AOL offers discounted PC to lure new dial-up users
By Times Staff Writer
Published August 16, 2004
Not long ago, many computermakers offered discounted Internet service to attract customers. Now America Online has reversed that arrangement. This week, the big Internet service provider will begin selling a system, the AOL Optimized PC, for $300 to people who sign up for its dial-up service for at least one year.
Unlike many such deals, AOL's does not involve rebates and includes a full setup. The computer is based on a 2-gigahertz Intel Celeron processor and Windows XP Home Edition. A modified version of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice software is loaded onto the 40-gigabyte hard drive. A 17-inch cathode-ray-tube monitor, speakers and a Lexmark inkjet printer are part of the package.
The PC will be available at Office Depot stores and from AOL by telephone (toll-free 1-866-692-6572). The year's worth of dial-up Internet service that buyers must agree to purchase has a monthly rate of $23.90.
AOL expects that the new computer will mostly be bought by people who currently do not have Internet access.
Microsoft plans "Windows XP Lite' for Asia
Microsoft Corp. will offer a low-cost, stripped down edition of its Windows XP operating system in Asia starting in October, as it strives to fortify market share against erosion from the open-source Linux system and software piracy.
Although Microsoft still holds a commanding share of the desktop PC software market worldwide, several major computer retailers in Asia in the past year have begun offering hardware with locally adapted Linux installed.
Industry analysts have described the launch of what has been dubbed "XP Lite" - with lower-resolution graphics, fewer networking options and less multitasking ability than full XP versions - as a pre-emptive move against Linux.
Linux is open-source software available for little or no cost to computer vendors and users because no licensing fee is charged in its basic form.
Microsoft also hopes lower-price products can help combat software piracy, which is rampant in developing countries of Asia, where legitimate programs often are out of the reach of buyers.
The new software, officially called Windows XP Starter Edition, is "affordable . . . and designed specifically to meet the needs of first-time users" in developing countries, said Mike Wickstrand, group product manager of Microsoft's Windows division.
Blockbuster challenges Netflix with online DVD rentals
Blockbuster jumped into the DVD rental business last week with a Web-based service that undercuts the pricing at the market leader, Netflix. Blockbuster Online, "The Movie Store At Your Door," offers customers three movies a month for $19.99, $2 less than Netflix.
Despite Netflix's six-year headstart in the business, Blockbuster is confident. "We think now is the opportune time to enter the online rental business," Shane Evangelist, general manager of Blockbuster Online, said in a statement.
The service will offer a catalog of 25,000 titles. The company has set up 10 distribution sites nationally and hopes next year its stores will deliver new releases. See more at beta.blockbuster.com/homepages/displaySubscriptionOffer.action.
Roxio to sell software division to focus on Napster
Roxio said it is selling its software division to Sonic Solutions for $80-million in cash and stock so it can focus exclusively on its Napster online music business.
The Santa Clara, Calif., company will turn over its home media software, including Easy Media Creator and Toast, to Sonic Solutions of Novato, Calif., for $70-million in cash and Sonic stock valued at $10-million. Roxio will change its name to Napster once the deal closes.
Roxio chairman and chief executive Chris Gorog said the transaction would give the company more than $100-million in cash to fuel Napster's growth as it expands the music service to more college campuses this fall and enters other markets.
"We are on the path to becoming a very well funded pure play in one of the hottest sectors in the consumer technology market," Gorog said.
The deal comes as Napster faces an increasingly competitive online music market dominated by Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store. Consumer electronics giant Sony recently unveiled an online music store, and Microsoft is expected to launch a download service this fall.
Online travel sellers see a slowdown in business
It's one of those good news-bad news stories. With airlines and hotels seeing increases in business this year, online travel sellers find they have less access to good deals on rooms and airline tickets.
An analyst with Harris Nesbitt Corp., an investment banker, estimated U.S. travel bookings with Orbitz, IAC/InterActive and Sabre Holdings, the owner of Travelocity, rose 38 percent in the first quarter of this year, but only 24 percent in the second quarter, compared with a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reported.
FrogPad's one-handed keyboard has relief for lefties
Since the days when warriors carried their spears in their right hands so they could hold their shields over their hearts with their left hands, left-handed people have been at a disadvantage. Taking a small step toward redressing that imbalance, a one-handed computer keyboard, the FrogPad, has a new version with lefties in mind.
Linda Marroquin, chief executive of FrogPad, said the new keyboard was aimed at both left-handed typists and users of photo-editing and computer-aided-design software. Those kinds of programs often require users to control the whole keyboard with their left hands because they are using a tablet or other input device with their right hands.
The left-handed FrogPad is a mirror image of the original model, and like it, is compatible with any PC or Macintosh that has a USB port. It has only 19 keys and most keystrokes involve at least two fingers. The left-handed FrogPad is available for $170 at www.frogpad.com and at online merchants such as Amazon and Thinkgeek.
Later this month, FrogPad plans to introduce a wireless version of its one-handed keyboards using Bluetooth technology, making it easier to use with portable devices like organizers and smart phones.
Talkback on Windows update
Microsoft has released Windows XP Service Pack 2. Readers with comments or questions about it, or other tech news and issues of the day, can submit them for Times personal technology editor Dave Gussow at the Times Talkback site (www.sptimes.com/talkback)
