CINXE.COM
SFGate Business News — San Francisco Bay Area Business, Real Estate, Technology and Financial News & Small Business Resources
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.sfgate.com/business","20080906181343","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1220724823"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" /> <!-- End Wayback Rewrite JS Include --> <!-- types/widgets/pages/living/page.tmpl --> <title>SFGate Business News — San Francisco Bay Area Business, Real Estate, Technology and Financial News & Small Business Resources</title> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"/> <meta name="description" content="SFGate coverage of business and technology. Find breaking news, technology, real estate and financial news, stock market updates, interviews, columns and multimedia for the San Francisco Bay Area."/> <!-- types/widgets/common/post_write_mtime/css_inc.tmpl --> <!-- sitewide/css/all/inc.html generated by sitewidecss on Wed Sep 3 11:01:25 2008 --> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" title="SFGate" media="all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343cs_/http://imgs.sfgate.com/css1220464885/sitewide/css/sitewide.css"/> <!-- end sitewide/css/all/inc.html --> <!-- end css_inc.tmpl --> <!--[if IE 6]> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" title="SFGate" media="all" href="http://imgs.sfgate.com/css/utils/ie6.css" /> <script defer type="text/javascript" src="http://imgs.sfgate.com/js/utils/ie6pngfix.js"></script> <![endif]--> <!-- types/widgets/common/post_write_mtime/css_inc.tmpl --> <!-- business/css/all/inc.html generated by businesscss on Thu Aug 28 08:03:48 2008 --> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" title="SFGate" media="all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343cs_/http://imgs.sfgate.com/css1219935828/business/css/business.css"/> <!-- end business/css/all/inc.html --> <!-- end css_inc.tmpl --> <!-- types/widgets/common/post_write_mtime/css_inc.tmpl --> <!-- business/css/main/inc.html generated by bizmaincss on Thu 31 Jul 2008 11:16:00 AM PDT --> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" title="SFGate" media="all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343cs_/http://imgs.sfgate.com/css1217528160/business/css/main.css"/> <!-- end business/css/main/inc.html --> <!-- end css_inc.tmpl --> <!-- types/widgets/pages/ads/oas_setup.tmpl --> <!-- ads/business/index.html generated by biz_index on Thu Apr 24 18:38:49 2008 --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ // per-page OAS configuration OAS_listpos = 'Top2,Middle1,Middle2'; OAS_query = 'kw='; OAS_page = 'busitech/business/main'; var sfg_oas_disp_Top2 = true; var sfg_oas_disp_Middle1 = true; var sfg_oas_disp_Middle2 = true; //]]> </script> <!-- end types/widgets/pages/ads/oas_setup.tmpl --> <!-- types/widgets/common/post_write_mtime/js_inc.tmpl --> <!-- sitewide/js/all/inc.html generated by sitewidejs on Wed Aug 27 14:16:04 2008 --> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343js_/http://imgs.sfgate.com/js1219871764/sitewide/js/sitewide.js"></script> <!-- end sitewide/js/all/inc.html --> <!-- end js_inc.tmpl --> <!-- types/widgets/common/post_write_mtime/js_inc.tmpl --> <!-- business/js/all/inc.html generated by businessjs on Tue 26 Feb 2008 06:58:36 PM PST --> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343js_/http://imgs.sfgate.com/js1204081116/business/js/business.js"></script> <!-- end business/js/all/inc.html --> <!-- end js_inc.tmpl --> <!-- oas_call.tmpl --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ document.write('<scr' + 'ipt type="text/javascript" src="' + OAS_url + 'adstream_mjx.ads/' + OAS_sitepage + '/1' + OAS_rns + '@' + OAS_listpos + '?' + OAS_query + '"><\/script>'); //]]> </script> <!-- end oas_call.tmpl --> </head> <body><a name="top"></a> <!-- types/omniture/js/omniture_js.tmpl --> <div style="display:none"> <script language="JavaScript" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343js_/http://imgs.sfgate.com/js/omniture/s_code.js"></script> </div> <div id="omni_pagename" style="display: none;">Business Home</div> <div id="omni_article_title" style="display: none;"></div> <div id="omni_obj_article" style="display: none;"></div> <div id="omni_search_term" style="display: none;"></div> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- /* You may give each page an identifying name, server, and channel on the next lines. */ s.pageName=document.getElementById('omni_pagename').innerHTML; s.server=""; s.channel="Business"; s.prop1=document.getElementById('omni_search_term').innerHTML; s.prop2=""; s.prop3="Home"; s.prop4=""; s.prop5=""; s.prop6="Section Front"; s.prop7=""; s.prop8=""; s.prop9=""; s.prop10=""; s.prop11=""; s.prop12=document.getElementById('omni_article_title').innerHTML; s.prop13=""; s.prop14=""; /* auto */ s.prop15=""; /* auto */ s.prop16=""; /* auto */ s.prop17=s.getQueryParam('iref'); s.prop18=""; s.prop19=document.getElementById('omni_obj_article').innerHTML; s.prop20=""; s.events=""; /************* DO NOT ALTER ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE ! **************/ var s_code=s.t();if(s_code)document.write(s_code)//--></script> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE')>=0)document.write(unescape('%3C')+'\!-'+'-') //--></script><!--/DO NOT REMOVE/--> <!-- End SiteCatalyst code version: H.9. --> <!