Gross margins increased from 21 percent to 60 percent of sales during the first quarter 2001. For the quarter, the company had a net loss of $679,000, or 12 cents per share, compared with a loss of $973,000, or 34 cents per share, for the same period 2000. (As required by new accounting rules, revenues are now reported on a net rather than a gross basis.)

The company also said that it has reached an agreement with the STAR TRIBUNE of Minneapolis and Florida's ST. PETERSBURG TIMES to provide the technology for those papers' eBay Seller Classifieds. Sellers will be charged a fee for ad placements in the dedicated areas of the newspapers' classified sections and as part of the signed agreements with the two newspapers, AdStar will share in the revenues.

Also, Agfa announced that the PHILIPPINE STAR is using the Agfa Polaris 100E with Apogee workflow components and a AgfaJet Sherpa proofing system, making it the first newspaper in the Philippines to convert to computer-to-plate. The decision last June to install the Agfa system was made after a visit to an Agfa Polaris installation in China.

The site allows newspapers to compare retention numbers to the benchmarks as a means of judging marketing performance. The benchmarks are updated monthly and can be thought of as a live study in which the results are obtained on an ongoing basis. Each time the benchmark is updated, the revision date at the bottom of the page is changed so that newspapers know how recent the figures are.

MAXWorkFlow supports multiple file formats and offers a variety of workflow components such as preflight, proofing, page pairing, load balancing and output management capabilities. CNI will assist ECRM in marketing MAXWorkFlow to the CNI user base, providing installation, on-site training and continuing support. ECRM has licensed MAXWorkFlow from Global Graphics Software of the United Kingdom, formerly Harlequin.

CNI will also integrate and offer its web-enabled front-end application, MediaDesk, with the MAXWorkFlow system to enable newspapers to link directly with their customers to manage and deliver digital ads.

The Digital Collections system manages satellite photo feeds as well as digital and scanned photo workflow, enabling users to search and retrieve digital content and export it to other systems for use in print and electronic publications. The Digital Collections server-based software applications run on Linux and UNIX platforms.

The REPUBLIC outputs to film on imagesetters from Autologic Information International of Thousand Oaks, Calif., producing 500 plates an hour. Computer-to-proof software incorporates tools to control "post-RIPped" halftone dots from the original file as well as the density, dot area and press ink color. Once the press characteristics are matched, the proof may be output on to the same newsprint paper to be used for the actual print job.

SeeColor has also selected Cummings, Ga.-based Apago Inc.'s PostScript engine for its new integrated PostScript offering, which will give SeeColor's users the ability to easily process PostScript files within the SeeColor system. The standard configuration will allow SeeColor to take PS, EPS and PDF as input formats with Scitex CT and Linework input also available as an option.