And in other news... (Iomega penalty; UMAX injunction; Palm Pilot can help you steal cars)

Iomega fraudulent advertising penalty Newsbytes News Network reports: In the largest-ever penalty for non-fraudulent violations of the Mail Order Rule, disk drive and portable data storage product manufacturer Iomega Corp. has agreed to pay $900,000 to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle charges that it broke this rule. Specifically, the FTC said Iomega failed to offer consumers "the option to consent to a delay or to receive a refund;" to provide "prompt, automatic refunds or rebates" when it could not fulfill orders on time; to provide a costless means of canceling orders; and to have "a reasonable basis for many of its shipping representations."

Visioneer gets injunction against UMAX re "36-bit" scanner claim From Visioneer comes this news: The United States District Court for Northern California issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting UMAX Technologies, Inc. from selling and advertising its entire line of Astra 1220 series scanners as 36-bit scanners effective December 8, 1998. According to the court's ruling, UMAX, its agents, distributors, resellers and retailers must cease using the term "36-bit" to advertise, merchandise and sell its Astra 1220 series of scanners without making it clear the units only contain 10-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converters. Under the ruling, all Astra 1220 products cannot be sold as 36-bit scanners and must be relabeled as 30-bit scanners.

Using Palm Pilots to Steal Cars? From the Standard (thanks, Monty Solomon) comes this tidbit: "This week the U.K.'s New Scientist reports that computer journalist Lars Sorensen has discovered a technique for using the infrared port on the new generation of Palm Pilots to break into cars with infrared remote keyless entry systems." Of course, you will still need the key to start the car. And it seems to me (and other readers) that almost any "learning" remote ought to be able to accomplish this Palm Pilot trick. Is the Palm somehow special in this ability?