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

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

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Plugged In Column.
December 31, 2001... Dec. 31--AUSTIN'S STOCK SURPRISE: Who would have thought it? If, on Jan. 2, you bought $1,000 worth of shares in every Austin-based tech company -- as well as non-Austin tech companies with substantial operations here -- you would have...

Supermarkets Trying Harder to Lure Customers from Restaurants, Rivals.
December 28, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Dec. 28--Dinner for two is now being served in an H-E-B grocery store near you. At least it is if you live in the Interstate 35 and Parmer Lane area. That's where H-E-B Food Stores is testing its latest concept...

Bargain Hunters in Texas Revel in Post-Christmas Ritual.
December 27, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Dec. 27--It's 5:45 a.m. in front of Pecan Square Emporium on West Sixth Street: Ernest Cuellar and his daughter, Dawn, stand in the icy darkness of early morning. The Cuellars were up long before most...

Nasdaq Offers Way for Companies to Avoid Delisting.
December 26, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Dec. 26--Concero Inc. shareholders have had a rough year. The company's share price has steadily dropped from a 52-week high of $3.62 to close unchanged Monday at 45 cents a share. Like hundreds of other companies...

Pension Funds for Texas Workers Invested, Lost as Enron Sank.
December 26, 2001... Byline: Laylan Copelin Dec. 26--As the value of Enron Corp. melted away in the weeks before its Dec. 2 bankruptcy, retirement systems for Texas teachers and state employees continued to buy a piece of the dwindling energy giant. The...

Liberty Hill, Texas-Based Company's Tiny Technology Catches Thieves.
December 26, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Dec. 26--LIBERTY HILL, Texas--Despite the multiple video cameras covering every square inch of its sales lobby, Supercircuits Inc. was outwitted by a thief two years ago. The loss was tiny for the Liberty Hill...

Shoppers' Paradise Will Likely Result in Lower Profits for Retailers.
December 25, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Dec. 25--Empty parking places were plentiful, checkout lines were short, and "Sale" signs were everywhere at Central Texas stores on the day before Christmas. With less than 24 hours before Santa came to...

Companies, Lawmakers Take Stock of 401(k) Benefits.
December 25, 2001... Byline: Marilyn Geewax Dec. 25--WASHINGTON--When Congress established 401(k) retirement plans two decades ago, the expectation was that it would encourage workers to save prudently. But when the stock market soared in the 1990s, the...

Texas-Based AudioGalaxy Grabs Attention of Online Listeners - and Lawyers.
December 24, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Dec. 24--Three-year-old AudioGalaxy Inc. has racked up some stunning popularity milestones for its music portal, which goes by the same name. They include: -- More than 15 million registered users. --...

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Plugged In Column.
December 24, 2001... Dec. 24--LINKING `LORD OF THE RINGS': How do you shoot three movies at once? You use camera crews that are tied together by a high-speed communications network and videoconferencing gear. "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson managed...

Central Texas' Unemployment Rate Increases in November.
December 21, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Dec. 21--Even though retailers hired more than 900 workers to help with holiday sales in November, Central Texas' unemployment rate grew to 4.7 percent, up from 4.5 percent in October. And it's likely to rise...

Key Partner Quits Plans to Develop Apartments for Austin, Texas, Project.
December 20, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Dec. 20--The long-suffering Triangle project in Central Austin was dealt another blow this week when a key partner pulled out, citing a weak economy and a faltering apartment market. Apartment developer...

Cancer-Treatment Findings Boost Shares of Austin, Texas-Based Introgen.
December 19, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Dec. 19--Shares of Introgen Therapeutics Inc., an Austin-based biotechnology company, have soared nearly 60 percent in the past week on reports of positive test results for three of its cancer-treatment therapies....

Motorola to Slash 9,400 More Jobs.
December 19, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Dec. 19--Motorola Inc. will cut an additional 9,400 jobs, including at least 4,000 from its semiconductor business, over the next 12 months as the company continues to reduce costs in response to weak business...

Fox's KTBC Tops Austin, Texas, TV Ratings.
December 19, 2001... Byline: Diane Holloway Dec. 19--Fox-owned KTBC and NBC-affiliate KXAN are the most popular prime-time stations in Central Texas, according to the just-released Nielsen ratings for the November sweeps. On the flip side, however, is...

