Loose change

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 13, 2000

PERHAPS A LOVELY G.E. DIAMOND ...: General Electric Co., which already sells everything from dishwashers to locomotives, is going into the diamond business. It says it has developed a process to zap the molecules of murky "brown stones," making them as clear as a naturally sparkling diamond.

... OR WIRELESS EARRINGS: IBM's design lab is making prototypes of earrings with built-in wireless phone receivers and a ring that would flash in different colors to tell you whether a call was important before you answered it.

CLAP IF YOU BELIEVE: New Dana Perfumes Corp. of Scranton, Pa., has sued Walt Disney Co. for slapping the Tinkerbell name on lip gloss, canteens and other items in its Disney Stores. Dana says it used to supply such stuff to Disney and still has trademark rights to the name of Peter Pan's miniature magical friend.

BIG BOSS IS WATCHING: The American Management Association says 73 percent of major companies monitor their employees' online activities, twice the number in 1997.

PURPLEHAZE.COM? A United Nations arbitrator has awarded the family of the late rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix rights to the Web domain name jimihendrix.com. The family, which already operates jimi-hendrix.com, won out over Denny Hammerton of Mineola, who allegedly had tried to sell the name for $1-million.

ROUGH JOB: An appeals court has awarded $870,000 to Scott McFetters, a salesman at a computer-equipment leasing company in Santa Ana, Calif., who was overheard complaining about a new sales policy. The court said the company's chief executive hit and shook McFetters, then dragged him out of the office while saying, "You think you have value? ... You're nothing."

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