Kevin Carmony's Blog

What I've been up to the past few years

2011-11-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

Some of you may be wondering what I've been up to the past couple of years. I'm proud to say that my company, Dating DNA, has become one of the top developers for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices. We currently have around 40 apps in Apple's App Store, including many in the Top 40 of their respective charts, such as 3D Animations, CLIPish Pro Suite and Dating DNA.

Click here for a sampling of our more popular apps.

One of the top developers for Apple's App Store.

We have a small, but super talented team, with some of the brightest developers in this space. We're fortunate to have become so successful in this exciting space. Mobile app development is where thing are really happening, and I'm excited to be at the center of it. This is some of the most rewarding work I've ever been involved with. You're only limited by your imagination, and we have more ideas than hours in the day. Let's just say it keeps us all VERY busy, but with smiles on our faces.

Kevin

My First Annual X-Factor Predictions - Season 1 - 2011

2011-11-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, each year I would make my predictions for who I thought would win American Idol and in what order I thought the contestants would be voted off. I also invited others to post their predictions in the comments or email them to me. We would then score our predictions each week as contestants were voted off. (Here were the predictions and score results for the AI predictions for the last four seasons: 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008)

I've decided to do the same for the X Factor. Not sure how many of you who have participated in the AI predictions are also following the X Factor, so I may be the only one, but at least I'll be on record with my predictions here.

As I normally do with AI, I'm setting my predictions after the first performance night of the Top 12, which was last night.

Here are my predictions for this first season of the X Factor. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting. (Although my top two predictions also happen to be my two favorites.) If you haven't been following X Factor, you can still hear how each of these artists sounds by clicking their photos below and sample 90 seconds of their songs from iTunes.

My predictions are:

Click arrow button to sample their performances.
#1 is my predicted winner, and #12 my
prediction as first to be voted off.

As with the American Idol seasons, email me with YOUR predictions or post them as a comment to this thread, and we'll use the same point system used in previous years with AI to see who is winning at the end of each week and how we all did by the end of the season. Don't worry if you miss sending me your predictions before they start voting people off this week, as the point system takes into account when you jumped in with your predictions with a penalty for jumping in late. (You can see the details of how the scoring works below.)

To make it easy to email or post your predictions, here are the contestant's names in text form, so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict.

Melanie Amaro
Astro
LeRoy Bell
Marcus Cante
Rachel Crow
Drew
Stacey Francis
Stereo Hogzz
Intensity
Josh Krajcik
Lakoda Rayne
Chris Rene

Let's see who has the golden ears and can spot what America likes.

Kevin

SCORING POINT SYSTEM: Every week, you get 1 point for every number off you were for where someone would be voted off. For example, if you predict Astro will make it to #2, but he gets voted off #4, then you get 2 points. If you guess it smack on, you get no points. Like Golf, the LOWEST SCORE WINS.

BONUS POINTS: Top Three Bonus: You get to deduct 1 bonus point for each of the top three contestants you correctly guessed. Top Two Bonus: You get to deduct 3 bonus points if you guessed the Top 2 correctly. Winner Bonus: You get to deduct 5 bonus points if you predict the winner. (This can matter, so think hard on your top 3!)

PENALTY POINTS FOR LATE ENTRANTS: All predictions must be in BEFORE the performances this Thursday night (November 3rd). If you're predictions come in after that time, you are penalized 4 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the first round (when they vote off #12), whichever is higher. If you miss the first two rounds, you are penalized 8 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the second round (when they vote off #11), whichever is higher. No more entries after the first two rounds and we are down to 10 contestants.

Court Finds Michael Robertson Liable for Copyright Infringement...Again

2011-08-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

Robertson is up to his usual copyright infringement tricks. As per the New York Times...

"On Monday, Judge William H. Pauley III of United States District Court in Manhattan ruled that MP3tunes could be held liable for contributory infringement...and that Mr. Robertson was liable for infringing tracks he stored on his own account. The case will now go to a trial to determine damages, which could run to tens of millions of dollars." ~ New York Times, August 22, 2011

Of course, Robertson is spinning this as a victory. Really? I'm not sure in which universe being found liable for contributory infringement which could end up in tens of millions of dollars in damages is a victory, but ummm, ok. I guess having destroyed MP3.com with copyright infringement just wasn't enough for Robertson, he now will be destroying MP3tunes as well (not that anyone really uses that service =).

Kevin

Michael Robertson Tries To Spin His Attacks on Former Employees

2011-06-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

Robertson blew over a half million dollars unsuccessfully

attacking Linspire Employees, who ended up ahead $217,000.

As I predicted earlier in this blog, Robertson is taking his massive losses in the courts and trying to spin it as a victory for himself. He lost hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking innocent employees, yet in his most recent Michael's Minute, he tries to justify his greedy behavior by pointing to the few counts that went in his favor, but of course, he leaves out the DOZENS of counts that didn't go his way.

I'm proud of the small amount of damages awarded against me as I fought for the innocent employees. The time, energy and money I spent was DEFENDING good people, and trying to see employees treated with some respect, where as Robertson spent over a half million dollars attacking them. In the end, the court OVERWHELMINGLY sided with the wrongfully accused employees, but you'd never know that reading Robertson's blog.

Some of you have emailed me asking for my response to Robertson's latest Michael Minute, so I'll just refere you to my earlier blog. It gives the FULL story, including what the Judge had to say on the matter. In his final ruling, Judge Taylor summarized the jury's findings, highlighting that all of the funds transferred were authorized, all the employment agreements valid, and that not one penny of money was taken from Linspire inappropriately. Judge Taylor stated that the ONLY portion of Linspire's claim that had "any merit" was that I and the CFO had a fiduciary duty to have informed Robertson when I laid off the CFO (this is what got called by the scary terms fraud and conspiracy). Judge Taylor points out that the jury was fine with my authority in letting the CFO go as well as the severance amount the CFO received and how he received it. Taylor states that the jury simply felt I should have informed Robertson immediately after I laid the CFO off, not a week later. (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)

Don't just take my word about the REAL Michael Robertson, visit Freespire.com and read the comments from dozens of people who know and have worked with Robertson.

The bottom line is Robertson spent huge amounts of money attacking innocent employees, while I spent my energy defending them, not taking one dime for myself. Oh, and of course, the Linspire shareholders are still waiting to hear from Robertson what happened to their investment.

Kevin

PS: Not surprisingly, given the source =), there were several blatantly false statements in Robertson's blog, which I have pointed out to him.

Thanks for Helping Expose the REAL Michael Robertson at Freespire.com

2011-04-17T12:35:00.002-07:00

I wanted to thank the dozens of you who have stepped forward and shared your comments about your personal experiences with Michael Robertson on the Freepsire.com site. Having one site where people can read so many stories from those who have personally been involved with Robertson, is proving to be a great resource for those considering any kind of relationship with Michael Robertson.

Most of the people I know wouldn't have even one or two people share such comments about them, and yet with Robertson, Freespire.com lists several dozen people with comments about him. As the saying goes, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

Freespire.com's mailing list has made it very easy for anyone considering getting involved with Robertson to first contact those who have had dealings with him previously. Our mailing list has grown to several dozens of names (with contact information) of people who prospective employees, investors, vendors and partners can contact before deciding if they want to have any dealings with Robertson. I have received emails from those of you who have said the site did in fact help you in your information gathering. Everyone I heard from ultimately decided to back away from dealing with Robertson after doing their research. I'm glad the site is helping inform those who are doing their due diligence on Robertson.

Thanks also to those of you who have voluntarily contributed funds to Freespire.com's Google advertising program, to make sure that those doing research on Michael Robertson using Google, get a chance to learn about Freespire.com and the many Robertson stories shared there. (Enough has already been donated to keep that campaign going for over a year!)

If you have a Robertson story that you'd like to share at Freespire.com, just email us.

Thanks,

Kevin

FINAL SCOREBOARD: Michael Robertson LOSES $644,000 -- Linspire Employees WIN $217,000

2011-03-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Robertson-attack-former-employees "game" is finally over. How did the score end up?

As many of you know, back in 2007, Michael Robertson accused several former Linspire employees of embezzlement and other ridiculous charges. This all came from a dispute between myself and Robertson over how to treat employees who were needing to be laid off, given a shift in the company's direction. Greedy Robertson originally wanted to give these long-term, dedicated employees a pathetic two weeks severance (apparently knowing he would be taking all the remaining cash from Linspire soon and wanting as much there as possible), but I wanted to see them treated more fairly. When as CEO, I awarded the severance I felt was fair, Robertons went on his insane attacks, calling us all thieves, conspirators, etc., and making these same false claims to his bank and insurance company.

All along, Robertson told others that he was anxious for his day in court and for the truth to come out. A year ago he stated, "There will be a trial later this year where their [employees] actions will become public. I'm looking forward to it because I'm proud of my actions..." Every time he'd lose another round in court, he could argue that it wasn't over yet, and to just wait and see. Well, it's now over. All the trials and verdicts are in. I've chronicled the blow-by-blow of this over the past years in my blog, but it may have been complicated to have followed all the outcomes along the way. So, now that it's over, I thought I'd summarize how it all played out and share the final "score."

FINAL SCOREBOARD

If everything Robertson accused these employees of had been true, they should all be in jail right now, and they certainly wouldn't have profited from the actions they took. So, how did things turn out?

Looking at it monetarily, here is the final scoreboard*:

Robertson blew over a half million dollars unsuccessfully
attacking Linspire Employees, who ended up ahead $217,000.

The bottom line is if the employees had just walked away and accepted the two-weeks of severance Robertson originally wanted to pay them, they would be $217,000 worse off, even taking into account the legal fees they had to waste in defending themselves against Robertson's mad-man attacks**.

As for Robertson, had he just accepted the severance the CEO had awarded these employees, he would be $644,000 better off financially, roughly how much money he lost unsuccessfully attacking these employees.

So, what did Robertson get for his $644,000?

He showed the world what a greedy person and unscrupulous bully he is.
He showed how dishonest he is. Had what he said been true, these employees should be in jail, and certainly not $217,000 better off.
He inspired and brought attention to the Freespire.com website to make sure the world will forever know what he's really like.
He wasted countless hours with his lawyers and in the courtroom, suffering costly and embarrassing losses again and again, time that could have been spent running his seemingly anemic businesses.
He helped make his lawyers rich.
He was called out for possible fraud by his bank.
He is being investigated for possible insurance fraud, a criminal offense for which one can serve jail time if found guilty.
He put a spotlight on the fact that after nearly FOUR YEARS, he still has not made an accounting to the 100 or so Linspire shareholders as to the millions of dollars that went missing.

Don't you wish you had $644,000 to waste like that? But, we all know what they say about a fool and his money.

The Jury did find myself and the CFO liable for fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. I know that sounds very sinister, and Robertson will want to spin it into sounding that way, but it's not. Keep in mind this was a civil trial, so there was nothing criminal about any of this. That is the normal terminology commonly used for civil cases, and it wasn't the jury who chose to use those terms. So, what did the jury mean by "fraud" and "conspiracy to commit fraud?" In his final ruling (see page 13), Judge Taylor summarized the jury's findings on those points***, highlighting that all of the funds transferred were authorized, all the employment agreements valid, and that not one penny of money was taken from Linspire inappropriately. Judge Taylor stated that the ONLY portion of Linspire's claim that had "any merit" was that I and the CFO had a fiduciary duty to have informed Robertson when I laid off the CFO (this is what got called by the scary terms fraud and conspiracy). Judge Taylor points out that the jury was fine with my authority in letting the CFO go as well as the severance amount the CFO received and how he received it. Taylor states that the jury simply felt I should have informed Robertson immediately after I laid the CFO off, not a week later. Linspire was awarded $81,333 in damages for that one item, but the employees got to keep the $466,000 in severance they had received. Judge Taylor summarized it this way, "…the jury wanted about a third of Olson's severance pay refunded as a consequence of Carmony and Olson's lack of forthrightness with Linspire's Chairman and majority shareholder." That was it! No theft, no embezzlement, no unauthorized wire transfers, no erasing emails, etc. Robertson laid dozens of charges against six employees, but the ONLY thing the jury sided with Robertson on was this one point of the timing of when I informed Robertson of the CFO being laid off. (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)

Judge Taylor goes on to explain that Robertson's REAL motive in this case was his ego, "The success enjoyed by Linspire is modest at best. It is plain to the court that Linspire [Robertson] was not 'required to act in the protection of its interests' as it did. Rather, Linspire [Robertson] approached this case as a vehicle for a test of wills as between Robertson and Carmony." (Page 15 of final ruling.)

Keep in mind that Robertson originally wanted the CFO to only get two weeks of severance, so the CFO still ended up much better off, even with the $81,333 awarded. Judge Taylor also pointed out that the CFO was actually due TWO years of severance, but in the spirit of cooperation, the CFO had agreed to take less when he was terminated. Evidence came out at trial that the CFO reported directly to me as CEO and that he was under contract from his Employment Agreement to do so. At the time I laid him off, I had given him specific, written instructions to "stay out of the middle of this and allow me to communicate this with Robertson," so any reasonable person could understand why he didn't inform Robertson that he had just been laid off by the CEO.

Robertson said he was "proud" of his actions. That should tell everyone all they need to know about Michael Robertson. Because I took no severance for myself when I resigned from Linspire, I ended up about 80K in the hole defending Robertson's attacks (my share of legal fees and damages), but it was worth it to stick up for the employees who were being attacked. I'm much more "proud" of having spent $80K helping defend these good employees, than Robertson should be with the $644K he spent falsely attacking them.

The next time Michael Robertson tries to spread lies about these former employees, or anyone else for that matter, please refer them to the final scoreboard. No matter how he tries to spin things, the bottom line is the employees won $217K and he lost $644K. So yes, the truth has finally come out and now everyone knows what those of us involved have known all along, that Robertson is a greedy, unethical, ruthless bully...and a loser.

Kevin

====================================

Footnotes:

*Employee Calculation: Severance awarded to employees by CEO of $466K, less the amount Robertson originally wanted to see these employees get in severance of $29K, less $220K in legal fees and damages suffered by the employees = +$217K.

