Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

Inktomi buys firm for $1.3 billion

SAN FRANCISCO -- Inktomi Corp. is adding to its toolbox of technology that powers some of the Internet's most popular sites with its planned $1.3 billion purchase of online broadcasting company FastForward Networks. Inktomi said today that the Web-broadcasting technology developed by privately held FastForward will give it a leg up in the race to deliver the type of live high-quality video and audio that will attract more traffic to Web sites and ultimately generate more revenue.

Apple unleashes OS X test version

PARIS -- Apple Computer Inc. released a long-awaited public test version of OS X -- an ambitious upgrade of the Macintosh operating system. The new system has sleek graphics, colorful on-screen buttons and sliding windows that make for easier computing, the firm said.

A public test version of the OS X -- the X stands for 10 -- went on sale today in English, French and German at the Paris trade show and Apple's online stores for $29.95. OS X has been delayed several times. In May, Jobs said the public test version would be out "this summer." A more complete and fine-tuned commercial version will go on sale early next year, Jobs said. Apple has not yet announced the price of the final version.

U.S. trade deficit climbs to record

WASHINGTON -- Americans' hearty appetite for foreign goods helped catapult the nation's trade deficit to a record $106.1 billion in the second quarter based on the broadest measure of trade.

In the April-June quarter the deficit widened 4.6 percent from an imbalance of $101.5 billion recorded in the previous quarter, the Commerce Department said today in its "current account" report on international transactions. The current account is considered the best gauge of a country's international economic standing because it measures not only the goods and services reflected in the government's monthly trade reports, but also investment flows between countries and unilateral transfers, including U.S. foreign aid payments.