Cynthia Harvey

Samsung has released the results of an audit of labor practices at 105 of its suppliers in China. The company says it did not find any underage workers, an allegation made by China Labor Watch, but it did uncover other violations, including excessive overtime and fines for employee tardiness. CNET’s Don Reisinger reported, “According to […]

Google has added a new section to its website which warns readers that the United Nations (UN) is taking actions which threaten Internet freedom. Beginning Dec. 3, the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is hosting a World Conference on International Telecommunications, and the attendees could renegotiate treaties concerning the Internet in closed door meetings. According […]

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will likely be the next government agency to abandon RIM’s BlackBerry platform. The agency wants to replace its aging BlackBerry smartphones with iPhones. Computerworld’s John Ribeiro reported, “The National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S. plans to drop the BlackBerry smartphone from Research In Motion for Apple’s iPhone, citing […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating allegations that Google’s search results page unfairly promotes Google’s own services at the expense of rivals. However, unnamed sources are telling media outlets that some within the agency don’t believe it has enough evidence for an antitrust case. Bloomberg’s Sara Forden and Jeff Bliss first broke the […]

Salesforce.com has posted its quarterly earnings, which slightly beat analyst expectations. The company remains optimistic about its prospects in coming quarters. Robert Mullins from eWeek reported, “The company, which delivers software-as-a-service (SaaS) to business and enterprise customers, reported a net loss of $220.3 million, or $1.55 a share based on generally accepting accounting principles (GAAP). […]

Facebook has announced that it is beefing up security for users by making HTTPS the default protocol for accessing the social network. Users may notice a slight slowdown on the website as a result. InformationWeek’s Mathew J. Schwartz reported, “Facebook has begun making HTTPS, which provides SSL/TLS encryption, the default protocol for accessing all pages […]

In its latest quarterly financial report, HP posted a $7 billion loss, due in large part to a $8.8 billion write-down of the value of software firm Autonomy, which HP bought last year. HP says the write-down was triggered by its discovery of “serious accounting improprieties” and “outright misrepresentations” that occurred before the acquisition. Bloomberg’s […]

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has decided to review an earlier decision in which an ITC judge ruled that Apple had not infringed on Samsung’s patents. The commission will consider issues which could have larger implications for the licensing of standards-essential patents in general. Bloomberg’s Susan Decker reported, “Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s biggest […]

Networking giant Cisco has announced plans to purchase a company called Meraki for $1.2 billion in cash and retention incentives. Meraki makes Wi-Fi networking technology that appeals to many small to mid-size enterprises. ZDNet’s Larry Dignan explained, “The privately held company, which has about 330 employees, has midmarket customers that Cisco can’t reach. Meraki counts […]

A new report from market research firm Forrester finds that enterprise IT interest in upgrading to Windows 8 lags far behind their interest in Windows 7 at a similar point in the release cycle. However, many enterprise workers are surprisingly enthusiastic about the new operating system. Computerworld’s Gregg Keizer reported, “Enterprise IT decision makers are […]