Nearly a year after software maker Roxio Inc. scooped up the Napster brand from the ashes of the pioneer file-swapping service, a revamped online music store bearing the familiar brand name debuted Thursday in limited release. The company shelved its former online music service, pressplay, and began moving subscribers to a beta, or test version, of Napster 2.0. The service will be available to all in the United States beginning Oct. 29, officials said yesterday. Napster 2.0 users will have access to more than a half-million songs from all the major music labels. They can download individual songs for 99 cents and albums for $9.95. The service also offers access to unlimited downloads and streaming for $9.95 per month. That's comparable with prices charged by other online music retailers like MusicMatch and Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, which is expected to be available for Windows-run PCs next week, sources familiar with the company's plans said.
State contracting plan
The Pennsylvania General Services Department unveiled a new program Thursday in Pittsburgh aimed at increasing participation by minority- and women-owned companies in state contracting and procurement projects. "Our record, quite simply, has been very poor," said General Services Secretary Donald T. Cunningham, who was flanked by State Representatives Joseph Preston, an East Liberty Democrat, and Jake Wheatley, a Hill District Democrat, as well as more than a dozen women- and minority-business owners. "In 2002, less than 2 percent of the spending by the Commonwealth went to minority and women-owned businesses." The Rendell administration has set a goal of boosting that number to 10 percent by the end of the governor's first term. The state awards between $5 billion and $6 billion annually to private businesses. A key element of the program will be streamlining the certification process for such businesses.
New Greenhouse member
Adcus Inc., a newly formed subsidiary of a Silicon Valley-based designer and distributor of semiconductor components and microprocessor technology, is set to join the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse. According to a media advisory, an official of the company is expected to be on hand at a news conference this morning, joining state and local economic development officials, including Dennis Yablonsky, secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development. The advisory does not provide details of the announcement, but Santa Clara, Calif.-based Amerix Group Inc., the company's parent firm, issued a news release in August saying the unit would join the state-sponsored Greenhouse, a consortium working to make Western Pennsylvania a global leader in the design of so-called "system-on-a-chip" (SoC) microchip design technology. The release said Adcus Inc. "will be responsible for 3 dedicated SoC projects" during its first year of operation.
Overdraft warning
William Schenck, Pennsylvania secretary of banking, is warning state-chartered banks, thrifts and credit unions not to over-promote overdraft protection. Schenck wrote the nonbinding recommendations, he said, to dissuade any customers from misusing financial institutions' overdraft protection as a kind of revolving credit line. Overdraft protection covers checks by transferring funds from other accounts, including credit cards, but for up-front and daily fees. Repeat use of such check protection equals "an extremely high-cost, short-term loan," Schenck warned.
Three execs resign
Shares of Computer Associates International Inc. sank 10 percent Thursday on news the software company had asked three executives, including its chief financial officer, to resign following a review of its accounting practices. The company's chief financial officer, Ira Zar, senior vice president for finance, Lloyd Silverstein, and vice president for finance, David Rivard, submitted their resignations following the release of a preliminary report by an independent auditor, Chairman Sanjay Kumar said late Wednesday. The audit comes amid an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office and the Securities and Exchange Commission into whether company executives manipulated revenue to boost the company's stock price.
Other business news