Robertson Calculation: From court documents showing $426K in legal fees spent by Robertson in the Linspire, Comerica and Federal actions, plus an estimated $100K for the Freespire action, plus $238K awarded the Controller in legal fees, less $120K damage/legal fees awarded = -$644K.

**Like the Controller who was awarded his attorney fees, the other employees could have also sued Robertson for their legal costs, and most would have probably been awarded a judgement for those fees, but they didn't bother, knowing how unethical Roberson is and that even with a judgement, they may have never been able to recover anything from him.

***From Judge Timothy B. Taylor's final ruling: “The court concludes that the only portion of Linspire’s claim that has any merit is the contention that Linspire was required to pursue Carmony on a tort claim because of Olson’s failure to disclose to Robertson that Olson had been terminated, and was required to pursue Olson on a tort claim because of Carmony’s failure to disclose the same fact to Robertson. The court concludes (again, having seen and heard the same evidence as the jury) this is the only reasonable explanation of the jury’s verdicts as to these two defendants. This explanation is consistent with Linspire’s arguments at trial, and remains consistent with its theory today (see Opening Brief filed 12/14/10, section IID4b at pp.5-6). Carmony and Olson both had a fiduciary duty to disclose to Robertson the fact that Olson had been terminated by Carmony even as he was exchanging emails with Robertson giving no inkling of this fact. The amount awarded, $81,333, is about one third of the $240,000 in gross severance the testimony established Olson agreed to take (even though under paragraphs 2a and 3c of Trial Exhibit 28 he was entitled to twice that). In other words, the jury wanted about a third of Olson’s severance pay refunded as a consequence of Carmony and Olson’s lack of forthrightness with Linspire’s Chairman and majority shareholder. The court cannot say that the measure of damages awarded by the jury ($81,333, jointly and severally as to Carmony and Olson) was erroneous.” (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)

My Fourth Annual American Idol Predictions - Season 10 - 2011

2011-03-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, each year I make my predictions for who I think will win American Idol and in what order I think the contestants will be voted off. I also invite others to post their predictions in the comments below or email them to me. We then score our predictions each week as contestants are voted off. (Here were the predictions and score results for previous years: 2010 - 2009 - 2008)

Normally I set my predictions after the first performance night of the Top 12, but since this season they had 13 in the top group, I decided to do it before the Top 12 perform, since we all got to see them perform last week.

Here are my predictions for this year. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting. (Casey, Pia, and Thia are my personal favs.) To hear how each of these artists sounds, you can click their photos and sample 90 seconds of their songs from last week via iTunes.

My predictions are:

Click to sample their performances last week.
#1 is my predicted winner, and #12 my
prediction as first to be voted off.

As with previous years, email me with YOUR predictions or post them as a comment to this thread, and we'll use the same point system used in previous years to see who is winning at the end of each week and how we all did by the end of the season. Don't worry if you miss sending me your predictions before they start voting people off this week, as the point system takes into account when you jumped in with your predictions with a penalty for jumping in late. (You can see the details of how the scoring works below.)

To make it easy to email or post your predictions, here are the contestant's names in text form, so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict.

Casey Abrams

Naima Adedapo

Lauren Alaina

James Durbin

Stefano Langone

Jacob Lusk

Scotty McCreery

Paul McDonald

Thia Megia

Haley Reinhart

Karen Rodriguez

Pia Toscano

Let's see who has the golden ears and can spot what America likes.

Kevin

SCORING POINT SYSTEM: Every week, you get 1 point for every number off you were for where someone would be voted off. For example, if you predict Casey will make it to #2, but he gets voted off #4, then you get 2 points. If you guess it smack on, you get no points. Like Golf, the LOWEST SCORE WINS.

PENALTY POINTS FOR LATE ENTRANTS: All predictions must be in BEFORE the performances this Wednesday night (March 16th). If you're predictions come in after that time, you are penalized 4 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the first round (when they vote off #12), whichever is higher. If you miss the first two rounds, you are penalized 8 points OR the maximum points anyone else was off for the second round (when they vote off #11), whichever is higher. No more entries after the first two rounds and we are down to 10 contestants.

Michael Robertson Fails in Final Appeal to Kill Free Speech at Freespire.com

2011-02-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

Michael Robertson fails to get government to step in and

kill free speech at Freespire.com, a website critical of Robertson.

Those of you who have been following Michael Robertson's attacks on free speech, by attempting to take down the Freespire.com website, will be pleased to know he has failed at his last and final attempt. This week, Robertson thew in the towel and abandoned his appeal in the case. Freespire.com, the free-speech gripe site dedicated to exposing the "real" Michael Robertson, can now safely live on for years to come.

It is estimated that Robertson spent over $100,000 in his legal attacks to see Freespire.com take down. However, in a previous blog, I had vowed to put my free speech to the test, and see if I could win this appeal without spending one dime on attorney fees, so I represented myself in this matter. I stayed true to my commitment, and am pleased to see that my free speech didn't end up costing me one dime to defend. American's are very fortunate to live in a country where wealthy bullies like Robertson can't buy your free speech for any amount of money.

For those of you not familiar with this case...Freespire.com was launched as a means to expose the real Michael Robertson, and as a resource for anyone thinking about having dealings with Robertson. Understandably, Robertson wouldn't want people finding this site. However, given America's strong First Amendment protections of the press and free speech, Robertson was forced to be clever, and tried using Trademark law to have Freespire.com taken down. As I reported in April of last year, Robertson lost those attempts in court after spending thousands in legal bills on his failed attack. Upon losing the case, he filed an appeal, which he has now given up on.

Honestly, this is the first smart thing I've seen Robertson do in years. I've seen him waste over a million dollars losing in court time and time again (more details of this in my next blog). As with so many of his attacks, the Freespire trademark case was groundless (read the Judge's strong ruling against Robertson here). However, that hasn't stopped Robertson in the past, and it seems to me that his lawyer, Ed Cramp has played Robertson for the fool, making loads off of Robertson. (Although Cramp, like so many of us, may also come to regret ever having met Robertson...read why.)

I was quite surprised to see Robertson finally make a smart decision and stop wasting money on this. One can only speculate as to why he dropped this case... Is he running out of money? (You know what they say about a fool and his money.) Did he stop paying his lawyers? Did he finally figure out all he was accomplishing was bringing more light to Freespire.com while making his lawyers rich? Did he realize I wasn't spending a dime on this? Did he decide he has bigger things to worry about, like the massive copyright infringement case against him from EMI?

The Future of Freespire.com

Now that Freespire.com is safe from Robertson's attacks, look for the site to become even more dynamic. (Visit Freespire.com now to see the beginnings of it's new look.) In addition to the several facts already there, here are just some of the topics you'll be able to read more about in the coming months at Freespire.com:

My next blog post, "Michael Robertson's Million Dollar Ego," with tabulated figures, facts and details of just how much money Robertson wasted attacking former employees, and see the final "scoreboard" of who won and who lost.
Blow by blow accounts of the insurance fraud investigation involving Robertson and his lawyer, Ed Cramp (w/Duane Morris).
Updates on Robertson's failure to speak with Linspire shareholders in years since he ran the company into the ground, with millions of dollars still un-accounted for to the shareholders.
Timely updates on the EMI copyright infringement case against Robertson. Having worked at MP3.com and closely with Robertson for many years, as well as having been deposed as a witness in the EMI case, I have a unique perspective and access to timely updates for all the developments in that case. For example, find out how Robertson argued that he was involved in all the major decisions at Linspire (where he had little involvement and wasn't the CEO), and yet claimed to have little involvement (read: liability) in the EMI case, where he WAS the CEO of MP3tunes. Don't fall for the spin from Robertson, get the true facts at Freespire.com.
Inside perspective from former employees on how Robertson treats them, who he gives special attention to, and who he attacks and his underhanded methods in those attacks.

So, bookmark Freespire.com, and link to it from your websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social networking pages. (The more links to the site, the higher up it will appear in Google searches to help inform others who may be considering dealings with Robertson.)

With someone like Robertson, you know there will always be interesting reading, so stay tuned to Freespire.com for the latest news on the REAL Michael Robertson.

Kevin

UPDATE #1: Did Michael Robertson and the Duane Morris Law Firm Commit Insurance Fraud against Chubb?

2011-02-16T15:53:00.000-08:00

Did Michael Robertson and Ed Cramp with Duane Morris defraud
Chubb Insurance out of $100,000? Read the documents, and YOU be the judge.

NOTE: As with any personal blog, the opinions expressed here are my own. Each reader should come to their own conclusion, based on the factual documents linked to from this and previous blog posts.

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In my previous blog post, I disclosed documents which called to light the possibility of insurance fraud having been committed by Michael Robertson and Ed Cramp, who represents Robertson via the law firm Duane Morris. I felt there was enough evidence to suggest the possibility of insurance fraud, that the matter should be investigated. I therefore turned over evidence to The San Diego Police Department, The Department of Insurance for the State of California, and to Chubb Insurance.

At the heart of the matter, as I reported in my previous blog, Linspire alleged to Chubb that they were a victim of "theft." In their claim to Chubb, Linspire discussed at great lengths a "police report" they had filed with the San Diego Police department, YET FAILED TO DISCLOSE THE OUTCOME of the police department's investigation. According to the San Diego Police department, Linspire had known for months the outcome, namely, that the San Diego Police Department found NO evidence of ANY theft or criminal wrong doing, and yet Ed Cramp and Linspire failed to disclose this in their claim to Chubb.

I mentioned in my blog that I'd keep you updated on the developments of this matter. This is my first update in a series of updates I will be sharing with you, anytime new information comes to light.

Since my blog, I have had numerous calls and correspondence with several people from the San Diego Police Department, The Department of Insurance for the State of California, and Chubb Insurance.

I received a letter from California's Department of Insurance:

"In reviewing this particular case, there are certain allegations that may warrant a regulatory investigation by this department. We have initiated an investigation into this matter..." ~ Department of Insurance, State of California

I have also spoken with several employees at Chubb, and the case has ended up with one of Chubb's investigators who has has been given the assignment to handle the matter. I have had some very informative phone conversations with this investigator. He said he has read all the information about the case which I had submitted, and mentioned that the letter from Comerica was "particularly interesting." (Comerica said they felt that Linspire could possibly be trying to defraud them.) He said in his opinion there was enough to the case to warrant an investigation, which he is now involved in. I have offered my full assistance in his investigation, as have other former Linspire executives. I also said I'd be willing to provide all the other evidence I have in the matter (emails, depositions, bank statements, checks going to personal accounts, etc.)

During our calls, I updated Chubb on the civil case, disclosing to them the full outcome of that civil matter. I warned Chubb that Michael Robertson and Ed Cramp would likely try to use the outcome from the civil case to justify their CRIMINAL claims of THEFT to Chubb. This didn't seem to matter to the Chubb investigator. Because Linspire's claim was for criminal theft, any civil case would likely have little impact on the case. Even if in a civil trial someone was found liable in some way, that wouldn't justify filing a false and deceptive insurance claim saying you were the victim of criminal theft. In fact, should Robertson use the civil case to justify their claim of theft, I believe that would simply open Chubb up to recover any proceeds to recoup the claim. However, Chubb says they always prosecute insurance fraud vigorously, so I'd assume they would be more interested in a criminal prosecution as well as recovering their money.

I'll continue to keep you posted as this case evolves via Freespire.com and MichaelRobertsonWatch.com. Now that I know the appropriate departments are investigating, and have good contact information for all involved, I will keep the pressure on to see this matter continues to be investigated fully and report the findings along the way, regardless of the outcome.

Kevin

PS: The civil case where Robertson attacked innocent former Linspire employees is pretty much concluded. Look for my blog summing up the conclusion of that matter next week, "Michael Robertson's Million Dollar Ego," where I disclose exactly how much money Robertson wasted on his attempts to persecute former employees.

Did Michael Robertson and the Duane Morris Law Firm Commit Insurance Fraud against Chubb?

2010-12-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

Did Duane Morris help Michael Robertson defraud Chubb Insurance

out of $100,000? Read the documents, and YOU be the judge.

NOTE: As with any personal blog, the opinions expressed here are my own. Each reader should come to their own conclusion, based on the factual documents linked to from this blog.

--------

I think everyone would agree that those who defraud insurance companies should be held accountable and criminally liable. When criminals defraud insurance companies, we all pay for it through higher premiums. Each of us should do our part by reporting insurance fraud, anytime we become aware of it.

It is my opinion that Michael Robertson may have possibly committed insurance fraud against the Chubb insurance company, and that Ed Cramp and the law firm he works for, Duane Morris, aided and assisted Robertson in that possible fraud. Only through a criminal investigation and trial would my belief be validated, but in the meantime, I'll present facts and documents and let you, the reader, decide for yourself how ethical the actions of Robertson, Ed Cramp, and the Duane Morris law firm were. Is it fraud? Unethical? Poor judgement? Or just business as usual?

As came out in depositions with Robertson, his company Linspire was paid $100,000 in damages by Chubb Insurance for, what I believe, was quite possibly a fraudulent claim. Presented here are links to the pertinent documents. Read them, then you can decide for yourself if you feel that actions were taken to intentionally defraud the Chubb Insurance company out of $100,000, and that these actions warrant a criminal investigation.

I Believe Michael Robertson, Ed Cramp and Duane Morris Filed a Deceptive Insurance Claim

As many of you know, Michael Robertson has been trying to use the US court system to attack and bully former Linspire employees. Fortunately, the truth continues to come out, Robertson keeps losing in the courts, and the former employees continue to be vindicated, all be it saddled with huge legal bills (a subject I'll discuss in a future blog).

A few weeks back, when I was going through some of the discovery provided by Michael Robertson in his lawsuit against the former employees, I came across one document that made me fall out of my chair. I couldn't believe what I was reading. It was an insurance claim that Ed Cramp (a lawyer with Duane Morris) had filed on behalf of Michael Robertson with the Chubb insurance company. I believe many of the statements in the claim were false and were soundly shown as such in recent court proceedings. (I've attached a signed declaration from Linspire's former IT Director, giving just one of several examples of the false statements I believe Duane Morris alleged in the claim.)

