Dell's new kiosks in Sears may signal fresh strategy

Dell's new kiosks in Sears may signal fresh strategy

DALLAS — Dell's new sales kiosk in an Austin, Texas-area Sears department store created a buzz last week about the company's retail plans.

The debate: Is Dell's trial run at selling computers through online kiosks in Sears stores part of a bold retail strategy? Or is Dell, which has also begun selling PCs through Costco's Web site, just floundering around for ways to compete with rival Hewlett-Packard's retail dominance?

The computer maker, based in the Austin suburb of Round Rock, has long been celebrated as the computer industry's conqueror by proving that regular people would buy computers via the Web or telephone instead of feeling the need to go into a store and see their PC first.

Now, "Dell is clearly launching a retail strategy," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group.

Dell noted that its relationship with Sears is just an experiment. But the company said it's trying to reach more consumers by letting them put their hands on a Dell computer, then order their own online at the kiosk.

Dell already has about 57 kiosks in U.S. malls.

Opera browser takes cue from TV remote control

NEW YORK — When developers at Opera Software looked for features to add to the world's No. 3 Web browser, they turned to a device ancient by computing standards: the television remote control.

Norway-based Opera saw how TV viewers like to navigate on-screen electronic program guides using the remote's arrow keys. So Opera 7, the browser update released last week, now lets Web surfers navigate Web pages using arrows.

Other new features include:

• "The Wand," a feature for quickly logging on to password-protected sites using only one click.

• New windows on the side for tracking downloads and obtaining "history" lists of recently visited sites.

Opera, while not as widely used as browsers from Microsoft and Netscape Communications, has won recognition for its speed and innovation.

An ad-supported version is free from www.opera.com. Pay $39 to knock out the ads.

Apple Computer trims prices of its high-end Power Macs

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple Computer has cut prices on its high-end Power Mac line of desktop computers and on its flat-panel display monitors amid slumping demand for personal computers.

Apple cut the price of the 1 gigahertz Power Mac G4, which runs at a speed of 1 billion cycles per second, to $1,499 from $1,699. That's the lowest price point it has offered in the Power Mac line since the late 1990s, said Tom Boger, director of Power Mac product marketing.

It also lowered its price on the 1.25 gigahertz Power Mac G4 to $1,999 from $2,499, he said.

Federal grant pays for critic to stymie Internet censors

NEW YORK — A leading critic of filtering software is working with the U.S. government to find ways to prevent China and other censor-happy regimes from controlling what their citizens read online.

Other projects like SafeWeb's Triangle Boy and DynaWeb have similar missions. The difference here is that Bennett Haselton wants to keep the project fully open for inspection — even to the censors.

"We want to design a system such that even if they know all the details, they still won't be able to find a way to defeat it," said Haselton, who runs the Peacefire.org site devoted to critiquing software for filtering porn and other questionable content.

Haselton received an undisclosed sum from the government-funded Voice of America to study techniques for at least six months. He is seeking volunteers to help him poke holes in the system — the way Chinese censors might.

Filtering proponents were skeptical.

"It's almost like the 'filter defeating program of the month,"' said David Burt of N2H2, a leading maker of filtering software for schools. "They don't seem to work because these organizations can't devote the necessary resources."

Japanese telecom develops new videophone platform

TOKYO — Japan's largest telecommunications company has developed a videophone platform to link third-generation mobile phones with personal computers that are connected via broadband.

The service, planned for Japan nationwide by September, will tap the rising demand for mobile video communication.

Users might log on to the service to make sales pitches to faraway customers or monitor construction sites from an office, according to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.

NTT, which did not give prices, will offer two-month trials beginning next month to explore the technology before a commercial launch.

NTT DoCoMo's 3G phones, which zap information at up to 40 times the speed of other current cellphones, have not been able to link with personal computers because of the differences in networks.

Domain management of .orgs switches to new registry

NEW YORK — It's official: Management of the records for the 2.6 million domain names ending in ".org" has formally changed hands.

The Public Interest Registry officially assumed control from VeriSign on Jan. 1, following VeriSign's deal with government and Internet officials to retain longer rights to the more lucrative ".com." The new organization, however, waited until last week to make the technical switch.

Technicians say people could use Web sites and e-mail normally, although registration of new names was suspended during the 36-hour transition.

Game-console sales slow despite industry strength

LOS ANGELES — Sales of video-game hardware, software and accessories rose 10 percent in 2002 to $10.3 billion even as revenue from game consoles actually declined.

Market-research service NPDFunworld, which tracks the video-game industry, said 2002 eclipsed 2001's $9.4 billion in sales on the strength of a 21 percent rise in software sales on a dollar basis, and a 15 percent rise on a unit basis.

Hardware sales — covering Sony's market-leading PlayStation 2 and earlier PlayStation, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube and handheld devices — fell 4 percent to $3.5 billion from $3.7 billion even as unit volume rose 10 percent.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all cut the prices on their consoles last May as a way to build their installed bases and drive sales of profitable software.

NPD said 15 percent of the software revenue for advanced consoles from August through December was for games playable online. Sony took the PS2 online in August, followed by Nintendo in October and Microsoft in November.