Japan land deal aimed at 7E7 wing plant

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said today it's in talks to buy a plot of land in central Japan's Nagoya city from Mitsubishi Motors for building aircraft parts. "`We're negotiating with Mitsubishi Motors to purchase land," Chairman Takashi Nishioka said.

The plant will be used for making the wings for Boeing's 7E7 aircraft, Japan's Nihon Keizai business daily reported today.

Mitsubishi Heavy is in charge of manufacturing the wing of the 7E7 and intends to provide wings for 2,000 planes over the next 20 years, the paper said.

The company will invest at least $319 million to begin production at the plant in 2006.

Mitsubishi Heavy wants to expand its aerospace business to offset a slowdown in its shipbuilding and nuclear-power operations, the newspaper said.

Mitsubishi Heavy spokesman Wataru Ichikawa said the company has not signed a deal to manufacture the wings of the Boeing plane.

Speakeasy

Internet provider reports new funding

SEATTLE — Speakeasy, a Seattle-based high-speed Internet provider, said it has received funding for wireless projects from the Intel Communications Fund, which is managed by Intel Capital. The company would not say how much funding it received.

The money will be used to expand network activities related to a new wireless technology known as WiMax, Speakeasy said. WiMax is a wireless-communications standard that could expand wireless high-speed networks to up to 30 miles, the company said. Speakeasy said it plans to deploy wireless high-speed networks in 2005 that support WiMax technology.

Spam

Man ordered to stop junk text-message ads

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A judge granted Verizon Wireless a permanent injunction against a Rhode Island man accused of sending millions of unsolicited text-message advertisements to cellphone customers in four states.

The injunction Friday in federal court in Trenton, N.J., bans Jacob Brown from sending "spam" text messages. Verizon sued Brown in June after identifying him as the leader of a spam ring.

The messages were sent over the past several months to cell users in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They advertised mortgage loans, products for losing weight, even adult Web sites.

Officials with Bedminster, N.J.-based Verizon said Brown and his cohorts sent bulk text-messages to cellphones by disguising their identities and using an automatic telephone-dialing system.

Verizon had sought at least $150,000 in damages, but none were awarded.

Google

Blogger sites invited to include advertising

Blogger.com wants to make its users rich or at least put some spare change in their pockets.

The Google-owned free Web-log service announced AdSense for Bloggers and invited blog publishers to include advertisements on their online journals. Google's AdSense program has previously catered to publishers of Web sites.

Google said it will distribute an unspecified share of ad revenue to bloggers. The program is optional, and users of other blogging software can participate.

America Online

Instant-message use at work is soaring

The use of instant messaging at work has almost doubled in the past year, according to a national survey by Opinion Research. An estimated 27 percent of IM users now send messages while at work, and 43 percent of respondents say they use it to communicate quickly around the office.

"It's clear that instant messaging has now gone mainstream," said Edmund Fish, senior vice president and general manager of desktop messaging at America Online, who released results of the survey. The percentage of IM participants sending messages from mobile phones and personal digital assistants also grew, reaching 19 percent from 10 percent a year ago.

Forrester Research

Online sales expected to continue growing

U.S. online retail sales are projected to more than double over the next six years and account for 12 percent of total retail sales in 2010, up from about 7 percent this year, according to a new report from Forrester Research.

By targeting Web logs, chat rooms and message boards, merchants will fuel sales growth by running ads while consumers are discussing a specific product or content related to a product, the researchers said.

Forrester indicated that tools, hardware and garden supplies will be among the fastest-growing online sales categories.

Compiled from Seattle Times technology staff, Reuters, Bloomberg News, The Associated Press and Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services