Author: Chris Morran

Both Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Toyota U.S. President James Lentz are scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Energy & Commerce this morning, but in prepared remarks released before the hearing, these two fine chaps attempt to shrug off many of the accusations hurled at both sides of the Toyota recall debacle.

Yesterday, the Committee’s leadership sent scathing letters to both LaHood and Lentz. In dressing down LaHood, Congress alleged that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was both ill-equipped and unresponsive in recent dealings with Toyota. Meanwhile, they lashed out at Lentz for Toyota’s disregard of warning signs.

Not surprisingly, both men see it differently.

“By engaging Toyota directly, and persuading the company to take action, the agency avoided a lengthy investigation that would have delayed fixes,” said LaHood said in his prepared testimony.

“If NHTSA had opened a formal investigation and Toyota had resisted a recall, this would have consumed an enormous amount of time and resources, in effect extending the period in which owners of affected vehicles were at risk,” he tried to explain about the agency’s decisions to close the books on at least four previous investigations into possible sudden acceleration problems in Toyotas.

Added LaHood, “The Toyota recall situation is very serious and we are treating it seriously.”

As for Lentz, he did admit that the recall of over 8 million Toyotas could possibly have happened a little sooner than it did.

“It has taken us too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues,” Lentz said in his prepared testimony. “The problem has also been compounded by poor communications both within our company and with regulators and consumers.”

He did however stick to denying reports of a problem with the throttles in his company’s current fleet of vehicles.

“We are confident that no problems exist with the electronic throttle control system in our vehicles,” Lentz said in his prepared testimony. “We have done extensive testing of this system and have never found a malfunction that cause unintended acceleration.”

What do you think is going to be the ultimate fallout of the Toyota recall? Should LaHood be defending the NHTSA so strongly?

U.S. Regulators Pushed Toyota, Expedited Repairs, LaHood Says [BusinessWeek]

Following this weekend’s revelation that Toyota bigwigs were bragging to each other about saving $100 million by convincing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to drop an investigation into a recall of the company’s Camry and Lexis vehicles, Congressmen Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce and Bart Stupak, Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, broke out their typewriters to voice their opinions in no uncertain terms to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The letter begins by taking exception with NHTSA’s lack of technical expertise:

First, NHTSA appears to lack the expertise needed to evaluate defects in vehicle electronic controls. In recent years, vehicles have made increasing use of sophisticated electronic controls. According to some accounts, autos now contain more computer code than some fighter jets, nearing 100 million lines of code. Yet, NHTSA officials told the Committee staff that the agency does not employ any electrical engineers or software engineers. As a result, NHTSA appears to lack the technical expertise necessary to analyze whether incidents of sudden unintended acceleration are caused by defects in the cars’ electronic systems.

The note then goes on to cast aspersion on the NHTSA’s interest in investigating complaints, calling the Administration’s response, “seriously deficient.”

Since 2000, NHTSA has received 2,600 complaints of sudden unintended acceleration, as well as six defect petitions requesting investigations. Despite these warnings, NHTSA conducted only one cursory investigation in 2004 into the possibility that defects in electronic controls could be responsible for these incidents. This investigation was led by Scott Yon, who informed Toyota in an e-mail that he was “not very knowledgeable” about the electronic throttle control system used in Toyota vehicles. This investigation was marred by highly questionable assumptions and was closed after the agency failed to identify a defect trend.

But the Congressmen’s vitriol wasn’t targeted solely at the NHTSA. They also sent a separate letter to James Lentz, President & COO of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., saying that their review of documents turned over to the Committee, “appear to show that Toyota consistently dismissed the possibility that electronic failures could be responsible for incidents of sudden unintended acceleration.”

The note details how, in June 2004, the NHTSA alerted Toyota to research showing that Toyota Camrys with electronic throttle controls had over 400% more “vehicle speed” complaints than Camrys with manual controls.

“Yet, despite these warnings, Toyota appears to have conducted no systematic investigation into whether electronic defects could lead to sudden unintended acceleration,” reads the letter.

The countdown is now on to Wednesday morning’s hearing before the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform. Toyota’s President and CEO, Akio Toyoda, has accepted an invite from the Committee to speak with them. However, it remains to be seen whether or not he will respond to their questions candidly or remain quiet on all matters that could someday come back to haunt his company in the courtroom.

Chairmen Send Letters to Secretary LaHood and President of Toyota USA Prior to Hearing [Committee on Energy & Commerce]

A U.S. District Court Judge signed off on the $150 million settlement between Bank of America Corp. and the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of making misleading statements during BofA’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., but he wasn’t exactly happy about doing it.

