Fred Amoroso, president and CEO of Macrovision, has published his own open letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs and the digital entertainment industry on digital rights management (DRM). “With such an enjoyable and revolutionary experience within our grasp, we should not minimize the role that DRM can and should play in enabling the transition to electronic content distribution,” he says. “Without reasonable, consistent and transparent DRM we will only delay the availability of premium content in the home. As an industry, we should not let that happen.”
A Kenyan man inadvertently scared off burglars with his iPod. “The two thieves, not knowing that the owner of the house was lying on the floor with his wife, got scared and ran back out via the window apparently thinking that the light from the ipod was a ghost… John immediately put on his clothes, left his wife and trekked the 12 miles to the nearest police station. The cops, who’d never seen an iPod before, confiscated it and sent John away calling him a liar and rich with imagination.”
Federal prosecutors are “strongly considering” criminal charges against former executives of Apple related to the backdating of stock options. “More than 170 companies have been investigated by U.S. authorities or have conducted internal inquiries into possible manipulation of option grant dates,” reports CNN/Money. “Some companies are accused of backdating grant dates to days when the share price was lower, giving the recipient the opportunity for extra profit.”
The San Jose Business Journal reports: “Apple Inc. and Pixar Chief Executive Steve Jobs will give away his controversial fixer-upper house in Woodside, CA to a local investor who plans to spend between $4 million and $6 million to relocate and restore it. An appellate court denied Jobs’ appeal last week for a rehearing following San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner’s decision last year, which bars the executive from tearing down the 30-room mansion, known as the Jackling House.”