HP Picks NCR CEO Mark Hurd to be its Next CEO

Less than two months after forcing out Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard Co. picked a relative unknown, NCR Corp. Chief Executive Mark Hurd, to be its next leader, according to sources. H-P is expected to announce the appointment later today.

1984 Betamax Ruling Revisited with P2P Case

Over 28 of the largest Hollywood companies descend on the Supreme Court today to take on Peer-2-Peer (P2P) software companies such as Grokster, KaZaA, and Morpheus. Insightful Q&A on CNET on why the 1984 Court ruling in the Sony Betamax rulling applies to this present day case. Can you imagine a world where researchers don’t research and innovators don’t innovate for fear of being prosecuted? A lot rides on this case that comes before the Court tomorrow morning. Will the judges lean towards the technology innovators or towards the companies who feel they must protect their copyrighted material?

Bloggers have rights too

Great opinon piece by Rep. John Connors from Michigan on the rights of bloggers. He refers to the way journalism revolutionalized the way the country looked at news during the Jefferson era. He goes on: "Today we stand on the precipice of a new media revolution with the advent of the Internet. We need to protect bloggers' First Amendment rights so they can help us protect our own citizens' rights."

Hybrid Cars Rev Up for Auto Fair

This is the Aronson Files' second look at hybrid cars. With U.S. gasoline prices soaring past $2.09 per gallon to record averages, automakers at this year's International Auto Show may be able to drum up extra interest for gas-electric hybrids and cars that run on alternative fuels such as hydrogen. Check it out at this link.

HP Buying Snapfish & Beefing Up Its Photo Capabilities

Interesting news from HP today announcing that it's buying Snapfish. This will help HP provide consumers with more choice for sharing, storing, printing photos. It also broadens HP's position in the digital photography market. The Washington Post covered the story which also included news that Yahoo (for all you Canadians out there) is buying Flickr, a Canadian photo-sharing start-up. Isn't that great eh?

15 Year Tech Editor Berlind Q&A

PR Week just published a Q&A with David Berlind, a very well-respected technology journalist. (covering tech for over 15 years) He's come up with a 'media transparency channel', where he provides the raw data he uses such as audio of interviews and e-mails - to write his columns. Berlind addresses some of the criticism thrown at mainstream journalists lately for not being transparent enough.

Judge in Apple Case Rules Blogs Held Trade Secrets

Nick Wingfield of the Wall Street Journal reports today that Apple Computer Inc. can subpoena information related to the sources of online stories containing information about an unreleased Apple product. Judge Kleinberg of California superior court in Santa Clara County denied a request by three "bloggers," -- Monish Bhatia, Kasper Jade and Jason O'Grady -- who published articles late last year on several Web sites, including PowerPage and AppleInsider, about an Apple device code-named Asteroid designed to link musical instruments with Apple software.

The judge accepted Apple's argument that the stories contained trade secrets that, in effect, were stolen property, not unlike a physical item such as a laptop containing confidential information.

Blogging on the Job

Great Alorie Gilbert blogging story on CNET that answers blogging questions related to work.

Can blogging hurt one's career? How risky is blogging really? Can my employer fire me if I blog from home on my own time? Are there any limitations on an employer's ability to fire me? What about the First Amendment? Doesn't that protect me? Are there any court decisions involving bloggers being fired? What if I'm a union employee? Do I have more protection? How about if I'm a government employee, for example, in the federal civil service?