Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) articles from July 2000

Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) archives from July 2000

Texas Judge Bars Auto Makers from Selling Cars over Internet.
July 31, 2000... Byline: Bruce Hight Jul. 31--Refusing to fall before "the mighty altar of the Internet," a federal judge in Austin upheld a state law that bars Ford Motor Co. and other automakers from selling cars to Texas consumers online. Ford...

Central Texas Real Estate Agents Go Independent as Market Stays Strong.
July 31, 2000... Byline: Eileen Smith Jul. 31--David Pruitt decided he would rather watch his sons' swimming lessons than sit behind a desk all day in an air-conditioned office. So, 10 months ago, Pruitt left his job as a manager at Capital...

Special Event Insurance Helps Couples Protect Investment in Weddings.
July 31, 2000... Byline: Amy Schatz Jul. 31--Between the flowers, the dresses, the dyed-to-match shoes, the cake, the invitations and the rehearsal dinner, even a relatively modest wedding can set a couple back more than the cost of a midsize car. ...

Austin, Texas-Based Software Firm Warns That Its Revenues Will Decline.
July 27, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks Jul. 27--After revealing disappointing second-quarter financial results Wednesday, pcOrder.com Inc. warned Wall Street that things will get worse before getting better. The Austin-based software company lost...

Earnings of Austin, Texas, Software Firm Beat Expectations by 1 Cent.
July 26, 2000... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Jul. 26--Vignette Corp. maintained its torrid rate of growth in the second quarter as revenue climbed to $77.1 million, up 417 percent from $14.9 million in the second quarter of 1999. The company earned $1.4...

Dell, Other Computer Stocks Get Slammed after Reports of Slow PC Sales.
July 25, 2000... Byline: John Pletz Jul. 25--Investors greeted news of the personal-computer industry's second-quarter shipments with particular pessimism Monday. They pounded the sector, sending stocks of Dell Computer Corp. and its peers downward....

Austin, Texas, Realtors Consider Home Buying Needs of Minorities.
July 24, 2000... Byline: Michelle Breyer Jul. 24--Dawna Cekuta has seen all kinds of deal breakers during her 17 years as a real estate broker. But last week, she admits, was a first. One of her home listings was under contract to an Asian...

Corporate Boards of Directors Remain Generally Silent, Faceless.
July 24, 2000... Byline: John Pletz Jul. 24--Thirteen years ago, Bob Inman was asked to join the board of directors of a small Austin technology startup. The retired Navy admiral already served on several boards and had plenty of other young...

Reston, Va.-Based Online Health Firm Offers to Buy Austin, Texas Dot-Com.
July 24, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park Jul. 24--A little-known Virginia Internet company teased investors with a public offer to buy drkoop.com Friday, but the troubled Austin company dismissed it as only barely serious. MillenniumHealth Communications...

Dell Computer Investors Get Glimpse of the Future.
July 21, 2000... Byline: John Pletz Jul. 21--Michael Dell isn't bashful about getting involved in Washington politics where technology policies are concerned, but he prefers the role of confidant, not candidate. Dell, an adviser to and fund-raiser...

Austin, Texas, Chip Development Center Is Part of Lucent Spinoff.
July 21, 2000... Jul. 21--Lucent Technologies Inc., the big maker of communications equipment, said Thursday it will spin off its $4 billion microelectronics business, which includes a promising chip development center in Austin formerly known as Agere Inc....

Earnings of Austin, Texas-Based Software Maker Hurt by Tango Product.
July 21, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks Jul. 21--Closing the book on a financially dismal year, Pervasive Software Inc. said Thursday it lost more than $23 million, or $1.49 a share, in the final chapter of fiscal 2000. Pervasive's announcement comes...

Two Austin, Texas-Associated Tech Firms Post Strong Second Quarter Earnings.
July 20, 2000... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Jul. 20--Two chip companies with strong Austin ties, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Cirrus Logic Inc., had reason to be pleased with quarterly earnings Wednesday. AMD, which has struggled financially for much...

