Bob Liu

Sun Microsystems Inc. Wednesday unveiled its long-awaited line of midrange servers, which carries forward the Sun Fire brand, in what the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has been touting for the last month as one of the largest technology unveilings in its history. Although the so-called “midframe” line is intended to complement its top-end line of […]

Palm Inc. on Monday will unveil two new handheld products that will incorporate secure digital modular capabilities similar to the flagship technology used by its closest competitor, Handspring Inc. By Sunday afternoon, Palm already posted some of the product specifications on its Web site. “An innovative expansion slot makes it simple to increase memory, back […]

LOS ANGELES — Microsoft’s vision of dishing up its software as a Web-based service moved closer to reality through two major advancements that were highlighted at this week’s Internet World Spring conference in Los Angeles: .NET development tools and its Web-based services deployment system, Applcation Center 2000. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant’s cross-licensing agreement with […]

LOS ANGELES — Serving up just what a down-in-the-dumps crowd at Internet World needed to hear, Meg Whitman, CEO of San Jose, Calif.-based auction giant eBay gave a bullish forecast for the Internet in general and her company specifically in her conference-opening keynote address. “Obviously we don’t think the Internet is dead,” says Whitman. “It’s […]

NEW YORK — Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday announced it will form a new company with Wenner Media, owners of Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal, to tap into the content of US Weekly for its various entertainment Web sites such as Mr. ShowBiz and SoapNet . As part of the deal, Disney will acquire a […]

E*TRADE — the pioneer company that helped propel the financial services field into the future five years ago when it launched its Internet trading service — is redefining itself to become the E*TRADE of tomorrow. But those who follow developments in online financial services think that vision is increasingly resembling traditional banks of today. Since […]

E*TRADE Group, Inc., on Thursday announced it has joined the New York Stock Exchange and, going forward, will trade under its new symbol. Since its initial public offering on August 16, 1996, E*TRADE Group, Inc. had been listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under its original ticker “This move provides E*TRADE the opportunity to widen […]

American Greetings Corp. on Monday announced it will acquire the remaining 80 percent of Egreetings Network, Inc. that it doesn’t already own and will take a charge of about $33 million on its initial investment. American Greetings of Cleveland, Ohio, acquired the original 20 percent as part of its Gibson Greetings purchase in March 2000 […]

Gartner Group Inc. on Tuesday announced it has struck a strategic alliance to provide its clients with online audience measurement services from Nielsen/NetRatings, positioning the Stamford, Conn.-based research firm in direct competition with industry leader Jupiter Media Metrix. Gartner officials explained the alliance was fueled by their clients’ needs of greater uniformity in measuring site […]

AOL Time Warner on Thursday announced it will buy back up to $5 billion of its stock in the open market starting in February and running over the next two years. The move comes as AOL’s stock continues to languish below its all-time highs reached prior to the January 2000 announcement of the mega-merger between […]

Despite the fact that 2000 was a year of devastating defeat for many pure-play e-tailers and caution for the investment community, consumers around the world continue to be very satisfied with the online retailing channel, according to a new report, Global Online Retailing, released Monday by the leading professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP. […]

MobShop Inc., the San Francisco-based buyer aggregation e-commerce site, discontinued its consumer service over the weekend, a company official confirmed on Monday. The decision to abandon the consumer business is consistent with statements made earlier this month following the retrenchment of MobShop’s one-time competitor, Mercata Inc. Since April, MobShop has been shifting away from direct-to-consumer […]