RadioShack Sends Pink Slips via E-mail
RadioShack on Tuesday followed through on plans to lay off 400 employees as part of an effort to cut expenses and become more competitive in the marketplace, but the method in which the firings occurred has some fuming. The company notified employees of their dismissal through e-mail.
"The work force reduction notification is currently in progress...Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated," the e-mail read. RadioShack officials defended the decision to e-mail employees rather than hold face-to-face meetings, saying they were given ample notice of the plan and had been invited to ask questions via the company Intranet.
Yahoo! Go Now on Windows Mobile
Yahoo said Wednesday it had released a version of its Yahoo! Go service for Windows Mobile, expanding the reach of the company's mobile offerings. Previously, the service was only available for Nokia and Motorola phones.
Yahoo! Go includes mobile versions of several popular Yahoo services, including Mail, Search, Photos, Address Book and Calendar, and content services including Yahoo! News and Finance. Each service is customized for smaller screen and includes features such as alerts that allow them to be used efficiently in a mobile environment.
Microsoft Confirms PlaysForSure Crack
Microsoft conceded Wednesday that the latest version of its Windows Media digital rights management had indeed been cracked, and said it is working on a patch to prevent customers from using the FairUse4WM program to strip the copyright protection from downloaded songs. The program was made with the intention to allow users to listen to downloaded songs on any music player, including the Apple iPod, once they were converted to a compatible format.
While some made a big deal out of the latest move by hackers to strip DRM from protected music, many analysts said the impact was minimal as most users probably wouldn't bother to download the program. "If there is a lesson here, it's that no matter how good you make the lock, someone's going to try and pick it," JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg said.
Google CEO Joins Apple Board
Google CEO Eric Schmidt was elected to Apple's board of directors Monday, joining the likes of former Vice President Al Gore and Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Jobs noted that "Eric’s insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead.”
“Apple is one of the companies in the world that I most admire,” commented Schmidt. “I'm really looking forward to working with Steve and Apple’s board to help with all of the amazing things Apple is doing.” Schmidt additionally serves on Google's board and Princeton University’s board of trustees.
Japan Asks Apple to Investigate Laptops
Apple Computer has been ordered by the Japanese government to investigate its products after reports that at least one of the company's laptops has caught fire as a result of defective batteries from its partner Sony. Apple has already initiated a recall of 1.8 million batteries, mostly in the United States, on a voluntary basis. In that recall, Apple said the battery could overheat "in rare circumstances."
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry had previously asked Dell and Sony to investigate why Dell laptops were overheating and catching fire. The government had also threatened the two companies with fines under Japan's consumer safety laws if they failed to comply.
Microsoft Launches New Marketplace
Microsoft on Monday took the wraps off its new Windows Marketplace, which features the "digital locker" it began beta testing in June. The site offers consumers a selection of software, paid and free, for Windows XP, in addition to hardware upgrades and electronics.
The digital locker was designed to give customers a single page for controlling their personal information and purchase history, allowing them to instantly see what software licenses they own. Microsoft is offering programs from the libraries of Digital River, eSellerate, Handango and Kagi, but will not support independent ISVs. Software developers must sign up with one of those partners to sell their products.
Google Launches Webmaster Site
Google on Friday rolled out a new service designed to enable the company to better interact with webmasters around the world. The site offers a variety of tools related to the company's search engine, including a status wizard to see if Google is properly indexing a specific URL.
Webmaster Central will also feature a blog to keep users informed about how Google crawls the Web, an expanded Webmaster Help Google Group, and a number of FAQs. As part of the Webmaster tools service, formerly called Google Sitemaps, users can add a Web site to their Google account and make changes to how it is indexed.
ESA Wins Halt of Louisiana Game Law
A district judge in Louisiana has issued a preliminary injunction that would prevent the state's violent video game law from taking effect, saying that the video game industry likely would be able to prove their First Amendment rights were being violated. The decision follows a similar pattern to those issued by judges overturning laws in Michigan, Washington, Illinois and California, which all cited free speech concerns in their rulings.
U.S. District Judge James Brady also cited the vagueness of the law as reasons from stopping it from taking effect, siding with the Entertainment Software Association, which filed the initial suit. In a statement, ESA president Douglas Lowenstein chastised the state. "In the post-Katrina era, voters should be outraged that the legislature and governor wasted their tax dollars on this ill-fated attack on video games," he said. Louisiana officials declined to comment.
