AT&T wireless subscribers who were hoodwinked into signing up for recurring charges for ringtones and other content will receive refunds as part of a class action settlement.
Customers will get refunds for charges that appeared on their bills between January 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008, the Associated Press reported Monday.
This is the first nationwide settlement that refunds customers' money from charges for third-party content, the news service reported. Jay Edelson, who filed the claim on behalf of the plaintiffs, has filed similar lawsuits against Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA.
This latest decision could boost his case in the other disputes.
Third-party vendors have slyly been marketing ringtones and other text-based content like horoscopes and jokes directly to wireless subscribers either by asking customers to enter their phone numbers on Web sites or through "spam" text messages. Often the charges for this content are hidden or poorly explained. Many customers don't realize what they've signed up for until they get their cell phone bill with the new charges. Many times, these charges are recurring and customers have found it difficult to cancel them.
Mobile operators keep a portion of the fee for themselves, and the third-party content provider gets the rest. In the class action suits against AT&T, the plaintiffs argued that AT&T should have been more careful in vetting these services, the AP reported. AT&T agreed to the settlement, but admitted no wrongdoing.
Since the lawsuits were filed, AT&T has changed its policy on third-party content. It now requires customers who sign up for content with recurring fees to confirm via text message that they actually want to sign up for the service. AT&T is also requiring content providers to send monthly reminders to consumers with instructions for how to unsubscribe to their services.
Exactly how much the settlement will cost AT&T is unclear, the AP reported. The company has already allowed some customers to contest their charges. So the actual number of individuals able to get refunds may be small.
AT&T will soon send out notifications to its 70 million wireless subscribers. Under the terms of the settlement, claims must be filed within 90 days of the final approval of the settlement, which is set for December.
A DJ mixed music on stage.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)OK, all you coders toiling in obscurity, are you wondering how the other half lives--the programmers who live the glam rich Internet application lifestyle, ditching Win32 and C++ for Web-based APIs and Python?
A few hundred of them were to be found at the party this week at the Google I/O conference, and I couldn't resist taking some photos. I've been to a lot of trade show parties, and although this wasn't over the top, it was certainly more lavish than the usual rubber-chicken-and-Heineken affair.
What would a Google party be without Wi-Fi? Plenty of people were typing away during the festivities.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)For the event, Google packed Moscone West's third-floor auditorium with games and food--I overcame my fears of Moscone-induced illness and found the sushi tasty--but the real draw clearly was a concert by the witty New Zealand duo, the Flight of the Conchords.
The party had two flowing chocolate fountains with strawberries and other snacks for dipping.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)As usual, the concert was better if you already knew the words. I hesitate to acknowledge that I first encountered the band on YouTube (which had better audio than Moscone) but failed to notify the authorities of the possibility of copyright infringement.
About 3,000 people attended the show, said Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering in charge of developer evangelism and open-source software. Gundotra seemed to be having a good time at the party--at least until he heard about the binary encoding typo that meant the conference T-shirts read "Google KO" rather than "Google IO."
The conference was alive and kicking. Many sessions were packed to overflowing. It's not clear if the draw was Google's clout or the hunger for information about building rich Web applications, but interest there was.
For those who couldn't be attend, Google plans to post videos of the sessions on the Google I/O Web site in the next week or two.
Among the presentations I joined, I found the most interesting to be Jeff Dean's on the inner workings of Google's data centers; Marissa Mayer's on Google search, and the several talks on Google Gears software to augment browser abilities.
Forthwith, some pictures.
Jemaine Clement, left, and Bret McKenzie form the musical comedy act called the Flight of the Conchords.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
Bean-bag chairs can offer respite after a packed day of sessions on APIs, the Google Web Toolkit, HTML, OpenSocial, and open-source software.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
A member of the Android phone target market checks e-mail during the party.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
Still life with tchotchkes. Nerd toys such as Lego bricks and Rubik's cubes were on hand at the show.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
A partygoer awaits the Flight of the Conchords show.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
Jemaine Clement of the Flight of the Conchords
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
Bret McKenzie of the Flight of the Conchords
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
The Flight of the Conchords got a lot of laughs from the crowd.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
Plenty of people lined up to shoot a little pool.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
Air hockey afficionados whacked plastic pucks to their hearts' content.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
The Google I/O colored party lights deviated from the standard Google hues. In the background, Wii bowling.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
The beer flowed freely at the party.
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)
(Credit:
Casio)
I got an this e-mail Wednesday afternoon from the Casio PR team, suggesting that if I did a really good, creative blog post about Casio's upcoming 25th anniversary G-Shock Watch event on May 14 in New York, I might win a prize. Here's the whole tawdry e-mail:
Hey all!!
