Author Archive | Ed Oswald

Sirius XM: The Writing Has Been on The Wall Since August

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 11, 2009 at 11:47 am

Harry’s post earlier today regarding the possibility of a bankruptcy filing by satellite provider Sirius XM should come as a shock to no one. In fact, the news reminded me of a story I wrote back in August of last year for BetaNews that essentially warned of significant financial problems for the company.

At the time, Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin admitted to reporters that the company was not in the best of financial health — including to Bloomberg TV that same day. Essentially, the company had just taken on unfavorable financing terms for debt, which would put $1 billion in debt repayments due this year.

For almost any company, such a large amount of money would be quite painful to repay. For Sirius XM, it could be deadly. It’s stock price has fallen from about $1.50 at the time of that story to only 6 cents now. Add to this a sagging economy, and apparently slow growth, and the company does not have much money to work with.

The company up until recently had seemed to argue that it was fine and would survive its debt issues. But reality has set in for Sirius XM. It is not in good financial shape at all, and never has been. The chickens have come home to roost, as they say.

Sirius XM’s problems are probably most damaging to Mel Karmazin. Up until Sirius he had great successes in turning businesses profitable. This time, there are just too many problems with the way the satellite radio business has been structured for it to be turned around.

Raising your rates is not going to solve the problem either: if anything, its going to drive folks away. Also with the quality of service dropping — from audio artifacts and cut-outs in the broadcast to questionable programming decisions and service reductions — Sirius XM may have very little time to turn itself around.

What is next? The loss of signature content like Howard Stern or sporting events? More rate hikes? More cuts in programming so that the service sounds even more like FM than it already does lately?

I ask then, what is the point of satellite radio? Might as well go to streaming media via 3G, as Harry has repeatedly suggested.

Could it come down to Sirius being bought out by someone like EchoStar? It may have to: it owes about $575 million in debt repayments to the company, $175 million due next week, and another $400 million due in December.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that — but it looks like Mr. Karmazin is resisting. Sir, I hate to say it, but you may have no choice, you’ve had your chance. Declaring bankruptcy would open the company up to possible shareholder lawsuits, while a deal with EchoStar may keep the company afloat.

In the meantime, I think for shareholders sake, Sirius XM needs to be honest and forthcoming with us all about its financial health. After the way it handled its channel merge, I just get the feeling that this company either does not understand how, or does not want to communicate with its customers.

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Did Google Really Cripple Android to Please Apple?

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 11, 2009 at 9:13 am

google_g1_logoVentureBeat has one of the more surprising stories that I’ve seen so far this year: that Google may have intentionally crippled Android in an effort to please Apple. Multi-touch support was apparently part of the G1 until Cupertino got wind of it, the site reports.

Apple asked Google not to use the technology, and it was removed. Something tells me it wasn’t just a simple “please:” look at the company’s not-so-veiled threats against Palm. It appears as if Apple is going to be quite protective of its intellectual property, and the functionality that separates the iPhone from the pack.

I personally do not like the fact that Google caved in so easily. While yes, Apple does have a significant stake in multi-touch as Harry pointed out in January, companies should not let this get in the way of innovation. In fact, its questionable whether apple was really the first to come up with the multi-touch user interface.

Then again, I see why Google would want to please Apple. The two companies are quite close, and Google’s mapping software is one of the signature featurs of the iPhone. Add to this the fact that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is an Apple board member, and well, you can see why they might be more willing to bend over backwards.

Personally, I think its only a matter of time — probably months — before Google has to turn to Apple and say, “I’m sorry, but business is business.”

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Google Launches Co-branded Mobile Search

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 11, 2009 at 7:58 am

search-resultsMobile publishers and carriers will now be able to cash in on Google’s moves into mobile advertising through a new program launched by the search giant on Tuesday. Called AdSense for Mobile Search, it would allow developers to easily integrate Google search into their applications.

The offering is much like its preexisiting program for non-mobile sites. The developer would be able to add a custom logo to the results, as well as custom links back to its site. If users click on an ad, a portion of that revenue is shared with the developer.