Dell Computer's Devoted Followers Gather in Austin, Texas, for Annual Meeting.
July 19, 2000... Byline: John Pletz Jul. 19--It's mid-July, the Dellheads have begun arriving at area hotels, and the reservations have been made at Sullivan's Steak House. So it must be time for Dell Computer Corp.'s annual meeting. This year's...

Intel to Postpone Formal Release of New Processor for Three Months.
July 19, 2000... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Jul. 19--Intel Corp. is delaying the formal introduction of its much-anticipated Itanium processor by three months so it can complete exhaustive testing on the chip, which will power high-end server computers. ...

Analyst Chides Dell Computer on Last Year's Data Storage Firm Acquisition.
July 18, 2000... Byline: John Pletz Jul. 18--Even before Dell Computer Corp. can test the waters with a storage product it bought last fall in its first acquisition, a high-profile industry analyst has pronounced the effort dead on arrival. Dell paid...

Austin, Texas-Based Internet Firm Reports More Staff, Money Losses.
July 18, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park Jul. 18--The prognosis just keeps getting more dire for drkoop.com. With investors and employees waiting on the Austin Internet company to find a source of much-needed capital -- or better yet, a buyer -- more bad...

Investor Sues Founder of Texas Dot-Com for Using Funds for Personal Purchases.
July 18, 2000... Byline: Bruce Hight Jul. 18--The investor says it's a case of an ex-con keeping quiet about his past and spending the dot-com's funds on girlfriends, luxury cars, an airplane and personal travel. The dot-com founder acknowledges...

Residents Seek Urban-Style Second-Floor Lofts in Rural Texas.
July 17, 2000... Byline: Sheryll Poe Jul. 17--The sounds of the street drift in through industrial-size windows into a spacious room with gleaming hardwood floors and 14-foot-high ceilings. One-of-a-kind modern art hangs on exposed brick walls....

Austin, Texas-Based Companies Endure Lower Annual Revenues.
July 17, 2000... Byline: Amy Schatz Jul. 17--Two Austin tech companies that start with the letter "D" dominated business news coverage last year. But the similarities stop there. Dell Computer Corp. ended fiscal 1999 by posting net income of $1.7...

Austin, Texas Companies Pioneer Telecommunications Convergence Services.
July 17, 2000... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Jul. 17--Late last summer, Metta Laird of McDuff, Scotland, took delivery of a package from Austin. Inside was an electronics-filled box that fit snugly on top of her television set. Within a few days, a...

Austin, Texas-Based Motive Communications Moves Forward for IPO.
July 14, 2000... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Jul. 14--Motive Communications Inc. ended months of speculation Thursday when it registered its intention to go public with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 3-year-old Austin company said it hopes to...

Texas-Based Pervasive Software Dumps Web Development Tool, Lays Off 100.
July 14, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks Jul. 14--Pervasive Software Inc. has spent the past nine months grappling with million-dollar losses, a sinking stock price and a stagnant product. On Thursday, the Austin company admitted defeat. In an...

Office Space Crunch Grips Austin, Texas.
July 14, 2000... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Jul. 14--HotData Inc. moved into One Commodore Plaza in April 1998, paying $15 a square foot for its office space. Less than two years later, the rent in the downtown building had jumped to more than $23 a...

Austin, Texas-Based Online Business Information Database to Buy Maryland Firm.
July 13, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks Jul. 13--Almost one year after celebrating its initial public offering, Hoover's Inc. is making its first purchase. Hoover's, the online database of business information, said Wednesday it will buy...

Motorola's Second Quarter Figures Reflect Continued Recovery from Slump.
July 13, 2000... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Jul. 13--Motorola Inc. delivered solid second-quarter sales and earnings growth Wednesday, reporting record sales of $9.26 billion, up 22 percent, and record earnings before special items. The Schaumburg,...

Soaring Sales Are a Reason to Celebrate at Semiconductor Trade Conference.
July 12, 2000... Byline: Bob Keefe Jul. 12--SAN FRANCISCO--Call it revenge of the wrench-turners. Two years ago at the Semicon West trade conference here, talk among attendees was about how lousy it was for them and how ridiculously good it was for...

