May 24, 2000

. . . AS IT MAKES A MOVE INTO E-BOOKS

Michael Crichton's bestseller "Timeline" is the latest downloadable e-book offered free to kick off Microsoft's newest multi-conglomerate venture that industry experts predict will make reading electronic novels as popular as...

CHASE TAKING BATH ON HIGH-TECH DOGS

CHASE Manhattan's stock has been beaten brutally by investors since late March but has lately been staging a nice rally. Are people really that stupid? Not that Chase isn't a...

COLE ADDING SCENT - PLANS TO BE CROWNED A BEAUTY KING, TOO

Shoes, accessories and clothing king Kenneth Cole is launching a perfume and a line of cosmetics, The Post has learned. The designer, who is set to roll out his first-ever...

GUCCI BUYS FRENCH WATCHMAKER

Domenico De Sole is jumping into the red-hot watch business. Gucci's chief executive has bought Boucheron, the 150-year-old Paris watch and jewelry maker, which is expected to ring up $85...

TODAY IS D-DAY FOR M'SOFT

Microsoft may learn a lot about its future today when lawyers go to court for a make-or-break hearing on the Justice Department's proposals to break up the company. Federal Judge...

NASDAQ BEAR STIRS - DIVES 6% TO 6-MONTH LOW; DOW SINKS 120

Stocks continued their plunge into the depths yesterday, with the popular Nasdaq composite index falling to its lowest level in six months. Even long-term investors are beginning to feel the...

MOSSIMO IS HANGING ON BY A THREAD

Mossimo Giannulli's empire has shrunk to a size extra small. Shares in his beleaguered sportswear company dropped 25 cents to just 63 cents yesterday, in their first day of trading...

U.K.-BASED AUCTION SITE FIREDUP FOR DEBUT HERE

A new U.K.-based online auction site has launched its first U.S. promotion, selling luxury items - including a Sunseeker yacht from a James Bond movie - and a Tiara worn...

OLD GOLD TO BE SOLD - SOTHEBY'S TO AUCTION SALVAGED '49ER PRIZE

The biggest lode of gold ever to go down at sea - a disaster that triggered the financial Panic of 1857 - is going on the auction block for the...

... WHILE INTERSCOPE PREZ IS WOOED

Warner Music's maestro Roger Ames is setting the stage for big changes at the music giant. Sources say Ames, who has yet to wield his wand in making significant shuffles,...

DETAILS STEALS 3RD N.Y. STAFFER

IT'S war between Details and New York. Last week, new Details Editor-in-Chief Dan Peres hired Kevin Gray - the writer who had penned the buzz-generating cover story for New York...

TURMOIL AT WARNER - TOMMY BOY WANTS OUT OF JOINT VENTURE

Tommy Boy Records founder and CEO Tom Silverman is ready to pull the plug on his joint-venture deal with Warner Music Group. The head of the New York-based label known...

COVER CONCERT DOESN'T DO JONI JUSTICE

MAYBE because Joni Mitchell is one of the most important songwriters of her generation, it's a little disappointing that her latest career move is dusting off cabaret standards and love...

ROSIE VOWS TIMELY TONYS

ROSIE O'Donnell, the host and producer of this year's Tony Awards, phoned last week to say that she will bring the Tony telecast in on time - and that all...

SIMPLICITY IS KEY AT AFFORDABLE BLUE HILL

DAMN the $49 steaks. The hell with $41 sole. Manhattan's restaurant pricing atrocities are more easily avoided than those scare-stories in the Times would have you believe. Take Blue Hill,...

ANOTHER TV STAR JUMPS TO NEWS: 'HOMICIDE' ACTOR STARTS WEB NEWS SERVICE

'HOMICIDE" star Yaphet Kotto has traded his Baltimore detective badge for a reporter's notebook. Kotto, who played Lt. Al Giardello on the critically acclaimed cop show, wants to be a...