In August, the SEC had accused the bank of misleading investors, telling them that Merrill had agreed not to pay year-end bonuses, when in fact BofA had agreed to pay almost $6 billion in bonuses. And then in January, the SEC filed another complaint, alleging that the bank failed to disclose Merrill Lynch’s expected losses.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who had already rejected an earlier $33 million settlement agreement, was anything but enthusiastic in his approval of the deal, calling it “half-baked justice at best” and “inadequate and misguided.”

But in the end, he deferred to the decision-makers at the SEC.

“As both parties never hesitate to remind the court, the law requires the court to give substantial deference to the SEC as the regulatory body having primary responsibility for policing the securities markets, especially with respect to matters of transparency,” Rakoff wrote in his ruling on the matter.

A trial was scheduled for March 1 had Rakoff rejected the accord, as he did an earlier $33 million settlement.

Even though Judge Rakoff, who described the measures in the settlement as “very modest punitive, compensatory, and remedial,” was displeased by the agreement, there was much chest-pounding over at the SEC.

“The settlement calls for the imposition of the largest financial penalty ever assessed for violation of the commission’s proxy rules and imposes corporate reforms designed to avoid future violations,” SEC mouthpiece John Nester said about the decision. “The settlement was based on a thorough and objective assessment of the facts and the law, and sends a strong message.”

However, Rakoff points out in his ruling, that since the $150 million only goes to the legacy shareholders who were actually harmed by the misstatements, this punishment only really hurts the current shareholders and not the Bank’s management who made the allegedly misleading statements.

What do you think? Is $150 million enough? Too much?

Less than 24 hours after 4,000 pilots for German airline Lufthansa walked off the job, the strike was suspended as talks resumed between the flyboys and girls and the company.

A long-term strike by the Lufthansa pilots could have resulted in major disruptions to air travel around the world. The airline is the largest in Europe and the fifth-largest overall, offering around 1,800 flights every day.

Even with only a brief interruption in service, 10,000 ticket holders were still disrupted. The airline did manage to get off about half of the day’s scheduled flights during the period of the strike and attempted to get the remaining passengers either on other carriers or onto trains.

Company executives claim that a strike could cost Lufthansa around $34 million each day.

The strike officially ends at 11pm GMT tonight and there is to be no further action taken by the pilots until at least March 9.

Lufthansa pilots suspend strike [BBC News]

While Walmart sells everything from gasoline to groceries, and they have a pretty sizable online presence, they haven’t gotten into the lucrative business of on-demand/streaming video. But that could all change with news that the box store leviathan is about to purchase streaming video service Vudu.

Much like Microsoft considering buying a smartphone company, this is a move that could help Big W keep afloat in an ever-evolving marketplace.

Walmart is currently the largest DVD retailer in the country, but as the quality of streaming and downloaded video improves to match DVD and Blu-Ray, more and more customers are moving in that direction. If Walmart doesn’t get into the online video business now, they risk losing a huge chunk of revenue.

But the acquisition of a struggling company like Vudu allows them to get a head start, rather than having to develop the technology or create a new infrastructure.

Is this a smart move for Walmart? Do you care who provides your on-demand video, so long as it looks good and the price is right?

Wal-Mart Is Said to Be Buying Vudu Movie Service [NY Times, via gizmodo]

If you’re eating a hot dog, or thinking about eating a hot dog, you may want to know this. The American Academy of Pediatrics thinks your frankfurter is a choking hazard and it should be packaged with a warning label. They also want some brainpower invested in redesigning the tasty treats so as to make them less deadly.

According to the Academy’s study published over the weekend, kids choking on food results in about 10,000 emergency room visits every year. About 77 of those end in death. And in about 17% of cases, hot dogs are the culprit.

“If you were to take the best engineers in the world and try to design the perfect plug for a child’s airway, it would be a hot dog,” Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, wrote in a statement. “I’m a pediatric emergency doctor, and to try to get them out once they’re wedged in, it’s almost impossible.”

Because food accounts for around 60% of all non-fatal choking cases in children, the study suggest that there be mandatory labeling of foods that could get trapped in a child’s airway.

Taking it a step further, Dr. Smith says, “The best way to protect kids is to design these risks out of existence.”

In response to the call for warning labels and hot dog re-engineering, Janet Riley, president of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, pointed out that most hot dog packages in the U.S. already advise parents to chop up hot dogs into more easily swallowed pieces.