Google had already been offering a version of the AdSense service for mobile websites: that has been available since September 2007. This solution however is hosted completely on Google’s servers.

Interested beta testers are being asked to fill out this form.

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AT&T, Union Agree to ‘Cool Off’

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 9, 2009 at 11:26 pm

If anyone thought that the CWA was only interested in crippling AT&T by striking, Monday’s developments should answer those misconceptions. The union appears ready to work with the carrier.

Both sides have agreed to a “cooling off” period. What this means in most basic terms is that union employees will work without a new contract, even though no new talks will occur. Such events are not all that rare: essentially both sides willl walk away from the barganing table for a few days (or even weeks) while both sides mull over their next steps.

This was on top of a gesture by the union to extend the current contract by 30 days while negotiations continued. From what we understand, AT&T did not accept that offer.

Unionized employees will continue to work under the old contract — AT&T is mandated to honor those terms. Obviously, the cooling off period is not inifite: the carrier and the union will need to return to the barganing table.

The union has posted a FAQ on its website detailing the differences between the two sides. At first glance, these differences still look rather significant. Personally, I think that some kind of walkout is still quite likely so be prepared for the worst.

CWA officials are promising updates twice a day, so if theres any breakthrough, of course we’ll let you know here. In any case, if you’re an AT&T customer, I’d recommend dealing with any issues now. If this strike occurs, it could make life difficult.

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CWA: No Strike at AT&T, Yet

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 7, 2009 at 10:40 pm

Barganing continued up until the 11:59pm ET deadline, however no deal has been reached. AT&T and the CWA have agreed to “stop the clock,” which means the current contract will remain in effect while the two sides continue to talk.

Updates throughout the day seem to indicate the two sides are still quite far apart and nowhere near close to a settlement. “The reality is there are more unresolved issues than those resolved,” the union is claiming.

It appears that AT&T is not budging much. The union is also claiming intimidation, which it posted to its front page over the weekend. Among the allegations are threats of forced resignation or firing, and intimidation over showing solidarity with the union.

AT&T has been all but silent on the issue. The company has not made any public statements on the matter, so there’s no word on the carrier’s point of view.

In any case, the WSJ story from Wednesday certainly doesn’t help their cause. If you can spend millions or even billions on old Verizon Wireless assets, you can certainly spend more on paying your employees better.

That’s going to be a hard one to explain.

More as we get it.

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Parking Ticket Scam Leads to Malware

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 5, 2009 at 8:08 am

Give these hackers some credit: this malware scam takes an offline world incovenience — the parking ticket — and turns it into a way to dupe users into installing malware on their computers.

These fake parking tickets have begun appearing on cars around Grand Forks, North Dakota, which directed users to a website.

The yellow flier reads:

PARKING VIOLATION This vehicle is in violation of standard parking regulations. To view pictures with information about your parking preferences, go to [website redacted]

Once on the website, pictures of cars in the area are shown, with the license plate information removed of course (oh, what nice hackers, eh?). In order to “find” your vehicle, the site asks the user to download a toolbar.

A trojan horse is installed by the toolbar, which directs information to childhe.com. That domain has already been fingered as malicious by several antivirus companies, including Symantec.

From here the user would get several fake infection warnings, which then would prompt for the install of even more malware. You got to give these folks credit: this is probably the most ingenious scam I’ve seen yet when it comes to virus and malware trickery.

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AT&T Eyes Verizon Wireless Assets

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 4, 2009 at 10:30 am

On one hand, AT&T is fighting paying its employees more. On the other, its hoping to snag up assets that Verizon Wireless must divest as part of its merger agreement with Alltel Wireless.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that AT&T is likely to be able to snag a majority of those assets as it appears to be the bidder in the strongest position. A cable provider is also apparently in the running, although the paper does not specify which one.

Among these assets are 2.1 million subscribers including spectrum and infrastructure to support those customers across 22 states. Transferring those customers to AT&T would likely push the carrier above 80 million once this quarter’s subscriber additions are figured in.

