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A federal judge has rejected HP's (HPQ.N) bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that it intentionally designed its all-in-one printers to be unable to scan or fax when they are low on ink, as a means to increase profit by boosting ink sales. Customers in the proposed class action said HP concealed how its printers enter an "error state" when low on ink, disabling scanning and faxing functions that do not require ink, and forcing them to buy unnecessary, high-margin ink cartridges.

A well-known computer brand has disabled the printers of customers using ink cartridges from rival companies. Hewlett-Packard, or HP, has sparked fury after issuing a recent “firmware” update which blocks customers from using cheaper, non-HP ink cartridges in its printers. Customers’ devices were remotely updated in line with new terms which mean their printers will not work unless they are fitted with approved ink cartridges. It prevents customers from using any cartridges other than those fitted with an HP chip, which are often more expensive. If the customer tries to use a non-HP ink cartridge, the printer will refuse to...

The Department of Justice is investigating Big Tech companies for antitrust violations, and it’s basically a case of DOJ vs. DOJ. That’s because in preparation for just this sort of thing, firms have lawyered up — with hundreds of attorneys hired away from DOJ. Big Tech companies — Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and HP — have hired at least 360 lawyers from the Department of Justice since 2011, found government watchdog American Accountability Foundation. That’s 30 dozen lawyers. ... Heck, even judges do it, like Michael Luttig, a federal appeals judge who left the bench to work for Boeing....

Inspired by the recent actions of new Twitter owner and chief executive Elon Musk, more business leaders in California’s Silicon Valley are dismissing surplus employees. The startup and venture capital industries appeared to take note as Musk acquired the social media company and dismissed two-thirds of employees with no apparent impact on the platform’s operations. According to the billionaire entrepreneur, the number of new Twitter users and the amount of time users spend on the site have increased under his leadership. “The fact that Twitter is running well with headcount down significantly really matters,” Atreides Management Chief Investment Officer Gavin...

Personal computer company HP will dismiss between 4,000 and 6,000 employees, joining other firms in the technology sector making efforts to reduce headcount amid economic headwinds. The company reported net revenues of $14.8 billion in the fourth quarter, marking a decline from $16.7 billion in the same period last year. The effort to reduce payrolls, which will conclude by the end of fiscal year 2025, will save approximately $1 billion. “Looking forward, the new Future Ready strategy we introduced this quarter will enable us to better serve our customers and drive long-term value creation by reducing our costs and reinvesting...

The Committee on Liberatory Information Technology has announced a long-standing Chromebook bug that could reveal user location history. Evidently already on the radar of Google, the platform has a feature allowing anyone with physical access to your device to connect as a guest and view your Wi-Fi logs. Of course, once said intruder has accessed these logs, they would then need the technical knowhow to make sense of them. However, if they are skilled enough, they may be able to track your place history by viewing your Wi-Fi network access over the past seven days. It turns out the bug...

Since its founding in the 1930s, Hewlett-Packard has been synonymous with innovation, and many's the engineer who had cause to praise its workhorse oscillators, minicomputers, servers, and PCs. But since the turn of this century, the company's changed its name to HP and its focus to sleazy ways to part unhappy printer owners from their money. Printer companies have long excelled at this dishonorable practice, but HP is truly an innovator, the industry-leading Darth Vader of sleaze, always ready to strong-arm you into a "deal" and then alter it later to tilt things even further to its advantage. The company's...

Republicans who say Donald Trump should lose in November but insist they won’t vote for Joe Biden aren’t being honest, Carly Fiorina argues. Fiorina was a Republican candidate for president just four years ago, and was briefly Ted Cruz’s prospective running mate. Trump needs to go, she says—and that means she’s voting for Biden. Fiorina is not going to keep quiet, write in another candidate, or vote third-party. “I’ve been very clear that I can’t support Donald Trump,” she told me, in an interview that can be heard in full on the latest episode of The Ticket. “And elections are...

Xerox has dropped its bid to merge with HP, citing the current global health crisis related to the COVID-19 coronavirus, Xerox said. The news was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal. “The current global health crisis and resulting macroeconomic and market turmoil caused by COVID-19 have created an environment that is not conducive to Xerox continuing to pursue an acquisition of HP Inc,” Xerox said in a statement on Tuesday. Xerox will not nominate candidates to HP’s board, and has withdrawn its offer. “We have a healthy cash position and balance sheet that enable us to navigate unanticipated challenges...

