Archive for February 21, 2014

Own A Fitbit? It’s Been Recalled

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 21, 2014 by itnerd

This is going to suck for Fitbit. It’s issuing a voluntary recall of its Force wristband after some users reported issues with skin irritation. Here’s what The Consumerist had to say:

Since the first reports of contact dermatitis caused by Fitbit Force movement trackers surfaced on the company’s forums (and gained publicity when Consumerist broke the story last month) customers have asked that the company recall the trackers. Fitbit has been happy to refund customers who have skin problems and send their trackers back. Today, the company announced that they’re recalling all Force wristbands.

This recall is voluntary, not prompted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The company won’t state how many trackers they’ve sold or how many people have experienced rashes. A spreadsheet maintained by the vocal group of users on the Fitbit forums shows more than 500 documented cases of skin irritation resulting from Fitbit use. In a letter to customers, Fitbit CEO James Park states that 1.7% of customers who own the Force have reported “any” skin irritation related to the device.

This is not good if you’re trying make a reputation for yourself as the leader in this market. Now they have a new product coming out shortly, but you can fully expect Nike and Jawbone to take advantage of this misstep by Fitbit.

 

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BlackBerry To US Air Force: You’ll Be Sorry

Posted in Commentary with tags , , on February 21, 2014 by itnerd

BlackBerry just lost a major customer. The US Air Force has decided to replace legacy BlackBerry devices for iOS devices. Clearly BlackBerry is not going to be overjoyed about the Air Force defecting to Apple. But what caught me off guard was the fact that the company actually came out and said so. Here’s what they said to CrackBerry:

The ongoing threat of cyber attacks requires organizations to be vigilant about mobile security. For customers that have the highest security requirements, such as those in government, there is nothing more secure than a BlackBerry device managed by a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

There is a clear reason why BlackBerry has more government certifications than any other vendor, and the only enterprise mobility management vendor and handset maker to receive the Department of Defense “Authority to Operate” certification. Security is built into everything we do, and we’ve been doing it longer and better than anyone else.

We’ve been a trusted partner to government agencies for more than a decade, and have more than 80,000 BlackBerry devices in DISA alone. Our competitors have not been tested in the field or subjected to the long term rigors of high stress applications, making their security model difficult to trust. BlackBerry remains the best option for governments around the world.

We’ll see if the Air Force comes back to BlackBerry if there’s a major security issue. But seeing as the US Army just bought a pile of Samsung smartphones a few days ago, methinks that it’s not going to happen.

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Teksavvy Forced To Hand Over Names Of Customers Who Pirate Movies

Posted in Commentary with tags on February 21, 2014 by itnerd

Canadian ISP Teksavvy got handed a court decision that on the surface looks kind of bad for customers. They have to hand over the names of customers who pirate movies to Voltage Pictures. Here are the details from the CBC:

A Federal Court decision released Thursday compels Ontario-based TekSavvy to identify the customers allegedly linked to downloads of films by the U.S. production company Voltage Pictures, which is behind the likes of The Hurt Locker, Dallas Buyers Club and Don Jon.

As a result, those TekSavvy customers could eventually receive a letter from Voltage threatening legal action. Under the federal Copyright Act, statutory damages for non-commercial infringement range between $100 and $5,000.

Now that does sound bad. But here’s why Voltage Pictures may never see a dime:

But while the court sided with Voltage’s efforts to go after copyright violators, it sought to protect against the company acting “inappropriately in the enforcement of its rights to the detriment of innocent Internet users.”

“On the facts of this case, there is some evidence that Voltage has been engaged in litigation which may have an improper purpose. However, the evidence is not sufficiently compelling for this court at this juncture in the proceeding to make any definitive determination of the motive of Voltage,” wrote judge Kevin Aalto.

Aalto ordered that before Voltage can send a letter to the alleged downloaders, it must return to court to get the wording of its communications cleared by a case management judge.

“In order to ensure there is no inappropriate language in any demand letter sent to the alleged infringers, the draft demand letter will be provided to the court for review,” Aalto wrote.

“Any correspondence sent by Voltage to any subscriber shall clearly state in bold type that no court has yet made a determination that such subscriber has infringed or is liable in any way for payment of damages.”

Voltage was also ordered to pay any costs that TekSavvy incurs in identifying the customers in the case, as well as legal fees.

So. Anything that Voltage Pictures does has to be overseen by a court. Plus they have to pick up the costs of Teksavvy for doing their legwork. If I’m Voltage Pictures, that may be a huge disincentive for them to go after a single movie pirate. Of course, Voltage could always appeal or just decide the costs are worth it. We’ll have to see what happens.

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