Business Briefs

PALO ALTO -- The Xerox Corporation is spinning off a company that will market flexible, paper-thin screens used for advertisements in stores that can be updated with a mouse click.

Xerox estimated Wednesday that Gyricon Media Inc. will generate revenues of more than $100 million annually by 2004.

The technology has been in development for several years at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, which the company has been trying to partly sell off.

In-store signs identifying products and prices are expected to reach the market in the third quarter of 2001. Billboards, electronic books and even computerized newspapers are envisioned for the future.

Fiorina: HP re-focusing,

changing upstairs

PALO ALTO -- Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina said Wednesday the company made management changes and sharpened its focus after posting disappointing results in its most recent quarter.

Addressing the company's semi-annual conference for investment analysts, Fiorina said she and other HP executives will not get bonuses for the second half of this year. Also, some personnel changes, such as the retirement of the company's comptroller, were being put into place earlier than previously planned, she said.

Shares of HP fell $3 to $32 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, but rose to $32.38 in the after-hours session.

MP3.com brings back

embattled 'lockers'

LOS ANGELES -- MP3.com restored its beleaguered music locker service Tuesday, seven months after lawsuits from record labels and music publishers forced its shutdown.

The MyMP3.com service, which was once free, will now feature two levels of service. For no charge, members can store up to 25 CDs. That service will be advertising-supported.

For an annual fee of $49.95, members will be able to store up to 500 CDs and enjoy more features and less advertising.

San Diego-based MyMP3.com, which allows members to store songs on the Internet and listen to them over any Web-enabled device, triggered a copyright infringement lawsuit in January by the five major record labels, music publishers and several independent labels.

Feds trying to ensure

supply of phone numbers

WASHINGTON -- The nation's supply of phone numbers is dwindling, so the government is taking steps to make sure what is left lasts longer. But regulators say they will not force consumers nationwide to dial 10 digits to call a neighbor in the same area code.

The growth of pagers, cell phones and fax machines has put a squeeze on the nation's numbering plan, prompting a proliferation of new area codes across the country. Left on its own, the current system could expire in the next 10 years.

Not Netscape or IE --

'Opera' browser now free

OSLO, Norway -- The maker of the world's No. 3 Internet browser offered its first free version on Wednesday in a bid to close the gap with Microsoft's market-leading Internet Explorer and AOL/Netscape.

Opera Software's market share is microscopic, at less than 1 percent.

The Oslo-based company's launch of an advertising-sponsored version of Opera 5.0 for Windows intends to heat up the competition, said company co-founder and chief executive, Jon S. von Tetzchner.<