Most shocking, however, was that pertinent information about the situation had been left out of the claim, information that presumably Robertson and Duane Morris would have known about. I can only believe they intentionally left out this critical information to mislead Chubb to get their claim paid. Ed Cramp used the weight of his nationally-known law firm, Duane Morris, to give the claim credibility, so Chubb would likely have assumed that the claim was accurate, truthful and contained all the pertinent information. I'm sure seeing the Duane Morris letterhead on the claim letter gave Chubb a sense of security in believing what was presented in the application. I can't help but wonder if Chubb would be shocked to learn of what was left out, and may very well not have paid Robertson the $100,000 claim, had they been provided with the full story.

What is Insurance Fraud?

Insurance fraud is defined as, "...when someone intentionally deceives another about an insurance matter to receive money or other benefits not rightfully theirs." In other words, when you file a claim with an insurance company, you can't intentionally misrepresent what happened or leave out relevant information in order to intentionally deceive the insurance company so that they are more likely to pay your claim.

For example...suppose you and a friend were at your house, and you both got into a heated argument, and you threw a book at your friend, but instead it hit and broke your TV. Suppose you can't afford to replace the TV, so you decide to file a claim with your insurance company to have it replaced. However, you're not sure if you policy would cover any damage from you throwing a book through your TV, but you are quite confident you are covered for "theft." So, when you file your claim with the insurance company, instead of telling them about the disagreement you had with your friend and tossing the book, you say that a thief broke into your house in the middle of the night and stole the TV. The insurance company, based on your report of "theft," pays you cash to replace the damaged TV. By misrepresenting the facts to the insurance company, you likely have committed insurance fraud.

I believe you'll see from the documents provided below, that this seems to be exactly what Michael Robertson, Ed Cramp and the Duane Morris law firm did.

Robertson's Claim

I've attached a copy of the actual claim letter given to Chubb, signed on Duane Morris letterhead by Ed Cramp. (I've redacted the former employee's names, as Robertson has dragged their names through the mud enough already with his false allegations.)

As you can see, in the insurance claim letter (viewable here), Duane Morris references this as an "Employee Theft Claim," and makes all sorts of claims as to criminal activities such as "theft" and "embezzlement." Duane Morris also references a "Police Report" which Robertson had filed with the San Diego Police Department. The reason I was so shocked when I found the insurance claim, was that the ultimate findings of the San Diego Police Department's investigation were left out of the claim. You see, Linspire had been told the results of the San Diego Police Department's investigation, approximately THREE MONTHS PRIOR to them having filed this claim. Linspire was told at that time that "no crime had been committed and the issues...were civil in nature."

Viewable here is a declaration, signed under penalty of perjury, by Michael McEwen, a Detective with the San Diego Police Department's Financial Crimes Group. It's only two pages long, and I'd encourage everyone to read it. Here is one portion of Detective McEwen's statement:

"Based on my review of the facts of the case, I determined no crime had been committed and the issues discussed in Mr. Robertson's letter and case submission were civil in nature. My conclusion was that the case involved a disagreement between the Chairman and the CEO of the company, which CEO was an officer and agent of the company. This disagreement did not constitute a crime. I relayed my findings on to Mr. Robertson's representative and to Comerica Bank. I specifically told them 'no crime report was taken and no case number issued.'"

So, according to the detective, Linspire knew that the San Diego Police Department had said that no crime had been committed, and had known this for around three months prior to filing their claim, yet they still filed a claim to Chubb alleging criminal "theft" and "embezzlement." I have to doubt that Linspire's policy with Chubb covered, as Detective McEwen put it, "a disagreement between the Chairman and the CEO, " so I believe they probably decided to tell Chubb it was "theft," something for which they would more likely be covered. In my opinion, such misrepresentations could quite possibly constitute criminal insurance fraud and should be investigated further.

Did Duane Morris Participated in Fraud?

Do you think Chubb would have paid out $100,000 to Robertson had they known of the San Diego Police Department's findings? If Duane Morris had included the findings from the police investigation (as I believe they certainly should have), and let Chubb know that Linspire was told "no crime had been committed," would Chubb have paid the claim? Not having a copy of the insurance policy to review, I can't know for sure, but I do believe it's likely that Robertson and Duane Morris may have felt their chances were better if Chubb considered the claim "theft" and a "crime." I think that is likely why they left out the results of the police investigation, so that the insurance company would not find out what the results were so Linspire's claim of "theft" would more likely be covered. Regardless of what the policy would or would not have covered, leaving out such pertinent information is possible grounds for insurance fraud.

How could the law firm of Duane Morris not have known the results of the police investigation were pertinent? They went to great lengths in their claim to list out all the details of their allegations of "theft" to the police department, even attaching a copy of their "police report," and yet they didn't think to let Chubb know the outcome of that investigation three months after those results had been given to Linspire? Does Duane Morris expect us to believe that Ed Cramp didn't know the outcome? Would Ed Cramp be that incompetent to include the "police report," and yet not take a minute to find out what the results to that report were? In his deposition, Robertson was asked, "Who was the person who liaised with the police department about the police report; in other words, communicated with the police department?" For which Robertson replied, "Michael Umansky." At that time, Michael Umansky was another attorney at Duane Morris who, along with Ed Cramp, worked on the Linspire matter. Robertson also testified that Umansky helped create the "police report" document, and yet Ed Cramp didn't bother to find out how it turned out? It just isn't believable to me. I have to believe Ed Cramp, Michael Umanskey and Duane Morris absolutely knew the outcome of the police investigation, and yet, it appears that THEY FAILED TO DISCLOSE THOSE RESULTS to Chubb. That is by definition insurance fraud, in my opinion, and I have to wonder if Chubb would agree.

A pattern of fraud? Did Robertson and Duane Morris also try to defraud Linspire's bank Comerica in a similar fashion?

Another extremely interesting document that came to light in discovery was a letter from Linspire's bank, Comerica, to Duane Morris. In December of 2008, I blogged about how Robertson lost in summary judgement a case against Comerica. (You can read the details of that outcome here.)

As you can see in this letter from Comerica to Duane Morris in January of 2008, Comerica felt that Robertson and Duane Morris had made "false claims" in trying to have Comerica pay for wire transfers to employees for severance. (Keep in mind this letter came to Duane Morris two weeks BEFORE they filed their claim with Chubb.) Robertson and Duane Morris did the exact same thing to Comerica that they did to Chubb Insurance, using their "police report" to imply they were the victim of "theft," and yet failed to tell Comerica the no-crime-was-committed results of that investigation. Comerica had to track down and interview Detective McEwen themselves, since Linspire did not disclose Detective McEwen's findings to Comerica. As you can tell from the stern tone in Comerica's letter, they felt very much deceived, and called into question not only Linspire's credibility, but that of Duane Morris as well:

"Not only does this undermine Linspire's credibility, it also undermines yours. The motivation underlying Linspire's decision to refrain from signing the Fraud Affidavit under oath is so obvious it strains credulity to suggest it is either accurate or legitimate."

The letter points out that Duane Morris knew of the outcome of the police report BEFORE they gave a copy of it to Comerica:

"Detective McCewen advised Comerica that no case number was assigned to the Draft Police Report because--as he said he informed you prior to your delivery of the Statement and the Draft Police Report to Comerica--the District Attorney determined that no crime was committed and that this was a civil dispute between Linspire and the Employees. He pointed to the employment contracts provided by Linspire to the SDPD, which indicate that the respective amounts of the Employee Wires were less than the amounts legally owed by Linspire to the Employees for contractual severance."

Comerica's letter ends in pointing out that defrauding a financial institution is a crime:

"See, 18 USC 1344 (federal crime to knowingly execute or attempt to execute shceme to obtain money of financial institution by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises)."

These are just a few excerpts from the letter. I would encourage everyone to read the entire letter here. You'll see that the Comerica bank shares many of my beliefs about Robertson and his lawyers. It's hard to imagine that after Duane Morris received this stern letter from Comerica, warning them of possible criminal charges for fraud, that Duane Morris would, just two weeks later, make the same allegations to Chubb. This is evidence that Duane Morris likely knew full well what it was choosing to include, and leave out, when they sent their claim to Chubb.

One might wonder why a nationally-known law firm would put itself at risk by seemingly participating in insurance fraud. Consider what happened in 2002 with one of the Big Five accounting firms, Arthur Andersen. After being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the firm's handling of auditing of the failed Enron corporation, Arthur Anderson voluntarily surrendered their licenses to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the US. Firms can become so addicted to collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars of easy client fees, that they just don't have the courage or willpower to stop and drop a questionable client who pressures them to participate in an activity that finally crosses the line.

I've always had a low opinion of Michael Robertson's ethics (see www.freespire.com and www.MichaelRobertsonWatch.com), and why I feel he needs a strong, ethical law firm to keep him in check. It's very disappointing that such a large, seemingly respectable firm such as Duane Morris would let Robertson pull them down into what I believe are fraudulent activities. Is this the standard Duane Morris holds itself up to? I have to wonder if filing such a claim was something only Ed Cramp was comfortable doing, or is this the culture at all of Duane Morris?

I find it quite ironic that Robertson falsely accuses former employees of criminal activities, and yet he may be the one who attempted the real crimes of bank and insurance fraud. Robertson tried to have former employees arrested and thrown in jail. They have been vindicated of any criminal wrong-doing. I think the facts now show that it's Robertson and Ed Cramp who need to be investigated and perhaps belong in jail and disbarred. Hopefully Chubb will investigate, along with the appropriate government insurance fraud investigation units.

I have forwarded a copy of this blog to Chubb, who claim they prosecute insurance fraud vigorously, stating "We will not pay a fraudulent claim. In fact, we will spare no expense when fighting fraud." I have also filed a police report on this matter with the San Diego Police Department, as well as filed a report with the Department of Insurance for the State of California.

Kevin

PS: Follow the outcome of any investigation on this matter at www.MichaelRobertsonWatch.com.

Court Orders Michael Robertson to Pay Former Employee $300,000+

2010-11-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Robertson's attacks continue to backfire. Court orders

him to pay over $300,000 to a former Linspire employee.

For those of you following the case of Michael Robertson's insane attacks on former Linspire employees, you will be interested in the latest development from the court today...

One of the former Linspire employees that Robertson attacked was the Controller. This employee (along with several others) was vindicated of all counts in September. Because the Controller had a contract dispute with Robertson, attorney fees are usually awarded, but of course Robertson fought paying. Today, the court awarded the Controller and his lawyer $215,000 in legal fees and $22,958 in prejudgement interest. The Judge also affirmed the jury's damages judgement of $72,500, to be paid by Robertson (Linspire) to the Controller. This means that Robertson will have to pay over $300,000 to just this one employee for his failed attempts in attacking him in the courts. You can read the ruling here. (This is the tentative ruling which was affirmed in court today by Judge Taylor.)

Three of the other employees who were also fully vindicated in the ruling in September, decided not to go after Robertson for their attorney fees, just wanting to move on with their lives. This means Robertson's false allegations and attacks have left them saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills. All of this makes one wonder why anyone would want to work for Robertson?

I'm glad the Controller decided to go after Robertson for his baseless attacks and that the court system once again worked. As best as I can estimate, between the damages awarded against Robertson and his own legal bills, he will have wasted well over a half million dollars on his vendetta against these employees. (In an upcoming court motion, we may even learn exactly how much money Robertson has wasted on his lawyers.) What a waste of time, money and energy, but then, I've never know Robertson to be sane and rational in his thinking when it comes to his bruised ego. He spends all this money only to shine a spotlight on what kind of person he really is. Brilliant!

Congrats to the Controller and his lawyer, Greg Goonan (who the judge even referred to as "formidable" in his ruling) on seeing that justice continues to be served against the bully Robertson. It's been over three years since the Controller lost his job at Linspire and Robertson denied him his rightful severance. Today, he finally got justice, well, that's assuming Robertson actually PAYS the court-ordered damages. If he doesn't, of course, I'll let you all know.

Kevin

Jury Vindicates Former Linspire Employees of 3-Years of Attacks by Michael Robertson!

2010-09-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Once again, Michael Robertson's bullying has been put to an end
by the greatest legal system in the world. Yesterday, a jury vindicated
four former Linspire employees who were being wrongly abused and
attacked by Michael Robertson. He knew these employees had
done nothing wrong, but used them as innocent pawns in his attacks.

Many of you who follow my blog do so to keep tabs on the litigious antics and bullying of multi-millionaire Michael Robertson. You also know that I started blogging about Robertson only after he started attacking former Linspire employees who I knew to be honest, good people. I've never had any problem with Robertson disagreeing with me or what I did as CEO for Linspire. It was his attacking these blameless employees that bothered me. Those employees deserved being stood up for as Robertson tried to roll over them.

When asked why he was attacking all these good people, Robertson would say, "Just wait until I get my day in court. You'll see the truth." Well, Robertson not only got his "day" in court, but he got three weeks, and we now do have the truth. Yesterday, after being in the court house for three weeks, the jury returned their verdict. Read on....

Quick Summary of the Case

Three years ago, I was the CEO for Linspire. Michael Robertson had stepped down two years earlier, and had virtually no involvement in the running of the company since. However, after the Linspire employees brought in a VERY profitable year, Robertson suddenly decided he wanted to be involved. He first asked me to have Linspire transfer $1,000,000 to himself and $500,000 to his father-in-law, the two preferred shareholders. I explained to Robertson that he couldn't just take money out of the company like that, and that there were around 100 other shareholders to consider. If he wanted a distribution, the company would need to offer it to ALL shareholders, not just Robertson. I then came up with a stock-buy-back plan which would have gotten his father-in-law the $500,000 Robertson wanted him to get, BUT in a legal, fair and equitable way, taking ALL shareholders into account.

Robertson rejected my stock-buy-back proposals. I believe he realized that the only way he could get his hands on the majority of the money (without having to share any with the other shareholders), was to run the company into the ground, liquidate it, and then he and his father-in-law, as preferred shareholders, would be first in line to get paid from any liquidation proceeds. (Which is exactly what he did, and in ten short months, millions of dollars from the company magically disappeared and the company was sold. To this day, shareholders have been given no accounting as to what happened.)

