The Light Is Green

Chamco in disarray

Chamco Auto made headlines some time back when it was created, as it was the first formal launching of an initiative to sell Chinese cars in the U.S. Some months later they announced their plan of attack: first Mexico, then the U.S.

Chamco partners with China's Hebei Zhongxing Automobile Company, Ltd. who will produce the cars to be sold.

But there's trouble afoot.

The company's board has fired chairman Bill Pollack (pictured), president Sam Tropello and consultant E. Michael Daspin, husband of the company's largest shareholder.

Daspin is alleged to be the company's de facto leader, a fact concealed to cover up a past felony fraud conviction.

A new executive team was installed on March 3, led by Mario Ferla as new CEO.... the bad news is that top officers and shareholders have now filed a civil suit for fraud, mismanagement and diversion of corporate funds by the company's former managers.

Automotive News says:

"CEO Mario Ferla and his allies have sued owners and managers for fraud, alleging they skimmed millions from Chamco through bogus fees and excessive commissions."

A little off-topic, I found this reassuring tidbit on Chamco's website:

"CHAMCO AUTO will not launch any vehicle unless and until it is proven to get on the road and stay on the road."

Read more at Automotive News.

Related articles:

• China cars, first Mexico then USA

• Chamco: another plan for Chinese cars to U.S.

Tags: automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry, Chamco, Chamco Auto, Bill Pollack, Sam Tropello, E. Michael Daspin, Hebei Zhongxing Automobile Company

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Internet scam by Network Solutions?

Internet domain stalwart Network Solutions is accused of unsportsmanlike conduct in a class action lawsuit.

According to the filing posted on PR Newswire:

Network Solutions has forced millions of people to buy Internet domain names from them instead of cheaper competitors through a scheme that's netted the firm millions of dollars.

Whenever someone searches for the availability of a domain name through Network Solutions' website, the company immediately registers the name for itself, preventing other companies from selling it and forcing consumers to pay Network Solutions' expensive fees.

"... Each time someone asks Network Solutions about a domain name, the firm creates a monopoly for itself, forcing consumers to pay the price they demand," said Brian Kabateck, lead counsel in the class action suit and managing partner at consumer law firm Kabateck Brown Kellner's.

The lawsuit also targets ICANN, the international organization that regulates domain names and other Internet protocols, stating ICANN is aware that Network Solutions is doing this and yet continues to facilitate its actions.

Tags: Network Solutions, Internet scams, ICANN, Brian Kabateck

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Failed IT Projects (Part 3): Boeing and U.S. Homeland Security

I recently came across ZDNet's outlook on what they feel are the biggest three IT project failures in history.

Whether they are or not, the point is that even the largest, best organized companies and institutions can find insurmountable hurdles in a software project.

So, moving along, here's the biggest IT disaster project in this ongoing series from ZDNet...

Failed IT Project #1:

Boeing and U.S. Homeland Security

Or... the $30 billion dollar high-tech fence

The widely publicized "virtual fence" project being built by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border via a high-tech network of cameras, lighting, sensors, and other technology, has hit some snags.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Boeing Co. has changed the management of an electronic-surveillance project along the U.S.-Mexican border after falling more than two months behind schedule, marking the complications involved in setting up a new generation of border security.

The project, part of a larger Department of Homeland Security program called SBInet, is a critical link in the plan to use technology to monitor the borders for illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and possible terrorists. Towers set up along a stretch of the border near Nogales, Ariz., are supposed to use motion sensors, cameras and radar to keep track of wide areas. According to the government, Boeing has had trouble getting the different components to work together without glitches.

The government’s plans for monitoring as much as 6,000 miles of the Canadian and Mexican borders hinge on towers such as these working properly. If they prove ineffective, officials could be forced to spend billions of dollars for more traditional security measures, such as fences and more officers. The Homeland Security Department currently estimates that the virtual fence will cost about $8 billion through 2013, although the agency’s inspector general wrote last November that the cost could balloon to $30 billion.

Also see this article by Joseph Richey, of the Nation Institute, which funds investigative journalism:

In Washington, U.S. Congressional representatives are already bristling at the skyrocketing costs of SBInet. Since Boeing won the contract last year, the estimated cost of securing the southwest border has gone from $2.5 billion to an estimated $8 billion just a few months later. When Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter asked SBInet Director Giddens for the real costs at a February 2007 hearing of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, Giddens replied: “I wish I could answer that with greater clarity.”

