Long Island Technology Briefs: November 29, 2002

Long Island Business News, Nov 29, 2002 by Ken Schachter

It may not be Cooperstown, but in 2003 the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame it will get a place to call its own.

The Hall of Fame, which last year had its first crop of inductees, will be getting a physical presence on the third floor of the Reckson Center, the central ticketing and visitors center for Nassau's Museum Row.

Inductees will be honored with plaques on a wall at the exit of the IMAX theater.

The Hall of Fame is being overseen by the Long Island Museum of Science and Technology, the nascent institution that is seeking corporate backing to set up shop in Hangar 2 adjacent to the Reckson Center and Cradle of Aviation.

LIMSAT's Arthur Rossoff said plaques would honor inductees, with touch-screen displays possibly being added in the future.

Last year's Hall of Fame event at the Garden City Hotel honored the late Leroy Grumman, founder of Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp.; Symbol Technologies founder chief scientist Jerome Swartz; Computer Associates co-founder Charles Wang; James Watson, president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and inventor Elmer Ambrose Sperry.

The four inductees for 2003 have yet to be named, but the event will be held March 12 at the Wyndham Windwatch Hotel in Hauppauge.

Keynote speaker will be Anthony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Washington.

Verizon Wireless beefs up coverage on the LIE

Verizon Wireless customers whose calls were dropped as they drove between exits 54 and 57 of the Long Island Expressway can take heart.

The wireless provider announced that it has added cell sites in Babylon and Hauppauge to provide better coverage.

Bedminster, N.J.-based Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone.

China's next great leap forward: the press release

What happens when a communist society begins to open its doors and savor the sweet fruits of an open society?

It begins issuing press releases.

At least that's the way it seems based on the announcement by PR Newswire Association LLC, a New York-based sister company of Manhasset's CMP Media, and Beijing-based Xinhua Financial Network.

The two companies have formed a joint venture, Xinhua PR Newswire, which will issue press releases to outlets in Europe and North America about public and private Chinese companies. China has more than 1,200 public companies listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges.

The joint venture was born after London-based United Business Media, the parent company of both CMP and PR Newswire, invested $4 million in Xinhua Financial Network.

The Beijing government recently approved a plan to allow foreign companies to invest in Chinese stocks. That program will start Dec. 1.

Xinhua Financial Network is backed by the state-run Xinhua News Agency and other investors.

Cablevision rolls out anti-spam feature

Subscribers to Cablevision's Optimum Online broadband Internet service are receiving a new tool designed to rid their e-mail boxes of annoying pitches for home mortgages, porno sites and herbal remedies.

The free feature, SpamAway, is designed to divert junk e-mail into a bulk mail folder. Cablevision also has begun offering e-mail virus protection for the Internet service.

Meanwhile, the company's recently announced plan to raise cable TV rates by an average of 5.26 percent has created an easy target for critics.

Legislator Cameron Alden, chairman of the Suffolk Legislature's Consumer Protection Committee, has invited Cablevision executives to confer on their rate plans. In a statement, Alden said the increase would "have a negative impact" on Long Island's economy.

1-800-Flowers debuts new Popcorn Factory site

1-800-Flowers.com, which has been expanding its line of gift brands, has launched a redesigned Web site for its Popcorn Factory unit.

The new site, www.thepopcornfactory.com, has been crafted to be consistent with the www.1800flowers.com site, the company said.

"We're very glad that we have been able to leverage our assets to improve both the customer experience and the efficiency of our operations," Jim McCann, chief executive officer of 1-800-Flowers, said in a statement.

1-800-Flowers acquired Lake Forest, Ill.-based Popcorn Factory in May from a private investment firm.