Robertson next wanted me to lay off several long-term, dedicated Linspire employees with only two weeks of severance (even though they had just turned in an VERY profitable year). I refused and told Robertson I wanted no part in such a selfish act. I told Robertson that I wouldn't come into work the coming week so that he would have plenty of time to fire me, take the CEO position back, and then fire the employees as he saw fit. Robertson never did fire me or any of the employees, but rather, called me a week later insisting I come back to the office and do his dirty work, fire the employees, give them two weeks of severance, and transfer $1.5 million to him and his father-in-law. Again, I refused, this time telling him I would return to work and execute the layoffs, but that I would give the employees a fair and reasonable severance, not the two weeks he wanted. That is exactly what I did. I returned to the office and laid off the employees, giving them what I believed was the correct severance. As came out in court, as the CEO, I did intentionally navigate the situation to prevent Michael from stepping in and harming these employees (for which the Jury awarded some small damages against me). I stand by my authority as CEO to have taken the actions I did, and I am glad to have protected these good employees. When I laid the CFO off, he even agreed to take less in severance than he was due based on his employment agreement, which more than offset the additional severance I awarded the other employees, in essence, saving the company money AND treating the employees fairly.

Robertson, upset by my actions, absolutely refused to talk or meet with me (even after repeated attempts by me to meet with him to explain all that had happened), but instead, set about attacking me and the laid off employees at every possible turn. He did many despicable things to these employees, including filing a lawsuit, accusing the former employees of fraud, conspiracy, etc. simply because they were laid off and given severance by me, the CEO. The complaint asked for $318,000 in damages from the employees. The six employees involved were two VPs, one Team Lead, the Controller, the CFO, and myself (the CEO). The only one Robertson should have gone after was ME. I am more than happy to accept any judgment against me IF I did in fact do anything wrong, but I will never forgive Robertson for having gone after employees HE KNEW did nothing wrong. Dragging them into this was disgusting and shows exactly what kind of person he is.

The Jury's Verdict

As hoped, the jury completely vindicated the employees he dragged into this. As you'll see, they did find me responsible in a few areas and awarded a small amount of damages.

Here is what the jury found...

VP #1 - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of his severance.

VP #2 - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of her severance.

Team Lead - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of his severance.

Controller - Not liable on all counts AND Robertson was ordered to pay him $72,500 in damages. (The controller had an employment agreement for six months of severance which Robertson had previously refused to honor.)

The only thing that went Robertson's way was that I (CEO) and the CFO were found responsible in a few areas, and Linspire was awarded a small amount of damages from us (equivalent to about four months worth of the CFO's severance), but the damages were far from what Robertson wanted so the jury definitely didn't agree fully with Robertson's side of things. I still believe everything I did was within my authority as CEO, and the CFO did absolutely nothing wrong, as he was simply following my directions (which his employment agreement told him to do). So...

CFO - As I mentioned, he had an employment agreement for two years of severance, but Robertson wanted him to get only two weeks, later moving that up to 2.5 months (in trial he requested the CFO get NO severance). The CFO, however, agreed to accept only 12 months of severance when laid off, saving the company the other 12 months of his severance. The jury ruled that the CFO could keep all of his severance, but awarded damages to Linspire which equated to about 4 months of the CFO's severance. (Even though the CFO essentially ended up with 8 months of severance, well above the 2.5 months Robertson wanted him to receive, we are considering a post trial motion given that he had an employment agreement for two years of severance and was terminated without cause.)

CEO - Like the CFO, I too had an employment agreement giving me two years of severance. However, after laying off the employees, I freely resigned and walked away from my severance, wanting nothing more to do with Robertson. The jury found me responsible for the same items as the CFO and ordered that I be joined in those same minor damages.

The Bottom Line

Needless to say, I was THRILLED with the jury's verdict. Robertson attacked these good employees, out of spite, greed and ego, and wound up with essentially nothing but a big pile of legal bills. I have never cared what judgments came to me--I have always been prepared to live with any of the consequences of my decisions as CEO--but to see the employees vindicated was great. It's been a long three years of Robertson attacking these good people and blemishing their reputations. It was nice to see their names cleared.

So, the bottom line? As per the complaint, Robertson wanted to 1) take away ALL the severance from ALL the employees and be awarded $318,000 AND 2) not be forced to pay the Controller his severance of $72,500. After the jury's verdict, Robertson will end up netting only $8,833, all while having spent, I'm sure, hundreds of thousands in legal bills (ouch!) and quite likely being liable for more, since all the employees who were found not having done anything wrong are of course asking the judge for statutory indemnification and legal fees. It's certainly not fair that these faultless employees should have to pay their legal bills for just defending themselves against Robertson's baseless attacks.

Far more important than the financial victory, however, is these former employees have their good names back! Justice was served!

There were a lot of interesting things to come out of the trail such as why Robertson has never told the shareholders what happened to their investment in Linspire, how he feels about common shareholders who he called "second class" from the witness stand, the many despicable measures Robertson took in attacking these former employees, and much more. I will do a follow-up blog with some of these details, but for now, I just wanted to share this wonderful news and take some time to enjoy this favorable outcome.

This is the third loss Robertson has suffered in the courts relating to the layoffs. He lost against his bank Comerica and also against the gripe site Freespire.com. At least his lawyers are doing very well. =)

Thank you's

Thanks to my co-defendants. We have all grown closer together having had to go through this. You have all been wonderful, and as I said, I couldn't be happier for you with the outcome. (Pool party? =)

I want to thank the AMAZING lawyers Gil Cabrera and Greg Goonan who did such a wonderful job at representing us. More important than the outcome, as defendants, we were all so very proud of the way these fine men conducted themselves. There were actually points in their closing arguments that brought many of us to tears, as they advocated for us and the truth. If you ever need a great lawyer, these two are the best!

I want to personally thank all the jury members who had to spend THREE WEEKS of their lives in the court house dealing with this. America has the best legal system in the world, and at the center of it is our jury system. Thank you from me and all the defendants in this case!

I don't know if it's appropriate, but I have to do it, a BIG thanks to Judge Timothy Taylor. I was SO impressed with how he conducted every minute of this case. There was one part where Robertson's lawyer was hammering away at me, trying to make me look guilty because I couldn't find something in a document, but the Judge DID find it and pointed it out. I don't thank him for that, I thank him because he would have done the same for the other side. He is truly a wonderful example of what a smart, fair, and just judge should be. He WAS the smartest man in the room, as it should be.

Lastly, I want to give a special thanks to the many friends and former employees who showed up at the court house to support us these past few weeks! Seeing you there in support was greatly appreciated by me and the other defendants. It was so touching to have received so many emails, not only wishing us all the best, but actually saying you were "praying for us" and that the truth would come out. Thank you from all of us for those prayers. They were answered.

Kevin

Can Michael Robertson Buy Your FREE Speech for $250,000?

2010-08-26T13:40:00.001-07:00

Is "free" speech really free? Or can someone like Michael Robertson spend $250,000 to buy yours? He seems to think so. I'm going to put it to the test. Is my free speech really "free?" We'll soon find out...

Michael Robertson thinks he's bigger than the 1st Amendment, you know, that thing that says government can't pass laws to deprive one of their right to free speech. Most countries don't have anything like our 1st Amendment, and it's one of the things that makes America so great. Robertson claims to be a champion of free speech, but when it comes to speech critical of him, he wants government (via the courts) to step in and help him kill it. Robertson has added himself to the long list of those who are trying to whittle away at the 1st Amendment, and usher in an era of political correctness where no one gets their feelings hurt by another's speech. He's the classic example of the bully who loves to dish the criticism out, but can't take it himself.

For those of you not familiar with the Freespire.com case, Michael Robertson has been trying unsuccessfully for nearly TWO YEARS to kill free speech on the Internet at www.freespire.com. Freespire.com is a gripe site, "dedicated to shedding light on the REAL Michael Robertson." You can read the court history here, where you'll see that Robertson has spent an estimated $100,000 to $150,000 and lost at every turn. Fortunately, the 1st Amendment isn't an easy thing to bring down, and without spending a tenth of what Robertson has spent, Freespire.com has continued to win in the courts.

When Robertson lost in the final court case to try and bring down Freespire.com, knowing what an insecure egomaniac Robertson is, I predicted the following:

I won't be at all surprised if Robertson appeals, as he might still have a little money left. (What's that they say about a fool and his money? ;-) But, I'm happy to see Robertson wasting his money (as I'm sure his attorney Ed Cramp is too =), since I won't be the one spending anything, just like before. Doesn't Robertson understand that the more he attacks, the more attention he just brings to Freespire.com? He spends HIS money to bring more attention to the very thing he's trying to shut down. Doi!

Some of us who worked for Robertson have a saying, "Take the smartest, most logical thing to do, and plan on Robertson doing the exact opposite." It's what makes him so predictable. What would be the dumbest thing to do here? To appeal and waste more of your money to bring attention to freespire.com. So, what can we expect from Robertson...you got it. Mark my words.

Robertson is as predictable as a dumb donkey, and sure enough, today I learned that he has appealed this no-win case. He could end up blowing around $250,000 on this loser. (Don't you wish you had that kind of money to waste on your bruised ego?)

Putting Free Speech to the Test

I'm confident enough in our 1st Amendment (and Robertson's incompetence in attacking it), that I'm going to put my free speech to the test. I will not spend one penny on this case. I have already released Gil, my lawyer who had done such a great job on this case up until now. Even though Gil easily won this case on a very small budget, I believe one should be able to defend their free speech for, well, for free. Let's find out if it can be done.

I'm going to represent myself in this case, or with the assistance of any unpaid, "free" volunteers. If I win, then our 1st Amendment is alive and well. Should I lose, then I guess free speech isn't so free after all, and bullies like Robertson can buy yours for around $250,000, and we'll have to start calling it "quarter of a million dollars speech," instead of "free speech."

So, choose your team. Team Robertson or Team Free Speech. Let me know who you'll be cheering for.

Who knew all those years ago when I decided to name the Freespire OS by that name, it would take on a much greater meaning, that of an American's right to FREE speech. Long live FREE Speech, and long live FREEspire.com!

Kevin

My Father's Day Tribute Video

2010-06-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

This is a tribute video I tossed together for Father's Day using one of the tracks from the new Jayson Haws CD we've been recording here at my place. Hope you enjoy it, and Happy Father's day to all the dads!

Kevin

Did Michael Robertson Pull One Over on Google?

2010-06-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

Did Michael Robertson pull one over on Google?

Last year, I warned Google, eBay, Skype, or any other would-be buyers of Michael Robertson's Gizmo5 (SIPphone) company to make sure and do lots of due diligence before agreeing to any purchase. Having worked closely with Robertson, I wouldn't advise anyone to do business with him. Well, Google went ahead and moved forward and purchased Gizmo5. At the time, I made two predictions:

1) The SIPphone employee shareholders would be left pretty much empty handed, and

2) Google will end up with junk technology and do nothing with the acquisition.

Seems like both of my predictions may have already come true.

In speaking with one SIPphone shareholder, it seems he got next to nothing for his shares. No surprise there. Robertson has a history of taking all the chips off the table for himself.

Last week, TechCrunch reported that Google may have decided to nix a Gizmo-based softphone for Google Voice. The "official" explanation is that Google doesn't build desktop software (well, except for Chrome, Picassa, Google Earth, and a bunch of other apps), so it makes one wonder if Google just decided to pitch the Gizmo client overboard. I wouldn't be a bit surprised, particularly after they realized the spotty tech they likely acquired from Robertson. I'm guessing Google got a real eye opening when they realized the state of their acquisition. I am completley surprised that deal even happened, as Google is usually pretty smart about technical due diligence, but this time they may have had more dollars than sense.

The moral of this story? Don't do business with Michael Robertson, and if you do, don't trust anything he tells you, but if you do...don't say I didn't warn you.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Loses. Free Speech Wins. Freespire.com to Live on for 100 Years!

2010-04-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

When I left Linspire, I had every intention of just moving on with my life, but soon after my departure, Michael Robertson hit a new and disgusting low (even for him) by trying to have some good people arrested for simply having been laid off and given severance. (What kind of greedy person would do something like that?!?) Robertson tried to have these good people arrested and started attacking them, trying to destroy their good names, and doing everything he could to bring harm to these individuals. Well, I couldn't just stand by and watch. As the saying goes, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." So, I decided the world needed to know about the REAL Michael Robertson, and little by little, I started to share some facts about Robertson via my blog, and eventually started using Freespire.com to disseminate my writings.

If you review the history page of Michael Robertson's Wikipedia page, you'll see Michael ("Mykill") and his family ("Leslieaudra") remove anything unflattering from Robertson's page (not to mention libeling others with false acquisitions). Therefore, I felt it was important that there was a website to tell the real story about Robertson and where I could defend the employees Robertson was attacking...someplace that he couldn't whitewash and censor. That place became, and is, Freespire.com.

Understandably, given Robertson's unflattering history, he doesn't want the facts shared at Freespire.com to be public, but unlike Wikipedia which he could censor directly, he had no influence at Freespire.com. So, instead, he did what many wealthy, unethical men do, and tried to squash my free speech by filing a lawsuit against me and Freespire.com.

Yesterday, the Judge in the Freespire case came out with her final ruling. Here's what happened...

Trial Prep

My lawyer estimates that Robertson spent over $100,000 on the Freespire case (including a motion for summary judgment which he lost last year). I didn't spend even a small fraction of that. There's a saying among lawyers, "If the law is on your side, argue the law. If the facts are on your side, argue the facts. If neither are on your side, pound on the table." Robertson paid dearly for a lot of table pounding. =) Both the law and the facts were unquestionably on my side. Time and time again the courts have protected sites such as Freespire.com, for to do otherwise would be an infringement on one's freedom of speech (something Robertson pretends to care about, except when it comes to the free speech of others talking ABOUT HIM =). This made defending this case very easy, and very little work was needed or done on our part, but for Robertson, well, let's just say table pounding can be very expensive!

