Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) articles from August 2001

Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) archives from August 2001

California-Based Circuit Board Maker Becomes Latest to Cut Austin, Texas, Jobs.
August 1, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 1--Circuit-board maker Sanmina Corp. is closing the Austin plant it bought just a year ago from Hadco Corp., eliminating 170 jobs. It's the latest cutback for contract assemblers and manufacturers of printed...

Insurance Group's New Policies in Texas Exclude Water Claims.
August 1, 2001... Byline: Jaime Levy Aug. 1--Citing a substantial increase in water damage claims, Farmers Insurance Group -- under fire for requesting that mold coverage be excluded from the Texas standard -- has declared a statewide moratorium on offering...

Motorola Is Upbeat; Analysts Are Wary.
August 1, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 1--CHICAGO--Top executives at Motorola Inc. took a humble tone with Wall Street investment analysts Tuesday, saying the communications giant has learned its lesson as it struggles through an ugly and...

Time Warner Angers Cable Users in Central Texas with Late Automated Call.
August 2, 2001... Byline: Jaime Levy Aug. 2--Time Warner Cable says it was just trying to be helpful. But Frank Jackson didn't appreciate the call at 11 p.m. Tuesday night reminding him about the company's major channel lineup change that starts today. ...

Austin, Texas-Based Firm Deserves Credit for Method to Spend Money Online.
August 6, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 6--Many American teen-agers have no shortage of money -- they bought between $120 billion and $200 billion worth of goods and services last year. But that money wasn't easy to spend on the Internet....

Austin, Texas, Online Training Pioneer Learns Hard Truth about Profitability.
August 6, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 6--As startups go, Powered Inc. has seen it all. It was born at the peak of Internet hype and set up shop on Sixth Street, in the heart of the city's entertainment district. It has gone through management...

Austin, Texas-Based Banking Company to Cut More Workers, Outsource Services.
August 7, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 7--Austin Internet banking firm FundsXpress Inc. had another round of layoffs Monday -- its third this year -- leaving the company with less than half the staff it had in January. The company is trying to...

Texas Railroad Commission Chief Drops Bid to Tighten Oil Spill Rules.
August 7, 2001... Byline: Claudia Grisales Aug. 7--The chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission has done an about-face on proposed tougher regulations on handling oil spills in the wake of a lobbying assault by the industry. Commission Chairman Michael...

Deal Expands Austin, Texas-Based Software Maker's List of Potential Partners.
August 7, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 7--Austin's Works Inc., which lets companies buy office supplies and other equipment online, has signed a deal with Visa USA that could significantly boost sales. The agreement, scheduled to be announced...

Analysts Skeptical of Intel's Positive Outlook on Rest of Year.
August 8, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 8--Intel Corp. says it sees reason for hope that the back-to-school and holiday seasons will provide the traditional second-half bounce for computer sales. But some on Wall Street aren't buying the story....

Quick Fix Unlikely for PC Chip Producers, Research Firm Says.
August 9, 2001... Aug. 9--A new forecast for the semiconductor demand says the industry's big chill is going to last a long time. The research firm IDC said Wednesday that it will be 2005 or later before revenue from processors and memory chips used in...

Computer Worm Attacks Motorola Servers.
August 9, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 9--Motorola Inc. shut down its corporate Web site and many of its Internet-related servers Wednesday in response to an attack by the Code Red II worm, which has spread to hundreds of thousands of computers...

Central Texas in Store for More Stores.
August 9, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Aug. 9--The Central Texas economy may be in a slowdown, but retailers are too busy playing catch-up to notice. Newcomers such as Costco Wholesale and Kohl's soon will debut, while existing retailers such as Home...

Austin, Texas-Based Internet Device Maker Adopts New Name.
August 10, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Aug. 10--Netpliance Inc. is no more. Executives at the Austin company -- which pioneered an easy-to-use device to surf the Internet and write e-mail -- will announce today that it is switching to a new business...

Citing Financing Flops, Texas-Based Artificial Intelligence Firm's CEO Quits.
August 10, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Aug. 10--Cycorp Inc. chief executive Dwight Lodge, who joined the artificial intelligence company last fall to accelerate the launch of its products, resigned Thursday after abandoning efforts to raise venture...

Austin, Texas, Startup Firm Could Shake Up Industry with Faster Chip.
August 13, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 13--A little-known Austin startup expects to make a big splash in the chip industry today when it unveils a new design technology that could transform the way extremely fast processor chips are created. The...

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Plugged In Column.
August 13, 2001... Aug. 13--THE MYDOCONLINE IS IN: Round Rock-based MyDocOnline Inc. came into the spotlight last fall when it was bought by Aventis Pharmaceuticals, raising questions about the drug maker's access to the information shared by doctors and patients...