IS COSBY'S LIFE IMITATING ART? TAKES ROLE AS DAD OF LOVE CHILD

BILL COSBY - the beloved sitcom father figure who battled shocking charges he has an illegitimate daughter - is making a TV movie in which his character fathers a love...

YAHOO FOR WOO'S '2'!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 Handsomely produced sequel is enor mous fun to watch but instantly for gettable. The semi-coherent story -- Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) trying to re cover a killer...

THE STARR REPORT

Real 'Daytime' drama ABC Daytime VP Sallie Schoneboom underwent a real-life soap opera when she slipped and hurt herself after last Friday's Daytime Emmy Awards. It was around 3 a.m....

PAN-LATIN FARE AT EAST VILLAGE EATERY ESPERANTO IS ALL OVER THE MAP

NO dictionary is required at Esperanto. Waiters at the far-East Village restaurant won't ask for your order in the international speak from which it gets its name. That other universal...

FISH AND CHICKS - SUSHI'S NOT THE ONLY THING IN THE RAW AT DINE-IN STRIP CLUB

'TWO California rolls, two sakes and a lap dance, please."An unusual order to be sure, but Kenny Fong, who left Nobu and is now executive chef at a strip club,...

SAD GOODBYE TO 'SPIN' GOOD GUY

"Spin City" Tonight at 9 on WABC/Ch. 7 No rating I CAN'T rate this episode of "Spin City." I can't critique it. All I can say is "I laughed! I...

FOX HAS COURAGE YOU CAN'T HIDE

WHEN he appears in public these days, Michael J. Fox can't hide the involuntary movement of his limbs caused by Parkinson's disease. Despite the discomfort that must cause, he kidded...

TURN TRASH CDS INTO MUSICAL TREASURES

EVERYBODY has them. Those few embarrassing CDs in your collection that you hope nobody will ever notice. You could throw away that Vanilla Ice disc, or risk humiliation by selling...

'PROOF' POSITIVE

WOMEN scientists seem to be occupying playwrights' minds these days.There was Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia," which featured a 19th-century female math expert. There was also Shelagh Stephenson's "Experiment With an Airpump,"...

LLOYD'S NIXES JEWELRY HUNT AT CRASH SITE

Lloyd's of London yesterday scrapped plans to hunt for a treasure trove of jewels at the site of the 1998 Swissair crash - after angry relatives of the victims objected....

PIRRO 'LOVE CHILD' TESTIMONY SPARKS FIREWORKS IN COURT

Testimony about the love child of real-estate developer Albert Pirro sparked an angry finger-pointing confrontation between lawyers yesterday at his federal tax-evasion trial. Pirro's wife, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine...

GUITAR MAN LEAVES OASIS HIGH AND DRY

Oasis' world tour is making an unscheduled stop in Splitsville - with guitarist Noel Gallagher pulling out after clashing with his party-animal brother Liam. The last-minute change forced the Britpop...

INS BOSS: SPRAY WAS ONLY WAY TO GET ELIAN

The immigration official who led the raid to yank Elian Gonzalez from the home of his Miami kin said agents felt they had no alternative but to use pepper spray...

L.I. JUDGE'S STABBED WIFE: HE NEEDS HELP

The wife of a Nassau County judge says he was stressed out and seemed paranoid and delusional before he was charged with stabbing her in the back - and maintains...

KEEPING BABY BLAIR FROM MEDIA GLARE

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is urging well-wishers to give his infant son, Leo, a precious gift - privacy. A day after a photo of newborn Leo Blair, asleep in...

KNICK FANS FIT TO BE TIED: VOW THEIR TEAM WILL REBOUND FROM LOSS

Tomorrow is get-even time for Knicks fans as they hope to avenge a 102-88 Game 1 loss to the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals in Indianapolis. "They'll come back!...

THEY'LL NEVER WIN MAKING STUPID MISTAKES

INDIANAPOLIS. THIS is not Miami. In case the Knicks had any thoughts that the road to the Finals would be a South Beach breeze, they learned last night that the...

