Instead of congregating at conventions, book fairs and on the Internet, science fiction fans will get their own museum dedicated to the art, literature and film of science entertainment, courtesy of billionaire Paul Allen.
Tentatively named the Science Fiction Experience, the exhibit is slated to open in the summer of 2004 within the confines of Allen's Experience Music Project in the shadow of Seattle's Space Needle.
Flanked by science fiction props such as Captain Kirk's original command chair from the Star Trek television series, classic sci-fi books and movie banners, Allen said the $20 million nonprofit endeavor would provide "entertaining and thought-provoking exhibits" for visitors.
Allen said he expects the Science Fiction Experience, which will be built in a newly vacated space within the Experience Music Project, to pull in 150,000 to 200,000 more visitors to the building every year.
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Profit rises on ink: Computer printer maker Lexmark said first-quarter net income rose 37 percent as strong demand for ink cartridges overshadowed a decline in laser and inkjet printer sales.
No. 2 in the competitive printer market after Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Lexmark's (LXK) strong business of selling replacement cartridges, complemented by a line of new printer models, will help it endure softness in corporate and consumer spending and aggressive pricing competition, according to a Lexmark spokesperson.
Despite slack personal computer sales, which also hurts demand for printers, Lexmark has reaped the benefits of its high-margin ink and toner business, profiting on sales of the black and color replacement cartridges that users need to keep their printers running.
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Sony eyes chip edge: Japan's Sony said it will spend 200 billion yen ($1.67 billion) in the next three years on a cutting-edge microchip plant as the corporation gears up for a new, chip-hungry generation of game machines and home electronics.
Sony, turning increasingly to semiconductors to gain an edge over rivals, hopes the plant's high-powered microprocessors, code-named "cell," will become a global standard for consumer gadgets and server computers with ultra-fast Internet connections.
Sony, both the world's largest consumer electronics maker and its largest microchip user, also is keen to make more of its chips by itself and use them to keep its products a step ahead of rivals.
Semiconductors account for more than half the value of PlayStation 2 consoles, the profitable gaming machines which have trounced rivals such as Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox.
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The chips are down: Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, said it cut the prices of its fastest microprocessors for desktop and laptop PCs by as much as 38 percent, following its regular pattern of slashing the cost of its chips in advance of faster models.
Cuts to Intel's (INTC) price list, which shows the cost of bulk purchases of 1,000 chips, generally translate into reductions in the price of personal computers because microprocessors, the brains of PCs, represent a significant percentage of the cost of new computers.
The cuts came as Intel introduced faster models of both types of chips. Intel is not likely to keep the price of its fastest desktop Pentium 4 chip below $500 for long, according to a published report.
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AOL selling assets? A Merrill Lynch analyst said she thinks AOL Time Warner is moving closer to announcing asset sales, possibly this week when the media giant reports earnings.
In a research note, the analyst said the most likely assets to be sold include the company's 50 percent stake in Comedy Central that is worth about $1 billion, sports teams worth about $600 million to $700 million or its book-publishing group worth about $350 million.
Talks between AOL Time Warner (AOL) and its Comedy Central venture partner Viacom (VIA) have recently been making progress, sources familiar with the situation have said. An AOL Time Warner spokeswoman declined to comment and a Viacom spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Compiled by Kari L. Dean. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
