Gateway Next to Talk Earnings

Rumors Gateway 2000 will pre-announce earnings today had an effect on the stocks of other PC makers yesterday. One trader said it was already known Gateway officials will speak at a Paine Webber stock conference today. A series of reports of weaker than expected earnings has affected Wall Street this week. It started with Intel's announcement last Friday. A follow-up announcement from Seagate has led to speculation about a possible slowdown in the PC industry.

Summer Jobs Online

It's not too late to find a summer job via the Internet, according to directors of several online job searching sites. Susan Greenberg, of Petersen's Great Summer Jobs, says great applicants for camp jobs could get one "in a minute." Camp Sequoia in the Catskill Mountains reports it now recruits on the Kidscamp Web site. Fishnet, another site with summer job listings, has listings for jobs ranging from nannies to computer programmers. Their clients include students and educators looking for extra money. Then there's Cool Works, with listings for national and state parks, cruise ships, and even winter ski resorts for those looking ahead to Christmas vacation.

Smaller Means More High Tech

A Silicon Valley CEO says the ever-shrinking microchip will lead to "a mind-boggling array of new products." President Richard Beyer of VSLI Technology tells Reuters the size of personal communications devices will be the size of a lapel pin in the near future. Devices the size of a fingernail will be implanted in ears and radio communications will provide instant translation of languages, allowing normal conversation between people of different nations. Tiny medical devices inside the body will instantly diagnose heart attacks and provide treatment automatically. The San Jose-based company is moving out of the computer chip business and into products for wireless communications and TV set-top boxes.

Good Prospects for Pentium II

Some observers at the Spring Comdex show think the coming of the Pentium II processor has a lot to do with the current problems in the PC industry. President Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies says many computer buyers are going slow in expectation Pentium II is coming around the corner. But he says Pentium II demand in the U.S. is high. So Intel's slumping earnings should rebound, according to Bajarin. A Reuters sample of opinions at Comdex showed others there also think the current Intel slump is not the start of an industry slowdown.

Gates on Computer Encryption

Computer industry captains are calling on President Clinton to drop efforts to regulate data-scrambling technologies, a move the FBI warned would cripple law enforcement and leave the country more vulnerable to terrorism. In an open letter to Clinton, Microsoft Chairman William Gates and 12 other industry titans said U.S. competitiveness in electronic commerce was at stake in the debate. Access to computer programs with strong data-scrambling, or encryption, capabilities was "critical to providing this confidence," said the corporate chiefs who banded together as the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group.

ITT Ups China Stake

ITT Cannon is investing more heavily in production facilities in China. The company, a unit of ITT Industries' Defense & Electronics group, announced it has increased ownership of its China-based connector manufacturing and assembly joint venture company from 51 percent to 90 percent. The venture will continue to be called ITT Cannon Electronics. Located in Zhenjiang, China, ITT Cannon Electronics Co. manufactures connectors for a variety of industries, including telecommunications, computer and medical applications. It currently serves 25 China-based customers.

Lucent Ups Web Access Speed

Lucent Technologies said it will add Westell Technologies technology for sending high-speed Internet and other data over standard copper phone lines. The speed enhancement will be added to the equipment it supplies local carriers. The company said it had agreed to integrate the Westell technology -- known as Advanced Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) -- into its digital local loop carrier systems, which are the most widely used local phone systems in the United States. The announcement was made at SuperComm '97, the phone industry's annual equipment trade show, in New Orleans.

Linking Mainframes To The Web

Information Builders, a privately held firm based in New York, has announced it is working with Netscape to provide access from Web technologies to mainframe computer data and applications. The company said it has developed two products for data access and data publishing, with plug-ins available for Microsoft Windows NT and Unix systems. The products are designed for use with IBM S/390 mainframe computer systems.

CompuServe Expands in Mexico

One of America's oldest online services is doing south of the border. CompuServe has announced the opening of its first office in Mexico. It has been offering online services there since 1994. A spokesman said this is part of CompuServe's expansion into Latin America. He said Mexico is an important market for its future.

Ameritech Eyes Europe

Ameritech, the Chicago-based Baby Bell, wants to grow and is now looking for companies it can buy in Europe. But don't look for them to go shopping for another phone company. Walter Catlow, Ameritech's executive vice president , said in an interview that the company is unlikely in the foreseeable future to buy into any more traditional telephone businesses to add to its recent privatization deals in Europe. Catlow says the company instead is considering telephone related deals in areas like electronic commerce, Internet provision, and security monitoring.

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