Stories about: Vulcan Ventures

Women's cable-and-online network Oxygen Media is handing out pink slips Thursday to 35 employees in its online division, including the head of online operations and the head of flagship site Oxygen.com.

On the one hand, technology companies can get some pretty good exposure at Comdex.

SAN FRANCISCO (09/28/2000) - Microsoft Corp. announced Thursday that Paul Allen -- cofounder of the software giant -- will not seek re-election to the company's board of directors but will instead take on a new role as senior strategy adviser to top executives at Microsoft.

Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft and rode its success to become one of the world's richest men, is leaving the software giant's board of directors.

No one denies or even bothers to challenge the notion that mobile computing will continue to expand apace -- especially if they were among the attendees at last week's Demo Mobile 2000 conference here. For example, Frank Spindler, vice president of marketing at Intel Corp., said 80 percent of the semiconductor maker's workforce already have or will soon be getting laptops as their sole computing device.

Pop.com, one of the most hyped entertainment dot-coms, may have finally found a way to success. As Wednesday drew to a close, word leaked out that Pop.com was on the market, and that IFilm Corp. was the likely buyer.

For better or for worse, Value America Inc. always was a pioneer. Born in Nevada in 1996, the company was one of the first to spot the promise of the Internet to streamline retail delivery.

The old economy proved it's still got some kick Tuesday as the Dow rose 1.01 percent, or 109.88, to close at 10976.89. The increase is broadly the result of stronger-than-predicted second-quarter productivity in the U.S. economy. Analysts had expected a 4.3 percent annual rate and were pleasantly surprised with the actual 5.3 percent result. This news also bodes well for interest-rate watchers, as Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan is unlikely to raise rates now that inflation worries are placated by strong productivity.

NEW YORK (07/24/2000) - RioPort.com Inc. Monday unveiled enhancements to its Media Device Manager (MDM) family of software and services, a series of contract wins with portable music appliance makers and Internet retailers, and a US$35.1 million, second round of financing. The announcements were timed to coincide with the opening of the Plug.In Internet music conference put on by market research firm Jupiter Communications Inc. here, and are meant to underscore the company's renewed push to position itself as the premier middleman for digital music distribution.

Elizabeth Fetter, named NorthPoint Communications Group Inc.'s CEO earlier this year, knows what she's up against in battling the established phone companies in the broadband access market. After all, she has worked at US West Inc., Pacific Bell Corp. and SBC Communications Inc. She recently spoke with News Editor Bob Brown about the competitive environment and NorthPoint's game plan.

Chip startup Transmeta Corp. today announced it has added some powerful investors, with the closing of a round of financing valued at US$88 million. America Online Inc. (AOL), Compaq Computer Corp., Gateway 2000 Inc. and Sony Corp. are among the new corporate investors in the privately-owned chip vendor.