More on employer snooping tools

Here is an article about tools to monitor employees.  One of the tools in question, Social Sentry, explains one application of the product via an anecdote using Apple’s Ipad.  Given that Apple wanted to keep the name secret, Social Sentry would have allowed the company to filter any use by employees of the term “Ipad” to monitor success (or failure?) of secrecy campaign.

iPhone sued for false advertising

“Apple and AT&T Mobility’s 3G iPhone does not deliver on advertised promises, a class action claims in St. Louis County Court. The class claims they get error messages when they try to send a picture to another cell phone through the advertised Multimedia Messaging Service. ”

Article:

Lawsuit: mob transmits death threats via iphone

Oddball lawsuit du jour:

“McKenna claims that an iPod shuffle he bought in 2005 via eBay and an iPod mini that he claims he bought in 2006 new from an Apple Store (note that the mini was discontinued eight months before he bought it) both contain illegal receivers that Apple built in the devices, ostensibly at the request of the Mob. He claims in his lengthy, 124-page complaint that, in 2008, he was able to record Mafia members sending death threats to his iPod mini stating, “I’m about to kill him,” in “unison” with a song he was listening to.

The complaint is so bizarre, so elaborate, I’m not sure whether to laugh at its absurdity or feel sorry for McKenna, who is representing himself in the lawsuit. However, here in Orbiting HQ we think this may top a lawsuit last year claiming Steve Jobs and Apple conspired with South Carolina correction officer to sexually harass an inmate with a prolific history of filing “creative” lawsuits.”

Article:

Apple sued over iTunes gift cards

“An Illinois couple has filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple for deceptive advertising and breach of contract over iTunes gift cards that advertised 99-cent music downloads despite a price hike to $1.29 on certain songs.”

…When it increased its prices but kept that wording on its iTunes gift cards, Apple “knowingly and fraudulently misrepresented, concealed, omitted, and/or suppressed the cost to purchase individual songs from its iTunes Internet Web site,” according to the suit, which was filed on Wednesday in Illinois District Court.”

Article:

Apple, Google & Yahoo: collusion in hiring?

“The Department of Justice is investigating whether some of the largest tech firms in the world violated antitrust laws by coordinating their strategies for hiring top talent. Agreements not to steal one another’s key business and engineering employees could have unfairly stifled competition, according to the Washington Post’s sources.

The DoJ launched reviews of Apple, Genentech, Google, and Yahoo, according to these sources, none of which offered comment to the Post. Other firms could face similar scrutiny during the “industry-wide” investigation.

The problem, it would appear, lies in companies consulting each other on which employees should be recruited, and by whom. By trading one key employee for another (or by not trading them, as the case may be), these companies might be able to protect talent without resorting to expensive bidding wars or risking losing mission-critical personnel.

Article:

FTC wonders about antitrust issue with Google and Apple

“The Federal Trade Commission has begun an inquiry into whether two shared directors at Apple and Google amounts to an anti-trust violation, the New York Times reports.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson are on the board of directors of the two Silicon Valley heavyweights. While this in itself is not illegal federal law dating back to 1914 prohibits a person from being on the board of two companies when that would reduce competition between them.

Google and Apple are not major competitors: the former is a search, software and advertising company and Apple is all about hardware. But they are both in the smartphone business, even though the HTC handset powered by Google Android OS is dwarfed in popularity by Apple’s iPhone. They each also both market a browser (Chrome vs. Safari) and, in a broad sense, YouTube could be seen as a rival to iTunes as a vendor or music and music videos.

The inquiry is apparently in very early stages, sources tell the Times, and neither the two companies nor the FTC would comment. The law in question is rarely invoked, and even if this inquiry starts to boil the “interlocking” directors could just resign and being replaced.”

Thumbs down on corporate blogs

According to a new survey by Forrester, only 16% trust corporate blogs.  That seems like a different question than whether people read corporate blogs.  You might read them out of desperation because you bought a company’s product or service and need any information you can get about what you’ve bought.  You will read but you won’t necessarily trust.

The big takeaway is don’t blog to promote products or expect blogging to build your corporate voice.  Blog if you already have a strong individual identity like Jeff Bezos of Amazon or a strong brand like Apple.  My opinion is that blogging is conversational so you wouldn’t talk to a corporation, you’d talk to a person or persons at the company.

Top iPhone app? Koi pond

“Of the paid apps, Cupertino-based Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said Koi Pond tops the list. The applications turns the iPhone into a virtual fish pond with swimming koi, moving lily pads and rippling water.”

Article courtesy San Jose Busines Journal