Don't blame losses on fraud, says head of stock exchange
Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, told corporate leaders and elected officials in San Francisco on Friday that investors' stock-market losses have more to do with bad business ideas than fraud. Yet, the public is judging the financial system ``by its weakest links.''
( By Mary Anne Ostrom, Mercury News, 11/02/2002 03:01 AM PST)

Microsoft: The valley reacts
After more than four years of legal wrangling, the Microsoft case may have mercifully come to a final conclusion Friday. Yet, with the latest ruling comes a nagging sense that Microsoft and its opponents have been fighting yesterday's battles.
( By Chris O'Brien, Mercury News, 11/02/2002 05:56 AM PST)

Information-technology services feel squeeze as software makers move in
Big information-technology consultants are finding themselves in a double squeeze. With the IT sector in a slump after the boom of the late 1990s, there's less business out there. At the same time, leading business software companies like Oracle Corp. and SAP AG are offsetting weak software sales by boosting their own consulting services.
( 11/01/2002 01:59 PM PST)

Hacker reveals secrets of success
In his mid-1990s flight from the law, über-hacker Kevin D. Mitnick was accused of donning new names, disguises and addresses, all the while continuing a ''hacking spree'' to steal from top-flight computer, Internet and telephone systems.
( By Peggy Rogers, Miami Herald, 11/01/2002 12:01 PM PST)

E-commerce company offers literature for the ears
On the surface, it looks like a rare recipe for e-commerce success. Audible Inc., an Internet graybeard at age 7, sells books you cannot read. Thousands of them.
( 11/01/2002 11:04 AM PST)

Decision in Microsoft case should affect computer users -- but not for a while
A federal judge's long-awaited decision Friday in the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case could give new choices to computer users -- or plunge the giant software maker into a lengthy period of creative hibernation.
( 11/01/2002 09:09 AM PST)

Microsoft makes renewed push into video editing
Microsoft Corp. will add a video-editing feature to its Windows XP operating system with a new program that automates and simplifies home movie making, the world's largest software maker said Friday.
( 11/01/2002 02:34 AM PST)

Law enforcement officials pledge to keep secret names of hacking victims
Senior law enforcement officials assured technology executives Thursday that government will increasingly work to keep secret the names of companies that become victims to major hacking crimes, along with any sensitive corporate disclosures that could prove embarrassing.
( 10/31/2002 06:32 PM PST)

Music business pushing security-laden super audio discs
Two new digital audio disc formats touted by the music industry for their stellar sound are nowhere near as consumer-friendly as regular old CDs:
( RON HARRIS, Associated Press Writer, 10/31/2002 03:35 PM PST)

Judge to issue Microsoft rulings
The federal judge overseeing the Microsoft Corp. antitrust trial will deliver her long-awaited rulings in the case on Friday after financial markets close, deciding whether to approve a controversial settlement between the software maker and the Justice Department.
( TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer, 10/31/2002 02:47 PM PST)

Candidates turn to Net to mobilize supporters
Supporters of Elizabeth Dole's Senate bid in North Carolina can join an ``e-leader'' program. In return for 25 e-mail addresses of friends and relatives, they get an official certificate signed by the Republican candidate.
( 10/31/2002 01:28 PM PST)

ICANN drops directly elected board seats
The group that oversees Internet addresses finalized changes Thursday that end direct elections to its board of directors -- a move critics complain could make the group indifferent to ordinary users and hurt innovation.
( 10/31/2002 11:36 AM PST)

Fastest wireless Internet service? In Duluth
The guest list for the launch of a new wireless data service in Duluth on Tuesday read like a veritable "who's who" in the industry.
( BY PETER PASSI, Duluth News Tribune, 10/31/2002 11:08 AM PST)

Lucent faces SEC action over accounting
Federal securities regulators are considering filing civil charges against telecommunications gear maker Lucent Technologies Inc. over certain sales accounting practices, USA Today reported Thursday.
( 10/31/2002 06:11 AM PST)