-- end types/omniture/js/omniture_js.tmpl --> <div id="page"> <!-- types/widgets/pages/nav001/header.tmpl --> <!-- nav001/business/index_leaderboard.html generated by business_leaderboard on Thu Sep 4 09:33:12 2008 --> <div id="headernav" class="headernav_leaderboard"> <div class="midsection"> <!-- ad_top2_leaderboard.tmpl --> <div class="ad top2"><script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if (typeof window.sfg_oas_disp_Top2 != "undefined" && sfg_oas_disp_Top2) { OAS_RICH('Top2'); } //]]> </script></div> <!-- end ad_top2_leaderboard.tmpl --> <!-- brands.html --> <h1><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/">SFGate</a></h1> <p class="paper"><span class="chronhome">Home of the</span> <a class="chronbrand" href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/">San Francisco Chronicle</a></p> <p class="papertools"> <a class="delivery" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343/https://www.subscriber-services.com/sfchron/ns/nssplash.asp?pid=10">Home Delivery</a> | <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/">Today's Paper</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343/http://personalshopper.sfgate.com/ROP/Categories.aspx">Ads</a> </p> <!-- end brands.html --> </div><!--/.midsection--> <!-- user_tools.html --> <p class="user_tools"> <script type="text/javascript"> // <![CDATA[ if ( typeof window.print_sfgate_un != "undefined" ) { print_sfgate_un(); } // ]]> </script> </p> <!-- end user_tools.html --> <!-- searchbar.html --> <form class="searchbar" action="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/csearch/cs" method="get"><input type="hidden" name="Submit" value="S"/><input class="text" type="text" name="term"/> <input class="submit" type="image" name="Go" value="Search" alt="Search" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343im_/http://imgs.sfgate.com/graphics/sitenav/search_button57x19.gif"/> <input class="radio" type="radio" name="st" value="s" checked="checked"/><label>SFGate</label> <input class="radio" type="radio" name="st" value="y"/><label>Web Search <em>by</em> <b class="yahoo">YAHOO!</b></label> <a class="pipe" name="pipe">|</a> <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/as/main">Advanced Search</a></form> <!-- end searchbar.html --> <!-- types/widgets/pages/nav001/main.tmpl --> <!-- nav001/includes/main_business.html generated by main_business on Thu Sep 4 09:33:12 2008 --> <ul class="main business"> <li class="main home"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/">Home</a></li> <li class="main news"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/">News</a></li> <li class="main sports"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/">Sports</a></li> <li class="main business_selected"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/business/">Business</a></li> <li class="main entertainment"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/">Entertainment</a></li> <li class="main food"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/food/">Food</a></li> <li class="main living"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/living/">Living</a></li> <li class="main travel"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/travel/">Travel</a></li> <li class="main columns"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/columns/">Columns</a></li> <li class="main classifieds"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343/http://marketplace.sfgate.com/">Classifieds</a></li> <li class="main jobs"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/jobs/">Jobs</a></li> <li class="main homes"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/homes/">Homes</a></li> <li class="main cars"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/autos/">Cars</a></li> <!-- siteindex.html --> <li class="index"><div class="popupkit"><div id="popmask"></div><div id="popup"><div class="tabmask"></div><div class="tab"><a href="#" onclick="document.getElementById('popup').style.display='none'; document.getElementById('popmask').style.display='none';"></a></div><div class="content"> <div class="title clearfix"><div style="float:right;width: 65px;text-align:right;padding-right:8px;font-weight:bold;"><a href="#" onclick="document.getElementById('popup').style.display='none'; document.getElementById('popmask').style.display='none';">Close [X]</a></div>Quick links to the best of SFGate <span class="pipe">|</span> Still can't find it? see <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/index/">Site Index</a><!-- <span class="pipe">|</span> <a href="/help/">Help</a>--></div> <div class="columns"> <div class="column1"> <h3><span class="mute"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/">News</a></span> <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/">»</a></h3> <h4>Today</h4> <ul> <!-- <li><a href="/news/">Breaking News</a></li> --> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/">Breaking News</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/">Today's Chronicle</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/traffic/">Traffic</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/weather/">Weather</a></li> </ul> <h4>Sections</h4> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/">Bay Area & State</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/business/">Business</a></li> <!