HE TAKES A TIP FROM HILLARY & SPREADS WEALTH

Rep. Rick Lazio to New Yorkers: Keep the change! Lazio spread money around yesterday from Grand Central Terminal to East Harlem - never passing up a chance to leave a...

BILL'S WHINING POSITIVELY NIXONESQUE

THE president's paranoia is showing. As he fades toward retirement, arguably a successful president marred by a massive self-destructive streak, Bill Clinton resembles not the youthful man who bounded into...

TV STAR HAS NEW ROLE AS HEALTH WARRIOR

"Spin City" star Michael J. Fox, who's leaving the hit sitcom to battle Parkinson's disease, launched his foundation to push for a cure yesterday, as a new study suggested coffee...

IT'S THE MOYNIHAN COURTHOUSE

WASHINGTON - President Clinton yesterday signed a law naming the federal courthouse in Manhattan after Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who's retiring after 24 years. "I couldn't be happier," Moynihan (D-N.Y.)...

THEATER WAS VICTIM'S LIFELONG LOVE

A 71-year-old theater and TV actor killed by a tour bus as he left an audition was a consummate professional who had returned to his first love - the theater...

BRASS WANTS TO X OUT NYPD 'BLUE' PRECINCTS

Top police brass want to keep the blue out the NYPD by barring X-rated television, videos and nudie magazines from station houses and other cop facilities, The Post has learned....

HILLARY'S RFK NIGHTMARE - KENNEDY'S CARPETBAG CAMPAIGN CAME CLOSE TO SINKING HIM IN '64

RUDY Giuliani's withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race has created both opportunities and problems for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Opportunities: She no longer faces the strongest possible opponent. Problems: With Giuliani's...

U.S. MALE DOESN'T DELIVER - WHEN IT COMES TO SEX, HE'S WAY BEHIND MEN FROM ABROAD: SURVEY

American men may think they're studs - but a new survey suggests they're duds. The June issue of Men's Health says the average American guy has sex only 79 times...

JUDGE SAVES HYNDE'S HIDE

Pretender-turned-offender Chrissie Hynde is back off the chain gang. A Manhattan judge agreed yesterday to dismiss misdemeanor criminal mischief charges against the lead singer for The Pretenders - busted in...

SHORT ATHLETE'S A TOWERING HERO

RANDY JOHN ROWE remembers the tension of that big basketball game. "We're gonna kick ass," he told himself. It was 1987 and Randy was playing for the New York Rockers...

SILVER VOWS BUSINESS AS USUAL

ALBANY - One day after beating back a coup attempt, an unrepentant Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver promised yesterday no major changes in the way he runs his house. During a...

DEMS' 'CASUAL' DINNER: 250G A POP

WASHINGTON - Democrats are highlighting tonight's 12,000-person fund-raiser as an affair for the people, but the cheapest ticket for the party's more exclusive dinner last night was $250,000. The dinner...

LAZIO WOOS KEY VOTERS ON DEMS' HARLEM TURF

GOP Senate candidate Rick Lazio brought his campaign to East Harlem yesterday via the Lexington Avenue No. 6 train, vowing to work overtime for the votes of African-Americans and Hispanics....

A WINTOUR'S TALE: EX-NANNY SUES OVER TOXIC TIDYING

Anna Wintour's former live-in nanny claims she suffered "severe and permanent neurological injuries" from toxic fumes in the Vogue editor's home after a graffiti attack by anti-fur protesters. In a...

CLINTON EDGES CLOSER TO CHINA TRADE VOTE OK

WASHINGTON - More than a dozen fence-sitting lawmakers yesterday agreed to support a bill boosting trade with China, giving President Clinton a likely victory in today's historic vote. We're "on...

BUSH: I'D REDUCE OUR NUKE-WEAPON ARSENAL

WASHINGTON - Texas Gov. George W. Bush says America has too many nukes and vowed yesterday that if elected he'd slash the country's weapon stockpile - even if Russia refuses...