Information Technology Firm Begins Move into Downtown Austin, Texas, Buildings.
August 14, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Aug. 14--The first of 300 Computer Sciences Corp. employees began moving into a new downtown office building Monday -- the first wave of a corporate relocation expected to bring about 1,000 workers downtown by January....

Early-Stage Investing Plummets in Second Quarter for Austin, Texas, Startups.
August 14, 2001... Byline: Lori Hawkins Aug. 14--When Anurag Kumar co-founded MediaPrise Inc. two years ago, raising venture capital was the easy part. The company, which helps businesses distribute marketing and sales materials, had no trouble...

California-Based Semiconductor Equipment Maker Manages to Be Profitable.
August 15, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 15--The chip business is in the tank, but Applied Materials Inc. still eked out a profit for the latest quarter, the company reported Tuesday. Applied, the largest maker of semiconductor manufacturing...

Out-of-Work Professionals Form Austin, Texas, Firm to Market Their Brain Power.
August 15, 2001... Byline: Chuck Lindell Aug. 15--For many laid-off professionals, money is running out, and it's difficult to get an interview, let alone a job. Dozens of resumes bring a trickle of responses -- usually a variation of "no thanks, but we'll...

Wall Street Getting Edgy about Dell's Stock Price.
August 15, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 15--Dell Computer Corp. may be the best house in an increasingly tough neighborhood, but one Wall Street analyst says it's time to move and consider putting the once high-flying stock up for sale. Brett Miller...

Texas-Based Implant Maker Proposes to Settle Injured-Patient Lawsuits.
August 15, 2001... Aug. 15--Sulzer Medica Ltd., facing more than 1,200 lawsuits and potential bankruptcy, offered settlements Tuesday to injured patients, their spouses and anyone else who might have gotten a faulty hip or knee implant from its Austin plant. ...

San Marcos, Texas-Based Fiber Optics Firm Appears to Have Upper Hand in Austin.
August 16, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 16--Early in 2000, three companies boasted that they each would build next-generation fiber-optic communications and entertainment networks in Austin. San Marcos-based Grande Communications Inc. took an...

Wall Street Smiles on Austin, Texas, Implant Maker's Lawsuit Settlement Offer.
August 16, 2001... Aug. 16--Reaction to Sulzer Medica Ltd.'s $750 million offer to settle lawsuits stemming from faulty hip and knee implants made in Austin was mixed Wednesday: Wall Street loved it while many lawyers and patients fumed. Sulzer Medica's...

Texas Lawsuit Accuses Tire Dealers of Illegally Charging a Recycling Fee.
August 16, 2001... Byline: Bruce Hight Aug. 16--Many tire dealers in Texas still charge -- but keep for themselves -- a $2-per-tire recycling fee that the state stopped collecting from consumers three years ago, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court...

Dell Posts First Quarterly Loss in Eight Years, Offers Gloomy Forecast.
August 17, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 17--Dell Computer Corp. doused any hopes -- tepid though they might have been -- of a turnaround in computer spending this year. Dell, which led fierce price wars in the personal-computer business for the past...

Central Texas Jobless Rate Increases to 4.3 Percent in July.
August 17, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 17--The Central Texas unemployment rate crept up in July, reversing a trend of summertime unemployment peaking in June. June traditionally has one of the year's highest unemployment rates as school...

New Lofts' Prices Not as Lofty as Other Abodes in Downtown Austin, Texas.
August 17, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Aug. 17--For many potential downtown dwellers, the price of housing in Austin's center has been too lofty. So Austin's Sutton Co. and Charleston, S.C.-based Greystar Real Estate Partners are offering a less...

Motorola Bets on Selling Its Phone Secrets to Save Its Computer Chips.
August 20, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 20--As they say in that other chip business: Ante up. Motorola Inc. executive Fred Shlapak, a blunt, hard-driving 31-year Motorola veteran, is placing the bet of his career that he can resuscitate the...

Executive Brings Startup Experience to Austin, Texas, Software Maker.
August 20, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 20--It takes a very different kind of person, Mike Vollman says, to lead a startup through each of its stages: incubation, market growth and mature company. Vollman considers himself to be best at that...

Austin, Texas-Based Broadwing Communications Cuts 80 Jobs.
August 21, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 21--Austin-based Broadwing Communications, which in March completed the first all-optical coast-to-coast communications network, cut about 80 jobs Monday. More than 60 of the jobs cut were in Austin and many of...

Report: Motorola May Drop Austin, Texas-Based Semiconductor Business.
August 22, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 22--Motorola Inc. confirmed Tuesday that it would consider selling or spinning off its struggling Austin-based chip business unit if that business cannot turn itself around, according to the Reuters news...

