Sarbanes Oxley Act
This is the Public Company accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, or SOX in short. This was a reaction to scandals that cost investors billions of dollars.
What this act did was create the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board which oversees the accounting firms and their roles in public companies.
This is all good fun for big companies who have lots of money to throw at this new regulation. For smaller companies, the cost of honoring this assessment is high. Also foreign firms do not have to abide by this rule and is a concern that it drives businesses out of the US.
The one focus I wants to point out is this law has an adverse effect on IPOs; specifically those that are common in silicon valley. Since the enactment, it has been difficult for venture capitalist to get back their investment in upstart by making it harder for them to go public.
I read on the net where technologist are against this act and want it repealed. I would have to agree. This act will not stop corporate fraud. It just creates another hurdle for small businesses or upstarts.
Anti boss key alternative
I found this device while looking for a productivity item on the internet. I don’t know how this can make you more productive at work. I guess by hiding what you’re really working on, THAT is why it makes you productive. It’s called STEALTHSWITCH and it does what it sounds like. It is a small foot peddle that once you set up in software, it will hide what you’re doing and put in its place what you SHOULD be doing. What’s funny is watching this video on their site. I found a better application for this tool. It can become a quick key for anything you want launched on your computer. You can have up to four of these together on one machine. Imagine you can have one peddle that launches a browser, one for email, one for your current project, and one to release the trap door under the chair of whoever you don’t want to talk with anymore down into the alligator pit in your basement. >:-)
Backup could have saved avsim.com
AVSIM.COM was launched in 1996. In one hack, they have lost everything from then to now. Why did this happen? The owner said they did backups but in the form of mirroring two servers. When the hackers took over both servers, it destroyed this system of backup. In this case an offsite or even OFFLINE backup would have sufficed.
Removable hard drives, DVDs, even old tape backup can’t be compromised over the internet.
I’m sure they’ll have full community support to get those lost 13 years back.
BlackBerry Storm 2
Here’s some first look at the blackberry storm TWO. From what I can tell it looks just like the first one with the exception of the now touch screen talk buttons. I hope they improve the software.
Intel fined 1.45 billion in EU
Intel has been hit with a 1.45 billion (Billion!) dollar fine for antitrust ruling in Europe. That total is much more than Microsoft’s 497 million filed a few years ago. They have like three months to pay up. I’d hate to be the one writing that check. Who do you make it out to? If I was Europe, I’d say make it out to Coalition for Adequate School Housing…C.A.S.H. for short. >:-)
I’m sure there will be an appeals. What do you charge as a law firm for reversing such a ruling?
