Textbites

"Undoubtedly, some of these small companies, which have stock prices going through the roof, will succeed and may well justify…

"Undoubtedly, some of these small companies, which have stock prices going through the roof, will succeed and may well justify even higher prices. The vast majority are almost sure to fail."

- US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, before the Senate Budget Committee last week comparing buying the latest hot Internet stock to banking on hitting the jackpot in a one-in-a- million chance lottery.

"Terrorist and outlaw states are extending the world's fields of battle from physical space to cyberspace. . . they cannot defeat us with traditional military means. So they are working on two new forms of assault: cyber-attacks on our critical computer systems and attacks with weapons of mass destruction."

- A possibly alarmist Bill Clinton speaking to the National Academy of Sciences in Washington last week.

READ MORE

"Virtual country `nuked' in cyberwar"

- One tech-news site adds to President Clinton's fears when reporting on interference with the Connect Ireland-hosted East Timor site.

"In 1999 we intend to build out a significant distribution infrastructure. We also intend to enhance the scope and quality of products that we provide to our customers."

- Amazon.com's CEO Jeff Bezos promising the online bookseller's take-no-prisoners attitude will continue.