By now you should have received your invitation for our upcoming G-Shock anniversary celebration. This is going to be a very exciting evening for everyone and we are looking forward to having you join us. Please remember to wear your wristbands, as that is your ticket in the door and be sure to arrive between 6-6:30, as the doors will close after that for media. In addition, we are very excited to have you tell our story to your readers. As you may already know, this is a very private and exclusive event that is not open to the public but we want to make sure everyone knows how great it will be! That being said...
We are running a contest that will start today and end on May 14th. I have provided some "cool" aspects below of fun things that will be going on at the celebration on May 14th and Casio is challenging you to come up with an intriguing and informative post to get the word out to your readers. The site that receives the most hits and comments from readers will be determined the winner of our contest and that individual will receive a brand new, slim and stylish Casio digital camera, along with a brand new 25th anniversary G-Shock watch. So get your creative caps on and show G-Shock some support!!! Below are some interesting facts to incorporate into your post...
- Famed surfer Gabe Kling and G-Shock rider will be at the event showing G-Shock support.
- Director Spike Lee will be unveiling his exclusive collaboration watch with G-Shock.
- Supporting companies such as Monster Cable, Patron and Philosophy will be giving away some great gifts.
- Clothing companies LRG and In4mation will be displaying their G-Shock collaboration.
- Kanye West will be giving an exclusive performance and will be unveiling a special G-Shock message.
- Graffiti artist and designer of our 25th anniversary logo will be on site to discuss his initiatives with G-Shock.
- DJ Cassidy will spin it out in club G-Shock
Good luck with the challenge! Casio is looking forward to reading some creative posts!!!
What do you think, folks? Is that creative enough? Feel free to rewrite the press release and make your own gloriously snarky post. Perhaps Casio will let me give the camera (if I win) to the most creative poster since I can't keep it.
(Credit:
Casio)
Google invited hundreds of folks, mostly from D.C.'s tech policy set, to nibble on hors d'oeuvres at the opening of its new Washington digs, which temporarily took on a nightclublike glow.
(Credit: Anne Broache/CNET News.com)WASHINGTON--I now know the real reason why Google just moved its 20-person crew here into a 22,000-square-foot work space: to host sprawling, glowing parties, of course.
On Thursday night, a few hundred familiar faces in the technology policy scene--a slew of think tank, advocacy group, and trade association folks; abundant congressional staffers; a smattering of government officials; journalists and public-relations flacks--braved unrelenting sleet and rain to see the search giant's new downtown digs awash in dim lighting that changed from one rainbow hue to another as the hours passed.
Google employees, on the whole, may be overwhelmingly Democratic Party donors (excepting the runaway popularity of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul), but this shindig turned out to be a bipartisan affair.
FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, a Republican, was among the government officials who dropped by Google' D.C. kickoff party.
(Credit: Anne Broache/CNET News.com)My party guest informants and I spotted at least four of the five Federal Communications Commission members ambling around--Republicans Kevin Martin, Robert McDowell, and Deborah Taylor Tate, and Democrat Jonathan Adelstein--with buzz, confirmed Friday morning, that Democrat Michael Copps also made an appearance.
We also noticed Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a former chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association. (We press members weren't privy to a VIP reception before the real party got under way, but we heard that a handful of congressmen, including present and past House Judiciary Committee Chairmen John Conyers (D-Mich.) and James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), showed up there.) D.C.'s chief technology officer, Vivek Kundra, showed up, but Democratic Mayor Adrian Fenty couldn't make it, as he was attending a somber candlelight vigil for a local tragedy involving the alleged murders of four children.
CEO Eric Schmidt, who'd been in town to speak to NASA officials, was on hand to offer a quick welcome speech to the partygoers and espouse the importance of his company's Washington presence, but we didn't see much of him after that. We glimpsed "Father of the Internet" turned-Google-executive Vint Cerf meeting and greeting too.
Among the offerings at Google's shindig: open bars, twisty straws in the company colors, and glowing cups bearing its logo.
(Credit: Anne Broache/CNET News.com)The atmosphere that Google's enterprising party planners assembled was part ultralounge, part disco--minus the dancing, that is (this is D.C., and some things, like congregating in small clumps to swap business cards, are still sacred).
Conference tables had been moved out to make way for lounging furniture, though the dark-suited crowd seemed to prefer to stand, anyway. People nibbled from spreads of mini hamburgers, sushi, and coconut shrimp; downed made-to-order cocktails from glowing cups supplied by multiple open bars; and, for the road, plucked baseball caps and business card holders emblazoned with the company logo. With all the space, the event never felt particularly crowded. (For those keeping score at home, the entire Google office space actually measures 27,000 square feet, but for now, a 5,000-square-foot chunk is literally vacant, awaiting future hires. It came in handy Thursday night.)
Even the cubicle pod area, which was off-limits to anyone not getting a private tour from a badged employee, was decked out with paper ball lanterns. And about a dozen people at any given moment were trying out the D.C. 'plex's game room, which was open for rounds of ping pong, foosball, and Rock Band. (If you browsed our photo gallery earlier this week, you'll recall that it's also a favorite spot for Google employees to unwind on Friday afternoons.)