Wireless network industry eyes tighter security
Short-range wireless computer networks whose endemic vulnerabilities to hackers have become an industry joke will receive a much needed security boost from new standards to be detailed by a trade group Thursday.
( 10/31/2002 02:26 AM PST)

Morale sinking among survivors of slump
The relentless layoffs at Silicon Valley companies are taking their toll even on those who haven't lost their jobs. Employees' friends and colleagues are gone, but often their work is not. Although the layoff survivors are grateful to be employed, even if they are working harder, many report dwindling enthusiasm for their jobs. Morale at many Silicon Valley tech companies varies -- depending on the company, the department and even the individual -- from mild tension to full-blown dread.
( By Margaret Steen, Mercury News, 10/31/2002 02:21 AM PST)

Dell puts enmity aside by selling Apple's iPod
Dude, you're getting an iPod? While many Dell Computer competitors are pulling products from Dell's online store, Apple Computer is going the other way. Beginning Wednesday, Dell began selling the three Windows-compatible versions of Apple's iPod digital music player through the Dell store, online and over the phone.
( By Jon Fortt, Mercury News, 10/31/2002 01:15 AM PST)

Outlook is bright for many e-tailers
The online retail industry has been under a cloud in recent years, with scores of businesses folding as stubborn customers failed to embrace what was to have been the sales channel of the future.
( 10/30/2002 08:22 PM PST)

Pact signed on free electronic filing of U.S. taxes
The Internal Revenue Service and a nonprofit consortium Wednesday signed an agreement intended to allow tens of millions of U.S. taxpayers to file their tax returns electronically for free.
( 10/30/2002 08:19 PM PST)

IBM to invest $10 billion in `on demand' computing
In IBM's vision of the future, computer data centers will be like the human body -- automatically adapting to changing environmental conditions, shifting resources to areas of urgent need and healing itself when damaged, all without conscious effort.
( By Dean Takahashi, Mercury News, 10/30/2002 08:17 PM PST)

Amazon set to open an apparel store
The king of online sales of books, DVDs and many other items now wants to be the place to shop for new jeans and sweaters. Amazon.com is expected to launch an apparel store as early as this week, in partnership with more than a dozen companies, including Eddie Bauer, Nordstrom, Gap and Old Navy, according to a source familiar with the venture.
( 10/30/2002 08:05 PM PST)

U.S. e-government plan aims to cut software clutter
The U.S. government is cleaning house on the technology front much in the same way large businesses are, said Norman Lorentz, who is helping spearhead President George W. Bush's e-government initiative.
( 10/30/2002 08:04 PM PST)

Next Microsoft Office version to run only on newer operating systems
Microsoft Corp.'s next version of its Office business suite will run only on the two latest editions of the Windows operating systems, the company said.
( 10/30/2002 07:58 PM PST)

FCC chairman proposes overhaul of policy on airwaves
Radio airwaves increasingly crowded by signals from wireless computers, cell phones and digital broadcasts still have much untapped potential, the nation's top communications regulator said Wednesday.
( 10/30/2002 07:30 PM PST)

Intel gets 30 days to appeal patent infringement ruling
A U.S. District Court judge Wednesday ruled that Intel Corp. could not manufacture and sell its most powerful microprocessor, but then suspended his order immediately so the world's largest chipmaker could appeal the decision within 30 days.
( 10/30/2002 07:29 PM PST)

Ex-Critical Path exec pleads guilty to fraud
A former vice president of sales at Critical Path has pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading, becoming the fourth ex-company executive to take a guilty plea related to stock fraud, U.S. prosecutors said on Wednesday.
( 10/30/2002 07:27 PM PST)

EBay outlines ambitious growth goals
Sticking to their ambitious growth goals, eBay executives on Wednesday laid out a strategy based on strong international growth, the building of new product categories and pricing formats and aggressive marketing of PayPal, the recently purchased online payments company.
( By Mary Anne Ostrom, Mercury News, 10/30/2002 07:07 PM PST)

