proxies

David Einhorn, the hedge fund manager waging a legal battle with Apple over its mountain of cash reserves, is taking his case directly to the iPhone maker's investors.

Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, which sued Apple earlier this month over the issue, will host a public conference call and Webcast Thursday to discuss the merits of his proposal for issuing preferred stock to investors.

The conference call and Webcast will begin at 11 a.m. PT. U.S. callers can dial in at 1-800-901-5241 and entering the passcode 62063868#. The Webcast can be accessed by visiting www.media-server.com/m/p/aj2p6kq7. … Read more

A federal judge said today he sees merit in an activist hedge-fund manager's lawsuit against Apple but did not issue a ruling on whether to block next week's shareholder vote on a proxy proposal.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan declined to immediately rule on a request by Greenlight Capital to stop a February 27 vote because he wasn't sure the plaintiff would suffer "irreparable harm" if the vote was allowed to be held as scheduled.

"Candidly, I do think the likelihood of success is in favor for Greenlight," Sullivan said today in … Read more

Despite owning an iPhone 5 for several months, I find myself using Siri only when someone else wants to see how it works.

A video created by a Raspberry Pi enthusiast motivates me to learn about Siri's unadvertised side -- as a place where hackers can use special software to teach Apple's voice assistant new commands. One such person found a compelling use for the $35 Linux-based Pi and Siri: the ability to open a garage door with a push of a button and a simple spoken sentence. … Read more

In OS X, Apple supports the configuration of various network proxy servers for individual ports in its Network system preferences. In some instances users have been reporting odd formatting issues in which entered proxy port settings either adopt commas or decimal points, though the proxy settings still work just fine.

As with most network services, proxy settings require a specific communications port to be set so network traffic can be directed to the appropriate background tasks that require it. In many cases such as Web browsing (port 80) or FTP access (port 21) these ports are fairly well established and … Read more

Starboard Value, a $1 billion hedge fund with a 5 percent stake in AOL, claims the media company is poorly managed and is preparing for a proxy fight to replace three members of AOL's board.

Starboard said today that it filed a copy of the presentation it plans to make at AOL's annual meeting in June. Starboard is backing a slate of nominees that would replace AOL directors Alberto Ibarguen, Patricia Mitchell, and James Stengel.

For months, Starboard has bashed AOL and CEO Tim Armstrong's leadership record. The hedge fund has grown impatient with AOL's effort … Read more

Yahoo's global media leader, Ross Levinsohn, took over today as Yahoo's interim chief executive, replacing Scott Thompson in a shake-up that also will put activist investor Daniel Loeb on the Internet pioneer's board.

Yahoo announced the change along with another big one: Fred Amoroso is now chairman of the board, replacing Roy Bostock. Bostock, along with Patti Hart, VJ Joshi, Arthur Kern, and Gary Wilson, resigned from the board.

Thompson left after Loeb's hedge fund, Third Point, discovered that Thompson's resume falsely claimed he had a computer science degree. Third Point, which owns 5.8 … Read more

TeamViewer is an app that lets you connect to other Macs and PCs via the Internet to share desktops, transfer files, walk through presentations, and control other computers remotely. It's even free for noncommercial use, making it a great choice for your pro bono troubleshooting for friends and family, or for just accessing your own Mac from the road.

The interface is simple: you just open TeamViewer and you're prompted to either create a session or wait for one. A unique ID and password is created for each session, and you need TeamViewer on both computers (if you'… Read more

Embattled Yahoo reportedly has a new plan for keeping dissident shareholders at bay: pack its board with supporters ahead of an anticipated proxy fight with hedge fund Third Point.

AllThingsD reports that Yahoo leadership is beating the bushes for three more directors to fill the vacancies created in February when five of its 11 board members announced they wouldn't stand for re-election. Yahoo has already named two new directors -- former Rovi CEO and patent-litigation enthusiast Alfred Amoroso and former eBay exec Maynard Webb.

The struggling Web giant, however, is in a race against time. Last month, Third Point named an alternative slate of four candidates, … Read more

Activist shareholder Dan Loeb's Third Point has filed papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a proxy fight against Yahoo, bringing two heavy-hitting media executives with him to battle.

Third Point is nominating four candidates for board seats, including Michael J. Wolf, former president and chief operating officer of MTV Networks, and Jeff Zucker, former chief executive of NBC Universal. The Third Point slate is rounded out with Loeb and Harry J. Wilson, chairman and chief executive of a corporate restructuring firm, Maeva Advisors.

Since last year, Loeb has pressured beleaguered Yahoo for mismanagement, calling … Read more