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May 20, 2003
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Apple to open first overseas store
Apple Computer said Tuesday it plans to open 20 stores in the next 12 months, including its first outside the United States.
The Mac maker said it will inaugurate a large store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district early next year. The company also plans "high-profile" stores on Chicago's Michigan Avenue and in San Francisco's Union Square.
"In just two years Apple has changed the face of computer retailing for over 15 million people that have visited our 57 stores throughout the U.S.," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "During the next 12 months we will extend our reach even further by opening 20 more stores."
The announcement comes two years after Apple opened its first retail stores in McLean, Va., and Glendale, Calif.
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Motorola sinks $90 million in China
Communications equipment maker Motorola said it will invest $90 million to set up a new research company in Beijing, SARS or no SARS.
Despite U.S. travel advisories cautioning against visits to countries such as China that have been hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome, Mike Zafirovski, Motorola president and chief operating officer, made a one-day stop in the mainland to announce the investment last Saturday.
On top of the initial $90 million investment, the company said in a statement that its new research center will also spend $500 million on manpower and equipment over the next five years.
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Network Associates updates Sniffer technology
Network Associates released a new hardware appliance and updated software on Tuesday that will extend the reach of that company's Sniffer network traffic management technology from remote users into data centers at the network core.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based network security company announced the new s6040 Appliance, a 4u rack-mounted device that accommodates the addition of up to four full-duplex Gigabit mounted "blades," or circuit boards, for specialized applications, according to Chris Thompson, vice president of product marketing at Network Associates.
Those expansion slots will allow s6040 customers to add functionality such as antivirus and intrusion detection as their needs change, Thompson said. In addition, the s6040 appliance comes with eight ports that, together, allow up to four separate media modules running in full duplex mode to connect to the device.
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Employee sues over text message firing
Sydney traffic controller sued his former employer for unfair dismissal Tuesday, claiming the he was sacked via mobile phone text message from a company director.
"Its (sic) official, you no longer work for JNI Traffic Control and u (sic) have forfided (sic) any arrangements made," read the message sent to John Eid in February, his lawyer Tom Earls told the industrial court.
"There was no justification," Earls told the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission. "The lack of procedural fairness culminated in the undignified process of being terminated via an SMS (short message service) message."
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Dell not replacing options with cash
Dell Computer is cutting the number of stock options it grants to employees, but does not expect to have to offer staff members more cash compensation as a result, Chief Executive Michael Dell said Monday.
Dell is not the only company that has cut back on using stock options, and it is that change in the job market that makes it unnecessary to sweeten compensation for employees in other ways, Dell said in an interview with Reuters.
The issue is potentially crucial for Dell, a company that is famous for running a leaner cost structure than its competitors and that has also pledged to continue to drive down expenses as a share of sales.
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Napster set to return
Software maker Roxio said Monday it has acquired the online music service pressplay for about $40 million, setting up the return of the Napster name.
Roxio, best known for its CD-burning software, owns the Napster brand and expects to use pressplay as the foundation for a new online music service under the name that set Internet music file-swapping in motion.
Pressplay is jointly owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.
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Cisco tightens security in hardware, software
Cisco is wheeling out a smorgasbord of hardware and software security upgrades to boost performance of VPNs and add more security features such as intrusion detection.
In addition, the company is introducing upgrades to its security management software to make it easier to manage security and to support networks consisting of tens of thousands of secure sites.
Cisco is adding a feature it calls Cisco IOS AutoSecure, an option to lock down routers quickly via a typed command that disables nonessential functions of the operating system and enforces secure access to the router.
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The Searchable Life
Here's a story on wired about a Pentagon project called LifeLog. It seeks to record every bit of information that can be had, index it by name, or SSN, or even location, and make the database searchable. Furthermore, '[LifeLog adds] physical information (like how we feel) and media data (like what we read) to this transactional data.'" If you think you can build such a system, apply for a grant. There's also a current AP story about Total Information Awareness.
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Microsoft, antivirus vendors team on info site
Microsoft has allied with antivirus vendors Network Associates and Trend Micro to form the Virus Information Alliance, an initiative to keep users better informed about virus threats to Microsoft products.
A Web page with the latest information on high-risk viruses affecting Microsoft products has been added to Microsoft's TechNet Web site for IT professionals, Microsoft said in a statement Monday. TechNet is also Microsoft's site for security patches and other information for the IT community.
As part of the alliance, Microsoft, Network Associates and Trend Micro will exchange technical information on newly discovered viruses to quickly tell users about the risk and what to do for protection. The site will refer to the antivirus vendors for extra detail, according to an information page on Microsoft TechNet.
Microsoft software, which is installed on the vast majority of PCs in the world and on a large number of servers, has been a target of many viruses and worms, with widespread disruption of e-mail communication and online business as a result.
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