Two join governor’s economic council
Two Spokane residents were named this week to Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Grant Forsyth, an Eastern Washington University economist, and Avista Corp. executive Kim Pearman-Gilman were appointed to terms that started Tuesday. Both will serve open-ended terms at the governor’s pleasure.
Forsyth has done numerous area economic analyses, including studies for the city of Spokane Valley and the city of Cheney.
Pearman-Gilman is the senior vice president of Avista Development and has served as economic development adviser for the city of Spokane.
The governor’s council provides advice on state financial matters, including budgets, tax policy and debt management.
Apple shares drop on reports of slow sales
San Francisco Shares of Apple Computer Inc. slid nearly 5 percent Friday following reports that sales of its iPod digital music player appear to be slowing.
Investment firm Goldman Sachs said in a report Thursday that it expects shipments of Apple’s digital music player to be flat this quarter. Internet news site AppleInsider also reported Thursday that Apple has a glut of most iPod models, especially the recently launched iPod Shuffle.
AppleInsider quoted unidentified sources who said that shipments of most iPod models are “flat or declining” for the first time since the device was launched in 2001.The report also said Apple was overstocked in some models of personal computers and other products.
Also Friday, the company announced an iPod recycling program in which customers can bring the portable music players they no longer want to Apple’s U.S. retail stores for environmentally friendly disposal. Those who drop off an iPod will receive a 10 percent discount on a new one.
Levi Strauss wins reversal in Mexico court
An appeals court in Mexico has overturned a $45 million judgment against Levi Strauss & Co., reversing a decision that held the jeans maker liable for a police raid that wrongly targeted a former contractor during a crackdown on clothing counterfeiters.
The San Francisco-based company disclosed the ruling, reached earlier this week, in a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A lower court in March ordered Levi’s to pay Mexico City contractor Comexma $24.5 million in direct damages and another $20.5 million for harming the company’s reputation. Comexma sued Levi’s in the fallout from a June 2001 incident at its plant.
Accompanied by local media, Mexican police raided Comexma looking for evidence of bogus Levi’s brands based on information provided by a company attorney. The brand-protection attorney set up the raid without getting the required company approvals, Levi’s said.
Hacking went on for days on MSN Web site
Password-stealing software planted by hackers was active on Microsoft’s popular MSN Web site in South Korea for days before the world’s largest software company learned about the break-in and removed the computer code.
Police investigators and Microsoft specialists are continuing to search for clues to the culprits behind this week’s high-profile computer break-in. More details emerged Friday about the hacking, which targeted subscribers of an online game called “Lineage” that is popular in Asia.
Microsoft Corp. said it had cleaned the Web site, www.msn.co.kr, and removed the software code that had been planted on its news page. It said another company that operates the MSN Korea site apparently failed to apply necessary software patches, leaving its server computers vulnerable.
Security researchers at San Diego-based Websense Inc. discovered the break-in late Sunday during routine scans it makes against more than 250 million Web sites each week looking for sources of viruses and other infections.