The day before the trial, my lawyer, Gil Cabrera, called me and asked if I wanted to get together before the trial and go over anything and do any prep. I told him, "We won't need any. If we stick with the facts and law, we win, and I know you're a pro at that. Let's let Robertson waste his money and put his lawyers' kids through college. I have better things to do with my money." I then told Gil that I'd meet him at his office a few minutes before the trial, and we'd walk over to the courthouse together. (Gil's office is only a couple of blocks away.) I told him that we'd prepare as we walked over. That's it. That's all the prep we did. I knew this was likely the least a client had ever let Gil prepare for a trial, but I told him he was good enough, and our case strong enough, it wouldn't matter.

The Trial

Gil and I arrived at the courthouse and walked into the courtroom. There was Robertson with THREE lawyers from his high-priced law firm, Duane Morris (Ed Cramp, Ed's partner, and Michelle Hon, an IP litigation specialist). They had posters prepared, documents stacked a mile high, and their game faces on, all poised and ready for battle. (Robertson fancies himself as quite the legal mind, even though he loses a lot more often in the courtroom than wins.) It was clear, Robertson was sparing no expense to try and shut down Freespire.com. I felt sorry for Ed and Michelle who had been handed a total loser case, but I was anxious to see them pound that table...and boy, did they ever! I have to say, Ed and Michelle did a great job, considering they had no case and the law was completely stacked against them. Ed tried to imply all sorts of sinister going-ons as he questioned me on the witness stand about "private" domain registrations, ooooohhhh, using aliases for negotiating domain name purchases, aaaahhhh, and bank wires to escrow companies located in the, shhhhhh, the Cayman Islands. Oh my! :-O

My favorite moment was when Ed Cramp had the entire court room on the edge of their seats. He was going to drop the big bomb on us all, that would blow the case wide open. We spent 30 minutes so Ed's big moment could be allowed in court (he was going to have me read from a confidential document). There were several high school students who were in the court room as part of some class project, so we had to wait for them to all sign confidentiality agreements before they could hear the big bombshell Ed was going to drop on the court. Well, the big moment finally came...we're all on the edge of our seats...I'm on the witness stand and Ed had me turn to a specific page in the ginormous trial documents book they had prepared. He asks me to start reading his big smoking-gun document. The only problem was, what he was reading, and what everyone else in the court is reading, were completely different. It was all I could do to not look at Gil for fear I would bust out laughing while on the witness stand, just three feet from the judge. From the witness stand I had a front row seat watching Michael, Ed and Michelle scratching their heads, scrambling, trying to figure out what had happened. Where was the missing, secret document? After a minute or two of silence, while the entire court waited for them to get it together, I saw Robertson turn beet red, and he started pounding on documents on the table (literally =), as he explained to Ed that someone had photo copied the wrong document! (I could picture how later that day, Ed would have to endure one of Robertson's famous, out-of-control, childish temper tantrum "bell ringings," something I had to witness dozens of times at Linspire. I could also image the big discounts Robertson would be demanding from his legal bill for this snafu. Poor Ed. Or is it "rich" Ed, who actually seems pretty happy to keep taking Robertson's money for no-win cases? ;-)

They finally got things sorted out and Ed was able to read the big zinger. Yawwwnnn. What a let down, just more nonsense. And so the trial went on...and on....AND ON, blah, blah, innuendo after innuendo being made by Robertson's team. A case that should have taken an hour or two, Robertson and Co. dragged on for an entire day, we even stayed past the normal closing time for the court.

The Verdict

After the trial, we had to wait a couple of weeks for the Judge to issue her ruling. When it arrived, as expected, it was a complete and total victory for free speech. Robertson lost. Free speech won. Judge Judith Hayes was spot on in her ruling. She didn't miss a thing, and correctly ruled "...the Defendant had a bona fide noncommercial use for the website, the Court finds the general purpose of the website to be a free speech forum wherein Defendant criticized the management of Plaintiff. ..the Defendant at no time harbored a bad faith intent to profit from a registered mark and that his use of the website undertaken to inform consumers and criticize Plaintiff's management constituted a lawful use of the site."

Oh, but wait! Michael Objects!

I guess Robertson didn't feel like he'd wasted enough cash on this dog case (or maybe Ed Cramp had another kid needing to be put through college), so they filed a TWENTY-SEVEN PAGE objection with the court, contesting the judge's tentative ruling. When we received a copy of their objections (27 pages of the same blah, blah they tried at trial), Gil suggested we really should respond. I told him, again, I had better things to do with my money than waste it on this ridiculous case. I typed up a paragraph, emailed it to him, he translated it into legalese, and that was our response. We then waited for the Judge's final ruling...

Judge's Final Ruling

Yesterday we received Judge Hayes final "Statement of Decision." It reads: "The Court has considered objections by Plaintiff, overrules the objections so noted and hereby issues its Statement of Decision." Translated, this means, "We read your TWENTY SEVEN PAGES of blah, blah, and free speech is still protected in this country. You lose. Free speech wins." (Click here for a copy of the Judge's ruling.)

For all the money Robertson paid the MULTIPLE Duane Morris attorneys, I'll take my ONE lawyer, Gil Cabrera, any day. Even though I didn't pay him to prepare to anywhere near the extent Robertson did his team, Gil easily won. I didn't pay to let Gil have all the resources that Robertson let Duane Morris ring up (motions for summary judgment, prep time, research, nifty white posters, 27-page objections, multiple attorneys at trial, etc.), yet in my opinion, he clearly out lawyered them where it counts--in the courtroom. Gil beat Robertson's team with one hand tied behind his back, while Robertson gave his troops a tank. Gil won by sticking to the heart of the issue (non-commercial free speech site), regardless of all the nonsense Robertson's team threw out there. Sure, Gil DID have the law and the facts on his side, but he still did a great job in delivering them, and it's clear by the outcome that the Judge didn't miss a thing. Kudos to Gil for making sure the real issues didn't get buried in the mud Robertson's side was throwing at the wall.

I won't be at all surprised if Robertson appeals, as he might still have a little money left. (What's that they say about a fool and his money? ;-) But, I'm happy to see Robertson wasting his money (as I'm sure his attorney Ed Cramp is too =), since I won't be the one spending anything, just like before. Doesn't Robertson understand that the more he attacks, the more attention he just brings to Freespire.com? He spends HIS money to bring more attention to the very thing he's trying to shut down. Doi!

Some of us who worked for Robertson have a saying, "Take the smartest, most logical thing to do, and plan on Robertson doing the exact opposite." It's what makes him so predictable. What would be the dumb thing to do here? To appeal and waste more of your money to bring attention to freespire.com. So, what can we expect from Robertson...you got it. Mark my words. Like I say, as predictable as a dumb donkey.

Freespire.com for 100 Years

The Freespire.com domain name was set to expire next month. I just renewed it for another 10 years. I would have registered it for longer, but that's the max they'd let me go. I suppose they figure that in ten years who knows if "web sites" and "domain names" will even exist. One thing I can assure you, however, no matter what the medium will be in the future, I'll make sure the facts about the REAL Michael Robertson get published, not just for the next 10 years, but for the next 100.

Kevin

Tips on Which Crops to Grow in We Rule (Game for iPhone/iPod/iPad)

2010-04-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Click on chart to enlarge.

If you play We Rule on your iPhone/iPad/iPod, you may find this tip sheet I put together helpful. It will help you know what are the best crops to plant, depending on your time schedule or even if you're spending Mojo.

For example, the best crops for earning gold per hour are (in order): Wheat, Corn, Rice, Peas, Onions, Strawberries, Pumpkins, Squash, Potatoes, Carrots, Watermelon, and then Beans.

Or, if you have Mojo to spend, and it's XP's you're interested in, then you'll want to go with (in order): Pumpkins, Carrots, Strawberries, Beans, Watermelon, Onions, Potatoes, Squash, Peas, Rice, Wheat, and then Corn.

Simply decide what your goal is, look at your inventory, and choose the crop highest up on the list. You can then see what your yield per hour or per Mojo will be.

I only have included crops for levels 15 and below (as I'm still working my way up to the higher levels myself). When I have all the additional crops for the other levels, I'll update my chart.

Click on the chart to blow it up full screen.

Enjoy, and pass it around to your friends!

Kevin

PS: Here is a snapshot of my "Kingdom" currently. (Click to enlarge.)

My Kingdom (Click to Enlarge).

Michael Robertson's $20,000,000 Mistake (Almost)

2010-04-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, Michael Robertson is continuing his legal attack on some very good people who once worked at Linspire. As part of this legal assault, I have had to produce emails, documents, etc. in discovery. In going through the old emails I had kept, I found one that I thought I would share here.

One day Robertson and I were arguing about how to treat employees. I think employees are the most important asset of a company. Robertson yells and swears at them, tries to make them feel small, gives them crappy severance, and even ends up suing them. During one of these "how do you treat employee" arguments, I was trying to explain to him that the employees I was defending had just brought in millions of dollars in revenues and profits. He would always come back with, "Yes, and that's their job. That's what they get paid to do." He then went on to brag about how "he" got $20M from Microsoft years earlier by forcing them into a rough situation where they had to pay us to change our name.

Oh?

See the email I've pasted below which I had sent to Michael Robertson back in 2002. It's an email that I spent a great deal of time and thought on writing before sending it to Robertson. This email, and my subsequent cajoling of Robertson, would end up being worth $20M to Linspire two years after I wrote it.

"Lindows" had just gotten a favorable ruling in one of the very early rounds of the Microsoft v Lindows trademark case (a full two years before we actually settled). I remember that day very well, as we heard of the ruling right in the middle of a developer's conference that we were holding at the Lindows offices. (I'm sure many of the developers who were at that conference will remember it too, as it was a big victory for Lindows against the giant Microsoft.) After the ruling, Robertson told me that his plan was to try and settle with Microsoft and change our name to ChoicePC. He figured he could get between $100,000 to $250,000 from Microsoft on the heels of this loss for them and that they would now agree to settle. As you'll be able to see in my email to him, I thought that was a bad idea. Much of the press Lindows had been getting was coming FROM the lawsuit. Without that, we were just one of a thousand other Linux distors. We needed something to help us build our brand. To me, that was the name Lindows. I also knew we had little downside but HUGE upside to one day settle for a lot more. Knowing that you can't easily change Robertson's mind (you have to stroke his ego and make him think everything is HIS idea so he can later take the credit), I crafted this well-thought-out email. The next day, after MR had read my email, we met and I continued by tactfully cajoling him. Robertson then agreed with me and decided not to change our name. I remember the sense of relief I felt when he changed his mind. Whew! I'm quite confident that without this email and my cajoling, Robertson would have settled with Microsoft at that time. The rest is history. We continued to milk the press from the name and ultimately took $20M from Microsoft to change our name.

Here's the email.

From: Kevin Carmony [mailto:kevin@lindows.com]
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 8:13 PM
To: michael@lindows.com
Subject: Lindows.com

Michael,

First off, congratulations! Not sure if I actually congratulated you on the ruling, so I'll do it now. Not everyone here was as close to the legal proceedings as I was, so they probably don't fully understand how significant your direction in this case was. I was fortunate to have been able to sit in on many of the meetings, calls, e-mails, etc., and to me it was very clear. Many will congratulate our company over this victory, but I sincerely congratulate you personally. Sure, Brobeck has a good team and did some great work (especially Daniel), but I honestly give the bulk of the credit to you. Like you said over dinner, winning doesn't teach you much, but losing does. Lindows.com is the beneficiary of the experience you gained at MP3.com.

As I came back to the office and looked around this place (I was the only one here, everyone was over at the dinner still), and had a minute to think, I have come to the strong opinion that we should keep using the "Lindows" name. I suppose the argument can be made to make the change if MS comes back with a quick settlement, but something tells me they won't, and to be honest, I hope they don't and that we decide to stick with the Lindows name. Let me give you a few reasons why I feel this way...

1. Dvorak said it best, "Lindows has a name that in itself is genius." Two names have put this company squarely on the map: "Michael Robertson" and "Lindows." It was a brilliant move then, and I believe still is, for all the same reasons it was "genius" back then and now even more reasons.

2. Yes, ChoicePC is a very good name as well, BUT it doesn't have the history that "Lindows" now has. I believe the name "Lindows" now stands for much more than when we started (Linux + Windows). It now also stands for not being afraid of taking on MS, it now stands for victory, it now stands for the days of MS always getting there way are numbered. Every army needs a banner, an ensign to rally around..."Lindows" I believe has become that ensign...I'd hate to lose it.

3. Today's victory was felt by so many...you, me, Brobeck...but far more important...our employees, our customers, our Insiders, our supporters, investors, the press, fans, etc. I would feel that if we abandon the name now, in a way we're abandoning them and all the trust they've put in you to fight this fight. What will Dvorak think? What will our Insiders think? What will our employees think? So many people have felt a stake in this fight (you heard the cheers during your toast tonight), I don't want to lose their ardent support. "Lindows" has become the icon of our fight, to bring choice to MS's monopoly. I think it would be a mistake to walk away from that now.

4. I agree we need to focus on making a great product and not fighting legal battles. I believe we've proven we can do this. Our engineering team continues to plow forward, regardless of any legal entanglements. I don't see this a dilution of engineering, but rather a HUGE boost to marketing. I believe we have been handed the best pre-branded name we could possibly have, and it will take much to replace that. Sure, we could work to brand ChoicePC so that everyone comes to know the name...but will the name bring up the same emotions? David V Goliath has served us well in these early days, and I believe there is still steam in that model.

5. We can still introduce the concept of a "ChoicePC" without abandoning Lindows.com or LindowsOS. A "ChoicePC" is one running LindowsOS and shopping at the Lindows.com warehouse. We can gradually brand "choice" while keeping our Lindows banner flying proudly.

6. Lindows has been through the battle and come out victorious (yes, I know this could change, but given such a strong opinion on the PI, I'm feeling confident we will remain victorious.) This battle and victory has injected something into the Lindows name that only another lawsuit could put into ChoicePC. I fear any other lawsuits will be longer fought and perhaps not easily won. We should take this first win and wear it as a badge of honor and courage. As you say, we didn't run when the bully picked on us the first day of school...let's not let MS ever forget that!

7. Finally, I'm exceptionally proud to be associated with this company, and I know all the employees here feel the same way. Lindows is now such a huge part of that pride and our legacy...I don't want to walk away from that. I bet if you took a vote of our employees, 100% would agree. Even if it's not the logical thing to do, it IS the emotional one...and emotions are a powerful thing when trying to get employees to love a company.

