Desktop personalized news provider PointCast Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, last week unveiled an e-commerce initiative called MarketPlace, available on the Internet at www.entrypoint.com/marketplace. PointCast developed MarketPlace in partnership with Visa. The service will allow PointCast's mostly business subscribers to research, compare and buy products online. So far, vendors participating in MarketPlace are online bookseller Amazon.com, Internet comparison shopping service Compare.Net and Impulse Buy Network — a banner-ad network that allows its 100 participating merchants to create time-sensitive special offers and deliver them across the Internet from their desktops.