Newest High-Rise Building in Austin, Texas, Will Face Glut of Office Space.
December 18, 2001... Byline: Shonda Novak Dec. 18--These days, Jeff Pace is among those who most wish Austin's office market was healthier for landlords. As managing director of CarrAmerica Realty Corp.'s Austin office, Pace is in charge of opening the...

Dell Computer Hopes Product Placement on Film Generates Additional Sales.
December 17, 2001... Byline: Bob Keefe Dec. 17--LOS ANGELES--Master hacker John Travolta relied on one in "Swordfish." Ashley Judd toted one around in "Someone Like You." The White House -- the one on television's "West Wing" -- uses one, as do the...

Dell Modifies Business Model to Try to Improve Profitability.
December 17, 2001... Byline: Bob Keefe Dec. 17--Just a few years ago, it seemed Dell Computer Corp. couldn't care less about consumers. Dell made computers for businesses, founder and Chairman Michael Dell declared. And while his company didn't turn away...

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Plugged In Column.
December 17, 2001... Dec. 17--A GIFT FROM SILICON LABS: Three executives at Silicon Laboratories Inc. have contributed $2.35 million in company stock to the University of Texas to create an endowed engineering professorship for design of mixed-signal microchips....

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Austin Inc. Column.
December 14, 2001... Dec. 14--AUSTIN, SIBERIA HAVE TIES IN SOFTWARE: Turns out there's an Austin angle to a Siberian software firm that was featured in a November National Geographic article about Russia 10 years after the fall of communism. Talk about the...

Retail Numbers Fall Flat in November.
December 14, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Dec. 14--After a record jump in October, retail sales retreated 3.7 percent in November, causing some worries about the holiday shopping season and its impact on an economy that's relied heavily on consumer spending....

Companies Reconsider Putting Stock into Employee Retirement Plans.
December 14, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Dec. 14--Since the fall of Enron Corp. and the loss of more than $1 billion from its employee retirement plan, the danger of being too heavily invested in any single stock never has been so apparent. Only a small...

Santa Clara, Calif.-Based Chip Maker Applied Materials Plans More Layoffs.
December 13, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Dec. 13--Applied Materials Inc., trying to cope with the year-long slump in the semiconductor industry, today will cut 1,700 jobs, including 600 in Austin. Applied is the world's largest maker of chip manufacturing...

Enron Faces Heat during Hearing before Congress.
December 13, 2001... Byline: Marilyn Geewax Dec. 13--WASHINGTON--The auditors and market analysts who didn't warn investors about Enron Corp.'s coming collapse pointed a finger at Enron executives Wednesday, saying their deceptions caused the debacle. ...

Layoffs at Austin, Texas-Area Venture Capital Firm Reflect High-Tech Slowdown.
December 13, 2001... Byline: Lori Hawkins Dec. 13--Thousands of local New Economy workers have gotten the ax. Now the money men are feeling it. TL Ventures, the second-largest venture capital firm in Austin, has fired five venture capitalists, leaving...

New Digital Services Becoming AOL Focus.
December 12, 2001... Byline: Shelley Emling Dec. 12--NEW YORK--AOL Time Warner is touting the future's "digital household" -- but it'll cost you. "The digital household, powered by broadband, is the next phase of this business," AOL Time Warner co-chief...

Chairman of Texas Public Utility Panel Discloses Multiple Roles at Enron.
December 12, 2001... Byline: Claudia Grisales Dec. 12--Five months after being appointed chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, Max Yzaguirre filed an amended statement with the state Ethics Commission, expanding the number of Enron Corp....

New Leader of Austin, Texas, Chamber Hopes to Shore Up Links to Tech Community.
December 11, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Dec. 11--Charles Barnett, who ran Seton Healthcare Network from 1993 to last spring, says hospitals and health-care systems have a lot of the so-called old economy in them: back-up power systems, cafeterias, big...

Congress Seeks Lessons from Enron's Financial Fall.
December 11, 2001... Byline: Marilyn Geewax Dec. 11--WASHINGTON--The swift and stunning collapse of Enron Corp. will be in the congressional spotlight this week as hearings begin on the fallout from the biggest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. ...

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Austin Inc. Column.
December 10, 2001... Dec. 10--LANE 15 GETS $12 MILLION: Lane 15 Software Inc. has raised $12 million in its second round of venture financing. The Austin-based company develops management software for InfiniBand technology, which promises to create faster...