Texas Railroad Panel Quashes Proposal for Tougher Rules for Oil-Spill Cleanup.
August 22, 2001... Byline: Claudia Grisales Aug. 22--A divided Texas Railroad Commission voted 2-1 Thursday to kill a proposal that would have toughened the rules on cleaning up oil spills in the wake of an aggressive lobbying campaign led by independent...

Creditors See No Big Payoff in Auction of Austin, Texas, Web Firm's Software.
August 22, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 22--In its 2 years of existence, Agillion Inc. raised $45 million from investors. Like many other dot-coms, Agillion was noted for its lavish offices, salaries and amenities -- such as sponsoring a Mexican...

Leaders Decry Mexican Truck Rules at Border Talks.
August 23, 2001... Byline: Claudia Grisales Aug. 23--Political and business leaders from both the United States and Mexico expressed shared discontent Wednesday about congressional actions that could keep Mexican trucks off U.S. highways. "It is wrong...

Central Texas Likely to See Decline in New Home Construction, Survey Says.
August 23, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Aug. 23--The rate of new home construction in Central Texas is expected to fall by the end of the year, evidence that the area's economic slowdown is finally affecting the home-building market, a new survey shows. ...

Southwest Airlines Founder Gives $4 Million to University of Texas.
August 24, 2001... Byline: Sharon Jayson Aug. 24--A $4 million gift to the University of Texas from Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher will create a business center at UT named for a man synonymous with entrepreneurial spirit. Kelleher, a lawyer,...

Head of Austin, Texas-Based Consulting Firm Departs.
August 24, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 24--Less than two years after leaving the Lower Colorado River Authority to head Public Strategies Inc., Mark Rose has left the Austin-based corporate strategy and consulting firm. The company confirmed that...

Texas Electric Deregulation Lags in Switching Customers.
August 24, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Aug. 24--Texas' move to a competitive electric market continues to suffer glitches, ranging from computer problems to slowness in switching customers who want a new power provider. At a Public Utility...

Austin, Texas-Based Startup Will Field-Test Its Speedier Cable Technology.
August 27, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 27--The battle to reach new broadband customers rages on, with the heaviest fighting taking place between phone companies and cable television operators. Witness the latest barrage of phone company radio and...

Motorola Sets Deadline for Austin, Texas-Based Chip Group's Profitability.
August 27, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 27--Motorola Inc. has been a force in the semiconductor industry for half a century, but last week, the company signaled that it may be prepared to unload its Austin-based chip business. Company President...

Austin, Texas-Based Chip Company Snags Motorola Executive.
August 28, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Aug. 28--Daniel Artusi, one of the top handful of executives in Motorola Inc.'s semiconductor business, has jumped ship to become chief operating officer of Silicon Laboratories Inc., a 5-year-old Austin chip...

Red Ink Marks HMOs in Texas.
August 30, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Aug. 30--Texas HMOs as a group continued a 21-month streak of unprofitability during the first half of the year, losing $124 million and increasing the likelihood that rates will rise again this year. Almost half of...

Dell Executive Plans to Step Down, Take Advisory Role.
August 31, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 31--Dell Computer Corp. announced a major executive change Thursday afternoon, saying James Vanderslice would relinquish his titles of co-president and co-chief operating officer and become an executive adviser...

Women Win Millions in Suit against Texas-Based Firm over Faulty Hip Implants.
August 31, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Aug. 31--A Corpus Christi jury awarded more than $15 million Thursday to three elderly Texas women who received faulty hip implants manufactured by Austin-based Sulzer Orthopedics Inc. It is the first verdict against...

IBM to Unveil Servers Priced to Battle Dell.
August 31, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 31--IBM Corp. is going on the offensive against Dell Computer Corp. with a low-end Intel server. IBM is expected to launch a server today priced at $699 in a market where breaking the $1,000 barrier seemed...

Microsoft Alienates Companies over Windows XP Fees.
August 31, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 31--Two months before the launch of Windows XP, Microsoft Corp.'s latest version of its desktop software, some business customers already are unhappy. And it has nothing to do with the software's new features....

Microsoft Alienating Corporate Companies with Windows XP Pricing Structure.
August 31, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Aug. 31--Two months before the launch of Windows XP, Microsoft Corp.'s latest version of its desktop software, some business customers already are unhappy. And it has nothing to do with the software's new features....

Texas Official Urges Insurers to Rethink New Rules on Mold.
August 31, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Aug. 31--The state insurance commissioner tried Thursday to quell rising alarm about mold-related claims by asking home insurers to lift recent moratoriums on issuing new policies. In his strongest action to date...

Texas Workers' Compensation Agency Gets New Chief.
August 31, 2001... Byline: Claudia Grisales Aug. 31--Richard Reynolds, a former state legislator and insurance commissioner, was named Thursday as executive director of the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission. The six-member commission voted...