issues

Apple faces credibility crisis over Jobs' health

Apple may have wanted to protect Steve Jobs' privacy with the way it chose to address his health. But the end result is a credibility problem that will not go away easily.

After initially reassuring the public that Jobs' health issues were real, but not all that serious, Apple's statement Wednesday that his problems had grown "more complex" outraged many investors and corporate governance experts. Jobs will remain Apple's CEO, but he is turning the responsibility for day-to-day operations over to COO Tim Cook until the end of June to focus on his recovery.

Now that … Read more

Apple prepares for six months without Jobs

How will Apple fare without CEO Steve Jobs at the helm for six months? History provides some indication.

Clearly, Apple will miss its legendary CEO while he takes a leave of absence to recuperate from health problems that are apparently much more serious than previously thought. But Apple is in far better shape in January 2009 than it was in August 2004, when Jobs announced he had undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer and would have to take a few months off.

These days the company has three strong product lines, a worldwide network of retail stores and, with $24 billion … Read more

Sirius' on-again, off-again signal problems

Sirius Satellite Radio has a lot on its plate. Shock jock Howard Stern is already making noises about leaving after his contract expires in a couple of years, the stock price is in the tank, and the company has huge debt.

All of that shouldn't matter to subscribers, of which I am one. But the frequent signal dropouts are really getting out of hand.

I had similar problems in the early days, but after a while, the dropouts became rare. Months would go by without signal interruptions, but about six months ago, the off-and-on signal problems returned.

Sometimes, the dropout lasts just a few seconds but occurs many times an hour. My Sirius home radio hasn't budged since I first got it many years ago, and my antenna is pretty much in the same place it has always been, but lately, the signal regularly disappears for minutes at a time before sputtering back to life. … Read more

Orange UK halts BlackBerry Bold sales

Orange UK has temporarily stopped selling Research In Motion's BlackBerry Bold while it tries to figure out a solution to unspecified 3G-related problems on the handset.

The operator halted sales of the popular handset on Friday. According to a spokesperson, sales will resume when a software fix becomes available, though no date was given.

"Orange UK is committed to providing the BlackBerry Bold to its customers in the U.K.; however, Orange UK and (BlackBerry manufacturer) RIM are currently working on providing a maintenance release of software to address some reported 3G-related concerns," a statement from Orange … Read more

Apple sued over iPhone 3G reception issues

An Alabama woman has filed a lawsuit against Apple, claiming the iPhone 3G's network is slower than advertised.

In a 10-page complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Northern Alabama, Birmingham resident Jessica Alena Smith charged Apple with breach of express and implied warranty and with unjust enrichment. Smith, who refers to the phone she purchased throughout the complaint as "Defective iPhone 3G," is seeking class action status.

The lawsuit claims that Apple's iPhone 3G advertising campaign is misleading.

"Defendant intended for customers to believe its statements and representations about the Defective … Read more

Departing CIO blames Microsoft for his security troubles

Hackers recently compromised 4.2 million payment card details from the Hannaford Supermarket chain. The culprit? If you believe Hannaford's former CIO, Bill Homa, the problem is Windows:

We used a lot of Linux. None of the breach was anything related to Linux. All of it was Microsoft. Microsoft is so full of holes. That's why it's still a target. If you limit your exposure to Microsoft, you're going to be in a more secure environment.

I'm not buying it. I'm not suggesting that Microsoft's code is an impregnable fortress, but rather that … Read more

States file formal request to extend Microsoft oversight

Rather than letting Microsoft's antitrust oversight end in November, the current oversight should be maintained through 2012, prosecutors for six states and the District of Columbia said in a court filing this week.

The group of states said at a hearing last month that they would make the request. The filing, made Tuesday, argues that Microsoft took years to make fully available the communications protocols required under the 2002 accord, and that there are still few PC makers offering rival browsers to Internet Explorer with new PCs.

Microsoft brushed off the concerns.

"This is not new," company … Read more

Yahoo responds to reports of site outages

Yahoo representatives responded this afternoon to our requests for comment on alleged outages that were reported by multiple readers. The company has said that it was not actual downtime, but that sites like Yahoo News and Flickr were delayed by network carrier issues.

In the statement e-mailed to CNET News.com, Yahoo's corporate communications representatives said, "For a brief period early this morning, some Yahoo users may have experienced delays in accessing Yahoo services in the U.S. due to network carrier-related issues. The problem has since been identified and corrected by our network vendor. We know that … Read more

A mouse for sweaty palms

Next to useless iPod accessories, the mouse industry may be the most active in the gadget realm. But unlike some products, this one might actually be useful.

The eye-candy draw of this optical USB mouse from European manufacturer Trust is seven LED colors that you can change at will. (Call it a mood mouse.) But the more practical feature is the layer of rubber that covers it: If you still like playing games on your PC once in awhile, or are just a sweaty-palmed beast in general, this mouse can help keep crucial traction when you need it most.

(Photo: … Read more