Corporate World's Elite to Gather in Austin, Texas, for Fortune 500 Forum.
July 11, 2000... Byline: Amy Schatz Jul. 11--If you thought traffic was bad downtown, just wait until this fall, when the limousines arrive. In October, the corporate world's elite will descend upon Austin for the 10th annual Fortune 500 Forum, the...

Two Austin, Texas, Firms Set Up Partnership to Let Fliers Own Part of Jets.
July 11, 2000... Byline: Nushin Huq Jul. 11--Imagine soaring through Austin skies while relaxing in a leather seat, channel-surfing through cable stations and munching on anything from caviar to cookies. Then take do a $2 million double-take. That's...

Computer Owners Can Help Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
July 10, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park Jul. 10--Let's face it. Most of us own far more computer than we need, and even the heaviest power users don't keep their PCs at work 24 hours a day. So what if that unused time and power on our PCs could be...

Austin, Texas, Company Succeeds with Sales of Fiber-Optic Products.
July 10, 2000... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Jul. 10--SILICON LABORATORIES INC. What: Designs and sells "mixed-signal" chips for communications-related products. Founded: 1996 Address: 4635 Boston Lane, Austin, 78735 Employees: More than 150...

San Francisco-Based Company Helps Firms Analyze Web Site Visitor Behavior.
July 10, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks Jul. 10--For a chief executive, Brett Hurt doesn't have much to brag about in terms of his office -- it's messy and almost barren, except for a few half-opened boxes, two desks and a sheaf of papers near Hurt's...

Austin, Texas-Based Firm Increases Price of Internet-Access Device.
July 7, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks Jul. 7--After more than six months of selling its i-opener well below cost, Austin's Netpliance Inc. has quietly increased the price of the Internet-access device, in part to inch the company toward profitability....

Gateway Suspends Shipping Fast Personal Computers after Glitch Found.
July 6, 2000... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf Jul. 6--Faster processor chips are pushing the pace of change in the personal-computer industry and putting pressure on makers of other PC components to keep up, as Gateway Inc. just found out. San Diego-based...

Teens Tap into Austin, Texas, Job Market.
July 6, 2000... Byline: Nushin Huq Jul. 6--He's just 16 years old, but Shoab Makani has already worked at five different stores, including a beauty salon and Dollar Tree. This summer he is spending 36 hours a week selling modems and memory chips at...

Austin, Texas-Based Power-Storage Equipment Firm Proceeds with IPO Plan.
July 4, 2000... Byline: Jerry Mahoney Jul. 4--Active Power Inc., an Austin-based company that makes environmentally friendly power-storage equipment, priced its stock at $11 to $13 a share Monday, signaling its plans to proceed with its initial public...

Round Rock, Texas, to See Increase in Retail Competition as More Stores Open.
July 4, 2000... Byline: Janet Jacobs Jul. 4--ROUND ROCK, Texas--If competition is healthy, then Round Rock will be positively glowing. With the opening of La Frontera shopping center at Interstate 35 and FM 1325, these existing and new stores will...

Austin, Texas-Area HMOs to Drop Medicare.
July 3, 2000... Byline: Mary Ann Roser Jul. 3--Nearly 7,000 Austin-area seniors and disabled people will have to switch to another, potentially costlier health plan by Jan. 1 because their HMOs are pulling out of Medicare. Medicare, the government...

Couple Lives in San Marcos, Texas, Commutes to Jobs in Different Cities.
July 3, 2000... Byline: Sheryll Poe Jul. 3--It's 7 a.m. Patricia and Jeffrey Anderson are finishing their coffee. They give each other a kiss, get into separate cars and join other daily commuters leaving San Marcos for the dot-com worlds of Austin and...

Former Austin, Texas-Area Internet Entrepreneurs Give Tips on Starting Firms.
July 3, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park Jul. 3--Forget drkoop.com, garden.com and all the other high-profile dot-coms that went public last year only to see their market value eviscerated by investors over the past three months. Scores of other Internet...

Austin American-Statesman, Texas, Real Estate Column.
July 3, 2000... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer Jul. 3--You've heard of road rage. Meet real estate rage. Soaring housing prices, a slim supply and bidding wars have created a legion of angry, frustrated home buyers from coast to coast, according to an...