B'KLYN DA OFFICE ADMITS IT BLEW CAR-THEFT CASE

The Brooklyn district attorney's office bungled the prosecution of two dozen city sanitation workers nabbed in a $1.5 million auto-theft ring two years ago, officials conceded yesterday. Of 26 workers...

KIDDIE INVENTOR BEATS ONION-PEEL TEARS

An 8-year-old New York student has been named a finalist in a national young inventors contest for creating a "dry eyes" onion-slicer. Third-grader Rachael Kaminsky of Concord Road Elementary School...

FIRST LADY JABS RICK ON GUNS, BUCHANAN

Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday made her strongest attack on newcomer Rick Lazio, saying he's on the wrong side of the gun-control battle and shouldn't share the Independence Party line with...

POST GOES ON WILD RIDE WITH COWBOY AT THE WHEEL

A ride with New York Apple Tours is a typical Manhattan driving experience - running red lights, making illegal turns and nearly colliding with trucks, people and buses. The Post...

SCHUMER HOPPING MAD OVER 'KANGAROO' DISBAR BID

WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles Schumer, who said President Clinton committed perjury in the Paula Jones case, yesterday blasted the disbarment attempt against him as the product of a "kangaroo court."...

CITY: GET THESE CLUNKERS OFF THE ROAD - JUDGE SET TO ACT IN MIDTOWN DEATH

City officials want a judge to ground a problem-plagued double-decker tour-bus fleet as early as tomorrow - just days after one of its vehicles killed an elderly actor in Hell's...

UNITED PLANS TO BUY US AIRWAYS FOR $11.6B: REPORT

United Airlines, the world's largest carrier, intends to buy US Airways for $11.6 billion, according to published reports. United tried unsuccessfully in 1995 to buy US Airways for its valuable...

LEVY CUTS RED TAPE IN HIRING TEACHERS

Schools Chancellor Harold Levy is abolishing a rule that requires all new teachers to be interviewed at board headquarters in Brooklyn before getting hired. Levy said the interview - conducted...

WYE NOT: ELIAN AND CO. DITCHING DIGS

Bored by their bucolic surroundings at the Wye Plantation, Elian Gonzalez, his dad and their Cuban entourage are reportedly headed for downtown D.C. The group's soon-to-be new home is part...

DRESSED TO KILL, AND DAVIS DOES

INDIANAPOLIS - Dale Davis knows it's important to dress for success. And for a series with the Knicks. See, Reggie Miller has taken to wearing a Superman T-shirt during the...

ROB VICTIM WHO KILLED SUSPECT MAY BE CHARGED

The young co-owner of a Queens cellular-phone shop could face charges after killing one of the fleeing thugs who robbed her yesterday, cops said. While the law generally protects people...

TOWERS OF POWER: KNICKS NEED EWING AND CAMBY TO STAND TALL

INDIANAPOLIS - They are the Knicks' future and their past. They are as different as night and day. One's face usually is a snarl, the other's a smile. But if...

SERIES OPENER IS INDY, ALL THE WAY

INDIANAPOLIS - The Knicks bucked the odds against the Heat in rallying from a 3-2 hole. Only 16 percent of clubs in history had done that. Now the Knicks have...

INDY HOPING TO GET BEST OF MATCHUP AT THE POINT

INDIANAPOLIS - This time, the Pacers' two-headed point guard going against the Knicks' two-headed point guard will actually have two heads. In the 1999 version of the Pacers-Knicks, the world's...

ALLAN'S WHEEL A BIG DEAL: CAN HOUSTON KEEP UP WITH MILLER?

INDIANAPOLIS - The last time they tangled in a playoff game, Allan Houston scored a decisive and remarkable knockout of Reggie Miller. In a game that seemed to suggest one...

START YOUR ENGINES! KNICKS & PACERS REV IT UP IN INDY

INDIANAPOLIS - The Knicks are used to the slights. Miami refused to give them credit for outlasting the Heat in their recent seven-game war, raising all sorts of conspiracy theories...

