According to a report at the New York Times, and confirmed by our own sources, the Congressional investigation in to the accounting practices of technology companies with offshore properties used as tax havens is drawing to a close. The year-old investigation involves a minimum of seven large technology companies, including Apple, Google, HP, Microsoft, and Yahoo.
Samsung Electronics said that it plans on inspecting 250 Chinese parts manufacturers to ensure no labor laws are broken. The move comes following a US-based group's claim that one of Samsung's suppliers is using child labor. Samsung said it would conduct inspections for 105 supplier companies by the end of September, and conclude the investigations on the rest of the manufacturers by inspecting hiring paperwork by the end of the year.
An iPhone that started smoking on a flight to Sydney last November has been explained. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau conducted the investigation and found that a misplaced screw within the handset had punctured the battery casing. The resulting short circuit caused the battery to overheat and start smoking. According to the ATSB, the screw was misplaced by an unauthorized service center during a screen replacement. Although no one was hurt during the flight from the faulty handset, the chief comissioner of the ATSB, Martin Dolan, warned passengers to carry electronic devices in the cabin and to not store them with checked-in baggage.
The once proud Japanese camera and medical equipment maker Olympus is readying to take legal action against its own executives. Any executive found to have been complicit in its multi-million dollar accounting scandal will be hit with legal action as well as possible criminal complaints, according to Reuters. The company has been reeling since admitting that it used advisory fees to cover up investment losses made in the 1990s to avoid reporting them in its financial results.