You instinctively KNEW that "Lindows" was the right name when we started, just like MP3.com was the right name. My instincts are screaming to me it is even a more brilliant name now.

Just wanted to share my insight as you consider this decision.

Congratulations again! I hope you take some time to cherish the moment...not many can say the took on MS and won.

Kevin

Just wanted to make sure Robertson doesn't try re-writing history. Robertson likes taking the good ideas from employees (read this for example), but then treats them poorly, like pawns in his little world. Just ask most of those who have had the misfortune of having worked for him (or been sued by him).

Kevin

I Love my iPad--Another Game Changer from Apple

2010-04-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Unboxing my new iPad.

During my lifetime, I've been truly blown away more times by Apple than any other company. They've done it to me five times now.

I can still remember the very first time I ran each of these devices from Apple: Apple IIe, iPod/iTunes, iPhone, and the Mac. Each time I was completely blown away, giddy even, with the sizable leap in innovation with each of these products. Well, it happened to be again yesterday, when my iPad was delivered to my home. I spent a good portion of the day using it. And I have to say, I love it. It exceeded my expectations.

Sure, I expected it to be nice, but in a way my expectations were kept in check, given I have owned the iPhone since the day it came out. I guess in a way I was expecting it to be just an iPhone, only bigger. I found it to be so much more. The larger screen allows iPad apps to be much nicer than their iPhone counterpart. They aren't just marginally better and easier to use, but a magnitude better.

With a few taps I was streaming full-length TV shows in beautiful clarity. Photo viewing, web browsing and email have never been so enjoyable. Games are amazing. It's the ideal device to use while watching TV, laying in bed, and certainly to watch movies while traveling.

It's not perfect, no 1st generation product is. Just like with the iPhone, I'm sure it will improve each year. But, this first product is far enough along for me to already know I wouldn't want to not have one. Anyone who waits for the next generation of the iPad will miss out on all the amazing things it can do right now.

For those of you skeptical about "do I really need a device between my iPhone and laptop?" You'll see. You do. And you will be getting an iPad. The iPad will be big. That's my prediction.

Apple has done it again.

Kevin

PS: As some of you may know, my company has five different apps in the Top 100 of the iPhone app store (social networking). We just submitted our first iPad-optimized app, CLIPish for iPad, and it should be available any day in the app store. Look for it.

Michael Robertson Finally Has a Good Idea, Mine.

2010-03-31T09:23:00.001-07:00

Robertson FINALLY has a good idea, which he talked about in his most recent Michael's Minute called byo.fm. Oh, wait, that's right, this wasn't Robertson's idea, it was MY idea from years ago when I pitched it to him at MP3.com, called My Way Radio. I've posted below one of the mocks I made when I made my pitch to Robertson. In fact, you can find the Power Point overview I put together for My Way Radio back then here. You won't see anything on byo.fm that wasn't discussed in my overview. Glad to see the light finally came on for him.

Robertson likes to bill himself as a forward-thinking visionary. It would appear he's more a backward-thinking idea taker. Robertson, just remember as you're building out your new venture, you're helping prove MY idea was a good one. Thanks Michael! I wish you much success with my idea, it IS a good one! =)

The mock I made for MyWayRadio.com from nearly ten years ago.

Kevin

My Third Annual American Idol Predictions - Season 9 - 2010

2010-03-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, each year I make my predictions for who I think will win American Idol and in what order I think the contestants will be voted off. (Here were my predictions for 2009 and for 2008.) I set my predictions after the first performance night of the Top 12 (which was last night).

Here are my predictions for this year. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting. (Siobhan, Lee and Didi are my personal favs.)

My predictions are:

CLICK TO ENLARGE - #1 is my predicted winner,
and #12 my prediction as first to be voted off.

Also, as with previous years, email me with YOU predictions or post them as a comment to this thread, and we'll use the same point system used in previous years to see who is winning at the end of each week and how we all did by the end of the season. (Don't worry if you miss sending me your predictions before they start voting people off tonight, as the point system takes into account when you jumped in with your predictions with a slight penalty for jumping in late.)

To make it easy to email or post your predictions, here are the contestant's names in text form, so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict.

Aaron Kelly
Andrew Garcia
Casey James
Crystal Bowersox
Didi Benami
Lacey Brown
Lee Dewyze
Katie Stevens
Michael Lynche
Paige Miles
Siobhan Magnus
Tim Urban

Kevin

SCORING POINT SYSTEM: Every week, you get 1 point for every number off you were for where someone would be voted off. For example, if you predict Casey will make it to #2, but he gets voted off #4, then you get 2 points. If you guess it smack on, you get no points. Like Golf, the LOWEST SCORE WINS.

PENALTY POINTS FOR LATE ENTRANTS: If your prediction doesn't come in before the first round (when there were 12 contestants), you are penalized 1 point. If you miss the first two rounds, you are penalized 3 points. If you miss the first three rounds, you are penalized 6 points. No more entries after the first three rounds and we are down to 9 contestants.

Nearly Two Years and Michael Robertson Remains Silent to Linspire Shareholders

2010-03-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Michael Robertson still not talking to shareholders.

It's been nearly two years since Michael Robertson sold Linspire to Xandros without any shareholder input. To this day, Robertson has never held a shareholder meeting or sent any communication to the one hundred or so Linspire shareholders with the details about that transaction.

It took a shareholder lawsuit (which Robertson unsuccessfully tried to thwart) for Robertson to finally come up with any information. After a year and a half, that case was finally settled. Here is what was disclosed from that settlement:

Kevin La Rue 7:36am March 11th, 2010
Dear Fellow Stockholder of Digital Cornerstone (formerly known as Linspire, Inc.),

As you may know, in October 2008, I initiated a lawsuit as a shareholder of Linspire relating to actions taken by Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler in operating Linspire and their mismanagement of the company. I have settled this matter, receiving no money from Linspire personally, but required that a condition of settlement be that I be allowed to disclose to the other shareholders the information I learned during the litigation about what happened to the company’s assets.

Specifically, under the terms of the settlement agreement, I have been authorized to disclose to the shareholders of Linspire how Linspire’s funds were used by category, how much cash Linspire had at the time its assets were sold to Xandros, and a specific accounting of distributions to Linspire’s shareholders or shareholder related entities. It is important to note that the settlement specifically states that this disclosure I am making is not made on behalf of Linspire, Michael Robertson or Larry Kettler.

Based on the information I received during the course of the litigation, below is the disclosure I have been authorized and am able to make to each of you:

As of July 31, 2007, Linspire had $3,802,531.20 of cash on hand. As of June 30, 2008, when Linspire sold substantially all of its non-cash assets to Xandros, Inc., Linspire had $1,077,952.58.

Between June 2007 and June 2008, Linspire expended: $286,329.96 on its data center.

Between July 2007 and July 2008, Linspire expended: $1,629,907.06 in payroll expenses.

Between June 2007 and June 2008, Linspire paid Ajax13, a company related to Michael Robertson, $180,000.00 for a licensing fee for certain software Linspire was allegedly using.

In September 2008, Linspire transferred $600,000.00 to “SKL Trust, Michael Robertson” for “MP3Tunes Pmt.”

Finally, Xandros acquired Linspire for 4,098,360 shares of Xandros (a privately held company). I was unable to verify the valuation of those shares or to obtain who or what entity currently owns these Xandros shares.

I have tried to send this information to all the shareholders of whom I am aware and for which I have a method to contact them (via email addresses or social media services). To the extent you know any other Linspire shareholders, please feel free to forward this to them for their information.

Yours,

Carl Kevin La Rue

It would appear this is the best the Linspire shareholders can hope for. No shareholder meeting. No detailed explanation. In fact, you'll notice one of the terms of the settlement was that the disclosure was NOT made "on behalf of Robertson," who is clearly doing everything possible to avoid any accounting to Shareholders.

I'm sure the Linspire common shareholders would still like to know:

What was the valuation of the Xandros stock? Who holds that stock now? (Presumably Robertson took this as the preferred shareholder.)

What in the world did Linspire need from Ajax13 to warrant a $180K payment to this Robertson-owned company? As the former CEO for Linspire, I can't think of a single thing that Ajax13 had which Linspire needed, but I can certainly see Ajax13 needing Linspire's cash.

It appears that Robertson forced Linspire into liquidation so he could take the $600K (and presumably all the Xandros stock), and yet has kept the company going to attack former employees. The 100 some-odd shareholders still hold stock in Digital Corner Stone, Inc., and that company has lawsuits going on, attacking former employees and trying to shut down Freespire.com. I still own shares of that business. I don't want to see them attacking good people. To this day, Robertson is using Digital Cornerstone to attack Theresa, Cliff, Randy, and others, forcing them to each spend thousands in legal bills defending their good names.

I have no problem with Robertson as a preferred shareholder getting what is rightfully his due. What I DO have a problem with is 1) him doing everything he did without sharing any information to shareholders for years, and 2) him transferring the assets out of the company as some "liquidation," and then keeping the company going so that Robertson can attack good, honest people.

Michael acts as if because he put up millions, he's the only one who deserves to be treated with any fairness or respect in the Linspire failure. He gives no credit to the 100 or so shareholders who wrote checks to buy shares in the company and exercise stock options, or the employees who worked countless, dedicated hours. When I left there, the team of employees left the company profitable with millions in the bank. How are they rewarded? With legal attacks. The $600K Robertson took was only made possible because of the work those employees did. You could take all the salaries from all the employees he is attacking, for the entire time they worked at Linspire, and it would not equal the revenue these employees brought in to Linspire in their last year there alone. Way to "take care of the peeps" Robertson.

Not long ago, I emailed Michael and offered to take down Freespire.com and even purge all my blogs about him if he would back off his legal attacks against these good people. Robertson declined my offer and to this day continues his attacks.

Even if what he did was technically proper, the way he has treated shareholders and employees is unethical and wrong. That's what I have a problem with.

Kevin

Will Freedom of Speech be Banned in America? Michael Robertson hopes so!

2010-02-16T18:22:00.001-08:00

Will freedom of speech be banned in America? If Michael Robertson has his way it will be. He wants Freespire.com taken down because the site is critical of him and exposes many of his questionable business practices. Robertson is trying to use trademark law to shut down Freespire.com. Fortunately, America has a rich history of supporting freedom of speech on the Internet. Robertson already lost in summary judgment in the case, and it goes to full trial later this month. (If you're in the San Diego area and would like to attend the hearing, email me for details.)

For Robertson to shut Freespire.com down, he needs to prove I had bad faith intent to "profit" from the site, such as by confusing visitors. For example, show that people visiting Freespire.com would somehow be so daft that they would be confused and think the site was run by Xandros (the trademark holder for the term "Freespire") and that this confusion was created so that I would profit from the site.

If you visit http://freespire.com, you'll see first hand how ridiculous that argument is. There's clearly no confusion that this site is from Xandros (or Linspire), nor has there ever been any such confusion, and the site has never received one dime of revenue or profited. (Robertson's lawyers know the case is a dog, but they love taking Robertson's money and he's crazy enough to pay it. Doi!)

Xandros, the trademark holder, has never expressed to me any problem with the Freespire.com site or asked me to turn the domain name over to them. It's Robertson (who does NOT have the trademark) who is spending tens of thousands trying to take Freespire.com down and silence his detractors. Does anyone really think Robertson is looking out for Xandros? Robertson doesn't even look out for his OWN employees and shareholders, why would he care about Xandros? He clearly only cares about one thing--twisting trademark law to kill freedom of speech that is critical of him.

Robertson loves to whine about others who don't respect freedom of markets, speech, etc., and yet he's the one wasting loads of cash trying to do that very thing.

Long live freedom of speech. Hopefully the court will defend it later this month. I have every confidence they will. I'll be back to report when it does.

Kevin

117 of My Favorite Albums Growing Up

2009-11-21T01:30:00.001-08:00

I just got back from seeing the movie Pirate Radio. I really liked it (8 out of 10 stars for me), particularly the music. It was great listening to all that music I grew up to, and the movie reminded me just how much I miss "albums," something we seemed to have lost with the digital music revolution. Watching this movie inspired me to put the below collage together of 117 albums that most influenced me growing up. I'm sure I missed some, but this gives you an idea of what shaped my musical tastes. Other than grouping the same band/artist together, these are in no particular order. (Click to enlarge.)

117 of My Favorite Albums Growing Up
(In no particular order) - Click to Enlarge.

How many of these do you know? Did any have an impact on you? What great albums did I miss? What were some of your most influential records growing up?

Kevin

Gizmo5 / SIPphone Shareholders--Beware of Michael Robertson's History

2009-11-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

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There have been rumors reported in the press that Gizmo5 (SIPphone) could be sold soon (now confirmed here). In a previous blog, I cautioned any prospective buyers to be sure and do full due diligence. I encouraged them to not just take Robertson at his word (something no one should ever do with someone like Michael Robertson), but be sure and take a full accounting of any code, data centers, and speak personally with each and every employee.

Today, I want to caution any Gizmo5/SIPphone shareholders. They should look at how Michael Robertson dealt with the 100-some-odd Shareholders at Linspire when he sold that company's assets.

Here is what happened at Linspire:

1. Robertson sold Linspire without any input or notice from the majority of individual Shareholders. Even large shareholders, such as myself, were kept completely in the dark.

2. Millions in cash is still missing and unaccounted for to Linspire shareholders.

3. Robertson sold all the Linspire assets in a secret, backroom deal that to this day the terms of which have never been disclosed to the Linspire shareholders. Linspire's assets were sold well over a year ago and Robertson hasn't given ANY report or accounting to the Linspire shareholders. As I predicted, it would require a lawsuit to get Robertson to tell shareholders what happened, and even after that, we still have no answers.

4. The only accounting that was made, was Robertson talking to the press, where he basically said he and his father-in-law, as preferred shareholders, would be the only ones to see anything from the sale.

5. To date, every Linspire common shareholder has lost 100% of their investment, without any notice from Robertson, who remains in hiding from Linspire shareholders. (Actually, ONE common shareholder, Tina Stahlke-Donaldson, was able to sell some of her shares back to the company at a nice profit, after Robertson forced the CFO to accommodate that transaction. Why the special treatment for this one female employee? More on that in a future blog.)