IBM launches new computing strategy
In his first major public initiative as chief executive, Samuel Palmisano on Wednesday introduced a new strategy for International Business Machines Corp. that stresses a vision of selling computing as a utility-like service.
( PETER SVENSSON, AP Business Writer, 10/30/2002 02:59 PM PST)

T-Mobile partners with airlines in Internet deal
T-Mobile USA Inc., the 6th-largest U.S. wireless telephone company, Wednesday said it has hooked up with the three biggest U.S. airlines to offer high-speed, wireless Internet access in their clubs and lounges across the country.
( 10/30/2002 11:56 AM PST)

Fight shaping up for U.S. walkie talkie service
Top U.S. mobile phone companies are spoiling for a fight to win customers in the market for walkie-talkie services, but analysts say the upstarts face an uphill battle against leader Nextel Communications .
( 10/30/2002 09:28 AM PST)

Corning posts loss, cuts 2,200 jobs
Corning Inc. , the world's biggest maker of fiber-optic cable, Wednesday posted a third-quarter loss, forecast weaker-than-expected results in the fourth quarter and said it would cut another 2,200 jobs amid the spending slump in the telecom sector.
( 10/30/2002 05:27 AM PST)

Qwest reports larger third quarter loss
Qwest Communications Inc. on Wednesday announced its loss widened to $214 million in the third quarter as its revenue fell 13.2 percent from a year ago.
( 10/30/2002 05:26 AM PST)

Taiwan UMC meets Q3 estimates, sees weak Q4
United Microelectronics Corp, the world No. 2 contract chipmaker, posted a third quarter profit on Wednesday that reversed last year's loss and met forecasts, but warned business would worsen in the rest of the year as demand slows.
( 10/30/2002 03:19 AM PST)

Activist's archive preserves a vision of California's coast
Some people go to the beach and come back with a snapshot. Ken Adelman has come back with 7,000 of them. And he isn't finished yet. In an unprecedented marriage of high technology and environmental activism, Adelman has taken 7,000 aerial photographs of the California coastline -- one roughly every 500 feet -- and posted them on a Web site.
( By Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 10/30/2002 12:57 AM PST)

Researchers transmit sense of touch, feel fine
The world got a little smaller Tuesday after scientists reached around the globe via the Internet and touched. Or rather, the scientists -- in London, Boston and Los Angeles -- picked up a virtual cube on a computer screen at the same time and pushed it around. The scientists, holding robotic arms, could feel the force being exerted by the others as well as the texture of the cube.
( By Chris O'Brien, Mercury News, 10/30/2002 12:30 AM PST)

NASA commissions book to prove moon landing really happened
WASHINGTON - More than 33 years after the United States landed men on the moon, NASA is spending more than $15,000 to convince people that it really did happen and that the space agency didn't make it all up.
( By Seth Borenstein, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 10/29/2002 09:14 PM PST)

`Time machine' ad teases to IBM campaign
Big Blue pulled a big bluff Tuesday with an infomercial-style newspaper ad hawking a ``Business Time Machine'' that takes business ``in a whole NEW direction: BACKWARDS.''
( By Jennifer Files, Mercury News, 10/29/2002 09:09 PM PST)

Just in time for gift-giving: An Internet fridge that checks e-mail
In the Internet boom years, no tech guru's vision was complete without a world in which we all owned a Web-connected refigerator that would automatically order fresh milk when the old carton was nearly empty.
( 10/29/2002 06:50 PM PST)

$100 million project will map genetic variations, targeting diseases
Looking for a quicker way to identify genes that cause disease, researchers are beginning a $100 million effort to identify blocks of DNA that contain common variations in the human genetic structure, officials announced Tuesday.
( 10/29/2002 06:44 PM PST)