Business Briefing, Aug. 21

Rocky staff and wire reports

Published August 20, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.

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Ala Hason

Jennifer Cordes

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NATIONAL

American offers online services on longer flights

One of the few remaining Internet-free havens vanished Wednesday as American Airlines launched airborne e-mail, Web and other online services on some of its longer, nonstop flights.

American, a unit of AMR Corp., tested in-flight access on two flights June 25.

With Wednesday's launch, the airline is making service available for $12.95 per flight on its 15 Boeing 767-200 planes connecting New York with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

GM DROPS DEAL General Motors Corp. and Navistar International Corp. said Wednesday they have dropped immediate plans for GM to sell its medium-duty truck business to Navistar, citing market and economic changes.

GM and the Warrenville, Ill.-based commercial truck maker said they decided against renewing the sale's memorandum of understanding, which has expired.

The companies said that Detroit-based GM will keep running the business, while also continuing to review strategic options for it, including continued discussions with Navistar.

HYUNDAI HYBRID Hyundai Motor Corp. says it will bring a gas-electric hybrid version of its Sonata sedan to the U.S.

Vice President of Product Development John Krafcik said Wednesday that Hyundai will display a hybrid version of the midsize Sonata at the Los Angeles Auto show in November.

WEB TV SOFTWARE Intel Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. are creating software to give televisions the ability to display the Web without interfering with programming, allowing a viewer to check the bio of an actor in the movie on the screen.

TV watchers can access a news story, sports score or weather forecast from the Web by clicking an on-screen icon with the remote control, Intel Senior Vice President Eric Kim said Wednesday at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

The software will be given for free to TV-service providers.

PIRACY LAWSUIT Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and other labels prevailed in a 3-year-old music-piracy lawsuit after a New York City woman agreed to pay $6,050 to settle claims she illegally shared music over the Internet.

Denise Barker had argued her use of the online file-sharing program Kazaa, to let people remotely download music from her computer, wasn't technically a copyright violation.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan approved the settlement, amounting to $756 for each of eight songs in the case, on Aug. 15 in New York.

Barker was among 26,000 people sued by members of the Recording Industry Association of America since 2004 as part of the trade group's bid to stem piracy.

NEW TREO Palm Inc. has introduced a second Treo e-mail phone in less than two months to challenge Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and end four straight quarters of losses.

The Treo Pro will sell for $549 in the U.S. later this year without a carrier partner, allowing users to run it on a variety of networks, Palm said in a statement.

Wireless providers in Europe will offer it next month for free or at prices up to $589, depending on the service contract users select.

LOCAL

StarTek to add 100 jobs in Greeley

StarTek is adding 100 jobs at its west Greeley call center. The call center currently employs 295, so the new hires represent more than a 30 percent jump.

THIS JUST IN...

* Binswanger added Blake Charles Holcomb as vice president at its Denver office.

* Denver-based Slaterpaull Architects promoted Jennifer Cordes to principal, Matt Porta to senior associate and Lyn Eller to associate.

* Members of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association elected Dan Patterson as president, Natalie Brown as president-elect, Peter Koclanes as vice president, Carrie Frank as secretary and James Croshal as treasurer.

* Alicia Ajayi joined VaST architecture as an intern architect.

* Studley promoted Tom Pappas to assistant director of its Denver office.

* James H. Connors III of Pinnacle Healthcare Consulting of Denver achieved Accredited Senior Appraiser status with the American Society of Appraisers.

* Guy Murrel of Catapult PR-IR was named a Top Tech Communicator by PRSourceCode.

* Broomfield-based MWH acquired Ground Water International S.A., a hydrogeological consulting firm headquartered in Lima, Peru.

* Gensler named Ala Hason and Janet Pogue co-managing directors of its Denver office.

* Steve Long was named transportation business line leader for David Evans and Associates Inc.'s Denver office.

* The Boulder Innovation Center added Boulder-based Simply Boulder to its growing Natural & Organic Business Program.

* Leonard Wilson joined Nolte Associates as senior vice president and managing director for the Rocky Mountain region.

* Starz Entertainment promoted Nancy McGee to executive vice president of marketing.

* Crestone Capital Advisors LLC was recognized by Wealth Manager magazine as one of the country's top investment advisory firms.

* First Community Bank added Lisa Gouran as branch manager for its Broomfield location.

* Valerus Compression Services opened an office in Denver at 1600 Glenarm Place.

* Halcyon Jets Holdings Inc. appointed Craig Spitzer as chairman and Gregory D. Cohen as chief executive officer.

* Inc. listed Cohn Marketing on its annual ranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the country.

* Denver-based Schenkein added IdeaWork Studios Inc. to its client roster.

* Positive Effect Physical Therapy opened in Broomfield.

* Globus renewed its contract with Denver's 90octane LLC.

* The South Metro Small Business Development Center will host a free Business Start Up Workshop on how to start a successful business from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Philip S. Miller Library in Castle Rock. Information is online at SmallBusinessDenver.com

Volume of mortgage applications drops

Mortgage application volume fell last week to its lowest levels in nearly eight years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.

The fall in application volume is the latest sign of a struggling housing market. On Tuesday, a Commerce Department report showed construction of homes and apartments fell in July to the lowest level in more than 17 years.

And while fewer homes are being built, fewer customers are also refinancing existing mortgages.

A sharp drop in refinance volume in recent weeks has been the leading driver of declining application volume.

The trade group's application index fell to 419.3 during the week ended Aug. 15, its lowest level since the index hit 298.3 in December 2000, and a 1.5 percent decline from the prior week. Application volume is down 61 percent from its 2008 peak in February.

The MBA's index peaked at 1,856.7 during the week ending May 30, 2003, at the height of the housing boom.

An index value of 100 is equal to the application volume on March 16, 1990, the first week the MBA tracked application volume.

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