“As a mother who has fed toddlers cylindrical foods like grapes, bananas, hot dogs and carrots, I ‘redesigned’ them in my kitchen by cutting them with a paring knife until my children were old enough to manage on their own,” she said.

We’d love to hear your suggestions for the safer hot dog. If you have a good idea, send me an e-mail. Who knows… it might end up on Consumerist.

Pediatricians call for a choke-proof hot dog [USA Today]

In a scene straight from some horrible, technophobic TV movie, a 43-year-old woman is currently the target of a police search in Oklahoma after she allegedly seduced a 14-year-old boy she met while chatting over PlayStation Home.

The Oklahoma City authorities are on the lookout for Annamay Alexander from Deltona, FL, who they claim first met the teen in question through Home and then began sending him inappropriate texts and messages, including a shot of her in her underwear.

Things then spiraled even further out of control when, according to reports, Annamay drove to Oklahoma in January and met with the boy’s mother… who was understandably peeved. The mom later discovered evidence of her son’s online romance with Annamay, like an e-mail from her that read, “My body is yours to do whatever you want with.”

Did we mention that she’s a married mother of three?

So here’s the question to the parents out there: Does this give you second thoughts about your child’s access to services like PlayStation Home? Or is this just some random, statistically inconsequential incident?

Police Seek Woman Who Seduced Teen via PlayStation Home [Kotaku]

On paper, Sunday night’s Olympic ice hockey game between the U.S. and Canadian teams would have seemed like a marquee event, something deserving of prime time coverage in HD. But NBC relegated coverage of the game to sibling channel MSNBC, which isn’t available in HD to a large number of viewers.

NBC had made the announcement late last week that it was moving the game to cable so that it could be shown uninterrupted by coverage of other events. However, in doing so, they picked a station that isn’t available in HD to millions of viewers, including all DirecTV and RCN cable subscribers. And oh yeah… it’s not available at all to people who don’t have cable.

One irate viewer pulled out the poison pen to write these words to NBC Sports honcho Dick Ebersol:

“I want to watch the US/Canada hockey game. Is it on NBC? Nope. No big deal, I will just watch it on Hulu since you own that site. Oooops, Hulu isn’t showing the olympic videos. Well, that kind of sucks. Now I have to go to a new site and register for it as well. Oh look, you’re forcing me to register for a sweepstakes in order to watch the game. Let me look at the seven page disclaimer for said sweepstakes. Yep, as I thought, you’re going to sell my personal information to “select partners.” So now I am going to get spam. Thanks. I really just wanted to watch a hockey game.

Great, now you bastards want me to go find my cable bill to prove I pay to watch your crappy network. Let me go and try to find it, as I don’t exactly keep that lying around on the off chance that I want to watch a hockey game. Ok, finally found it. Awesome, your buggy website keeps crashing as I try to confirm that I have an account. Oh great, now you’ve locked up my system….TWICE. Thirty five minutes have passed since I’ve started trying to watch your web feed of the event, and now your website is saying that even though I verified it three times that I have to call my cable company, who is closed. Hey look, now NBC is announcing the score without a warning. Now I know who won, and this has all been pointless.

Tell me again why I shouldn’t just download a bit torrent of the events with your numerous commercial breaks removed? Seriously. Why I should spend almost an hour so far trying to watch a video feed through your website, jump through numerous hoops, be forced to let you sell my personal information, and still be unable to watch my hockey game, when I could just pirate it in a much easier, pleasant manner?”

What would have been the best way to NBC to handle the coverage of the game? What if multiple networks were allowed to broadcast the Olympics?

U.S. vs. Canada hockey on MSNBC: Some people have it in HD; you probably don’t [Chicago Tribune]
An email to Dick Ebersole [Out Under Stars]

After several months of waiting (during which, banks have had plenty of time to jack up your interest rates and cut your credit limits), the Credit CARD Act of 2009 has finally kicked in. If you haven’t been following the news, here’s a quick run-down of what’s changed and what hasn’t.

• No more retroactive rate hikes. Credit card companies can no longer apply the higher interest rate to previously held balances.

• No more universal default; one credit card can’t raise your rate simply because you’ve missed a payment on a different card.

• Your credit card statements must be mailed to you 21 days before payment due date and payment due dates can’t suddenly change. Be warned that there may be an increase in banks mailing out statements in unfamiliar or unmarked envelopes so as to confuse account holders.

• Your statements are now required to explain how long it will take you to pay off your balance — and the total amount of interest you will have paid — if you only pay the monthly minimum. HOWEVER, if you do not begin paying immediately, or if you miss a payment during the 6-month period, that penalty rate may end up being permanent.

