Hasta La Gadget!

Google has been working diligently to fight human trafficking, drug smuggling, weapons smuggling, and organs harvesting. It states that all of these illegal activities bring in over $2.1 trillion in illicit profits every year. At the Illicit Networks, Forces in Opposition (INFO) summit last year, Google had decided that it would begin its fight by taking down human trafficking first.

Google states that human trafficking is the worst offender of the 4, and that there are over 21 million people who are enslaved and used to generate $32 billion in illicit profits every year. Google enlisted the help of Polaris Project, Liberty Asia, and La Strada International in order to develop anti-trafficking strategies. It awarded these organizations the $3 million Global Impact Award (an award that supports nonprofits who use technology to prevent these illegal activities) to aid in the cause.

The 3 organizations and Google came across the solution of developing a “Global Human Trafficking Hotline”. The global hotline would connect local, national, and regional anti-trafficking helplines all to a data-driven network to improve their efficiency. The global hotline will provide practices and anti-trafficking strategies to help fight human trafficking and protect victims.

Two other organizations have joined in to aid in the protection. Palantir Technologies, who works with Polaris Project, will be “donating its data integration and analytics platform” to help it “share, analyze, and act upon their data in real time.” Salesforce.com will also be helping Polaris Project’s hotline center by “helping scale their call tracking infrastructure internationally.” By making a wealth of information available in helping effectively fight human trafficking and discovering areas where its prevalent, Google, and these organizations, hope to stop human trafficking altogether.

[via Google]

Google launches global hotline to combat human trafficking is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Fisker, maker of the beautiful Karma hybrid luxury vehicle, had a rough time last year, reportedly having fire issues with some of its cars and then losing hundreds of them during Hurricane Sandy. On April 5, we reported that the company had laid off about 75-percent of its workforce in what seemed to be a last-ditch effort to pull out of bankruptcy. It has surfaced that the same day the layoffs took place, a lawsuit was filed against Fisker.

Fisker had a moderate 213 employees, 160 of whom it gave the boot with little warning last week, with the lawsuit stating that they should have received a 60 day written notice in advance by law. Because Fisker failed to do this, it is said to have violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and thus class-action status is being sought in the legal proceedings.

The lawsuit was initiated by Sven Etzelsberger, a former employee, via Outten & Golden of California. The lawsuit wants Fisker to pay up 60 days’ of wages/benefits for all who were let go. Fisker hasn’t replied to comment requests, and hasn’t said anything official about the lawsuit. Such a mandate would place additional financial strain on a company that is already on the verge of going under.

Like several other green initiatives, Fisker received tax-payer money via a federal program (Advanced Vehicle Technology Loan, in this case) to the tune of $529 million, of which it only got $193 million before the kibosh was put on the loan over failure to meet certain terms. Of that $193 million, the company is supposed to make its first loan payment this month.

[via USA Today]

Fisker Automotive hit with lawsuit due to last-minute layoffs is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Hewlett-Packard’s chairman, Raymond Lane, has decided to step down from his position in order to “reduce any distraction from HP’s ongoing turnaround”. He, however, will continue to stay with the company and serve as a director. He made his decision based on a recent vote at the annual shareholders meeting held on March 20th. While he was re-elected for his position, he only received 59% of the shareholders’ votes.

Taking over his position, at least temporarily, will be Ralph Whitworth, Founder of Relational Investors LLC. His firm owns $800 million worth of HP’s stock, and he says that his interests “are completely aligned with those of our shareholders”. He will act as interim chairman until HP can find a new, permanent chairman to replace him. As part of his duties as interim Chairman, Whitworth will seek out a “world-class chairman to take my place as soon as possible.” He also states that he will recruit at least 2 “outstanding” directors before the year ends.

Whitworth needs to find at least two new directors because directors G. Kennedy Thompson and John Hammergren have both also decided to step down from their positions. Hammergren and Thompson were both re-elected, but by very narrow margins. They received 54% and 55% of the votes respectively. They will continue to act as directors to HP until the board meeting held in May.

Thompson and Whitworth received a lot of backlash from shareholders due to a series of “HP missteps” that many shareholders felt they were responsible for. The most recent “misstep” would be HP’s acquisition of Autonomy in 2011, which resulted in a write down of a few billion dollars after HP discovered that the company was involved in a series of accounting fraud. CEO Meg Whitman released a statement about the changes. She stated,

“Ray, John, and Ken have invested a part of themselves in HP. A commitment reflected in the early success we’ve had turning the company around.”

[via Forbes]

HP chairman Raymond Lane steps down is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Fisker, the automotive company that has been selling its hybrid-powered Karma vehicle for over a year now, is reported to be laying off 160 employees, which is approximately 75% of the entire company’s staff. Rumors were flying around earlier this morning, but it appears to be a done deal, and this could spell the end for the luxury hybrid auto manufacturer.

According to Reuters, Fisker says that the layoffs were a “necessary strategic step” in the company’s efforts to “maximize the value of Fisker’s core assets.” This is apparently a last-ditch effort for Fisker, hoping to conserve cash and prevent filing for bankruptcy, but the lookout on the company looks bleak at best. The company declined to speak on the possibility of bankruptcy.

Approximately 160 rank-and-file employees were let go without receiving severance packages, but 53 senior managers and executives were asked to stay on board in order to help pursue buyers for the company’s assets, according to an anonymous source. However, since Fisker is government-based, the remaining executives are making negotiations with the US Department of Energy to work out a new repayment plan that Fisker owes them.

Fisker has faced some trials and tribulations as of recently. The company was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, destroying 300 Fisker Karma vehicles. On top of that, owners have been reporting a handful of issues with the car, including certain ones catching on fire and seeing random break-downs. And according to one ex-employee, Fisker knowingly sold half-baked cars to customers. Ouch!

[via Reuters]

Fisker reportedly lays off 75% of workforce is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple’s new “spaceship campus, or more formally called Campus 2, is still in the planning stages and ground breaking still has yet to begin. In fact, it’s being reported that Campus 2 is behind schedule, and the budget for the project skyrocketed to $5 billion, up from $3 billion originally. If that’s the case, the project would cost more than most top-of-the-line corporate skyscrapers, including the new World Trade Center in New York City.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, anonymous sources who say they are close to the project have noted that not only did the budget go up significantly, but completion of the new campus will be pushed back. Campus 2 was initially set for a grand-opening date sometime in 2015, but since architects are researching for ways to cut back costs of the new building, the grand opening is said to be pushed back to 2016. Of course, this isn’t the first time that we’ve heard a 2016 completion date. Back in February, we heard similar rumors.

The late Steve Jobs officially unveiled plans for the new campus back in 2011, which also happened to be his last public appearance — attending a meeting at the Cupertino City Council. The new campus will be 2.8 million square feet, which is two-thirds the size of the Pentagon in Washington DC, and it’s expected that there will be over 6,000 trees planted all around the campus.

While the completion date of the new building is said to be pushed back, Apple will still go ahead and prepare for the ground-breaking. According to another source, Apple will start tearing down the 26 buildings that are currently sitting on the site at some point in June. This is the location of one HP’s old campuses.

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]

Apple “spaceship” campus behind schedule, over budget is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.