CVS, Healtheon/WebMD to announce deal
WOONSOCKET — CVS Corp. and Healtheon/WebMD announced an agreement under which the online CVS pharmacy will be the only drugstore promoted on WebMD’s Internet site. Consumers visiting WebMD will be able to buy prescription and over-the-counter medications, vitamins, herbal and beauty products from CVS.com, the online CVS site. CVS.com will have links to WebMD’s health information, chat rooms and other services. The two companies also will develop new products for processing prescriptions electronically. CVS will post WebMD signs in its store windows and WebMD logos in its circulars as part of a joint advertising campaign. No financial terms were disclosed. CVS started its online business CVS.com last year. Healtheon/WebMD, based in Atlanta, provides health information to doctors and consumers.
Student charged with high-tech harassment
BOSTON — A University of Massachusetts student has been charged with tapping into a female classmate’s computer account and withdrawing her from courses because she did not return his affections. Beng Ky, 24, pleaded innocent to charges of identity fraud and trespassing by computer. He faces up to 7 1/2 years in prison. Prosecutors said Ky became obsessed with the student in September, after he asked her for paper during class. Ky then spoke with her on the train after class that day. Ky then began calling and writing notes to the woman, despite her requests that he stop, prosecutors said. Prosecutors identified the woman only as a 20-year-old from Malden. Ky opened an Internet account in the woman’s name, entered her student file and withdrew her from all classes at the Boston campus, school officials said. He also changed her street address to his and obtained credit cards in her name, though he did not use them, officials said.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
From bread factory to telecom haven
NATICK – Built 35 years ago and until last September the site for the baking of thousands of loaves of bread and pastries, an abandoned Wonder Bread factory here is being sought by developers as a location to house many telecommunications tenants served by huge racks of switching equipment. Acting to serve what is regarded as a booming growth industry, developers Mickey Rabina and Jonathan F.P. Rose are trying to buy the 300,000 square foot building by the end of the months, according to the Boston Globe. The developers have labeled the project Tech Commons. Last week, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes announced plans to develop a project called Boston Internet City in a moving company warehouse in Brighton next to a Massachusetts Turnpike extension.
Raytheon sells Waltham complex
LEXINGTON – The Raytheon Corp., in the process of consolidating its New England presence, has completed the sale of its property in Waltham, a 1.2 million square-foot complex of 10 buildings where Raytheon employed as many as 4,000. The buyer, a combination of Saracen Development, of Newton, and Highgate Holdings of Irving, Texas, paid $38.75 million for the property. A spokesperson for the buyers said they plan to convert the complex for use by the expanding telecommunications and Internet industries.
RoweCom continues pursuit of NewsEdge
CAMBRIDGE – RoweCom Inc. announced it would go ahead with its plans to buy NewsEdge Inc. of Burlington despite opposition to the purchase by the latter company’s largest shareholder, Regan Fund Management Ltd. A RoweCom spokesperson said that despite Regan’s opposition the Cambridge company was convinced that its purchase would benefit the shareholders of both companies. Regan owns 25 percent of NewsEdge’s stock. RoweCom is a provider of online book and journal subscription services. NewsEdge is an online business news company.
Y2K was boon for wind generator company 3
DULUTH, Minn. — Fears that computer technology might fail when the calendar rolled over to 2000 turned out to be a boon for a Duluth company that makes wind generators and solar electric equipment. World Power Technologies Inc. reported a 50 percent jump in 1999 in its sales of equipment that produces power from the wind and sun, largely because of Y2K concerns. Elliott Bayly, founder and chief executive of the 10-year-old company, was reveling in the record year. The inventor, electrical engineer and former professor has been making wind generators since 1974 and admits he didn’t see the rush coming and had a hard time reacting to it. Bayly said the company had been focused instead on expanding its markets from mostly home use to farms and other commercial applications, and increasing its sales in developing countries that are trying to electrify rural villages. About 40 percent of the windmills the company makes in its Duluth factory go overseas, where, according to World Power, more than 2.5 billion people don’t have electricity. Bayly said Y2K-related sales began in mid-1998 and grew steadily until June 1999, when the small company ($2.5 million in sales and 15 employees) was so back-ordered it no longer could guarantee delivery in time for the new year. After taking orders for 1,000 wind generators in 1999, compared with 650 in 1998, Bayly even resorted to selling the display windmill mounted on top of the company’s historic building in downtown Duluth.
Art dealer’s Web site lets folks lease fine art
Love fine art but can’t afford to hang it on your walls? Ian Peck has a plan — an installment plan. The New York art dealer and gallery owner recently launched an Internet site to lease artworks. Art lovers can search his www.fineartlease.com by artist, region, genre, period, materials, cost and size. They can view landscapes, portraits, Pop and abstract paintings. Offerings on a recent Sunday included a piece from French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte for $80,000, a horse painting from the 1700s by James Seymour at $115,000 and a Charles M. Russell portrait of an American Indian war council for $750,000. Annual leases usually total about 15 percent of a painting’s value. For example, a $100,000 painting could be leased for $1,250 a month, which includes insurance. Peck and his staff of six curators travel to museums, galleries and private collections around the world in the search for available art. Most pieces can be bought or leased with an option to buy. Exceptions are the museum pieces.