BLOOMIN' ROSE KEY IN STRETCH

INDIANAPOLIS - A first half like Jalen Rose endured last night could be the end of a beautiful friendship. See, Rose and Knick Latrell Sprewell are friends, having met through...

PACER PALS STAND BY REGGIE ON 'HATE' TALK

INDIANAPOLIS - Maybe Reggie Miller was just getting himself jump-started for his seemingly annual meeting with the Knicks. He hates 'em to death, he claimed. On his list of favorite...

PACERS: WE MISS ANTONIO

INDIANAPOLIS - He gave them 9.5 points and 6.5 rebounds as a reserve in last year's conference finals. He was as popular in the locker room as anyone on the...

PIAZZA PUTS PINCH ON PODS: HOMER OFF HOFFMAN LIFTS METS IN THE 10TH

TEN INNINGS Mets 5 Padres 3 SAN DIEGO - This is what future Hall of Famers do. They make you say: Are you kidding me? They come through again and...

MONMOUTH SET TO OPEN

Monmouth Park, the racing jewel by the Jersey Shore that continues to defy the thoroughbred industry's shrinking fan base, will swing open its gates for a new season Saturday with...

THEY'RE ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Some racetracks, because of their surface, configuration, biases - even the time of the year the meet is held - are known to produce "horses for courses." Aqueduct's inner dirt...

VINNY SAYS HE'S READY TO RETURN

It was a frightful sight that quickly overrode the uplifting, warming picture of the Jets having Vinny Testaverde back in the pocket throwing passes for the first time since he...

MO'S A NO-SHOW FOR MINICAMP

JET NOTES Mo Lewis was conspicuously absent from the bustling Jets' locker room between double-session practices at yesterday's start of the veteran minicamp. He, too, has declined numerous interview requests...

PACERS, LIKE NETS, COVET ISIAH

INDIANAPOLIS - If the Nets are indeed intrigued by Isiah Thomas for a front-office or coaching position, and they must be because they intend to talk with him, then they...

YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO FAR

THE waters surrounding New York City are a fertile area for marine life, but nowhere is the fishing more exciting and more dramatic than in the very waters that surround...

DEVILS SAY THEY WON'T TAKE IT EASY ON LINDROS

Put dots in the loops of the Double-Eights, make them look like targets. Ah, the Devils won't need any reminding. If Eric Lindros has any illusions what the Devils intend...

FLYERS CAN'T WAIT ON LINDROS

VOORHEES, N.J. - Should the Flyers wait? For what? For Eric Lindros, with one short practice under his belt, to get into game condition? That will take to mid-June, by...

DEVILS NEED SCOTT TO BE GREAT AGAIN

EVERYBODY remembers it. Everybody remembers Scott Niedermayer picking up the puck in his own end, going coast to coast while reducing Paul Coffey to burnt toast, in the third period...

STEVENS NOT MESS-ING AROUND

Six years ago today, the captain of the team trailing the Stanley Cup semifinal 3-2 promised triumph and survival in Game 6 at the Meadowlands. Facing the same situation tonight,...

'LIMITED' LINDROS COMING BACK

VOORHEES, N.J. - Recuperating from the fifth concussion of his career, Eric Lindros will make a dramatic return for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight at Meadowlands Arena....

HITMEN BREAK THROUGH BARRIER

Stuyvesant 6 Smith 3 Stuyvesant climbed a huge mountain yesterday, defeating Alfred E. Smith, 6-3, to move past the first-round in the PSAL playoffs for the first time since the...

MONROE MARCHES ON

Monroe 7 Bergtraum 3 As far as omens go, this wasn't a good one. During warmups before its 7-3, first-round PSAL playoff win over Bergtraum yesterday, Monroe nearly lost starting...

BOSS HAS CANSECO ON MIND

CHICAGO - At 2:30 yesterday afternoon George Steinbrenner walked into the Yankees' minor league complex in Tampa to meet with his Inner Circle. Having allowed the Inner Circle to talk...

