News.com has an interesting piece on Apple’s somewhat stealth move away from FireWire (that’s IEEE 1394 to you and me) and toward USB 2.0 as its preferred data transfer method for devices like the iPod. The main reasons are not hard to understand: first there’s the fact that the latest version of USB can now re-charge devices like the iPod. The other main reason makes even more sense: Apple wants to hold down costs by including only one cable in the box. You can still use FireWire if you want to spring for the extra cable.

From the article: “IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian identified two main reasons for the shift. First, it used to not be possible to recharge the device via USB. “They’ve been wedded to FireWire for a long time because it allowed them to charge (the iPod),” she said.

The other issue is cost. With the latest round of products, Apple cut its prices. By omitting the FireWire cord, the company can gain back some of the lost profit margins. “It’s more cost efficient to ship with one cable rather than two, and USB is more broadly supported on both platforms,” Kevorkian said. “FireWire, it ships on some PCs, but not the vast majority.”
Source: News.com

Interesting Facts
When the iPod debuted in 2001, it used only FireWire, and even the second crop of iPods–the first to support Windows–lacked USB support entirely. It wasn’t until April 2003, with the dock connector-based iPods, that Apple first offered a USB 2.0 option. And then it was USB 2.0, which had to be bought separately as a $19 extra. (news.com)

Here’s what cracks me up: Apple users have responded to the news by signing a petition. Don’t they have enough FireWire cables already? Is USB such a bad standard? I don’t know about you, but I have USB and FireWire cables coming out of my ears. I cannot fault Apple for not wating to have to include both cables just to support a standard.

Then again, maybe Apple should have called it: BYOC (Bring Your Own Cable)and it would have been an instant hit!

This is getting out of hand. Is this lawsuit week here in California or what? But now on the heels of Dell and HP, comes a new lawsuit aimed at auction giant eBay.

“EBay Inc. is being sued by a Pennsylvania man who charges that it illegally forces up prices when certain high bidders raise their maximum bid to guard against last-minute offers, an attorney for the plaintiffs said on Wednesday.

“In a proposed class-action lawsuit filed Feb. 17 in Santa Clara County Superior Court, lead plaintiff Glenn Block claims that eBay raised his bid from $111 to $112.50 after he responded to an e-mail from auction site that said he was the highest bidder for an item.

“The email warned that he could be outbid if he did not increase his maximum. Block alleged that he could have won the auction at $111, and accused eBay of forcing him to overpay by $1.50.” Source: Reuters via Yahoo News

Maybe I’m missing something but I thought that’s how it works. If you are the highest bidder you can sit and wait praying that no one else swoops in, or you can re-set your maximum to ward off a last minute bid.

Is that wrong? Any eBay bidding experts out there who want to weigh in?

UPdate From InternetNews.com: “Bids on eBay must be raised by minimum increments; for example, if someone wants to top a bid of $100, he must bid at least $102.50. Bidders can wait and watch to see if anyone else places a higher bid, or they can set a maximum bid amount and let eBay’s system automatically bid for them. According to eBay, the system will only bid enough to maintain the bidder’s top rank, that is, one minimum increment above the second-highest bid.

“When bidders reach their maximum bids, they get an automated e-mail confirmation that they’re the highest bidder. But it includes the warning, “Important: You are one bid away from being outbid. If another user places a bid, you will not win. To increase your chances of winning, enter your highest maximum bid.” The bidder would assume that his bid would only be raised again if someone outbid him. However, in some cases, the system automatically increases the bidder’s already high bid by enough to meet the minimum increment.

“Said Kathrein, “Essentially, they’re saying, ‘even though we don’t tell you this, when you place that next highest bid, we’ll put it a full increment above the bid behind you.’” For example, if that person with the $100 bid accepted the invitation to raise his maximum, the system in some cases would immediately raise the bid to $102.50 — even if no one else had bid in the meantime.

“If a user accepts eBay’s request to provide a higher maximum bid, eBay then acts as a shill bidder on behalf of the seller at the price level of the highest former competing bidder. As a result of eBay’s hidden shill bid, eBay automatically raises the hapless buyer’s bid so as to out-bid eBay’s shill,” the suit charges.

“David Reiley, associate professor of economics at the University of Arizona, and an expert on eBay bidding, said, “What eBay is doing is a little bit glitchy, not it’s real cheating. It could fix this problem by requiring people to submit bids on a fixed grid.” Source: Internetnews.com

To be honest, I am still confused….

We stopped covering silly USB devices so,me time ago. After Hello Kitty, the glowing rubber duck, and the USB coffee warmer, that pretty much said it all.

But in light of all the legal news this week, it seemed like a little levity was in order. So we proudly present the Big TiKi thumb drive - a USB 2.0-based drive that can store up to 4GBs of data or a variety of other smaller storage options. It glows when in use and comes with a red “lava cable” that also glows.

Of course, I can’t help but remember the classic Brady Bunch episode where Greg Brady finds a Tiki idol that promptly cuauses him to wipeout surfing and eventually “curses” his whole family’s Hawaiian vacation….maybe someone sent a few of these to Dell, HP and eBay?

What a week for lawsuits. First HP gets hit with a potentially massive class action lawsuit over allegations that it is programming ink cartridges to expire artificially. And now it looks like Dell is getting slammed for pulling a bit of the old bait and sitcheroo.

“A California law firm has slapped Dell with a class action lawsuit charging the computer giant with “systematically deceiving” its customers. The suit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on Feb. 14, seeks class action status in California and accuses Dell of “bait and switch” practices, false advertising, fraud and deceit in sales and advertising, and breach of contract. The law firm behind the suit, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, publicized it on Wednesday.

