Free-PC Unable to Speed Up Giveaway

By KAREN KAPLAN

March 1, 1999 12 AM PT

Due to a flood of applications, Free-PC.com said last week that it won’t be able to accelerate its plans to give away 10,000 Compaq computers to people who are willing to share personal information with the Pasadena company. The PCs are still scheduled to be delivered in May, and the first round of recipients will be selected two to three weeks before that, spokesman Steve Chadima said.

More than 1.2 million people have visited Free-PC.com’s Web site (https://www.free-pc.com) to request a computer, which will have a strip of interactive ads along the side of the screen. Chadima said the company hopes to hand out another round of computers within a month of the May giveaway if the response from initial advertisers is positive.

Technology and the Internet

Karen Kaplan

Karen Kaplan covers science and medical research for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a member of the science team since 2005, including 13 years as an editor. Her first decade at The Times was spent covering technology in the Business section as both a reporter and editor. She grew up in San Diego and is a graduate of MIT and Columbia University.

Free-PC Unable to Speed Up Giveaway

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