Electronic Business articles from May 2000

Electronic Business archives from May 2000

The destructive force of venture capital.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Putting up money to fuel the development of new products and services, venture capitalists have long been applauded for their contributions to the advancement of high-tech markets. Yet today it's hard to know if they're helping to create real...

Letters.(Company Business and Marketing)
May 1, 2000... MORE THAN E-NOUGH The more things change, the more they stay the same. Your cries of E-nough [Commentary "E-nough already!" March 2000, page 10] are reminiscent of Electronic Business staffers of years past who rightfully [complained]...

Changing the storage paradigm.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Last month, I discussed the tradeoffs between disk and flash memory in computing devices and argued that the industry needs low-cost hard disks. Now I turn to the larger issue: Should the storage be in the client device or "in the cloud"--that...

Economic growth, shipment growth, price deflation.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... With the release of the final estimate of fourth-quarter 1999 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it became clear that we entered 2000 with even more economic momentum--and potential for inflation--than had been previously estimated. The...

Internet patent defenses.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Patents used to be boring. Today, patents on Internet business models and technology have risen in some circles to the status of Internet Public Enemy No 1. In reality, the bark of many of these inventions is far bigger than their bite. ...

Dangerous liaisons?(venture capital)(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Corporate VC investments eyed With the amount of corporate dollars invested in venture-backed companies expected to double this year, both market analysts and venture-capital research firms are keeping a close eye on this...

Investing on the Continent.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Venture capital firms seek opportunities in Europe Rock 'n' roll was born in America, but saw a European invasion back in the '60s. Now high-tech venture capital firms, who've been going strong for some time in the United States, are...

Summer highs are in the forecast.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... This month's polling of purchasing managers shows many believe that overall business conditions will improve as we head into summer. More than a third state that overall business conditions will improve and capacity utilization will increase....

Trade secrets.(Company Business and Marketing)
May 1, 2000... Indictment targets Applied competitor McDowell and Co. Twice accused of engaging in unfair business practices itself, Santa Clara, CA-based semiconductor equipment powerhouse Applied Materials Inc. is claiming to be the injured party in a...

Domain tsunami.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... It's a Web-savvy world There's a tidal wave of e-commerce coming from across the sea. That's the prediction of Douglas L. Wolford, general manager of registrar and value-added services at Network Solutions Inc., Herndon, VA, the...

Microsoft goes gaming.(Product Development)
May 1, 2000... X-Box console promises lifelike 3D images What can you do with a trillion operations per second? That's what game developers are going to think about for the next 18 months as they make software for Microsoft Corp.'s X-Box game console....

Good news for DTV.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... DTV sales start to ramp, as networks offer programming Sales of digital television sets (DTVs) got a shot in the arm late last year, a boost that carried through into 2000. U.S. factory sales of DTVs topped 20,000 units for the first...

Mobile data.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Data, not voice, is expected to shape the future of GSM Cell phone chats are about to become passe. Over the next several years, the key driver--and money maker--in the global systems for mobile communications (GSM) telecom market will...

Thwarting hackers.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Protection systems--and corporate cooperation--are key A new cyber threat is emerging even as business become more and more dependent on their corporate networks. Recent attacks have denied access to such online services as Yahoo.com and...

Speed sells.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... New study looks at why users are turning to broadband Internet connections We've all been there. You're online jumping from link to link then you click on a high-resolution image and essentially hit a large speed bump in cyberspace. Your...

Streaming [ldots] into the mainstream?(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... When will streaming video be a viable part of the Web or cable services? That jerky, postage-sized window of streaming video so far has been more of an annoyance to many Web surfers than a helpful or entertaining feature. But market...

Temporary insanity.(Company Operations)
May 1, 2000... Employers must toe the line in classifying workers Recent court decisions leave little doubt that employers must be more diligent in classifying temporary workers and drafting benefit and employee stock purchase plans. The problems are...

Telecommute tax credit.(Government Activity)
May 1, 2000... House bill offers tax incentives to employers that allow workers to telecommute U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) would like to see more Americans telecommuting, especially in his traffic-clogged district in metropolitan Washington, DC. So he...

COFDM: Its time has come.(Government Activity)
May 1, 2000... In February, the Federal Communications Commission dismissed the most widely-endorsed television petition in history--a petition by Sinclair Broadcast Group to allow broadcasters the voluntary use of coded orthogonal frequency division...

THE CHIP-FRIENDLY VCS.(Company Business and Marketing)
May 1, 2000... In an era of quick flips, David Marquardt's August Capital still wants to BUILD electronics companies THE FOUNDERS OF GENOA CORP., FREMONT, CA, weren't having much luck finding venture capital (VC) backers two years ago. Sol DiJaili and...

A tale of two MOBILE TELEPHONE MAKERS.(Company Business and Marketing)
May 1, 2000... Nokia and Ericsson: The sexy hipster vs. the button-down engineer If Nokia Corp. were a person, it would be young, sexy, sophisticated, hip and generally "with it." Ask analysts to personify Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson-even its name is...

KEEPING SECRETS.(Government Activity)
May 1, 2000... The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 was supposed to curtail the theft of trade secrets, but concerns linger about its effectiveness, and unintended side effects In 1989, when officials of Taiwan's Four Pillars Enterprise Co. Ltd. began...

N@ME RECOGNITION.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... More and more high-tech companies are turning to B2B branding to stand out from the herd Hewlett-Packard Co. is a well-recognized company name in the electronics industry, yet when Carly Fiorina was named CEO of Palo Alto, CA-based HP in...

BEAT THE CLOCK.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Move chips and modules faster, or risk customers changing their minds and prices dropping another buck AS TOSHIBA'S TOP MAN IN THE UNITED STATES for DRAM logistics, Ted Franceschi can hardly restrain his enthusiasm. "This will truly turn...

Computer storage history.(Industry Trend or Event)
May 1, 2000... Lesson one: Bet on the technology that's evolving the fastest Following the herd can mean joining a stampede off a cliff. Some might say companies investing in optical storage charged ahead, without looking right or left, and ended up...

Hey, technology--get a life!(The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid)(Review)
May 1, 2000... Examining the chasm between data and humanity THE SOCIAL LIFE OF INFORMATION By John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid Harvard Business School Press March 20, 2000 The authors of this book try to pinpoint a problem with the...

Chasing the Internet dream: A personal account.(The Leap:A Memoir of Love and Madness in the Internet Gold Rush by Tom Ashbrook)(Review)
May 1, 2000... THE LEAP: A MEMOIR OF LOVE AND MADNESS IN THE INTERNET GOLD RUSH By Tom Ashbrook Houghton Mifflin May 12, 2000 $26.00, 295 pages Leaving a top editorial position at an established newspaper, particularly when you have a...

The virtual swap meet.(Internet/Web/Online Service Information)
May 1, 2000... Don't try to sort out the results of the torrent of businesses hurtling toward the business-to-business side of e-commerce. Nobody knows yet what will work and what won't in these new information exchanges. The big three auto makers--Ford Motor...