Gizmodo: ars technica

Diebold impeaches e-voting unit, sells it off for $5 million

Brian Lam — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:48:37 EDT

Diebold announced on Thursday that it has sold its voting machine division to Election Systems & Software (ES&S), a former competitor. Diebold's unceremonious departure from the electronic voting machine business will be welcomed by critics of the company's controversial direct-recording electronic voting products.

Diebold, which is primarily an ATM maker, decided to unload its voting machine subsidiary—Premier Election Solutions—for roughly $5 million and change. As a consequence of the deal, the company expects to report a loss of over $45 million. According to a statement issued by Diebold, the company has been looking for a way out of the voting machine racket ("pursuing strategic alternatives to ownership") since 2006 when it realized that the whole endeavor was intractably dysfunctional ("identified its US elections systems business as non-core to its operations").

Tonight: Have a Drink on Giz and Ars Technica at WWDC 2008

Brian Lam — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:21:14 EDT

Hey there. We're throwing a WWDC party with our BFFs at Ars Technica tonight. So if you're going to be at WWDC as a reader, developer, journalist or just another fanboy, I'd like to invite you to come have a beer on us. Hope you can make it.

8-11pm

Harlot
46 Minna Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
[Upcoming]

Conde Nast Buys Ars Technica

Brian Lam — Sat, 17 May 2008 23:38:14 EDT

Conde Nast and Wired bought Ars Technica for a rumored $25 million. More details are coming on Monday but I'm happy to see friends at both Wired and Ars get together in this deal. [Techcrunch, Thanks Arn]

Ars: iTunes #1 Music Retailer in January (Debunkers Be Hanged)

Wilson Rothman — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:25:49 EDT

Citing NPD data and internal Apple sources, Ars Technica declared iTunes the #1 music retailer in January, besting Wal-Mart for the first time, along with Best Buy, Amazon and others. Debunkers have claimed that this is only because of gift-card redemption but Ars' Eric Bangeman updated his piece, calling BS on the BS callers:

I explicitly noted that the results may be somewhat inflated by gift cards, and I noted that other retailers on the list have gift cards, too—don't forget that fact. And a sale is a sale...This is a monumental event for Apple, because while the company may not be guaranteed the top spot for eternity—or even the following month—it is something many thought would never happened.

On the other hand, maybe it just proves that iTunes gift cards are way better stocking stuffers than Wal-Mart gift cards. We've asked Apple for some clarity—hopefully we'll get it. [Ars Technica]

Let Giz and Ars Technica Buy You a Beer at Macworld 2008

Brian Lam — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:40:23 EST

CES is in full swing. But if today's new Mac Pro and Xserve announcements are the news Apple can spare from the keynote, Macworld is going to be huge. To celebrate, I'd like to buy you a beer if you're going to the show. Just come on over to this party Giz and Ars are co-sponsoring.

Where: Harlot at 46 Minna St, San Francisco, CA
When: 8 p.m. Pacific Time
I think pals like FSJ, Leander from Cult of Mac, some other Wired pals, and Arn from Macrumors are planning to stop by too. More soon.