Business in brief: Microsoft sought Wikipedia tweak
Microsoft Corp. landed in the Wikipedia doghouse Tuesday after it offered to pay a blogger to change technical articles on the community-produced encyclopedia Web site.
While Wikipedia is known as the encyclopedia that anyone can tweak, founder Jimmy Wales and his cadre of volunteer editors, writers and moderators have blocked public relations firms, campaign workers and anyone else perceived as having a conflict of interest from posting fluff or slanting entries. So paying for Wikipedia copy is considered a definite no-no.
Microsoft acknowledged it had approached the writer and offered to pay him for the time it would take to correct what the company was sure were inaccuracies in Wikipedia articles on an open-source document standard and a rival format put forward by Microsoft.
Spokeswoman Catherine Brooker said she believed the articles were heavily written by people at IBM Corp., which is a big supporter of the open-source standard. IBM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Coeur d’Alene
CdA condos to go for $5.6 million
At $1,000 per square foot, The Terraces in Coeur d’Alene will be among the Inland Northwest’s most expensive condos.
The units, advertised for $5.6 million, include retractable glass walls in the living room and master bedrooms. Each condo also comes with a covered boat slip and two memberships to the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course, according to advertisements. The 3-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath units are more than 5,200 square feet.
Officials at the Hagadone Corp., which is developing The Terraces, declined to comment on the project, saying a tour is planned in late spring when the condos are closer to completion.
Earnings rise for Idaho bank
Idaho Independent Bank reported net income of $11 million for 2006 – a 49 percent gain over the bank’s prior-year income.
Earnings per share were $1.84 for 2006, compared with $1.25 for 2005.
For the fourth quarter, Idaho Independent reported net income of $2.8 million, compared with $2.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2005. Idaho Independent is a state-charted bank, founded in 1993. It has 10 branches and 200 employees in Idaho.