As of this writing, Xerox is attempting a hostile takeover of HP Inc., after HP Inc.’s board reiterated its rejection of Xerox’s offer on Jan. 9, 2020, and has obtained a commitment for the necessary $24 billion loan to complete the deal should HP Inc. accept a Xerox offer. HP Inc. continues to contend Xerox’s valuation of approximately $33 billion is too low, implying it would consider an offer with a higher valuation. HP Inc.’s stock market valuation is almost four times that of Xerox. ACQUISITION REMAINS A POSSIBILITY HP Inc.’s board has signaled its willingness to consider higher offers,...

Live Action News has uncovered a document which indicates that the Population Council, a non-profit founded by eugenicists (which brought the abortion pill to the U.S. and then created manufacturer DANCO Laboratories to market the drug known as mifepristone) was originally set up to receive royalties from sales of the abortion pill. The information was found within the organization’s 1998 990 and is seen in the image below. A review of Population Council annual reports reveal that, despite the group’s creation of an abortion pill company, millions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled to the Population Council since the late...

Appearing on CNN’s Boss Files with Poppy Harlow, failed Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said she believes it is “vital” for President Donald Trump to be impeached.

Those Knightscope security robots may not be so great at their jobs. When a woman in a park near Los Angeles saw people fighting and tried to summon help via a police robot patrolling nearby, the robot merely told her to "step out of the way" and continued along its pre-determined route, according to NBC News. No help came until the spectators called 911 directly, raising the question of what, if any, function these robots are actually supposed to serve. It turns out that the robot, a K5 model named "HP RoboCop", patrols the park on behalf of the police...

They broke in like it was nothing. They could have wiped my hard drive, stolen my files, or practically anything nefarious you can do with a computer. All because I had a wireless mouse dongle plugged into my laptop. And all they needed was a simple antenna that costs as little as $15 at Amazon. Thankfully, "they" were a pair of security researchers from a company called Bastille, and every company that builds wireless mice and keyboards has already been alerted to the issue. If you have a Logitech Unifying receiver, there's already a fix. (Here is a link to...

h/t Willie Soon & Quadrant Online – the following are excerpts from a climate report which the Hewlett Packard website describes as a collaboration between HP Labs and Forum for the Future. 2028: Jean-Claude Bertillon, leader of the No Climate Change Party in Canada, is convicted of denying the existence of climate change. He is deported to the international convict settlement on Kerguelen in the Southern Ocean.

On the heels of Lenovo’s massive $3.5 million fine for preinstalling adware on laptops without users‘ consent, Hewlett-Packard is jumping in with both feet when it comes to installing spyware on its PCs without the consumer’s permission. According to numerous reports gathered by Computer World, the brand is deploying a telemetry client (a system data that is uploaded by the Connected User Experience and Telemetry component), on customer computers without asking permission. The software, which was first identified on November 15 of this year, is called “HP Touchpoint Analytics Service” and appears to replace the self-managed HP Touchpoint Manager solution....

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HPE) said on Tuesday that Meg Whitman was stepping down as chief executive officer after six years at the helm during which she steered the company through the biggest breakup in corporate history.

Hackers gained access to sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, for 134,386 current and former U.S. sailors, the U.S. Navy said on Wednesday. It said a laptop used by a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services employee working on a U.S. Navy contract was hacked. Hewlett Packard informed the Navy of the breach on Oct. 27 and the affected sailors will be notified in the coming weeks, the Navy said. "The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously - this is a matter of trust for our sailors," Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Admiral Robert Burke said in a statement. Burke said the...

HP Inc said it expects to cut about 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years, as the maker of printers and personal computers continues to struggle with a subdued market, sending its shares down 1.3 percent in extended trading. HP, which houses the hardware business of former Hewlett-Packard Co, said in February it would accelerate its restructuring program and slash around 3,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2016. HP Chief Executive Dion Weisler said the market continued to be volatile, facing pressures and uncertainties. "Our core markets are challenged and macro economic conditions are in flux right...

Cisco Systems Inc is laying off about 14,000 employees, representing nearly 20 percent of the network equipment maker's global workforce, technology news site CRN reported, citing sources close to the company. San Jose, California-based Cisco is expected to announce the cuts within the next few weeks, the report said, as the company transition from its hardware roots into a software-centric organization. Apart from Cisco, two other big software companies, Microsoft Corp and HP Inc, have also announced job cuts this year.Microsoft said in July that it would lay off about 2,850 jobs over the next 12 months, taking its total...