Interest groups are none to happy about it, arguing that it essentially is transferring customers from one mega-carrier to another. Public Knowledge has argued that the Obama Administration should pressure Verizon to sell these assets to smaller carriers.

No sale would be final upon winning of the bids–the DOJ would still have to sign off on the sales.

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AT&T Could Be Hit By Strike Saturday

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 4, 2009 at 8:10 am

[UPDATE 4/3/09 2:30PM]: The CWA has ratified a new contract, meaning a strike has been averted. Please see our updated coverage here.

att_header_logoThe Communications Workers of America, which represent some of the sales force at AT&T’s wireless stores, have begun to warn its members that a strike may be possible beginning on Saturday.

From the CWA website:

“Picket signs are being sent out to every CWA Local with Mobility members as the February 7th expiration date approaches. With little progress at the bargaining table, every Local must be ready to walk, if necessary, to get some RESPECT from AT&T Mobility.”

AT&T and the union have been negotiating since January 21 on a new contract known as the “Orange Contract,” which covers everyone in the country except for the former Southwestern Bell and BellSouth areas. At issue is wages, vacation time, job security, and benefits — the typical contract issues.

Wages appear to be the sticking point: the most recent update from Tuesday indicates what increase AT&T is proposing would not offset increases in health care costs.

I am not entirely clear here on whether a walkout would occur just in the Orange Contract areas or across the entire company footprint. In any case, a strike could paralyze retail services for a significant majority of AT&T customers.

I’ll watch my local store here. Members are being encouraged to wear red in solidarity on Thursday: I’m going to go into the stores and see who is. More on this as we get it…

Update 2/6/09: A Message to Our Commenters… we know this subject is of a personal matter for both those in the union and their non-union counterparts, and those who may have strong opinions on unionization in general. However, we will not tolerate personal attacks. Please, by all means speak your mind, but keep it at a level of intellectual discourse that keeps out the attacks. Thanks for visiting!

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iLife ’09 Unfriendly to PowerPC Macs

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 4, 2009 at 7:25 am

Well, you have to admit its not overly surprising this is occurring considering the switch to Intel processors in Macs occurred over two years ago: several media outlets have aptly noted that iLife ’09 has begun to lock out PowerPC users.

This trend started with last year’s version of iLife, which limited use of iMovie to G5 processors only which rendered it useless for any Mac PowerPC portable. That limitation continues in iLife ’09, but GarageBand has also now begun to limit functionality.

GarageBand’s standard application appears to still work. However, if you want to make use of its Learn to Play functionality, you must access it with an Intel-based Mac.

Apple has also been rumored — although it has not confirmed — to be doing away with PowerPC support in Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard.” It makes sense: limiting the OS’s capability to support legacy hardware is a trap that Windows has fallen into, and Mac OS should avoid.

For those of you holding out: upgrade. Now is a better time than ever to pick up a new Mac. The added functionality, including the capability to run Windows when you need to (and I bet some of us Macheads thoroughly enjoy running Windows IN a window) is more than enough for me.

In the end however, supporting its legacy hardware this long was a good move for Apple and gave its users ample time to prepare for what would have been an inevitable switch.

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Windows 7 SKUs Announced

Posted by Ed Oswald on February 3, 2009 at 10:12 am

Well, I guess we can consider this a half win. While Microsoft will still offer just about the same number of SKUs as it did for Vista – criticized because it confused consumers – it will only focus on two of them. Pricing has yet to be announced, however.

Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet has the details straight from Windows business chief Bill Veghte. There will be three main consumer-focused versions of the OS which will work as follows:

  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Ultimate

Two SKUs would be available to the so-called ‘developing markets:’

  • Windows 7 Starter Edition
  • Windows 7 Home Basic

There would also be a version aimed at business, Windows 7 Enterprise. This does not include the EU-mandated N and K versions, which add additional SKUs to the lineup. In any case, you will be able to purchase upgrade media even if you have XP installed. Very smart move on Microsoft’s part.

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