Computer Giants Enter Race to Sell Smaller, Cheaper Servers.
December 10, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Dec. 10--The titans of the computer industry are gearing up to cross swords over the newest battleground in the multibillion-dollar market for servers. Over the next nine months, all the major computer makers will...

Market Downturn Feeds Lawsuit Boom.
December 10, 2001... Byline: John Pletz Dec. 10--There's nothing quite like a market crash to keep securities litigators working overtime. Securities class-action lawsuits have nearly doubled in 2001 from their normal pace, as law firms seek compensation...

Report May Haunt Austin, Texas-Based Software Firm's Subsidiary in Courtroom.
December 10, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Dec. 10--Trilogy Software Inc. had a problem on its hands last year: PcOrder.com Inc., the Internet-based software company that Trilogy had taken public in a spectacularly successful offering in early 1999, was...

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Austin Inc. Column.
December 7, 2001... Dec. 7--PUBLIC STRATEGIES PARTY HAS IMPRESSIVE GUESTS: Talk about making a grand entrance: New York Post columnist Liz Smith hosted a major VIP-studded bash at New York's Le Cirque Monday for Public Strategies Inc.'s Jack Martin and former...

Stronger PC Sales Raise Chip Makers' Optimism.
December 7, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Dec. 7--Rival chip makers Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on Thursday raised their estimates for fourth-quarter revenue based on signs of stronger personal computer sales. One analyst said the news...

Economy Leads Many Austin, Texas-Area Companies to Scale Down Holiday Parties.
December 7, 2001... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Dec. 7--In past years, Dell Computer Corp. has thrown elaborate formal-dress parties for employees at the Austin Convention Center, with live entertainment and crowds in the thousands. This year, Dell is...

Media Mogul Levin to Resign Top Post at AOL Time Warner.
December 6, 2001... Byline: Shelley Emling Dec. 6--NEW YORK--Gerald Levin, perhaps the most powerful person in media and communications, said he will step down as chief executive of AOL Time Warner Inc. in May. Levin's retirement was seen as a sign that...

Small Independent Banks Fill Niche in Austin, Texas, Community.
December 6, 2001... Byline: Amy Schatz Dec. 6--Juan Mesa is hardly an inexperienced businessman. His Juan in a Million restaurant on East Cesar Chavez Street has been a favorite neighborhood haunt for more than 20 years. But even Mesa was a little...

Economist Scales Back Job-Growth Projections for Central Texas.
December 6, 2001... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Dec. 6--It may take another year, but Central Texas' economy will find its legs somewhere between the unsustainable boom of the late 1990s and this year's reality check, an economic forecaster predicted Wednesday....

Austin, Texas, Workshop Encourages Job Seekers to Consider Different Careers.
December 5, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Dec. 5--After 18 years as an engineering technician at MultiLayer Technology Inc., Willie Cochran found herself looking for a new job when Multek closed its Austin manufacturing facilities in March. In the...

Global Markets Feel Jolt from Enron's Collapse.
December 4, 2001... Byline: Claudia Grisales Dec. 4--From Texas to Tokyo, Enron's massive bankruptcy filing caused tremors across several continents Monday. While the company said it had arranged $1.5 billion in financing to keep operating on a limited...

CBS Cuts Two Top Positions at Austin, Texas, Station.
December 4, 2001... Byline: Diane Holloway Dec. 4--Hard times have struck CBS-owned KEYE, with the network eliminating two of the station's departments and sending its top management job out of state. CBS has eliminated the jobs of general manager and...

University of Texas Competition Gives Entrepreneurial Ideas Running Room.
December 3, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Goldman Dec. 3--When the University of Texas started its Moot Corp. competition nearly two decades ago, it was one of a kind. A takeoff on a "moot court," a mock trial competition for law students, Moot Corp. gives...

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Austin Inc. Column.
December 3, 2001... Dec. 3--SBC WIELDS ITS AX: SBC Communications Inc. started dismantling its Austin-based Prodigy operations on Friday, laying off 130 regular employees and 40 contract workers. The cuts amount to nearly one-third of the work force at Prodigy,...

Intel Pushes Forward in Wireless World.
December 3, 2001... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Dec. 3--Intel Corp.'s Ron Smith handles the new NTT DoCoMo cellular phone with gentle respect. It's small. It has a color display screen. It can receive high-speed data communications. But most importantly, it...