ShadowRAM: September 17, 2007

APPLE TECHNOLOGY JUST WORKS? PFFFFFT
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The iPhone price cuts weren't a big deal. The day-later $100 refund promise wasn't a huge issue. But when Apple messes with our access to music, it is a big deal.

Last week, the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer and smartphone maker sent out an update to its iTunes software (the software that also manages the iPhone). Specifically, it sent out an update called iTunes 7.4.1. We know the exact number, because we had it in our face for three days while it froze our PC, forced us to reboot umpteen times, and refused to let us do anything—including download a version of Lynn Anderson's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" to use as an iPhone ringtone.

Other folks had problems too. Apple support forums and comment sections on Apple-related blogs turned up numerous examples of iTunes 7.4.1 freezing, locking up, refusing to let people do stuff and causing major headaches in general. We don't want the $100 refund from Steve Jobs. We want him to come to our house, uninstall iTunes, and give us a version that works. And no, not an Apple "representative" or an Apple VAR, who is probably too busy making real money. We want Steve Jobs. Here. Now. And if he wants to use his special powers, maybe he can get Lynn Anderson to stop by as well.

PAUL SU, CALL YOUR OFFICE
• The Norman Hsu campaign fund-raising scandal has a shadowy connection to at least one longtime industry veteran, according to government records and news reports. Hsu, a convicted felon who became a high-profile campaign donor and fund-raiser for presidential and congressional candidates, apparently maintained an odd relationship with Paul Su, who for years worked as the president of San Jose, Calif.-based component provider AOpen America. Su also became founder of New York-based Dilini Management Group—which has no apparent public phone number or address—that Hsu listed as his employer on several political campaign contributions.

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It gets odder, still: On at least one form filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission, Hsu listed the same Dix Hills, Long Island, address where Su has maintained a residence. Hsu last week left a Colorado hospital and was jailed on charges stemming from a Ponzi scheme case in California.

Su has been a well-known figure in the channel and a frequent attendee of channel business conferences. A few years ago, he told CRN that he intended to turn component supplier AOpen into the "Home Depot" of the IT market. Last week, a sales employee at AOpen said Su no longer worked there but the employee had no further details. Calls to another AOpen executive went unreturned. Since the Hsu scandal broke, other media organizations and political bloggers have begun digging at the periphery of the Hsu-Su relationship. There's a good chance that this story is closer to the beginning than the end.

SEEN AND HEARD
• AMD's antitrust lawsuit against Intel charges the chip giant with illegally using its monopoly power to prevent OEMs from building PCs and servers with AMD chips. During pre-trial motions, Intel admitted that it deleted a bunch of e-mails and other records it was supposed to provide.

In motions last week, AMD lawyers wrote, "On March 5, Intel came forward with the stunning public admission that it had discovered what it euphemistically termed 'some document retention lapses.'" Is that what the kids are calling it these days? AMD lawyers further noted that Intel kept an "auto-delete" function turned "on" on some of its e-mail, which saved Intel $55,000 in IT costs—savings no doubt wiped out, and then some, by Intel's legal fees.

• Rumor has it Lenovo, spurned by Acer and Gateway in its attempt to buy Packard Bell, may try to buy disk drive maker Seagate. Imagine Lenovo buying Seagate, and then its CEO, William Amelio, turning around and negotiating OEM pricing with Michael Dell. (Dell executives had some not-so-nice things to say about Amelio when he left Dell China to take over Lenovo.) That conversation would be fun to hear.