At the same Congressional hearings, Boeing vice president and SBInet program manager, Jerry McElwee, took heat from Congressman William Lacy Clay who demanded information about the ballooning costs and the extension of the contract period. “You bid on these contracts and then you come back and say, ‘Oh we need more time. It costs more than twice as much.’ Are you gaming the taxpayers here? Or gaming DHS?” the Missouri Democrat asked.

Related articles:

• Failed IT Project #3: Airbus and incompatible design software
• Failed IT Project #2: The UK National Health Service national e-health project

Tags: SBInet, illegal immigration, Homeland Security, IT disasters

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Daimler sues Chinese copycat

Daimler has just sued Chinese automaker Shuanghuan Automobile from unveiling its Noble, a Smart ForTwo look-alike, at the Bologna Auto Show last week. Daimler claims the Noble infringes on its design copyright for the Smart ForTwo.

Daimler also obtained a similar order in September to prevent Shuanghuan from showing the Noble at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

To give you an idea, see both models below. The Smart ForTwo is on top, the Noble below.

  

Martin Motors, Shuanghuan's European distributor, says they will rename the Noble as the Bubble to avoid potential lawsuits with UK's Noble Auto. And they say that Daimler's suit is unfounded because the Noble/Bubble "is a four-seat, front-engined vehicle, while the Smart model is a two-seat car with a rear engine".

Read more at MotorTrader.

See also:

• BMW vs. Chinese copycats

Tags: automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry, Shuanghuan Automobile, Shuanghuan, Martin Motors, Noble, Bubble, intellectual property

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Failed IT Projects (Part 2): UK Health Care

I recently came across an article that mentioned the biggest three IT project failures in history, in the opinion of tech site ZDNet.

The point is that even the largest, best organized companies and institutions can find insurmountable hurdles in a software project.

So, moving along, here's the next Big IT disaster project in this ongoing series...

Failed IT Projects #2:

The UK National Health Service national e-health project

The UK National Health Service (NHS) began a project some time ago to create nationwide e-health records and also upgrade their IT infrastructure.

Britain's Labor government says the program will end up costing more than $55 billion dollars. The problem is that the original budget was $29 billion. That's a $26 billion, or 90%, overrun.

As Information week says,

"The project, run by Accenture, Computer Sciences Corp., Fujitsu, and others, has been plagued by software problems and resistance from physicians. The vendors face big penalties if deadlines aren't met. In March (2006), Accenture took a $450 million earnings hit as a result."

There's more info at the Daily Mail.

Related articles:

• Failed IT Project #3: Airbus and incompatible design software
• Failed IT Project #2: The UK National Health Service national e-health project

Tags: UK NHS, IT projects, IT disasters

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Human tagging

A tiny RFID device is implanted subdermally in all employees.

Proximity scanners are then used to identify and track employee movement.

No, it's not a scene from a posthumous Philip K. Dick novel, but an actual scenario that could be playing out soon at a workplace near you.

True news item #1: A company called VeriChip has been licensed by the FDA to sell implanted identification devices. Already 2,000 people have been tagged.

True news item #2: CityWatcher.com, a Cincinnati video surveillance company, has required employees from their secure data center to have a microchip implanted in an arm.

True news item #3: The California state Senate recently passed a bill to prevent "employers from requiring workers to have identification devices implanted under their skin". (The bill awaits Governor Schwarzenegger's approval; he is expected to do so unless of course he receives instructions to the contrary imparted by evil robotic masters from the future).

True news item #4: Nine senators opposed the measure. One senator, Bob Margett, said it is "premature to legislate technology that has not yet proved to be a problem".

Read more at the LA Times.

Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, RFID, human tagging

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Chinese Internet scam

I just learned of an Internet scam coming from China that targets businesses and not consumers. I had never heard of it, but I've now read that it looks to be an old scam.

Here's how it works:

1. A Chinese Internet domain registrar contacts your company and tells you that a local (Chinese) company has "pre-registered" your domain name in several formats, (www.yourcompany.com.cn, .cn, .net.cn, etc.). In my case they wrote to my personal email address (I'm CEO of a software company that specializes in the auto industry).

The subject of the email is very to the point: "Autologica Domain Names For Intellectual Property Disputation".

