LETTER.Welcome to the second edition of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Business Journal's Technology News. Based on what's been happening in recent months, a casual observer might conclude that the only kind of technology news these days is bad news. And there certainly has been plenty of that, from dot-com busts to major layoffs to skyrocketing losses. But signs of life, vibrant life, remain intact in the Los Angeles tech community. The nature of that life in 2001 is decidedly different than it was in 2000. Essentially gone axe the spendthrift One who spends money profusely and improvidently, thereby wasting his or her estate. Under various statutes, a spendthrift is a person who wastes or reduces her estate through excessive drinking, gambling, idleness, or debauchery in a manner that exposes that individual or entrepreneurs who indulged their staffs with daily massages, catered lunches by on-site chefs and super-rich compensation packages. Venture capitalists, having lost patience, are installing seasoned managers and demanding detailed business plans that will produce profits, in relative short order. It's all part of the evolution -- B2C (Business to Consumer) Refers to a business communicating with or selling to an individual rather than a company. See B2B. giving way to B2B (Business to Business) Refers to one business communicating with or selling to another. See B2B e-commerce, B2C and B2G. B2B - business to business , and now P2P See peer-to-peer and point-to-point. (peer-to-peer) becoming the buzz term buzz term n. A buzzword. . Of course, an even more urgent definition of P2P is path to profitability, and in that quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the the holy grail of profitability, weak new-media ventures axe being sold to, or linked up with, stronger ventures. Once the dust settles, we'll be left with fewer but stronger operations, many of which will be seamlessly integrated with venerable Old Economy companies. That's not to suggest that L.A. is short on new-media darlings. Among them are Intertainer, Xdrive, Fandom, Homestore.com, StyleClick and plenty more. But they're partnering up, either formally or through project-specific deals. And through such deals, amazing new technologies will emerge. Many of them axe covered in this issue of Technology News. Among the breakthroughs axe various technologies that will replace body parts. Other technologies will usher in a new age of interactive media, where users communicate, create and compete with each other, all while manipulating digital content. And still other new technologies will be miniaturized and integrated into our clothing. Read about all these breakthroughs, as well as the recent L.A. busts, in the following pages -- and you'll have a pretty good picture of what the local tech landscape is going to look like once the dust settles. Matthew A. Toledo Publisher |
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