Japan: Investigate Dell Battery Issues
Pressure on Dell and Sony to investigate the issues surrounding the computer manufacturers exploding laptop battery problem is no longer coming from just the United States. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said the companies must find out why this is happening by the end of August and how it can be prevented, or face possible fines under the country's consumer safety laws.
In Japan, the ministry said at least twice in the past year, Sony batteries in the country had exploded and caught fire. Sony may have some early indications as to the cause of the problem: the company said that in the manufacturing process, loose metal shards within the battery were causing it to short circuit. However, Sony has not publicly confirmed that as the definite cause of the Dell battery issues.
Glitch Reveals Student Loan Data
A glitch that may have exposed the personal data of a small portion of the 6.4 million borrowers that use third-party provider Affiliated Computer Services to pay for their federal student loans is being repaired, the Education Department said Wednesday. The agency would not specify how many individuals were affected, but did disclose that at least four borrowers had alerted them that they were able to view other borrower's information, but not their own.
The problem was said to be caused by a software upgrade to the servers which contained student loan data. The parts of the Web site that malfunctioned have been disabled, and would not return until ACS could ensure that data would not be compromised. Only those who borrowed money directly from the federal government would be affected, and not those who privately borrowed, the agency said.
XP Stripped Down for South Korea
Microsoft said Wednesday that it would release a stripped-down version of Windows XP in South Korea in order to comply with the country's recent antitrust ruling. As ordered, the special version of XP would come without Windows Media Player or Windows Messenger. The Redmond company was fined $34 million in December, and found guilty of violating the country's anti-trust laws by the Korean Fair Trade Commission.
The KFTC required Microsoft to either allow embedding of third-party programs into the operating system or remove messaging and multimedia functionality from it. Two versions of XP Home and Professional will be made available: one with messaging and multimedia functionality stripped completely, the other with it included, but also containing links to download third-party applications.
Microsoft Tests Wi-Fi Connection Tool
Microsoft began sending invitations Tuesday for testers to sign up for a beta of a Wi-Fi connection manager that would assist users in finding, registering with and using public wireless hotspots.
Called Windows Live Connection Center Wi-Fi, the service is split into two parts, an application and Web site component.
ABC News Videos Added to iTunes
Disney said Tuesday it had added video content from its ABC News archives to the iTunes Music Store, including interviews and raw footage for $1.99 USD per download. The offerings are grouped into three categories: "ABC News Specials," "The Day It Happened" and "Celebrity Flashback."
The addition of ABC News brings the number of networks available on iTunes from Disney to six, joining ABC, ABC Family, Disney Channel, Jetix and SOAPnet. "We've had a tremendous response to our "World News" podcasts, and with this new iTunes offering, we continue to provide what content consumers want and have grown to expect from ABC News," ABC News president David Westin said.
Guba Drops TV, Movie Download Prices
Social video site Guba, which recently penned deals with Warner Bros and Sony Pictures to offer television shows and movies through the site, said it will offer for a limited time a significant discount on its premium content. Whereas the normal price of movie rentals, older movies and new releases was formerly $1.79, $9.99 and $19.99 USD, respectively, the promotional price would be 99 cents per rental, and $4.99 to download older movies with new releases priced at $9.99.
The duration of the promotion was not disclosed. Guba uses Windows Media digital rights management in order to provide its download service, which means videos cannot be viewed on Apple's video iPod. However, users would be able to view content on Windows PCs and portable media devices that support the format.
Infineon Snags RFID Passport Contract
The U.S. Government has awarded German-based chipmaker Infineon with a contract to provide a portion of the millions of RFID chips that will make their way into next-generation passports, the company said Monday. Financial terms and the size of the contract were not disclosed. The government expects to begin distributing the first RFID-enabled passports later this year, with 15 million slated to ship during the first year alone.
The RFID chips in the documents would hold information such as the name, date of birth, issue date and picture of the holder. Supporters of the technology, already in use in portions of Europe, say the chips and security technologies make the documents harder to copy. However, opponents disagree, saying hackers can still find a way around the security features and forge passports.
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