RICKEY: I GOOFED ON LOAF

BALTIMORE - Often agitated at the sight of a circle of reporters around his Shea Stadium locker, Mariners leadoff hitter Rickey Henderson was more at ease last night with a...

JONES WILL BE GUNNING FOR ANOTHER GOOD START

SAN DIEGO - Bobby Jones' return to California is more significant than just as a homecoming. If Jones can have his second consecutive good start, then the Mets' five-man rotation...

JARVIS: THER'S NOT PLACE LIKE ST. JOHN'S

At this rate, St. John's coach Mike Jarvis is going to become an expert at damage control. If it's not the NCAA investigating his program, it's players confronting each other...

CLEMENS CAN'T STOP THE SKID

White Sox 8 Yankees 2 CHICAGO - Welcome to the Yankee Horror Picture Show. It consists of two frames, one a grotesque photograph of a lineup loaded with hitters trying...

JETER MAY RETURN BY SATURDAY

CHICAGO - Derek Jeter took batting practice at the Yankees' minor league complex in Tampa yesterday, fielded ground balls and played catch. He is slated to do it again today...

REGGIE WALKS THE WALK

INDIANAPOLIS - Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals couldn't get underway last night before Reggie Miller started flapping his gums about how he hates the Knicks and doesn't think...

ISLES GET DUCKS' HUNTER

The Islanders yesterday traded a fourth-round pick in next month's Entry Draft to Anaheim for 20-year-old right wing Trent Hunter, who played in juniors last season. Hunter, a 6-foot-3, 195-pounder,...

1ST THINGS WORST FOR KNICKS:PACERS ROLL IN OPENER AS JEFF TROOP LAYS EGG

INDIANAPOLIS - It didn't take long for the Knicks to realize what they're up against with these high-octane Pacers. As they walked to the bench after getting mauled by Indiana's...

ROSE, SPREE STILL ; BEST OF FOES

INDIANAPOLIS - Another first half like the one Jalen Rose endured last night could be the end of a beautiful friendship. See, Rose and Latrell Sprewell are friends, having met...

PATRICK'S STRONG AT ONE END

INDIANAPOLIS - The Pacers don't think Patrick Ewing can beat them. It is Ewing's job the remainder of the Eastern Conference Finals to make Indiana pay for that disrespect. The...

HOUSTON'S BAD WHEEL HOLDS UP ; ANKLE WON'T BE FACTOR

INDIANAPOLIS - If there is anything the Knicks can squeeze out of last night's 102-88 loss to the Pacers to make them feel excited about the next game, it is...

STILL FEELIN' HEAT, KNICKS ARE TOAST

INDIANAPOLIS - They left it in Miami. The energy, the drive, the competitive fire, none of it made it out of south Florida. At least, not in the first quarter....

AUSTIN'S POWERS TOO MUCH: CAMBY CRUSHED BY NEW SECRET WEAPON

INDIANAPOLIS - Mr. Camby, meet Mr. Croshere. Introductions are in order, as Marcus Camby last night rarely got close enough to Austin Croshere to know his whereabouts. A matchup that...

TEAMMATES AGREE WITH REGGIE'S SPEW

INDIANAPOLIS - Maybe Reggie Miller was just getting himself jump-started for his seemingly annual meeting with the Knicks. "Hate 'em to death," he claimed. On his list of favorite things,...

AUSTIN'S POWERS TOO MUCH ; CROSHERE BURIES KNICKS

INDIANAPOLIS - Austin Croshere, secret weapon? The Pacers are keeping fingers crossed and lips sealed about the possibility of Croshere, their leading scorer with 22 points last night, being the...

JOHNSON IS LOUSY - WITH A BIG 'L'

KNICK NOTES INDIANAPOLIS - No Knick appeared ready for battle in that disastrous first quarter last night, but Larry Johnson particularly seemed in a fog. Pacers power forward Dale Davis...

NEW RIK: NO FOUL, NO HARM

PACER NOTES INDIANAPOLIS - Go back one year. In the time it takes you to reach the next paragraph, Rik Smits would have started the game for the Indiana Pacers,...