July 7 - 3:15pm EDT   Apple's North Carolina server farm could ultimately become worth $2 billion, twice the company's minimum investment, claims a member of the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation. In exchange for tax breaks, Apple has agreed to build a $1 billion facility at the Catawba Data Park in Maiden. The building will occupy 500,000 square feet, and provide approximately 750 construction jobs running into late 2010. [full story]

June 30 - 4:30pm EDT   Plans are now in place to distribute MacBooks amongst Maine high school students, according to officials from the state's Department of Education. Known to have been in the works since at least March, a deal with Apple will see over 64,000 MacBooks reach students and teachers between grades 7 and 12. Another 7,000 notebooks should be ordered within the next few weeks, officials say. [full story]

June 29 - 11:45am EDT   Apple has at last chosen a location for a North Carolina server farm, reports say. Though the company confirmed intentions for an iDataCenter on June 3rd, with plans to invest $1 billion in the state over the course of nine years, it has not so far announced a specific location. Representatives for the town of Maiden, however, have scheduled a July 6th press conference, in which they are expected to formally acknowledge a deal with Apple. [full story]

June 19 - 2:10pm EDT   The next head of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, has promised to investigate the exclusives forged between phone makers and cellular carriers, Reuters reports. The information comes by way of a letter from Genachowski, written in response to an initial prompt from Sen. John Kerry and three other members of the Senate Commerce Committee. The FCC should not only investigate exclusives, the committee suggests, it should act "expeditiously" if it finds that deals are unfairly harming competition or public choice. [full story]

June 11 - 9:55am EDT   After more than a year of efforts, a deal for a Chinese iPhone may finally be nearing completion, writes IDG. An unidentified Apple phone has appeared in the approved product list of the State Wireless Inspection Center, having last month been granted clearance for an assigned frequency range for up to five years. Apple is also said to have posted an ad for a Beijing-based worker, who would oversee creating training material for Asian iPhone carriers. [full story]

June 2 - 11:30am EDT   The General Assembly of North Carolina has approved a new tax bill specifically geared towards attracting an Apple server farm, the Associated Press writes. The bill was approved by the state Senate on Monday night with a 40-to-8 vote, leaving only a signature from Gov. Beverly Perdue in the way of transformation into law. The final debate is reported to have lasted less than a minute, with Republican Senator Tom Apodaca noting that the state has been focusing too heavily on attracting large corporations, at the expense of small businesses. [full story]

June 1 - 3:15pm EDT   It is "all but a done deal" that Apple will build its North Carolina server farm in Catawba County, state officials are said to have confessed. The word has allegedly been passed on to the backers of a site in Cleveland County, typically thought of as Catawba's only major competition. Both counties are some of the poorest in the state, making them suitable for the conditions of a corporate welfare bill directed at Apple. After some delay, the bill is expected to be given a final vote Monday night. [full story]

May 27 - 4:15pm EDT   The state House of North Carolina has voted 81 to 31 for a bill handing out tax breaks to Apple, the Associated Press writes. Although the results are only preliminary, they may suggest the outcome of the final vote, scheduled to be held before Wednesday's end. If successful, the bill will divert $46 million of taxpayers' money towards a 10-year break for Apple. [full story]

May 26 - 11:50am EDT   North Carolina may be willing to provide special tax favors for Apple, should the company decide to build a server farm in the state, writes the Charlotte Observer. A state official cited by the paper says that a new bill, nearing approval, would offer breaks to corporations with a minority marketshare in the region but large quantities of property and workers. The bill is said to be explicitly aimed at luring the proposed Apple server farm, which could in theory save the company $46 million over the course of 10 years. [full story]

May 21 - 5:15pm EDT   Apple has become the focus of a conflict over worker rights in Taiwan, local reporters say. Labor groups today carried banners and microphones outside of Apple's Taipei office, hoping to put indirect pressure on Wintek, a major supplier of flat-panel displays. The latter is accused of firing over 600 workers in December without warning, moreover cutting salaries, and forcing some of its people to work unpaid overtime in order to fulfill rush orders. [full story]

May 13 - 12:55pm EDT   The new chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz, is sympathetic to Google despite the government body's investigation into antitrust concerns, a CSPAN interview has uncovered. While Google "certainly has a dominant position in search advertising," argues Leibowitz, "just having a dominant position doesn't in any way violate the law." Problems only arise when a company moves to exclude other competitors, as Microsoft did with Windows and Internet Explorer in the 1990s, according to the FTC head. [full story]

March 13 - 1:00pm EDT   Bell may refuse to upgrade to next-generation networks if the Canadian government does not concede to demands, a statement from the company proposes. The country's telecommunications regulator, the CRTC, recently issued a ruling that would require the company to open up its next-generation networks to competitors. Bell is only one of two national Internet service providers in Canada however, and would likely gain no more than diminished profits if forced to cope with competition. [full story]

February 25 - 3:35pm EST   Choosing at an annual meeting, Apple shareholders have voted to re-elect all members of the company's current board of directors. These include Al Gore, Intuit CEO Bill Campbell, J. Crew CEO Millard Drexler, Avon CEO Andrea Jung, Genentech head Arthur Levinson, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Harwinton Capital leader Jerome York. Most critical may be the re-election of Apple's own CEO, Steve Jobs, who together with the rest of the board will serve for at least one more year. [full story]

January 15 - 1:00pm EST   The Federal Communications Commission has approved using over-the-air analog TV for critical broadcasts, if only on a temporary basis, Reuters reports. After the general transition to digital, people without digital converter boxes will still be able to see a notice in English and Spanish, directing them to a phone number with more information. Additionally, emergency information such as weather alerts will remain available over analog for 30 days after the transition date. [full story]

December 29 - 10:05am EST   A recent rush in coupon demand may force some analog TV owners to pay full price for digital converter boxes, warns Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey. Reuters writes that Markey, evalauting the US government's subsidy for the converters, has called for an influx of money from Congress to pay for more coupons, the demand for which may soon outstrip supply. The converter program is currently expected to hit its $1.34 billion budget limit in early January, which may mean no new coupons after late January, or at least until some existing ones are officially unredeemed. [full story]