2. They tell you that a Chinese company has "suspiciously" applied for Chinese domain names that "infringe on your trademarks". Since they know this is "harmful to your business", they've put these registrations on hold and are giving you the chance to register them ASAP!

3. They also give you the chance to register your "keywords", á lá those old Internet Keywords offered way back in 2000 by long and deservedly defunct RealNames.

4. All you have to do is contact the Chinese registrar and they'll take care of everything!

The email is written in such a personable style, complete with cute English language errors, and makes such good use of  the old quid pro quo tactic, that I was very much compelled to fall.

Of course, it's all baloney. We immediately went to Godaddy and registered our Chinese domains on the spot.

Wait a minute... maybe that's exactly what these guys wanted?! I feel like a perplexed Andy Garcia at the end of Ocean's Eleven!

Tags: Internet scams, email scams

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Talk about overpaying!

What if you bought something "in a flurry of excitement", only to learn a few months later that you had overpaid by almost 100%. Ouch, right?

What if that something cost you $2.6 billion dollars?

That's what eBay is saying regarding their 2005 purchase of Internet telephony company Skype. They've now written down the value of Skype by $900 million, and they're setting aside $530 million towards future obligations with Skype shareholders.

Add that up for a total of $1.43 billion dollars.

Despite Skype's worldwide success, these are the problems cited: lower than expected revenue, outages, and the habitual crackling lines and time delays.

The fallout... Skype's founder, Niklas Zennstrom, is stepping down as Skype’s CEO; no permanent successor has been named yet. Bonuses to the ex-CEO and others have been cut by 60 percent. And they're telling shareholders that they valued Skype too highly when they bought it.

Says eBay,

“Skype has not performed as well as we would have hoped. And we are disappointed about the impairment charge. But we still believe Skype to be an extremely valuable asset.”

Tags: Skype, eBay, overpaying

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Internet scam goes full circle

You've heard of the email scam where Ms. Angel Huufa (or some such), in limping English, offers to cut you in on a huge pile of money that is somehow stuck in the frozen account of her ex-Sierra Leone dictator relative (or similar) , if only you could help her get it out.

What you may not know is that this particular scheme, called the "Nigerian Scam" (that was the country most cited originally), was born years before the Internet. The medium used back then? Plain old regular mail.

And in case you think no one really falls for this seemingly foolish con, a 1997 report said that losses in the U.S. alone exceeded $100 million dollars. (!!!)

Well, maybe people have caught on, or spam filters have gotten smarter, because it looks like the scammers have gone back to the regular mail format.

I just got a letter sent in my name to our office address, from Spain at a cost of 0.78 euros. See the scanned letter and envelope above and below...

Also, an interesting read about the Nigerian scam (also known as the "419 Scam") here.

Tags: Internet scams, Nigerian scam, 419 scam, fraud

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Failed IT Projects (Part 1): Airbus

I recently came across an article that mentioned the biggest three IT project failures in history, in the opinion of tech site ZDNet.

The point is that even the largest, best organized companies and institutions can find insurmountable hurdles in a software project. And sometimes the root causes are so minor that it's hard to believe they can end up creating such a problem.

We'll go in reverse order... here's #3...

Failed IT Project #3:

Airbus and incompatible design software

When the Airbus A380 megajet project fell two years and $6.1 billion dollars behind schedule, the company admitted that one of the main reasons was the use of incompatible design software.

It seems that Airbus' Toulouse assembly plant used the latest version of their design software, called CATIA, while their design center at Hamburg used an earlier 1980's version. You can imagine how different the two versions are, and that design spec files do not flow easily between them.

Here's a sample of the results of this software problem from Business Week:

"... when pre-assembled bundles containing hundreds of miles of cabin wiring were delivered from a German factory to the assembly line in France, workers discovered that the bundles, called harnesses, didn't fit properly into the plane. Assembly slowed to a near-standstill, as workers tried to pull the bundles apart and re-thread them through the fuselage. Now Airbus will have to go back to the drawing board and redesign the wiring system.

It’s shaping up to be one of the costliest blunders in the history of commercial aerospace."

Of course, the 525-seat, double-decker, environmentally friendly A380 has since launched very successfully.

(Also, Airbus has one of the best websites I've seen in a long time.)

Related articles:

• Failed IT Project #3: Airbus and incompatible design software
• Failed IT Project #2: The UK National Health Service national e-health project

Tags: Airbus, IT projects

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