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How Jobs dodged the stock option backdating bullet

In researching this post, I came across a number of recent reports on Henry Nicholas III, the once high-flying CEO and cofounder of Broadcom. The allegations of illicit sex, drugs, and rock and roll reminded me of the 60s ... or was it the 70s? Funny, I can't remember.

While the story was enthralling, I didn't understand what any of it had to do with a federal investigation into stock option backdating. Sure, Broadcom had to take a $2.2 billion charge to fix the accounting mess left by the company's former executives. But how does that relate to hiring prostitutes and drugging customers without their knowledge?

Said another way, do the feds really need to dig that deep to find enough rope to hang executives with? After all, stock option backdating is all the rage these days. You'd think they'd be up to their eyeballs in rope.

I count no fewer than 38 top executives at 19 high-tech companies that have bit the dust over this stuff. We're talking top executives at big-name companies like Apple, Altera, Broadcom, Brocade, Cirrus Logic, Comverse, KLA-Tencor, Maxim, McAfee, Rambus, Sanmina-SCI, Take Two, Trident, Verisign, and Vitesse. And we're just getting started.

That's serious fallout considering that options backdating is legit as long as the company reports it and accounts for it accurately. You see, if you backdate stock options to a date when the price of the stock was lower, then the options are "in-the-money" when granted. That means the company incurs an expense equal to the difference in the share price between the two dates.… Read more

Cooling a MacBook Pro with smcFanControl

A few months ago a friend recommended smcFanControl, and I've been cool ever since. Cool as in temperature, not cool as in Mark Shuttleworth.

Macs are awesome, of course. This goes without saying. But it also goes without saying that you can fry eggs on the MacBook Pros (and the Powerbook G4s before them). I have third-degree burns from long blogging sessions.

Enter smcFanControl.… Read more

New Apple hardware coming Tuesday?

A hobgoblin the Macalope knows who works in the Apple retail world (yeah, yeah--"Aren't they all hobgoblins?"--har-har, yeah, that is sooo goblinist, man) says Apple reps are asking everyone to make sure their inventory reports are up-to-date by the end of the day today (Monday). That's possibly a sign that new hardware is coming Tuesday as those reports determine what price protection resellers get on outdated hardware.

It's also possibly just a sign that Apple knows that hobgoblins are perpetually late on their paperwork.

Ooh. That's sooo goblinist.

List of iPhone bugs finds few roaches

An attempt to discover bugs on the iPhone found few critical problems that could cause major issues.

There's probably an argument to be made that many of the 68 bugs reported by AppleHound are more like differences of design philosophies rather than actual bugs, but the project did find some situations that could lead to data loss or application crashes. As with any first-generation product, some bugs are to be expected, and software fixes will likely trickle out later this year. Apple has said it plans to deliver regular software updates to the iPhone that could not only fix … Read more

Early-adopter deadline for iPhone refund passes

An informal survey of CNET News.com readers indicates that most of those who bought an iPhone during opening weekend plan to keep it around.

Like the survey we did prior to the iPhone's launch, this one probably won't be accepted by the folks at Gallup. Part of the reason could be that return rates seemed abnormally high, both on our survey and on one done by Gizmodo, as compared with a customer satisfaction survey done by Interpret.

About 38 percent of those who responded to the post that asked "Will you return your iPhone?" said … Read more

Could YouTube drag Apple into copyright fight?

Here's something that shouldn't surprise many people: The video journalist who has been in a closely watched legal tussle with YouTube is also peeved at Apple.

Bob Tur is famous in Los Angeles for buzzing around the city in his helicopter and filming historical (and often bizarre) moments, such as O.J. Simpson's slow-speed Bronco chase, oodles of high-speed police pursuits and the beating of a trucker at the beginning of the Los Angeles riots. A year ago this month, he filed a suit against YouTube, claiming the company encouraged copyright violations on its site.

He's … Read more

D-Day: iPhone commitment issues...return now or forever hold your peace

Today was the last day for us earliest of early adopters of the iPhone to return our $500 or $600 iPhone purchases. This is the point of no return. My friend Patrick wryly noted that it happens to fall on Friday the 13th. Steve Jobs does have a sense of humor I'm sure.

So, would you return yours?

I, for one, really do like my phone, if not for the functionality, for want of the question. People ask me almost daily: "Do you like it?" whether it be Post Office, Bar, lunch, standing in line at Target. … Read more

What could you make from an iPhone?

Since the iPhone's June 29 launch, we've seen several teardown reports--some from professionals, some demonstrating more enthusiasm than skill, and some that are just awful (but funny).

What's inside? Well, you can read the details in reports from various analyst firms, but it breaks down like this:

A microprocessor A 3D graphics controller DRAM Flash memory An LCD A touch sensor A cell phone module Wi-Fi and Bluetooth controllers An audio chip A microphone and a speaker An accelerometer A camera module A SIM card Assorted other interfaces, connectors and buttons A lithium-ion battery Power-supply circuitry

All … Read more

Critical Microsoft security bulletin revised to add Office for Mac

One more time around the block, James.

Microsoft late Thursday revised one of its critical security bulletins from Patch Tuesday, adding another item to its list of affected software.

Security bulletin MS07-036 now includes a warning that Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac is also affected.

The update is designed to address a security flaw, which could allow attackers to overwrite the computer's memory with malicious code.

Microsoft notes that people running Office 2004 for the Mac on the Mac OS X 10.2 are at risk. It advises people to first install the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.5 update, … Read more

Touch-screen iPod coming?

With all the hype that led up to the release of the iPhone, paired with all the coverage once it was actually launched, one could almost believe we had seen the end of the wild Apple speculation for a while. I'm here to tell you--and if you're a longtime Apple fan you know this already--when it comes to Apple, the rumor mill never stops. You may have already heard the rumor about the iPhone Nano--a smaller, less expensive version of the iPhone. Though it sounded like an interesting concept and got plenty of coverage, it did indeed turn out to be only a rumor. Personally, I wouldn't want a smaller, cut-rate iPhone--I say let's keep it the way it is and bring the price down. I'm sure I'm not alone on that idea.… Read more