Others flocked to Nintendo Wii and Xbox consoles and stations, set up throughout the party space, where they could try out YouTube videos, Google Earth, and other company products projected onto facing walls.
The bash was noticeably thinning out by the time I departed, around 8:30 p.m. EST. The caterers had begun peddling the last of the miniature ice cream cones and thumb drive-size brownie-and-ice cream sandwiches, and the check-in table in the lobby had been dismantled. But even though the party had been scheduled to end by 8, some appeared content to sip their drinks and chatter away in the newest Googleplex until dawn.
Update at 8:48 a.m. PST: Editor-at-large Garrett Graff of Washingtonian magazine, which has covered a party or two in its day, deemed the soiree "the swankiest 'office' party Washington has seen in years." He also noted the presence of Washington Post Co. CEO Donald Graham--"not exactly a regular at these types of events," he wrote. Perhaps Graham was trying to soak up some of the secrets to Google's ad sales success by osmosis.
As SAP tries to untwine its third-party support and maintenance company, TomorrowNow, from its legal entanglements with archrival Oracle, a sale, or effort to wind down the company, may be its preferred path.
SAP, which earlier this week announced TomorrowNow's chief executive and several managers had resigned, is now apparently operating without its senior vice president of sales, Bob Geib, and vice president of international sales, Nigel Pullan. Both executives are no longer on the company's management roster, and Pullan's office phone is no longer active. Geib, when contacted by his mobile phone, referred all calls to the company's press contacts.
Meanwhile, one source noted that a couple of TomorrowNow's best sales representatives have been folded into SAP's sales team.
Calls and e-mails to SAP were not immediately returned. It's not clear whether SAP plans to fill those TomorrowNow sales positions, in light of its announcement earlier this week that it was considering selling its subsidiary. TomorrowNow continues to be run by Mark White, TomorrowNow executive chairman.
Meanwhile, TomorrowNow customers were migrated off the company's systems Wednesday and left to get their Oracle updates for PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel Systems applications on their own systems, according to a report in eWeek.
TomorrowNow was making good on a promise it made last August during its case management hearing in federal court. SAP said it had revamped its download policies and planned to require any download of Oracle updates for PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel be done on the customers' premises, rather than hosting that work on its own servers.
SAP, which acknowledged it had engaged in some improper downloads of Oracle's support and maintenance software on behalf of the customers it wooed away from its rival, is debating its next steps for TomorrowNow, a company it acquired nearly three years ago.
Upate: November 21, 1 p.m.
TomorrowNow's remaining sales team will now report into Mark White, TomorrowNow's executive chairman, a representative for SAP said in an e-mail late Wednesday. The representative declined to elaborate, however, on whether the company is winding down its operations.
Is Apple ready to embrace developers for the iPhone?
According to one report Tuesday morning, yes. BusinessWeek cites sources "familiar with the company's plans" who say Apple will officially release a software development kit for the iPhone in early 2008. Those sources say the official announcement could come during Steve Jobs' keynote at the annual Macworld Expo on January 15. Apple could be waiting to release an SDK until after Leopard, the latest version of its Mac OS X operating system, is released. Apple said Tuesday that the official release date is October 26.
The report contains few other concrete details, but an Apple-sanctioned kit will likely be embraced by the developer community that has already created scores of applications for the device without Apple's official blessing.
It could also cut out some of the tension that has sprung up between the iPhone maker and its customers. Apple angered both developers and iPhone owners when it released a software update for the device that either "bricked" it or erased all unauthorized applications in September.
We can't work all the time, you know. Those of us at this year's E3--reporters, analysts, game developers, and so on--have been more or less running back and forth between meetings and events at various hotels around the Santa Monica coast, wishing we were sitting on the beach rather than being tragically forced to try out new Xbox games that aren't on the market yet. (Woe is us.) But that all changes after about 6 p.m., when a whole host of software companies make us feel better by throwing parties and treating us to free food and an open bar.
One of the E3-related shindigs on Wednesday night was the Bethesda Softworks party at a delightfully cheesy Sunset Boulevard joint known as the Saddle Ranch Chop House.
It was a good half-hour drive out of the way, and there were plenty of other game companies that threw parties that night, but this one had a mechanical bull. (Not sure about where you're from, but on my home turf, ride-the-bull attractions are pretty rare. I think there's a total of two of them on the entire island of Manhattan.) Check out what happens when a bunch of geeks invade a bar that looks like it fell out of Disney World's Frontierland...and try to conquer a piece of "interactive entertainment" that doesn't involve a console or a joystick.
As you can see from the extensive footage above, the average E3 attendee does not appear to be particularly good at bull riding. Maybe the Wii Balance Board could help with that.
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