• They must now give you 45 days notice before changing any terms and conditions in your agreement.

• They can only charge you an increased penalty rate if your account goes past due for 60 days. And if you begin making on-time payments immediately, after 6 months they are required to restore your previous interest rate.

• To recoup some of the expected losses due to the new the new regulations, credit card companies are expected to begin charging fees for services like paper billing and overseas purchases. Additionally, expect a hike in fees for cash advances.

Seven Things To Know About The Card Game [Frontline]

You know those scenes toward the end of James Bond movies where the bad guy goes on and on about his elaborate plan and what a genius he is? That never happens in real life, right? No, in the real world the bragging is done in “confidential” documents that are never meant to see the light of day… but always do. Just ask the folks at Toyota.

The Japanese car giant is now on the hot seat once again after the uncovering of an internal memo gloating about saving $100 million by convincing U.S. regulators to close the books on a 2007 investigation into sudden acceleration complaints.

The result of that investigation was a relatively tiny recall of 55,000 Toyota Camrys and Lexus ES350 vehicles to have their floormats replaced.

The document, dated July 6, 2009, says that Toyota’s Washington, D.C. team was credited for having “negotiated [an] ‘equipment’ recall on Camry/ES,” saving the company over $100 million with no finding of a defect by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In its defense, a Toyota released this statement: “Our first priority is the safety of our customers and to conclude otherwise on the basis of one internal presentation is wrong.”

This latest news doesn’t bode well for Toyota chief Akio Toyoda, who will be appearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform this Wednesday.

It remains to be seen if the revelations in this document will lead Congress to investigate any possible wrongdoing on the part of regulators who agreed to the lesser recall in 2007.

Toyota memo raises stakes for chief’s hearings [Reuters]

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: A well-executed Executive E-Mail Carpet Bomb is your best bet when you’ve exhausted all the regular customer service avenues. In this latest example, Serena tells Consumerist how, after weeks of phone calls, missed appointments and general hair-pulling and screaming at walls, she employed a strongly worded EECB that had Verizon out to fix her Internet connection the next day.

According to Serena, the problem began when she made the mistake of moving across town into a new apartment. Before the move, she’d made arrangements with Verizon to transfer her DSL service to her new pad. She was given a date for when the service would kick in and everything seemed fine. Until it wasn’t.

Suffice it to say, her DSL did not turn on when it was scheduled to, and she quickly found herself caught up in a Byzantine maze of finger-pointing and buck-passing, all of it very aggravating, and probably familiar to anyone who’s ever had to attempted to navigate these treacherous seas.

So rather than break down all of Serena’s back-and-forth with Verizon, let’s skip ahead to how she resolved the matter.

Using Verizon executive contact information posted on Consumerist, Serena sat down and composed an e-mail to:
A) Everyone on that list
B) Her attorney
C) The Consumerist tipline

And in that e-mail, she walked the executives through her entire ordeal, including as many details as possible. Here’s just a taste:

The next morning, I spend nearly three hours on the phone with Verizon. I give them my old address, my new address, my cell phone number. I explain about the lost move order. Give them my social security number, the name and address of my employer, my date of birth. Why do they need that information? “I don’t know why I need to get it,” says the woman on the phone, “but it’ll help me process your order.” So I give it to her.

I get hung up on twice, disconnected a third time. I try every Verizonbranch I can think of. I write down account numbers, inside lines that I’m supposed to call, extensions. I doodle angry black clouds bursting with angry black rain.

The result: “I can’t believe this worked, but moments after I sent my angry mass e-mail, I received two very conciliatory phone calls from the folks at Verizon,” Serena told Consumerist, adding that they had scheduled a technician to come out early the next morning. “Maybe it’s Consumerist they’re afraid of? Or maybe they just liked my epic e-mail.”

Regardless, Serena’s DSL was fixed the very next day. And after the situation was resolved, an executive contacted her directly to let her know that not only was her February DSL bill being wiped off the books, she was receiving an additional two months of free service for her troubles.

Do you have any EECB success stories you want to share? Let up know on our tipline!

Now that Tiger Woods has come out of sex rehab hibernation — if only momentarily — to beg for a bit of forgiveness from the public that once loved him, the question still remains: Will he ever get close to regaining his status as the poster boy for poster boys?

