Corporate & legal

Report: Presidential BlackBerry coming soon

After months of waiting, President Obama will soon get his super-secure BlackBerry.

The Washington Times newspaper reported Thursday that the presidential BlackBerry 8830 is "in the final stages of development by the National Security Agency." The agency is still testing the encryption software to ensure it's up to snuff. And the president could have his new device in a matter of months.

A Washington, D.C.-based company, Genesis Key, developed the software called SecureVoice that will be used to secure the high-security BlackBerry. Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, has also been involved in development, the Washington Times said.

Since the inauguration in January, President Obama, who vowed security officials would have to pry his BlackBerry out of his hands, has been using a cumbersome work-around to communicate with key members of his staff and close aides. … Read more

Report: Van Natta to become MySpace CEO

We can expect an announcement very soon that Owen Van Natta will be replacing Chris DeWolfe as CEO of MySpace, All Things Digital reported on Thursday afternoon.

Considering that AllThingsD's Kara Swisher has a very good track record of knowing Van Natta's whereabouts, we're going to take this one as solid. The announcement could come as early as Friday, Swisher wrote, and though there's no word on timing, we're guessing that it'll either be after the market closes or possibly held off until Monday.

Van Natta rose to the tech world's upper ranks … Read more

Fund will help alleged Swedish pirates hit by new law

A sentenced Pirate Bay defendant and two politicians from Sweden's Green party are launching a fund to help people accused of copyright violations under the country's new antipiracy law.

The fund is intended to assist citizens being prosecuted by copyright-holding companies. "When it comes to criminal cases, the accused get a defense attorney for free, but not in civil cases," Maria Ferm, a member of the Green party's youth branch and one of the fund's founders, told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

Ferm is starting the fund along with Lage Rahm, a Green party member … Read more

T-Mobile goes for smart grids

T-Mobile USA has developed a new durable SIM card that is ideal for providing wireless connectivity to smart electric meters, as the company tries to expand its market opportunity beyond cell phones.

On Thursday, T-Mobile introduced the embedded SIM, which is much smaller than traditional SIM cards that fit into mobile phones and other mobile devices. The tiny is made out of silicon instead of plastic and is about the size of a pin head. It is designed to be durable enough to withstand environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, and motion. And as a result T-Mobile says it's … Read more

Microsoft: 'Pressures are broad and deep'

After reporting its first-ever quarter in which sales dropped from the year-earlier period, Microsoft had more distressing news for investors.

In an earnings call with financial analysts, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell warned that things continue to look tough in the global economy, describing the conditions as the worst in the company's 30-year history.

"We remain more cautious than most about the state of the world economy," Liddell said. "Economic pressures are broad and deep."

His comments are in contrast to statements by executives at EMC and Intel, who held out hope that the … Read more

Pirate Bay judge accused of conflict of interest

This post was updated at 3:23 p.m. PDT to clarify the roles of the different Swedish professional groups.

The judge who ruled against The Pirate Bay defendants on Friday is a member of two copyright organizations, an alleged conflict of interest that could require the case to be tried again, Swedish press reported Thursday morning.

If the judge is formally found to have a conflict of interest, the case would have to be sent back to the district court. The issue is to be evaluated by the high court of justice, Svea Hovrätt (in Swedish), which … Read more

EU fights over cutting off pirates from the Net

A dispute has erupted in Europe regarding people's right to connect to the Internet.

The core issue concerns legislation that would give Internet service providers the right and duty--without turning to the courts first--to cut off connections of people who download pirated material.

The battle is being fought between individual EU states and the European Parliament and has created intense discussion among bloggers, politicians, civic groups, and opinion leaders.

The issue is threatening an extensive telecommunications reform package currently under debate and heading toward a vote in the EU Parliament on May 5.

The parliament's industry committee voted … Read more

EMC: 'We expect IT spending to improve'

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

EMC Chief Executive Joe Tucci on Thursday said the storage giant expects technology spending in the second half of the fiscal year to improve, and it noted that the worst is largely over.

Tucci's comments came amid EMC's earnings, which met expectations. In a statement, Tucci said:

As we look to the balance of 2009, we believe the global IT-spending environment has reached, or is very near, the bottom. We expect IT spending to improve in the second half of 2009, as customers will have better budget visibility, … Read more

In light of earnings, is eBay operating smarter?

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

eBay's first-quarter results were better than expected, and the company argued that it is operating with more discipline and smarter.

For the quarter ended March 31 (statement), the company reported net income of $357.1 million, or 28 cents a share, on revenue of $2.02 billion, down $171.6 million from a year ago due to poor performance in its marketplaces unit. On a non-GAAP basis, eBay reported first-quarter earnings of $499.9 million, or 39 cents a share.

Wall Street was expecting earnings of 33 cents a … Read more

VMware's quarter: Services up, licenses down

VMware's first-quarter financial results are out.

Revenue increased 7 percent from the first quarter of 2008 to $470 million. GAAP net income for the first quarter was $69.9 million, or 18 cents per diluted share, compared to $43.1 million, or 11 cents per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2008.

These are respectable results, though "analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 20 cents per share on sales of $474.4 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters." Furthermore, guidance was disappointing, Reuters noted:

VMware, majority-owned by EMC, estimated second-quarter revenue to … Read more