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United, Norwegian form alliance

United Airlines said it has signed a deal with Norwegian Cruise Line to carry Hawaii cruise passengers to the islands from United's hubs in Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Calling it a multimillion-dollar contract, United said it is committed to the deal through December 2007. United will set aside blocks of seats for passengers bound for NCL's expanding fleet of Hawaii-based cruise ships.

When the cruise line sells an air-cruise-stay package, United will be the primary carrier, the airline said.

Mini-condos go on sale tomorrow

Condominium sales at Kuhio Village Resort, a Waikiki condominium/hotel property begin tomorrow.

The project, a block and a half from Waikiki Beach, is being brokered by Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties.

Prices for the 166 available units start at $40,000 for a leasehold studio and $50,000 for a fee-simple studio. The units have 13 different floor plans and range in size from 155 square feet of interior space to 433 square feet. Lanai sizes range from 37 square feet to 138 square feet.

All units include air conditioning, a television with cable hookup, microwave oven, coffee maker, full tub and shower and a king size or two twin beds. The sales office is at 2463 Kuhio Ave, #203. For information, call 926-4829 or 923-3830.

State tech agency wants to expand

The state High Technology Development Corp. is looking to expand its business-incubation services statewide by taking a larger role on Kauai and the Big Island.

The agency also will oversee two programs, the FastTrac entrepreneurship program, and the federally funded Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which provides professional consulting to a variety of types of businesses.

In addition, the HTDC board of directors has appointed Phil Bossert, the agency's interim executive director, as the permanent executive director, replacing Nola Miyasaki.

"HTDC's primary focus is to provide key resources to help develop and retain high tech in Hawaii," Bossert said.

Dell planning to offer consumer electronics

AUSTIN, Texas >> Dell Inc. is entering the consumer electronics market with television sets, digital music players and an online music service, opening yet another front in its war with rivals Gateway Inc. and Apple Computer Inc.

All of the products will be released this fall, in time for the holiday season, Dell said.

The company would not release pricing or other details.

The shift is part of a broader strategy by Dell to expand its highly efficient, low-cost distribution model -- which has consistently squeezed other personal-computer makers -- into other markets, such as printers and servers.

Gateway also has recently branched into consumer electronics after suffering brutal losses to Dell in the PC market.

Dell's flat panel TV will be launched Oct. 21.

Amazon.com invades Google's popular turf

SAN FRANCISCO >> Online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. is betting it can muscle into one of e-commerce's most profitable niches -- search engines.

Seattle-based Amazon.com has set up a new Silicon Valley startup called "A9" that will develop a commercial search engine and potentially put the company on a collision course with another Internet icon, Google.

Based in Palo Alto, Calif., offices just a few miles from Google's Mountain View headquarters, A9 hopes to launch in October with 30 employees and grow much larger as it develops a search engine that will be licensed to other Web sites.

Unlike Google, A9 isn't trying to develop an all-purpose search engine that indexes billions of Web pages. The startup instead is zeroing in on e-commerce.

In other news ...

SAN FRANCISCO >> Federal authorities arrested a former Ernst & Young partner for allegedly tampering with documents providing insights into the collapse of online credit card issuer NextCard Inc.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

NEW JOBS

>> Chaminade University of Honolulu has named Larry Price to professor of human resources management, in residence. He has taught courses in human resource management for the master's of business administration program as an adjunct professor since 1985. In addition to his regular teaching schedule, he will have an office and join the core MBA faculty involved in business and communications program development.

ON THE BOARD

>> Life insurance services professional Adelia C. Chung has been named Million Dollar Round Table first vice president for 2004. She was the first woman to be nominated to the organization's executive committee and the second woman to serve as president of Million Dollar Round Table Foundation. MDRT is an independent association of life insurance and financial professionals from 74 nations and territories.

RECOGNITION

>> Kathie Wells has been named a Good Neighbor Awards finalist by Realtor Magazine, the official publication of the National Association of Realtors. The Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties sales associate was named one of 10 finalists from among 300 entries nationwide. She was selected for her founding, and work with, Community Helping Schools, an organization that works to improve the quality of education at 31 public schools in her area. Five winners will be announced in the November issue of the magazine.