Before the Thanksgiving weekend domestic dispute with his wife Elin that quickly erupted into a global sex scandal encompassing over a dozen different women, Tiger was raking in more than $100 million dollars in endorsement deals from a wide variety of corporate sponsors. From sports-related companies like Nike and Gatorade to products like Gillette razors and Tag Heuer watches to completely random ads for outsourcing behemoth Accenture, Tiger was the grinning, golfing golden boy.

“I don’t think Tiger can ever recapture what he had, but he can be a viable representative down the road,” Neal Pilson, former CBS Sports president told Reuters. “There are lots of potential advertisers out there.”

Following the revelations of extramarital affairs, Tiger was dropped from several endorsement deals, most notably by Accenture and Gillette. General Motors chose not to renew its deal with the golf great.

Tag Heuer initially announced it was kicking Tiger to the curb, only to do an about-face a few weeks later, saying the company “stands with Tiger Woods.” Additionally, Electronic Arts, the publisher of Woods’ hugely popular golf video game, has said they plan to continue the series.

Nike, who had remained relatively quiet about their deal with Tiger, released a statement after today’s press conference saying they fully support him.

And during his televised speech, Tiger publicly thanked Accenture, perhaps hinting that they might rekindle their lucrative branding romance.

So what do you think? Will this all blow over for Tiger, or has he done permanent damage?

Tiger not out of the woods yet with sponsors [Reuters]

Shortly after Toyota chief Akio Toyoda accepted an invite from Congress to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform next week, committee Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns of New York and Ranking GOP Member Darrell Issa of California issued a subpoena to Dimitrios Biller, the car giant’s former National Managing Counsel in the U.S., for “all documents relating to Toyota motor vehicle safety and Toyota’s handling of alleged motor vehicle defects and related litigation.”

“The Committee is conducting a comprehensive, fact-based investigation with the intent of collecting and analyzing as much relevant information as possible,” Congressmen Towns and Issa said in a joint statement. “The only way we can ensure that the safety needs of American drivers are being met is to examine, in a bipartisan fashion, exactly who knew what and when, and if appropriate and immediate action was taken to mitigate any danger to the American public.”

Biller, who left the National Managing Counsel gig in 2007, has spoken up in recent weeks regarding what may be legally questionable behavior on the part of Toyota. “You have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system,” he told ABC News. “They did not have any respect for our laws.” Biller also claims to be in possession of documents that could be damning to the company.

The Oversight Committee’s subpoena overrides an existing injunction Toyota had filed to prevent Biller from revealing the documents.

According to the subpoena, Biller, who says he will cooperate fully, has until 5 p.m. ET on Feb. 23 — the evening before Toyoda is expected to appear to before the Committee — to turn over the documents.

Setting up what is sure to be a thrilling showdown like something out of a Highlander movie, Toyota’s President and CEO Akio Toyoda has decided to accept Congressman Ed Towns’ formal invitation to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“We are pleased Mr. Toyoda accepted the invitation to testify before the Committee,” Towns and the Committee’s Ranking GOP Member Darrell Issa said in a statement. “We believe his testimony will be helpful in understanding the actions Toyota is taking to ensure the safety of American drivers.”

Until yesterday, Toyoda had been passing the appearing-before-Congress buck to the head of Toyota’s North American operations. And then yesterday he said he would consider attending if he received a formal invitation from Congress.

The hearing, which will focus on the causes and reaction to the massive recall of over 8 million Toyota vehicles, is currently scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 10 a.m. ET.

Click Here for all of Consumerist.com’s coverage of the Toyota recall.

Take a look at this cute little baby bracelet made by Allreds Design (also known as Hidden Hollow Beads) of Utah. It’s the perfect little trinket to bling up your toddler — and give her lead poisoning.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of baby bracelets and pacifier clips produced by Allreds (scroll down for more pictures). It’s not a mammoth recall – only about 900 units — but it’s been discovered that the metal used in the bracelets and in the clasps for the pacifier clips contains a high level of lead. And just in case you’re not up on the latest in 20th century pediatrics, lead poisoning can really screw your kids up.

Allreds has already received one report of a 10-month-old child who received treatment for elevated lead levels due to their products.

The bracelets being recalled were sold in the following sizes: 0-6 months, 1-4 years, and 4-8 years of age.

Both the baby bracelets and pacifier clips have crystal and plastic beads in various colors with a metal clasp.

The recalled product was sold through in retail stores nationwide from June 2008 through December 2008.

If you are in possession of one of these recalled products, you should immediately take them away from children and contact Allreds Design for instructions on how to receive a replacement bracelet or pacifier clip: (866) 695-3551 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday.