“The case centers on the allegation that Dell advertises low prices for its computers, but people who try to purchase a machine at the advertised price find it’s no longer available for that price. Often those customers wind up with another computer, the suit said.

“One plaintiff is a San Francisco nurse who said she bought a Dell notebook computer listed at $599 along with an $89 printer, but was billed $1,352 for her order. Another plaintiff said Dell shipped him products of lower quality than the ones he had ordered from the company’s Web site. The Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker then resisted his efforts to resolve the problem, he said.
Source: news.com

By Alice Hill
Forget the essentially ho-hum news about the new iPods. (The new iPod Photo lets you upload photos directly from your camera, and the rest are just more hard drive space for less money.) Reuters and the site Mac Rumors is covering an odd blip in TiVo’s stock amid speculation that Mr. Jobs was going to snap up the beloved but troubled company.

My take: there is no way this one will happen. But here’s what the Reuters piece had to say: “What we hear on the street is that Apple is interested in their business and that they are a takeout target,” said analyst Steven Kroll Jr. of Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. Representatives for Apple and TiVo both declined comment.

“TiVo’s chief executive, Michael Ramsay, has said the company is not for sale. But with a market capitalization of only $300 million, analysts figure the company might be an easy target, perhaps from consumer electronics makers to media companies looking to bolster their video services. Several companies have been discussed as potential suitors for TiVo, including Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp., Sony Corp., and Liberty Media.

“Analysts said that Apple’s focus on its immensely successful iPod digital music player would probably preclude it from going after money-losing TiVo, whose growth strategy has been questioned due to the rise of cheaper DVRs being deployed by cable TV providers. The shares jumped to $4.22, up 53 cents, in afternoon trade after earlier hitting a session high of $4.45. Volume was 10.7 million, more than double its daily average.”

According to Reuters: “A Georgia woman has sued Hewlett-Packard Co., claiming the ink cartridges for their printers are secretly programed to expire on a certain date, in some cases rendering them useless before they are even installed in a printer.

“The suit filed in Santa Clara Superior Court in northern California last Thursday seeks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased an HP inkjet printer since Feb. 2001. HP is the world’s No. 1 computer printer maker. An HP spokesman said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

“HP ink cartridges use a chip technology to sense when they are low on ink and advise the user to make a change. But the suit claims those chips also shut down the cartridges at a predetermined date regardless of whether they are empty.”

We’ve always sneered at “smart” appliances. After all, what is the point of hooking your refrigerator to the Internet? But here’s a simple solution that may bridge the technology gap. Smarthome.com sells a microwave oven that can read 4,000 pre-programmed UPC barcodes.

More info from the online catalogue: “Microwave ovens make cooking a breeze, but even though they’re quick, sometimes it’s hard to know exactly what “half-power” means on your microwave, and who can always remember how long to cook those frozen meals? The Beyond Microwave Oven takes all the guesswork out of microwave cooking, letting you cook meals perfectly and evenly every time. You just scan the barcode on your food package, and the Beyond Microwave Oven does the rest! It’s preprogrammed with over 4000 UPC barcodes, and it has a learn function that allows you to program new items as they hit the shelves. What could be easier? This attractive microwave oven features a stainless steel front and has an LCD screen with a bright blue backlight.”

Not bad for $149.00.

By Alice Hill
I wrote about cell phone jammers about 7 years ago when I was still doing the weekly newsletter for CNET.com. The topic intrigued me, and it generated a lot of interest and debate with the CNET readers. Even then, the technology was getting big in Japan where wall-mounted jammers were regularly deployed in theaters and restaurants to rid public places of annyoning conversations and ringing handsets.

But why were they illegal in the US? The main issue back then was the alleged risk to people with pacemakers. Apparently a jammer can mess with a pacemaker and potentially stop someone’s heart, which is why they were outlawed in the US, but I always found it odd that no one has actually reported on a jammer-induced death or pacemaker problem anywhere else in the world. If there are any doctors out there reading this - post something so we can learn more.

Meanwhile, there’s a new artcle out on illegal jammers hitting the streets of NY (see below). You can buy jammers online from companies in England, but again, keep in mind that these are illegal products in the US. Not sure what will happen, but I guess jammers are like the early radar detectors and the controversey detectors raised back in the day. And I just know for a fact, half the hotels I check into must be using something, because I can’t get a signal on most floors to save my life. Coencidence? Hmmmmmmm….

Here’s an excerpt from the NY Post Online:

“Cellphone jammers — illegal gizmos that interfere with signals and cut off reception — are selling like hotcakes on the streets of New York. “I bought one online, and I love it,” said one jammer owner fed up with the din of dumb conversations and rock-and-roll ringtones.

“I use it on the bus all the time. I always zap the idiots who discuss what they want from the Chinese restaurant so that everyone can hear them. Why is that necessary?” He added, “I can’t throw the phones out the window, so this is the next best thing.”

Online jammer seller Victor McCormack said he’s made “hundreds of sales” to New Yorkers. “The interest has gone insane in the last few years. I get all sorts of people buying them, from priests to police officers.”

“Jammers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from portable handhelds that look like cellphones to larger, fixed models as big as suitcases. Their sole goal is to zip inconsiderate lips. The smaller gadgets emit radio frequencies that block signals anywhere from a 50- to 200-foot radius. They range in price from $250 to $2,000.

“Jammers were first developed to help government security forces avert eavesdropping and thwart phone-triggered bombings. But by the late 1990s they were being sold to the public. There are suspicions that some hotel chains employ jammers to cut down on guests’ cellphone use and boost in-room phone charges.” Source: NY Post