"We're pleased to announce a major upgrade to the hometown site of the tech industry," said Oliver Ryan, general manager of SiliconValley.com. "Since our launch in 1999, we've had our hands full just keeping up with the industry news. It was high time to get under the hood and tune things up, and I'm confident we've made some very significant improvements."

Dan Finnigan, president of KnightRidder.com explained, "The business of technology is central to the global economy, and SiliconValley.com is one of our most successful and exciting products. The site has a loyal following of savvy Web users both in Silicon Valley and in other tech regions around the world. I'm pleased that this redesign puts us on top in the online tech news category with regard to both editorial content and advertising."

About SiliconValley.com

Recognized nationally for its online coverage of the tech economy, SiliconValley.com is one of the most highly visited specialty sites in KnightRidder.com's Real Cities network, with loyal visitors both in the United States and overseas. The site has won a number of industry awards since its launch in February 1999, including the LISA 2000 from the Kelsey Group for "Best Business Information/E-Commerce Site" and the Edgie Award 2000 from the Newspaper Association of America for best Vertical Site.

Produced by an independent staff working closely with former newspaper parent the San Jose Mercury News, SiliconValley.com is the online home for the extensive bullpen of Mercury News business writers and columnists, including nationally known columnist Dan Gillmor. The site also features interactive database supplements to a range of original research published regularly by the newspaper.

Beyond its relationship with the Mercury News, SiliconValley.com delivers up-to-the-minute breaking industry news seven days a week and hosts a variety of other industry-specific resources. "Good Morning Silicon Valley," the irreverent daily round-up of top tech stories written by senior editor John Paczkowski, is an essential daily ingredient of industry veterans' news diet.

New Sections and Search

In the new design, SiliconValley.com has added dedicated sections for industry research, financial markets and venture capital, news from other technology regions, local news and culture, personal technology, and finally a new Career Channel. To ease navigation, the visual design has been reworked, and a powerful new search function has been added via KnightRidder.com's longstanding relationship with Inktomi.

New Forums and Web Logs

SiliconValley.com has also partnered with CoolBoard, a provider of collaboration and knowledge sharing solutions, to offer fully integrated, state-of-the-art message boards.

"We really respect what Slashdot and other sites have been able to do by thinking of message boards not as a feature off to the side, but rather as a central element of their editorial content and publishing process. We are committed to engaging our readers and to allowing them to contribute to the site and to each other. Having looked at a lot of other solutions, we are very pleased to go with the message board software from CoolBoard," said Ryan. "The combination of administrative power and ease of use in their platform is tremendous, and we are very excited about the implications of their thread syndication technology."

"SiliconValley.com is taking advantage of CoolBoard's ability to combine interactive tools with Web site content to create an environment that encourages user participation," said Ted West, CEO of CoolBoard. "By tying these interactive features to current content, SiliconValley.com will generate richer online discussions, which lead to a more loyal user base."

In addition to new forums, SiliconValley.com will be expanding its commitment to Web logging. Pioneered by Dan Gillmor with his eJournal, Web logs are daily Web-based diaries that feature frequently updated, short postings. To support this new and increasingly popular form of journalism, the site will be deploying a java-based publishing system called CoFax which was developed in-house by KnightRidder.com and allows columnists to post messages to the site in real time via a Web browser from any Internet connection.

Career channel

This version of SiliconValley.com marks the launch of the long-awaited SiliconValley.com Career Channel which will give readers an inside source for tech industry employment news and job listings. Developed in partnership with CareerBuilder, operator of the nation's largest job listings network, the Career Channel will match business and engineering professionals interested in high tech careers with the fast growth, innovative employers that are driving the new economy.

In addition to breaking news, job candidates will find interviews with fast-track industry executives, a survey of industry salary levels, and, of course, the ability to search an exclusive list of technology jobs both in Silicon Valley and around the country. For employers, the channel will offer premium advertising opportunities and powerful tools for posting jobs as well as for searching and screening candidate resumes.

Latest Internet Advertising Formats

The redesigned SiliconValley.com also introduces larger ad sizes to meet new industry standards and advertiser demands. The site's new high-value advertising opportunities include super size "tower ads" measuring 120x400 and 140x800 pixels. Ryan added: "When we set out to redesign the site, we said SiliconValley.com should have the best editorial content and the best advertising inventory on the Web. We considered a lot of possibilities, and I believe we have come up with ad avails that are large enough to be interesting to readers and yet also smartly positioned such that they don't conflict with the editorial content. We're very happy with the end result, and we've already seen positive acceptance from both our readers and our advertising clients."

About KnightRidder.com

KnightRidder.com, a leader in local information and services on the Web, is founder of the Real Cities network and is the parent of SiliconValley.com. Creating Web sites that reach people where they live, KnightRidder.com specializes in comprehensive online local and regional city sites as well as a series of specialty Web sites. Examples of national and international sites serving targeted communities of interest include; SiliconValley.com; ThatsRacin.com, and Auto.com among others. Real Cities sites offer local information in a variety of categories including breaking news, business, travel, health, sports, traffic updates, shopping, classifieds, entertainment, community publishing and live interviews and commentary. Through a partnership with Palm Computing, wireless users have access to Real Cities' local information. Among Real Cities' member Web sites are BayArea.com, Cincinow.com, DFW.com, Indy.com, KansasCity.com, Kentucky.com, Miami.com, Philly.com, PittsburghFirst.com, PhoenixAZ.com, Charlotte.com, TwinCities.com and NorthJersey.com. KnightRidder.com, the Internet subsidiary of Knight Ridder (NYSE:KRI), develops and manages its Internet properties and is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. SiliconValley.com's operation is also based in San Jose, Calif.

Press Contacts:

Cynthia Mallen Funnell, KnightRidder.com. 408-938-6076, cfunnell@knightridder.com.

Bill Maxfield, PRx, Inc. for KnightRidder.com, 408-350-0796, bill_maxfield@prxinc.com.