Is Netscape ready to leave the browser world? Netscape is now part of the AOL-Time-Warner megacorporation, and if comments by company officials are any indication, we may see an end to Netscape being an active participant as a browser supplier.

Real estate on your computer desktop is about to become a lot more valuable. “They [Microsoft] want to try to force consumers to use their stuff instead of AOL’s, EarthLink’s or anybody else’s stuff,” says Barry Schuler, chief executive of the America Online unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. “It makes it harder for consumers to find things that they want. We think they are going to hate it.”

Slowdown? What slowdown? Despite the massive layoffs and many high-profile bankruptcies, high-tech employment actually increased 4.6 percent in 2000, with manufacturing adding 18,000 jobs and computer software and services adding 145,900 new jobs, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Electronics Association.

The Clinton administration plans to launch an electronic system this fall that Americans can use to make a wide variety of payments to the government--from families paying for a national park camping license to corporations paying fines. The system, dubbed Pay.gov, "will be a one-stop shop for people to make government payments using the Internet," said the Treasury Department's deputy secretary, Stuart Eizenstat, announcing the initiative yesterday. The Pay.gov Internet site will be a secure, governmentwide electronic payment and collection system with the potential to handle any of the 80 million transactions the government now processes each year, Eizenstat said.

Cisco Systems, best known for its networking equipment for businesses and service providers, is ready to take on the home market. The company announced today that it is teaming with a Southern California land developer and a small service provider to wire 13,000 new homes in Los Angeles with networking technology. As reported earlier, today's deal is part of Cisco's strategy for the emerging market for home networking, where dozens of companies, including 3Com, Intel, Motorola and start-ups such as 2Wire, are fighting for a piece of the action. At stake is a market that is expected to grow from revenues of $600 million in 2000 to more than $5.7 billion by 2004, according to research firm Cahners In-Stat Group.