Spam Doesn't Pay
Eddie Davidson has found out the hard way that crime -- even something as seemingly
stealthy and anonymous as perpetrating spam -- doesn't pay. In fact, it'll
cost
him dearly.
The Colorado resident has just pleaded guilty to crimes related to his days
as the king of a spam empire, including tax evasion and falsifying e-mail headers.
That seemingly innocuous crime label must be DOJ-speak for being a spam king.
That's not all, though: He owes the IRS $715,000 in back taxes and fines.
Davidson will have to report to prison to begin serving his 21-month sentence
some time in May. (Why not just add three months and go for the full two years?)
On the other hand, maybe crime does pay; Davidson is getting free room
and board for those 21 months, after all...
Hopefully, this fairly well-publicized case will help any future potential
spammers reconsider their career path. How do you keep the pernicious tendrils
of spam from reaching into your network? What's your strategy -- an integrated
system or best-of-breed tools? I'll keep an eye on my spam filter for your response
at [email protected].
AMD Launches Desktop Line
AMD is branching out from being just a chip maker to making
full-blown desktop systems designed for business. And it's doing so with
the help of some of its best customers.
According to AMD, the Business Class line of desktop systems will be aimed
at small and medium-size businesses (I'm sure AMD won't mind if larger customers
want to buy them, though). The AMD-branded desktop systems naturally have AMD
processors. The first desktops are based on AMD's Athlon X2 dual-core, Phenom
X3 triple-core and Phenom X4 quad-core processors.
Some of AMD's top-shelf customers who provided some design help and will also
help with the sales efforts include Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo and Fujitsu-Siemens.
AMD also plans to release a line of laptop computers later this year.
Would you consider buying full systems from AMD? What do you consider in a
desktop besides price? Branch out and let me know at [email protected].
EMC Looking To Buy Iomega
This is a local story for your favorite Redmond editors, as Hopkinton,
Mass. is just a few exits west of our offices in Framingham on the Mass. Pike.
Hopkinton-based storage giant EMC is looking to add to its acquisition trophy
room.
EMC has just tendered
another offer to buy Iomega, a San Diego-based company that's best-known
for the Zip drive (which, in my opinion, was another non-standard that should
have become a standard).
This is actually an upgrade from a previous offer. Earlier this month, EMC
agreed to pay $213
million for Iomega. The current tender is an agreement to acquire all outstanding
shares for $3.85 per share. EMC's initial bid, made much earlier, was $178 million.
On Tuesday, both companies were cleared by federal antitrust authorities to
proceed with the deal.
What do you think of this deal? Has there been too much consolidation for your
liking? Can you see a Big Brother-type of technological dystopia when we have
one huge hardware company and one huge software company? E-mail your manifesto
to [email protected].
Intel Teams Up with Cray
AMD isn't the only chip maker in the news today. Chip king Intel is teaming
up with renowned supercomputer Cray to work on new
multi-core technologies.
The two heavyweights have signed an agreement to develop high-performance systems
and new technologies. Neither company has commented on specific plans, but Intel
did indicate in a prepared statement that it will be focusing on "multi-core
technologies" and "advanced interconnects."
Some of the plans for the Intel/Cray high-powered systems include approaching
and possibly breaking the petaflop calculation rate barrier. It'll be interesting
to see what comes of this collaboration of the titans. Are you looking at multi-core
computing? Let us know at [email protected].
You can read more about what the move toward multi-core means for IT in Redmond
magazine's May cover story here.
And don't forget: You can read more about these stories and other top technology
headlines at our new news Web site RedmondReport.com.
About the Author
Lafe Low is the editorial liaison for ECG Events.