trade

iPad tops iPod trade-ins 2-to-1 on eBay

New data put out by eBay this morning shows that consumers are trading in more than double the number of iPads than iPods as part of the company's gadget trade-in program.

The tidbit accompanied news that eBay is giving Apple owners a bigger trade-in value for broken iPhones, iPads, and iPods. As part of the promotion, which coincides with Earth Day, those who trade in their nonworking gadgets can get up to $150 for a broken iPad, $100 for an iPhone, and $50 for an iPod. eBay is also doling out a $5 gift card, and a matching $5 … Read more

Motorola and Huawei settle legal disputes

Motorola and Huawei Technologies have patched up their legal differences in disputes over the potential sharing of trade secrets.

The companies announced today that they've entered into an agreement to settle all litigation in two separate legal matters, pending certain conditions.

China-based Huawei has agreed to withdraw its lawsuit against Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks. The suit, filed in January, sought to block Motorola's sale of its wireless equipment business to Nokia Siemens on the grounds that Motorola could reveal certain Huawei trade secrets to Nokia Siemens.

Related links • Huawei sues Motorola over sale to Nokia • Motorola selling network gear biz for $1.2 billion • … Read more

HP suing former exec over theft of trade secrets

In a case that echos of its turmoil with ex-CEO Mark Hurd, Hewlett-Packard is suing a former executive, claiming he stole trade secrets before jumping ship to Oracle.

In the lawsuit filed yesterday, HP alleges that Adrian Jones, the former head of enterprise sales in the company's Asian division, copied proprietary documents and e-mails about HP product information onto a USB device, according to Reuters.

In a further twist to the case, HP said it was going to fire Jones after it learned that he had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, had set up a large pay increase … Read more

Nasdaq shift to lighten Apple's weighting

The Nasdaq stock exchange will cut the weighting it gives to Apple on a key index at the same time that it boosts the weighting for tech titans including Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

In a major rebalancing of the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index, which will go into effect ahead of the market open on May 2, the exchange aims to better reflect the current market values of several significant companies. For example, Apple's weighting on the Nasdaq 100 is currently more than six times that of Microsoft, even though Apple's market value is only 46 percent larger, according … Read more

Google settles FTC charges over Buzz

Google has agreed to establish a "comprehensive privacy program" to settle allegations that last year's launch of Google Buzz, a foray by the Web giant into social networking, initially shared more information than users reasonably expected.

The Federal Trade Commission said today that the Mountain View, Calif.-based company has entered into a settlement agreement, which does not admit any wrongdoing, that includes regular reports on its privacy practices prepared by an independent professional for the next 20 years.

"When companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them," said Jon Leibowitz, the Democratic chairman … Read more

McAfee: Cybercrooks target corporate trade secrets

Cybercriminals are increasingly moving from stealing just personal data to capturing trade secrets and other corporate intellectual capital that they can easily sell through the underground market, according to a new report from McAfee and the SAIC.

In today's release of a new study, "Underground Economies: Intellectual Capital and Sensitive Corporate Data Now the Latest Cybercrime Currency" (PDF), McAfee and the Science Applications International Corporate find that the theft of trade secrets, marketing plans, R&D data, and even source code is on the rise, especially as such information is often unprotected.

Based on a global … Read more

How to get the best price for your iPad trade-in

Apple's new iPad 2 is certainly a nice upgrade from the original, but it may not be revolutionary enough to convince owners of the original iPad to shell out for a second tablet. One way to justify an early upgrade is to sell or trade in your current iPad, to at least cover some of the cost of a new model.

Searching online for the best deal for my 32GB Wi-Fi iPad (which originally cost $599), I found the offers ranged from under $200 to nearly $400, although some required more effort on the seller's part than others. … Read more

Antitrust review delays Motorola unit's sale

Motorola's plan to sell its wireless network business to Nokia Siemens Networks has been put on hold by Chinese antitrust officials.

Under the $1.2 billion deal announced last summer, Nokia Siemens Networks will acquire the unit from Motorola Solutions. But approval of the acquisition is hitting a snag in China, where antitrust regulators have extended their review period by 60 days, Motorola said today.

Antitrust approval is needed in each market affected by the deal, according to Bloomberg, and all other approvals were received by the end of last year.

When the deal was first announced last July, … Read more

Lawmakers tell Biden to push Russia on antipiracy

If Russia wants to prove the country is a good trade partner, then the country must be more aggressive in fighting online piracy. That's the message a group of U.S. congressmen wants Vice President Joe Biden to send during his visit to Moscow this week.

In a letter written Friday by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lawmakers reminded Biden that Russia appears to have once again grown soft on copyright violations and the congressmen want him to nudge leaders there back on track.

For more … Read more