Allreds Design Recalls Baby Bracelets and Pacifier Clips Due to Risk of Lead Exposure [CPSC]

As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Toyota look into whether or not complaints of steering problems in 2009 and 2010 Corollas merit a recall, it’s worth investigating both the potential financial and public relations costs for the auto giant.

In terms of sheer numbers, a Corolla recall would account for around 500,000 cars. That’s a blip on the radar when compared to the 8-million vehicle albatross currently dangling from Toyota’s neck.

Experts estimate the cost of such a recall would cost Toyota somewhere around $55-65 million. And while that is a substantial amount of money, it’s a manageable dent in the wallet to a company with more than $200 billion in annual revenue.

Where Toyota needs to worry is in the arena of public perception. The Corolla is Toyota’s second most popular vehicle in terms of U.S. sales, outpaced only by its Camry.

Corollas were already included in the current, massive recall to fix faulty accelerator pedals. For a car that has often been labeled as one of the more dependable vehicles on the road, having its name attached to a second, unrelated recall could only do further damage.

“Recalling the flagship model over and over again could damage Toyota’s brand,” said Koji Endo, an auto analyst at Advanced Research Japan. “I am afraid its customers might leave for rival cars.”

As reported ealier this week, Toyota is researching programs to combat sagging sales in the face of the ongoing recall. While car sales in the U.S. were up as a whole in January, Toyota’s figures were down a whopping 16 percent.

Toyota image seen at further risk in Corolla probe [Reuters]

Toyota Corolla steering problems could result in another recall [Consumer Reports]

For some developers of mobile phone applications, Monday’s announcement of Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 software may mean putting an end to their slates of in-the-works projects.

Anthony Wieser of Wieser Software had been working on several applications for the existing Windows Mobile 6.5. But he may need to start from scratch in order to get these apps to work properly in WP7.

“Everything looks different,” he explained. “It’s difficult to see how existing applications will fit into the new framework.”

Meanwhile, Charlie Jorgen of Seattle’s Trinket Software, believes it’s inevitable that he’ll have to redo all his existing applications for WP7. “I’m surprised there won’t be compatibility and concerned about the rework we’ll have to do,” he said.

Another question posed by developers is whether or not Microsoft will follow the lead of Apple — who will only allow application downloads through their App Store — and require all mobile applications be sold through their store, Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Currently, developers are permitted to sell their product directly to end-users.

Microsoft’s Mobile Makeover Ruffles Developers [Forbes]

Nearly eight months after the estate of late British author Adrian Jacobs filed charges of plagiarism against the UK publishers of Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, they have decided to add the author of the book, J.K. Rowling, to the list of defendants in what they claim could be a $1 billion case.

The lawsuit alleges that Rowling replicated a substantial part of Mr Jacob’s 1987 book The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: No 1 Livid Land in Goblet of Fire, the fourth in the wildly bestselling series of books about teen wizard Harry Potter.

“I estimate it’s a billion-dollar case,” Max Markson, an agent representing the estate’s trustee said. “When you think of all the money that’s involved, I would say $1 billion is a conservative estimate.”

Rowling was initially left off the lawsuit because the Jacobs estate had been led to believe that the statute of limitations had run out on being able to file a case against her.

The suit alleges that the two books not only have very similar content, but that Jacobs, who died in 1997, three years before Rowling’s book was published, shared an agent with Rowling.

In a statement regarding the suit, Rowling said, “I am saddened that yet another claim has been made that I have taken material from another source to write Harry. The fact is I had never heard of the author or the book before the first accusation by those connected to the author’s estate in 2004; I have certainly never read the book.”

This is only the latest legal brouhaha for Rowling, who successfully sued the author and publisher of The Harry Potter Lexicon in 2008.

J.K. Rowling accused of plagarising from 1987 children’s wizard book [Times Online]

We had a feeling it would come to this. Lawyers in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have filed a class action lawsuit against Google for, among other allegations, violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act with its recently launched Google Buzz social networking tool.

The complaint was filed in a San Jose, Calif., court on Wednesday. And though the only named plaintiff is a woman from Florida, the lawyers behind the case say they are seeking to represent the 31.2 million Gmail users whose private contact list was made public when Buzz was launched without warning and with little explanation.

In addition to unspecified monetary damages, the suit is asking the court to prevent Google from releasing any sort of future product that might have a similarly invasive effect on users’ private information.

As of this posting, Google had not yet replied to the lawsuit.

Local Class Action Complaint Filed Against Google Buzz [SF Gate via cnet]