Because VC's are involved at Gizmo5/SIPphone, they may force Robertson to behave more ethically there than he did at Linspire. However, my advice to any Gizmo5 shareholder would be to not sign anything without a full accounting BEFOREHAND. My instincts tell me that you, just like the Linspire common shareholders, could also walk away with nothing, even if Robertson does. Michael will want big numbers to be splashed around in the press so he can pretend to have had a success, but in the end, how much did individual shareholders make? (Thousands of shareholders lost millions at MP3.com, and Linspire shareholders lost all their investment and STILL don't even know what Linspire sold for.) If you are in fact going to get the shaft, you better have Michael explain himself BEFORE the deal is done. If Gizmo5 sells to a big company, that company may never disclose the actual purchase price, and if Robertson treats you the way he did Linspire shareholders, HE will never tell you either.

I'm not sure why anyone would pay more than a few million for Gizmo5, but even if Robertson were to sell it for a big number, I predict the common shareholders still see little to nothing. The VCs will likely have 3x or more liquidation preferences, and knowing Robertson as I do, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he will somehow get the same treatment with his shares. Even if someone was crazy enough to value Gizmo5 for tens of millions, watch how quickly Robertson can "creatively" make sure that as much as possible drops to his pockets, not the common shareholder's.

Why would Robertson suddenly get generous with employees and common shareholders? He is the greediest person I know. Remember, this is the same person who tried to have several former employees arrested for "embezzlement" in a failed attempt to try and take back their severance payments. When those attempts were flatly rejected by the San Diego police department, he then sued these employees to get his greedy little hands on THEIR severance. All that failed energy, work, and harassment over a couple hundred thousand dollars?!? Why would any expect Robertson to suddenly grow a conscience?

Ask questions BEFORE any deal is done, otherwise, you could end up just like the Linspire shareholders, with shares of stock worth less than toilet paper and no answers.

I hope I'm wrong, and the Gizmo5/SIPphone shareholders actually see a return on their investment. I'll be sure and report if they do. At the end of the day, Robertson's real worth will not be determined by how much money he lines his own pockets with (like he did at MP3.com), but how much do ALL the investors make? THAT is the number that REALLY matters.

Kevin

Michael Robertson, the greediest man I know.

Michael Robertson Throws MP3tunes Customers Under The Bus As He Loses His SECOND Court Case This Week

2009-10-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

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Michael Robertson isn't having a very good week.

After losing a motion for Summary Judgment earlier this week to try and see the Freespire.com website taken down, today Robertson was dealt a crushing blow. Judge William Pauley ruled that Michael Robertson can be rejoined as a defendant in the copyright infringement case against Robertson and his company MP3tunes. This means if the dozen plus record companies and publishing concerns who are suing Robertson for copyright infringement win, Robertson could be found personally liable. (Read here how Robertson prematurely claimed victory in this matter, only to have that earlier ruling reversed today.) Given the statutory damages in copyright infringement cases, this could be in the billions of dollars (as Robertson should know all too well, given his historical loss at MP3.com for copyright infringement). You can read the full ruling here.

But don't worry, Robertson has a defense. He's blaming the MP3tunes customers. THEY are the REAL copyright infringers, not him.

Michael Robertson throws MP3tunes customers under
the bus to defend himself against copyright infringement.

I have watched Robertson try to blame his employees for any copyright misdeeds at MP3tunes. Apparently he now has a new strategy, and Michael Robertson who likes to pretend to be the champion of consumer rights, is throwing MP3tunes customers under the bus as a way to defend himself from the alleged copyright infringement. From the ruling:

"MP3tunes argues that the Amended Complaint fails to allege any direct infringement by MP3tunes--that is, any volitional conduct by MP3tunes. Rather, the Amended Complaint establishes that MP3tunes' customers are the ones engaged in volitional acts of infringement."

In other words, "Hey, I didn't violate any copyright laws, MY CUSTOMERS DID!" Yikes!

Why would anyone want to be a customer of MP3tunes, given Robertson's position in this case? Do you really want to join a website, and if that site is sued for copyright violations, they then BLAME YOU for the infringement? The complaint goes on to say, "The person who actually presses the button to make the recoding supplies the necessary element of volition, not the person who manufactures, maintains, or, if distinct from the operator, owns the machine."

So Robertson creates a website, and because of how the site copies and stores files, YOU, an innocent, unsuspecting MP3tunes customer, could be blamed for any copyright infringement, simply for having used that site, because YOU "pushed the button." So much for Robertson defending his customers. I watched Robertson toss minority shareholders out of the way as he scrambled for a life raft as he sank Linspire. Now, he's tossing MP3tunes customers under the bus to defend his personal net worth. Not cool, but classic Robertson.

I would recommend to all my friends, family and associates to not be "pushing any buttons" at MP3tunes. If you do, Robertson will point the finger at you.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Loses in Court Again Today -- A Victory for Freedom of Speech!

2009-10-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Today, in a two-page ruling, Judge Steven R. Denton ruled against Michael Robertson in his motion for summary judgment with his lawsuit against me and the Freespire.com website. (Robertson wants to squash free speech and force freespire.com to be taken down because the site brings to light many of Robertson's questionable actions.) You can read the Tentative Ruling here, which was certified today in court.

Score: Freedom of Speech: 1 -- Michael Robertson: 0

In Judge Denton's ruling, he sites the nine different factors to be considered in such a trademark/domain name case, and then rightly concludes that the majority of these nine factors "weigh in the Defendant's favor." Score a point for freedom of speech.

A company can't force a site down on the basis of a trademark, just because the site is critical of that company or its management. Judge Denton addresses this concept in his ruling, "One of the ACPA's main objectives is the protection of consumers from slick internet peddlers who trade on the names and reputations of established brands. The practice of informing fellow consumers of one's experience with a particular service provider is surely not inconsistent with this ideal." For Robertson to prevail, he would have had to shown that I confused users at the Freespire.com website and that I then profited from that confusion. Considering I have never profited one dime from the Freespire.com site, that's a pretty ridiculous claim. Likewise, anyone can visit the freespire.com site and see if they think anyone could possibly be confused into assuming the site was part of Linspire.

I estimate (based on all the paper work filed by Robertson in the case), that so far Robertson has spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 on this lawsuit. I have spent next to nothing in my defense, and yet today I prevailed. It's nice having the law on your side. Lawyers have a saying, "If the law is on your side, argue the law. If the facts are on your side, argue the facts. If neither is on your side, pound the table." Today Robertson blew thousands of dollars having his legal team "pound the table," but fortunately, the law and the facts carried the day in Judge Denton's courtroom this morning.

Michael Robertson loses. Judge Denton keeps
free speech alive at Freespire.com website.

As I've reported previously in my blog, the Freespire.com website is "dedicated to shedding light on the REAL Michael Robertson." (Visit: Freespire.com) I have seen Robertson go to great lengths to try and create a public persona which is very different from the one you will hear about from those who know him. Therefore, at Freespire.com, visitors can learn about the REAL Michael Robertson, directly from those who have worked closely with him.

I'm sure Robertson's lawyers get tired of losing, but as long as Robertson is crazy enough to pay them, I'm sure they'll gladly keep taking his money, even when they know the cases are groundless, no-win cases for Robertson. We all know what they say about a fool and his money...

Kevin

Have Skype and eBay Lost Their Minds?

2009-10-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

I hope not.

As an avid Skype user and an eBay shareholder (NASDAQ: EBAY), I hope there is no truth to the rumor that Skype may be considering spending crazy money on acquiring the lackluster Gizmo5. As an eBay shareholder (Skype's current parent company), I can certainly think of better things to be spending capital on than a seemingly desperate competitor that I have to believe must be drowning in red ink. Even if Skype can use some of Gizmo5 tech, they shouldn't overpay.

Having worked with Michael Robertson for six years as President and CEO for Linspire (another Robertson company), I know all his pitch techniques. Skype (or any other possible suitors), as part of any due diligence, should email me to talk. They'll want to review the public history in other "deals" Robertson has made. Skype should get a full accounting of Gizmo5's engineering team and speak with each engineer personally to find out how long they have been there. If it's tech and engineers Skype is looking for, they should make sure Gizmo5 still has any.

Have eBay and Skype lost their minds?

I have to believe this is just a rumor. I simply can't believe eBay and Skype would be interested in Gizmo5, at least not at the ridiculous numbers eluded to in some articles. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Robertson himself floating the rumors that he has suitors, all in an effort to drum up speculation of an acquisition. When Robertson sold MP3.com to Vivendi Universal, it became apparent soon after that Vivendi had paid tens of millions too much. Hopefully eBay and Skype are smarter than Vivendi was back then.

If eBay/Skype would be crazy enough to pay ANYWHERE NEAR $50 M for Gizmo5, then I have some swampland in Afghanistan they might be interested in.

Call me,

Kevin

Michael Robertson's Two Years of Silence to Linspire Shareholders

2009-07-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Michael Robertson loves to talk, except to shareholders.

Today, July 31, 2009, marks the two-year anniversary of me having resigned from Linspire. (I resigned after Michael Robertson tried to take advantage of several long-term employees, whom he later called embezzlers for having taken fair severance payments. Class-act move Robertson.)

At the time of my resignation, in an effort to save the company (which I was certain Robertson would destroy in short order), I offered to purchase control of the company by buying up stock for around $.50 a share (in cash). Robertson didn't even respond to my offer, and in under a year, the company was gone. Robertson tried to save face by saying he had sold the assets to Xandros in a back-room deal. Knowing this was a sham, and that Linspire stock was now worthless, I offered to let Robertson purchase my shares for ONE FIFTH of what I had offered to buy it for only ten months prior ($.10 per share). Of course, he knew the company wasn't worth anything and didn't accept the offer.

So, here we are, two years later, and around 100 shareholders have not heard what happened to their investment in Linspire. Anyone thinking of investing in Robertson should look carefully at how he has treated the Linspire shareholders, employees, customers, partners, etc.

Below is some toilet paper I purchased yesterday and a copy of my Linspire stock certificate. Can you guess which one is worth more?

One roll of toilet paper: $1.19

694,328 shares of Linspire stock: Worthless

At least the toilet paper is twin-ply, soft and absorbent.

I had offered to BUY Linspire shares at $.50 per share, and in the blink of an eye, Robertson had turned it into less than the value of a roll of toilet paper. Greedy, unethical AND incompetent. No wonder he's a coward to face the shareholders.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Wins for the Craziest Digital Music Idea

2009-07-01T21:34:00.001-07:00

Michael Robertson, always the wanna-be defender of the little guy (while stepping all over shareholders, former employees, vendors, customers, musicians, partners, copyright holders, etc.), asked in his latest blog for people to vote for the "Craziest Digital Music Ideas Ever."

Boy, he sure forget a whopper from his list:

My.MP3 - Michael Robertson's pet project which tanked MP3.com from a market cap in the billions to millions. MP3.com went public for over $25 per share, and ultimately sold for under $6 per share. (I'm not sure my dog could have done that poorly.) As usual with Robertson, many investors lost big and employees who held stock options were left underwater, and the artists and customers (who Robertson built MP3.com on the backs of) lost a once-promising website. Of course, Robertson made off big, even if most other shareholders didn't.

Why it was crazy: Because it blatantly violated copyright law, and handed MP3.com the largest judgment for copyright infringement in history. "The complex marvels of cyberspatial communication may create difficult legal issues; but not in this case. Defendant's (MP3.com) infringement of plaintiffs' copyrights is clear." ~ Judge Rakoff

When I get asked, "How do you start a small business?" I answer, "Buy a big one, let Michael Robertson run it, and wait awhile." Robertson never wanted to be known as a "one trick poney." I never understood that. What was his FIRST successful "pony?" Destroying MP3.com?

Kevin

My Video Tribute to Michael Jackson and 40 other "stars" who died too young.

2009-06-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

I've been working with Jayson Haws on his first solo CD and it's just about finished. It's turning out to be an amazing collection of songs (more on that in a future blog). One of the songs on the CD is called "Stars." As I was listening to some of the early mixes of Stars, I couldn't help but think how appropriate the song was to the passing of not just Michael Jackson, but to the many "stars" who passed away far too young. Even though the song isn't finished, I asked Jayson if he wouldn't mind if I used it to pay tribute to Michael Jackson and the others. He was pleased to oblige.

So, here is my tribute to Michael Jackson and 40 others whose stars stopped shining far too soon.

How many of the 40 can you name? Which had the biggest impact on your life? Who did I miss? Post a comment and let me know. (After you watch the video, for the full list, scroll down. You can also scroll down for the lyrics.)

Click here to watch in Super High Def or to download.

Dedicated to Michael Jackson, Annie, Sara, and (in order of appearance)...

1. Kurt Cobain (27)
2. Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (34)
3. Jimi Hendrix (27)*
4. Janis Joplin (27)*
5. Jim Morrison (27)*
6. Brian Jones (27)
7. Keith Moon (32)*
8. Jeff Buckley (30)
9. Freddie Mercury (45)*
10. The Notorious B.I.G. (24)
11. Tupac Shakur (25)
12. Heath Ledger (28)
13. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (30)
14. Kevin Gilbert (29)*
15. Selena (23)
16. James Dean (24)
17. Marilyn Monroe (36)
18. John Belushi (33)*
19. Chris Farley (33)*
20. Phil Hartman (49)*
21. Jerry Garcia (53)
22. John Denver (53)*
23. Karen Carpenter (32)*
24. Bob Marley (36)
25. Buddy Holly (22)*
26. Ritchie Valens (17)
27. Marvin Gaye (44)
28. River Phoenix (23)
29. Aaliyah (22)
30. Ronnie Van Zant (29)
31. Stevie Ray Vaughan (35)
32. Soldiers*
33. Victims of 911*
34. Crew of the Columbia Space Shuttle
35. John F. Kennedy (46)*
36. John F. Kennedy, Jr. (38) & Robert F. Kennedy (42)
37. Princess Diana (36)
38. Elvis Presley (42)*
39. George Harrison (58)*
40. John Lennon (40)*

*Those who most impacted my life.

