring cleaning.
posted 10:52:59 AM

Microsoft Decision Set for 5 P.M. EDT
The judge's ruling follows the collapse of settlement talks between Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Dept. on Saturday. A mediator said the differences were too deep-seated to forge a deal at this time.
posted 10:32:14 AM

Sunday, April 02, 2000

New virus can wipe out hard drives
An ongoing FBI case has revealed a computer virus that can erase hard drives and dial 911 emergency systems, according to a warning posted on the Web this weekend.
posted 5:55:02 PM

Saturday, April 01, 2000

Mediator in Microsoft Case Gives Up
Talks between the federal government and Microsoft broke down Saturday as a judge trying to mediate a settlement in the antitrust lawsuit against the software giant said he was ending his effort.
posted 9:17:00 PM

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