Gates touts next-generation Xbox

Microsoft Corp.’s next-generation Xbox gaming console will be more of a digital entertainment hub than its predecessor, making it even more of a PC hybrid than ever, Bill Gates told a meeting of business journalists on Monday

The console, code-named Xenon, is due to be previewed in an MTV half-hour special later this month.

Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and co-founder, was vague on specific features of Xenon but said the company’s consoles would be evolving to include improved communications tools for making multiplayer online gaming more convivial.

He told the annual meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers that Xenon’s software menu would be similar to that of the company’s Media Center edition of Windows, which is designed for computers meant to be located in the living room.

“If you’re used to that menu, when you use this Xenon you’ll see a menu a lot like that that lets you get photos, TV, music and all those different things.”

Mountain West earnings up sharply

Mountain West Bank announced first quarter earnings of $2.6 million on Friday, an increase of 60 percent from a year ago.

Record numbers of residential loans and small business loans and growth in assets accounted for the strong quarter, said Jon Hippler, Mountain West’s chief executive officer.

“The economies of the local communities we serve all appear to be doing well and growing, which bodes well for the future of Mountain West,” he said.

The company recently announced the purchase of the Zions Bank branch in Bonners Ferry, which is scheduled to close on May 20. Mountain West also plans to build its second bank branch in Coeur d’Alene and other branches in Meridian, Nampa and Eagle, Idaho.

Mountain West is a state-chartered bank with 16 branches in Idaho, Washington and Utah. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Glacier Bancorp, a $3 billion holding company based in Kalispell, Mont.

Kozlowski recounts apartment decorations

A prosecutor turned the witness chair into the hotseat for former Tyco CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski on Monday with questions about $12 million the company spent on decorations for Kozlowski’s Manhattan apartment.

“I did not oversee this in the way I should have,” Kozlowski told Assistant District Attorney Ann Donnelly of the 2001 renovations on the Fifth Avenue apartment. Prosecutors have cited them as an example of how they say Kozlowski and a co-defendant looted the company of $600 million to subsidize their lavish lifestyles.

Kozlowski drew laughter from several jurors and a few raised eyebrows when he said he did not like some of the decorations.

“I stuffed some in the closet,” he said. “Some of it was God-awful.”

The $12 million was in addition to another $18 million spent to renovate the apartment, which was missing light fixtures and had paint peeling from the walls and worn floors, he testified in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court.

Prosecutors have said furnishings at the Manhattan apartment included a $6,000 gold-threaded shower curtain, a $2,900 set of hangers, a $4,995 custom-made blue-and-gold bedskirt and a $2,665 blue velvet pillow.

The testimony came in the second trial of Kozlowski and former chief financial officer Mark Swartz.

Kozlowski, 58, and Swartz, 44, are charged with grand larceny, falsifying business records, conspiracy and business law violations. The first trial ended with a mistrial in April 2004 when a juror received a menacing letter and phone call after some media reported her name during deliberations.