The week ahead: Microsoft, Schiffer hit the Palm circuit

Following are some of the notable tech-related events scheduled for the week of Dec. 11 through Dec. 15.

Model Claudia Schiffer and developers of the Palm operating system will cross paths this week at the 2000 PalmSource Conference in Silicon Valley.

Schiffer will spend one day at the event to tout her Schiffer-edition Palm. Palm executives will use the event to discuss the future direction of handhelds and the Palm operating system.

Conference attendees can expect to see demos of forthcoming technology, such as Palm with Bluetooth, a short-wave wireless technology. Rival Microsoft also has promised to be nearby looking to recruit Palm developers to work on its PocketPC technology.

Also this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang will speak at Streaming Media West 2000, a two-day conference at the San Jose Convention Center on new streaming media technologies.

CMGI, Adobe, Oracle and Red Hat will announce earnings this week; the quarter has been difficult for all three of them.

Internet incubator CMGI, which has watched many of its young companies fall victim to the dot-com shakeout, has been trimming its portfolio in an attempt to accelerate profitability.

Linux seller Red Hat last week closed three offices and laid off 20 employees. And database giant Oracle lost Gary Bloom, its second top-level executive to leave the company in the past six months.

The information was gathered from First Call/Thomson Financial, Hoover's Online, CCBN's StreetEvents and CNET Investor.

Other events scheduled this week:

	Tech Events

Monday, Dec. 11

• BookTech West Expo will take place at the San Francisco Marriot in San Francisco, Dec. 11-13. Book publishing professionals will address challenges facing the industry as electronic distribution becomes a reality.

• The Computer Measurement Group's 2000 International Conference will take place at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 10-15. George Gilder, president of the Gilder Technology Group, will talk about how information technology is transforming the world economy. Gary Bloom, the former executive vice president of Oracle who recently took the helm at Veritas Software, will give a talk titled "Are You Keeping Pace with E-Business."

• Web Rush III: Content and Lifestyle in the Wireless Era will take place at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. This conference will focus on the future of wireless communication, including next-generation technologies, and the effect of these communications on society.

• E-Business Integration will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Dec. 11-12. The conference will focus on e-business integration strategies.

• ISP Business Models will take place at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Dec. 11-12. The conference will show companies how to evolve their ISP business models to maintain profitability and exploit opportunities in the application service provider market.

• SEC Roundtable will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C. The conference will discuss the conversion process for decimal pricing in stocks and options and its effects on market quality, operational capacity and trading behavior. SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt will deliver opening remarks, and Annette L. Nazareth, director of market regulation, will moderate roundtable discussions.

• The 2000 PalmSource Conference will take place at the Santa Clara Convention Center Dec. 11-15. The event will feature more than 150 hours of speeches, break-out sessions and interactive labs.

Tuesday, Dec. 12

• The eBusiness Conference & Expo will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, Dec. 12-14. Speakers will include IBM CEO Louis Gerstner, Buy.com CEO Greg Hawkins and BroadVision chief technology officer Barry Briggs.

• The AngelSociety Forum will take place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, Dec. 12-14. The conference is geared toward early-stage investors, entrepreneurs and related service providers. Speakers will include William R. Hambrecht of WR Hambrecht and Guy Kawasaki of Garage.com.

• Streaming Media West 2000 will take place at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, Calif., Dec. 12-14. The conference will showcase the latest in streaming technologies and content. Speakers will include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.

• The 3rd Internet Economy Conference will take place at the World Trade Center in New York. Speakers will include About.com CEO Scott Kurnit and Jupiter Media Metrix CEO Gene DeRose.

• ING Barings' iAppliance Conference will take place at the Plaza Hotel in New York. The conference will look at the Internet so-called i-appliance market from an investment standpoint. Speakers will include Palm chief financial officer Judy Bruner and AvantGo chairman Felix Lin.

Friday, Dec. 15

• America: On the Net will take place at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Moderators will present information gathered from eight regional town hall meetings at which citizens discussed the future of public policy related to the Internet. The summit will be Webcast live and moderated by Charlie Rose.

	Earnings

Monday, Dec. 11

• Analogic makes signal-processing equipment that converts analog signals into digital computer data. Per-share consensus estimate: N/A.

Tuesday, Dec. 12

• BestBuy sells consumer electronics through more than 400 stores. Per-share consensus estimate: 27 cents.

• FactSet Data combines more than 100 databases of online financial information, including Edgar filings, Compustat and Dow Jones, into a single source of information. Per-share consensus estimate: 21 cents.

• Eastman Kodak will host a conference call to discuss the company's outlook for 2001.

• Engage makes a Web user profile database, advertising tools and Web traffic analysis services. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 23 cents.

• Net2Phone makes software allows people to make phone calls over the Internet. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 30 cents

Wednesday, Dec. 13

• SoftNet provides high-speed Internet access through existing cable infrastructure. Per share consensus estimate: N/A.

• Verity makes software capable of locating information stored in multiple formats and locations. Per-share consensus estimate: 20 cents.

Thursday, Dec. 14

• Adobe Systems makes graphic design, publishing and imaging software for Web and print production. Per-share consensus estimate: 29 cents.

• CMGI invests in and helps develop start-up technology companies. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of $1.90.

• Oracle develops database management systems software, which lets multiple users and applications access the same data simultaneously. Per-share consensus estimate: 10 cents.

• RedHat sells Linux software and services. Per-share consensus estimate: loss of 2 cents.

	Economic Reports

Monday, Dec. 11

• Wholesale Inventories represents the change in the amount of goods in wholesale inventories in the United States. The number is expected to increase by 0.5 percent for the month of November, compared with 0.2 percent in October.

Wednesday, Dec. 13

• Retail Sales for the month of November are expected to climb 0.2 percent, compared with October's gain of 0.1 percent.

Wednesday, Dec. 14

• Producer Price Index measures price changes at the wholesale level. This contrasts with other measures, such as the Consumer Price Index, that measure price change from the purchaser's perspective. The PPI is expected to rise by 0.1 percent.

• Initial Claims refers to the number of people who file for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Claims will be reported for the week of Dec. 6.

Also this week

• The Federal Communications Commission will hold a wireless spectrum auction Tuesday, allowing U.S.-based carriers such as Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communications to bid on 422 licenses to expand their existing networks into new markets. The auction could raise more than $15 billion, given interest in using the spectrum airwaves for next-generation wireless technologies that will make it easier for consumers to surf the Web using their phones, for example.

• The 2000 IEEE International Electron Device conference will be held in San Francisco, Dec. 10-13. Researchers and scientists from semiconductor designers and academics converge at the conference to release papers regarding technological breakthroughs in electrical engineering.

  The organization will also give out a series of awards for breakthroughs in electronic engineering. Mahmoud Rasras, for instance, will receive the Roger Haken Award for the best student paper, titled: "Photo-carrier Generation as the Origin of Fowler-Nordheim-Induced Substrate Hole Current in Thin Oxides."