wired

A former manager at Apple has pleaded guilty in a major kickback case that could land him 20 years in prison.

Paul Shin Devine, once employed at Apple as a supply manager, admitted guilt yesterday in federal court in San Jose, Calif., on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. He was accused of taking kickbacks from Apple suppliers in exchange for information, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Devine, who worked at Apple from 2005 through 2010, sent forecasts, roadmaps, product specifications, and other confidential information to Asian suppliers and manufacturers of Apple components, according to … Read more

Two billion FireWire ports have been shipped worldwide since the technology's inception, the 1394 Trade Association announced this week.

In addition, the organization says FireWire has been made available on more than 1.2 billion "consumer and computer products."

FireWire has come a long way since Apple set the technology in motion in 1986. FireWire, which is actually Apple's name for IEEE 1394 High Speed Serial Bus, allows for the transfer of data from one device to another. It's used commonly in Apple computers, as well as in many other devices.

1394 Trade Association Chairman … Read more

Lawyers representing independent filmmakers, including the studio that produced Oscar-winner "The Hurt Locker," might learn something from a document filed with the U.S. Department of Commerce today by music, television, and film industry trade groups.

The Commerce Department recently sent out a request for information, known as a "Notice of Information," on "copyright policy, creativity, and innovation in the Internet economy." What the Commerce Department intends to do with the information it obtains was unclear this afternoon, but it did receive a response from nine trade groups representing the entertainment sector. In that … Read more

The long saga of the Lime Wire company appears to be close to an ending.

The maker of the popular LimeWire file-sharing software--a peer-to-peer setup along the lines of the original Napster--has announced that at the beginning of next year, it will cease business, as originally reported by Peter Kafka at All Things Digital.

Owing to a copyright complaint filed against it in 2006 by the Recording Industry Association of America, Lime Wire had already been ordered in October of this year to shut down its peer-to-peer service. But, following Napster's example, it had previously opened a legitimate online music subscription service, … Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Amazon now lets you gift Kindle books

Groupon launches Grouponicus, a daily holiday deal site

PayPal wants you to charge your PayPal account with the touch of a button on your TV remote

Steve Jobs and Apple may be working directly with News Corp. to launch The Daily, an iPad-only reader application

Facebook blocks certain links in its new messaging system

The four largest recording companies claim in court papers that Lime Wire, the company behind the LimeWire file-sharing service, has thumbed its nose at a court injunction that requires the peer-to-peer network be shut down, CNET has learned.

"Defendants have demonstrated in no uncertain terms that they either will not or cannot do what the injunction commands," wrote lawyers working for the Recording Industry Association of America.

The RIAA, the trade group for the major labels, asked the court yesterday in a 20-page document to appoint a "receiver" to ensure that Lime Wire complies with the … Read more

NEW YORK--Last summer, Lime Wire began installing a secret upgrade to its software that enabled the company to shut down the peer-to-peer network whenever it wanted, music industry sources have confirmed.

The revelation was first reported Tuesday by PC Mag. According to the Web tech publication, reporters there were tipped off by a source on Monday night.

"LimeWire added the ability to send out messages to clients updating them with the location of their local peers via start-up scripts," PC Mag wrote, citing the anonymous source. "It will be these start-up scripts that will be disabled...largely … Read more

The end of Lime Wire as it has existed for years appears to be at hand.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood issued an injunction today against the company that operates the long popular file-sharing software LimeWire and orders managers there to disable "the searching, downloading, uploading, file trading...and/or all functionality" of the LimeWire software, Lime Wire announced.

In May, Wood, who serves the Southern District of New York, granted summary judgment in favor of the music industry's claims that Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright … Read more

An interesting story reported by The Huffington Post suggests Conde Nast iPad (and iPhone) apps have a critical flaw that can allows anyone inclined to change a preference file to download new issues of magazines for free.

Conde Nast publishes iOS versions of its popular magazines including GQ, Vogue, Wired, and The New Yorker. The hack, which is really just a simple set of instructions, was developed by the Italian "research group" Dark Apples.

Interestingly, Adobe finds itself in the middle of this security issue. Adobe manages Conde Nast's iPad apps and is most likely responsible for … Read more