-- <li><a href="/autos/news_research.shtml">Car Reviews</a></li> --> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/">Crime</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/education/">Education</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/environment/">Environment</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/health/">Health & Medicine</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/nation/">Nation</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/obituaries/">Obituaries</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/">Opinion</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/politics/">Politics</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/science/">Science</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/technology/">Technology</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/weird/">Weird News</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/">World</a></li> <!-- <li><a href="javascript:alert('To Be Determined')">Transportation</a></li> --> </ul> </div> <div class="column2"> <!-- <h4>Regions</h4> <ul> <li><a href="javascript:alert('To Be Determined')">Bay Area & State</a></li> <li><a href="javascript:alert('To Be Determined')">San Francisco</a></li> <li><a href="javascript:alert('To Be Determined')">US & World</a></li> </ul> --> <h4><span class="mute"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/">Sports</a></span> <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/">»</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/49ers/">49ers</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/raiders/">Raiders</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/giants/">Giants</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/athletics/">Athletics</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/warriors/">Warriors</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/sports/sharks/">Sharks</a></li> </ul> <h4>More</h4> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/main/page">Blogs</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343/http://personalshopper.sfgate.com/ROP/Categories.aspx">Chronicle Ads</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/magazine/">Chronicle Magazine</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/chroniclewatch/">Chronicle Watch</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/">Columnists</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/comics/">Comics</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/earthquakes/">Earthquakes</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/liveviews/">Live Views</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/lottery/">Lottery</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/maps/">Maps</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/polls/">Polls</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343/http://www.legalnotice.org/pl/SFGate/">Public Notices</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343/http://allbusiness.sfgate.com/">Small Business</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="column3"> <h3>Features</h3> <h4><span class="mute"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/food/">Food</a></span> <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/food/">»</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/food/bargains/">Bargain Bites</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/food/reviews/">Restaurant Reviews</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/food/top100/">Top 100 Restaurants</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/wine/">Wine</a></li> </ul> <h4><span class="mute"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/travel/">Travel</a></span> <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/travel/">»</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/">Bay Area Traveler</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/">Hawaii</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/mexico/">Mexico</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/guide/renotahoe/">Reno & Tahoe</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/wine/">Wine Country</a></li> <li> </li> </ul> <h4><span class="mute"><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/living/">Living</a></span> <a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/living/">»</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/gay/">Gay & Lesbian</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/green/">Green</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/">Home & Garden</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/moms/">Moms</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/outdoors/">Outdoors</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20080906181343/http://www.sfgate.com/pets/">Pets</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080906181343/http://personalshopper.sfgate.com/SS/Tiles.aspx?&type=sfis">SFiS</a></li> <!-- FILE ARCHIVED ON 18:13:43 Sep 06, 2008 AND RETRIEVED FROM THE INTERNET ARCHIVE ON 07:47:25 Nov 25, 2024. JAVASCRIPT APPENDED BY WAYBACK MACHINE, COPYRIGHT INTERNET ARCHIVE. ALL OTHER CONTENT MAY ALSO BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT (17 U.S.C. SECTION 108(a)(3)). --> <!-- playback timings (ms): captures_list: 0.944 exclusion.robots: 0.042 exclusion.robots.policy: 0.025 esindex: 0.014 cdx.remote: 17.255 LoadShardBlock: 254.784 (6) PetaboxLoader3.datanode: 183.546 (7) PetaboxLoader3.resolve: 167.316 (2) load_resource: 186.433 -->