Symbol Technologies Inc

William D. Schmidt has joined the board of Oakley Inc., a Foothill Ranch designer and manufacturer of eyewear and athletic equipment, increasing the number of directors to seven. Schmidt is vice president of worldwide sports marketing for Quaker Oats Co.'s Gatorade brand. Before he joined Quaker in 1984 as director of sports marketing, he was vice president of sports for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, managing eight sports and 63 training sites. * John L.

* Charles M. Caporale has been named senior vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Centris Group Inc., a Costa Mesa provider of medical coverage and property/casualty reinsurance. He succeeds Mark Burke, who resigned to pursue other interests and will remain a consultant to the company. Caporale had been executive vice president and chief financial officer of Minet Inc., which was recently purchased by AON Inc. * Robert W.

* Patrick F. Stone has been appointed chief operating officer of Fidelity National Financial Inc., an Irvine title insurance underwriter. Stone has been president and chief operating officer of the company's major underwriting subsidiaries since May 1995, and will retain these positions. * Joseph J. Wallace has been named chief financial officer of STM Wireless Inc., an Irvine manufacturer of wireless communications products. He succeeds Preston Romm, who resigned at the end of 1996.

It begins with a computer chip that can pick up and transmit an electronic signal. When stuck to a new television or a car traveling a FasTrak toll lane, it instantly transmits the TV's model or the driver's identification. Businesses believe it will revolutionize the way items are tracked from warehouse to checkout. Even the Department of Defense manages supply lines with the technology. But should government use this radio-frequency identification to track people too?

What's wrong when Orange County creates more jobs in hamburger production than rocket production? What's wrong when a high-tech manufacturer opts to move 500 local jobs to New York because of tax incentives and California's state employment agency opens a new office in tony Mission Viejo to handle jobless claims? The answer is the oft-quoted slogan for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign: It's the economy, stupid.