Here are the lyrics. (Used by permission. (C) 2009, Jayson Haws.)

Stars by Jayson A. Haws

Hello, hello, are you in there
I'm as dark as the night
Let go, let go, find your freedom
Take a taste and chase the high

Colorful comes and color goes
Like throwing a stone through a stained glass window
We all disappear before we know

So look at the stars
We're beautifully blind
People are speaking in lullaby

With a shift of your glance
Your flowers have dried
We are just moments here
We're moments passing by

Jump off, jump off, this is living
You know I'm terrified of heights
The loss is the cost of your giving
You find your way a day at a time

Colorful comes and color goes
Like throwing a stone through a stained glass window
We all disappear before we know

So look at the stars
We're beautifully blind
People are speaking in lullaby
With a shift of your glance
Your flowers have dried
We are just moments here
We're moments here

Spinning 'round and 'round we go
We all fall down, we all should know
We circle for a moment around what is life

So look at the stars
We're beautifully blind
People are speaking in lullaby
With a shift of your glance
Your flowers have dried
We are just moments passing by
Passing by
We are just moments here

So look at the stars baby
Look at the stars all night
All night....

Kevin

PS: I've been asked why I didn't include Farrah Fawcett. Granted, her passing at 62 was too young, but I only included those who died before the age of 59.

No Surprise: Government's 'HOPE for Homeowners' Program Hasn't Worked

2009-05-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

Let's see, we turn over a big problem to the federal government to solve and they mess it up even more. Why should anyone be surprised?

If you want to see how well the Federal Government works at solving economic problems, read this article from CNN: Renewed HOPE for Homeowners

Hope for Homeowners has a 1 in 400,000 success rate.

Government's ‘Hope for Homeowners’ foreclosure rescue plan, rolled out last year, was set to target 400,000 distress families in some stage of foreclosure. The program was geared to keep those families in their homes. When the program was rolled out, many complained that it didn't go far enough, only helping 400,000 families of the millions facing foreclosure. Now we find the bar for ‘too little’ was set way too high for the government to meet. Out of the 400,000 families targeted to be saved by this program only ONE family/home was actually saved. This is a program with massive overhead, a huge staff, and there success rate was 1 out of 400,000.

As if we needed yet ANOTHER example of government's ineptness, this gives you an idea of what results we can expect if the government gets involved in health care, or further involved in the financial markets or banking industry. The Federal Government has bankrupted soc. sec., medicare, etc., and has shown they are incapable of solving hardly any problem. Why would you want to turn MORE over to them? This would be like having a basketball team and your best shooter misses one jump shot, so you turn to the worst shooter on your team and tell him to start taking MORE shots. (More examples of Government's failure to solve problems.)

Letting the worst shooter (Fed. Gov.) take more shots.

If you think the bank industry and the financial markets were inefficient before, give it some time with new regulations and government involvement, and watch the cost to borrow, and the cost to invest, sky rocket. If you think health care costs are high now, just wait 'till they're "free."

Kevin

John Stossel's "You Can't Even Talk About It"

2009-05-18T05:51:00.001-07:00

Another very good special by John Stossel, taking on politically sensitive topics. Stossel is one of the few journalists who will take on these taboo subjects.

PART 1: Should Pregnant women get paid as much as others?

PART 2: Should food be radiated?

PART 3: Should tax payers pay for other's who take dumb risks?

PART 4: Is killing and eating tigers the best way to save them?

PART 5: Should steroids be legal?

PART 6: Shouldn't America start doing LESS for the elderly?

Lala Music Service - THEE Best Place to Download DRM-Free Music!

2009-05-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

In my last blog I called out Michael Robertson for his bogus put down of the Lala music service. Today I want to show you why Lala is hands-down my favorite place to buy DRM-free music.

Lala.com has:

NO DRM! Use songs on virtually any computer, phone or other music device.
The lowest prices.
The best selection.
High-quality 256 kbps MP3 files.
The fastest way to find, sample, buy and download pretty much any song or CD.
Instant sync with iTunes.
Sample over 6 million FULL songs (not just 30-second clips).

For example, today I wanted to buy Paul McCartney's first solo record, McCartney. iTunes didn't offer it. Amazon only sold the CD, but didn't offer it in their MP3 store. But, watch how easy it was to find, buy and download it from Lala:

In his blog this week, Robertson is yet again trying to get you to think poorly of Lala in favor of his failing MP3tunes venture. Don't fall for his propaganda. Most people don't even care about a silly "locker" for their music, as they prefer to have their music stored on THEIR hard drive and devices. You can buy a 1 Terabyte drive at Costco for around $100. (In my opinion, anyone who stores their music at MP3tunes and expects that company to be around in the future is kidding themselves. Look at what happened to MP3.com, Linspire, and other Robertson ventures. Where are they today?)

I encourage you to give Lala a try. It doesn't get any easier to find, buy and download high-quality, DRM-free music. I'm happy to finally see a legit site that respects artists and copyright law and that is easier and more convenient to use than piracy.

Thanks Lala!

Kevin

Click image above to see why Lala is the best music service

Michael Robertson Wants To Fool You About the Lala Music Store

2009-04-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

I worked with Michael Robertson for seven years and watched first hand his methods. Anyone who follows my blog knows I wasn't impressed with his ethics or tactics. If you want to see a typical example of how Robertson tries to fool people to get his way by misrepresenting the facts (like when he falsely charged former employees for embezzlement to get money from his bank), look at his latest blog where he puts down the successful music service Lala.

The REAL reason Robertson dislikes Lala.

To me, this seems to be Robertson's typical cycle: start a business, fail, then start tossing garbage at the companies who did it right and succeeded, thereby justifying his failure. Linspire lost to Red Hat, Novell and Canonical (Ubuntu). MP3tunes lost to Lala. SipPhone lost to Skype. And so it goes, leaving Robertson with plenty of companies to whine about.

Let's look at his latest drivel about Lala to see his typical MO:

First he starts off like a politician, by trying to scare you with some horrible, over-the-top threat that only he can protect you from: "An insidious new plot to wrestle control of your personal music library is underway." He then goes on to compare it to a "roach motel." Ohhhh, the drama! Whatever shall we do?!? Please Michael, save us from this "insidious new plot!"

Robertson talks about how Lala must be evil because it has taken investment from music companies. I have absolutely no idea if that's true or not (as I don't believe anything that comes from of Robertson), but what I DO know is that when I was CEO of Linspire, Robertson was more than happy to have Linspire take millions of dollars from "the evil" Microsoft and partner with them. So I guess Microsoft was pulling all of Michael's strings at Linspire?

Robertson put millions in his own pocket that came directly from Microsoft ($3M while I was CEO, and I'm sure more after I left). The money that flowed from Microsoft to Robertson more than likely helped fund MP3tunes. So, using Michael's logic, we can all assume that Microsoft is pulling the strings at MP3tunes, right? Such hypocrisy. The only reason MP3tunes isn't backed by "big music," is because big music is smarter than that. Warner Music tried one time to partner with Robertson and got stabbed in the back the second the ink was dry on the agreement. If one of the big record labels offered to put money into MP3tunes, Robertson would take it in a minute, just like he did at Linspire with the Microsoft deal.

Robertson's claim that he will never "sell out the consumer," is utter rubbish. As CEO at Linspire, I didn't see him raise one objection to Linspire's "deal with the devil" Microsoft, or him concerned in the least about how this would affect the consumer. All I saw him care about was how big was the check and him making sure that $3M was wired to his personal account on the very day we got paid from Microsoft to cover a line of credit Linspire had with Robertson. Many times I watched Robertson intentionally do things that would annoy our users because it would sell more product. As soon as I became CEO, I made CNR free and put out a free version of Linspire (Freespire), all going against what Roberson did as CEO. Robertson helped to justify Microsoft's patent claims when Linspire entered into their deal with Microsoft, so his claims of being the champion against patents, DRM, and protecting consumers' rights rings hollow. I only thing I saw Robertson ever care about was himself, his ego and his net worth. Robertson is the one person I know who can make the big record labels seem like good, honest, honorable people.

Next comes more lies and half truths. He says, "To participate you just need to upload all the tracks from your personal library." Lala should sue Robertson for that line, because it's total rubbish. You don't have to upload a single song from your library to participate at LaLa, but by lying about this, Robertson can make Lala seem so much more "insidious," so why let the truth get in the way?

Robertson's nonsense continues with, "Your music will be controlled by Lala and will eventually vanish, because no company lasts forever." There is no truth to the first part, and the second part would apply even more so to Robertson's companies, given their poor performance.

If you upload your music library to Lala, you are in no way transferring ownership or control of that music. You will still have all your music on your computer's hard drive or on your CDs. Lala can't touch those files and in no way does it "control your music." Lala could go out of business tomorrow and you'd still have your music. (Besides, if anyone's going out of business, my money is on MP3tunes tanking long before Lala.)

Robertson then offers a table where he laughably labels LaLa as the "Record Label Locker," and MP3tunes the "Consumer Locker." Robertson insults the reader with this transparent "BS." Lala is an independent music service, even though Robertson wants to scare you into believing otherwise.

Here's the table I'd offer you about Lala, the one Robertson DOESN'T want you to see:

Read what Ed Bott has to say about Lala on ZDnet.

Most of the popular music stores now all offer non-DRM MP3 files, so Robertson has to start finding other excuses to pick at them. Most consumers just want the lowest cost MP3, and Lala is an excellent service for that, perhaps the best. MP3tunes has little content and can't possibly compete with Lala there, so Robertson wants to scare you about their locker service, which honestly, most consumers don't even care about. (Most people can carry their entire music collection in the palm of their hand and sync it to all their devices without a locker, rendering MP3tunes useless.)

From what I hear, all the best employees have left MP3tunes and there are hardly any employees even left there. Why would anyone want to waste their time uploading their music to a business that will probably go the way of MP3.com, Linspire, AJAX Windows, and so many other ventures started by Robertson?

I've had years of watching Robertson closely. I wouldn't trust anything he says. If you want to have a great selection of music that you can buy in non-DRM MP3s, I'd ignore Robertson and check out Lala. You'll see why it's succeeding.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Loses in the Court of Public Opinion

2009-04-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

I found an interesting website a few months back called On The Jury (www.onthejury.com). The site basically lets Internet users read about a "case" and vote Guilty or Not Guilty. I thought it would be fun to try it out, so I made a post about how Michael Robertson filed police reports against several Linspire employees calling them all embezzlers. I wanted to see how hundreds of Internet users would "rule" on this matter.

I posted the case in November of last year, and as of today, 204 people had voted in the case. The results were pretty interesting (although, not at all surprising to me). Hardly anyone agreed with Roberton's claims.

Click on the below image to enlarge, read Robertson's case against me, and then see the "verdict."

98% of Internet Users found me "Not Guilty."

Only 2% of the public jury agreed with Michael Robertson, who accused employees of "embezzlement" because they received severance payments from the me, the CEO, when they were laid off.

Of course, Robertson lost in a "real" court over this issue as well. Click here to read how Judge Meyer ruled against Robertson, not even letting his bogus allegations get past summary judgment.

If you ever decide to go to work for Michael Robertson, make sure you have a good lawyer, you could very well need one. The fact that he could try to have some of his very best employees arrested for having received severance tells you just how greedy he is.

Kevin

Warning! Michael Robertson Could Sue You For Your Blog!

2009-03-30T18:44:00.000-07:00

This week, Michael Robertson took his next step in trying to suppress my blog and stifle my freedom of speech. Today I received his request for documents in his frivolous Freespire trademark lawsuit against me.

Robertson's case has absolutely no merit, yet he's spending thousands of dollars in attorney fees trying to shut down Freespire.com. There is no reasonable upside to Robertson in this lawsuit, other than to try and take Freespire.com down, a site which calls into question Robertson's business practices. The sites encourages would-be customers, partners, investors and employees to talk with others who have had prior dealings with Robertson BEFORE deciding if they want to be involved with him.

To see the frivolity in Robertson's attacks on me in this lawsuit, consider the following...

1. To this day, Linspire, Inc. has never even had a registered trademark for the term Freespire.

2. When I was CEO for Linspire, Inc., I filed for a trademark for the term Freespire in April of 2006. However, after I left Linspire (July 2007), the company discontinued pursuing the application and the application was abandoned on January 14, 2008.

3. In January 2008, Linspire was given the opportunity to acquire the Freespire.com domain name, but they declined.

4. AFTER their trademark had been abandoned and Linspire had declined to acquire the Freespire.com domain name, I THEN acquired the Freespire.com domain name. Since then, I have used the site for various things, but mostly to link to my blog about Michael Robertson's despicable behavior, particularly in two areas:

a. How he tried to have several former employees arrested by the San Diego Police Department. He told the police that funds these employees had been paid for severance had been "embezzled" by them. (Fortunately the police and the courts saw through the nonsense and tossed this out.) These were all very good, long-term employees who had served Linspire faithfully for many years, and this was the thanks they got from Robertson--threats, harassment, intimidation, and lawsuits. (Knowing this, why would anyone ever want to go to work for such a person?)

b. How Robertson refused to explain to the 100-some-odd Linspire shareholders what happened with the millions of dollars in cash that Linspire had. It's now been nearly a year since Robertson sold off the Linspire assets in a back-room deal and the shareholders have yet to be given ANY accounting of what happened. (Knowing this, why would anyone ever invest in Robertson?)

Would you want to work for Michael Robertson
and run the risk of being called an embezzler?

5. Only AFTER Robertson found out I was using Freespire to shed light on his greedy deeds, did Linspire THEN file again for a trademark for Freespire, which still has never been granted a registration.

6. Given the nature of the content I put on the site, obviously there was never any confusion that my site was affiliated with Linspire or the Freespire operating system.

7. Because Freespire never had much traffic, the Freespire.com site has had virtually NO traffic.

8. Robertson sold off Linspire, but he went out of his way to keep the right to sue me for the Freespire trademark (which they never even had).

9. As anyone can see, the site is noncommercial. I don't sell or advertise anything on the site.

10. Not one time did Linspire reach out with any sort of communication to me or the Freespire.com website. No letters, no email, just straight to the lawsuit.

11. To this day, no one at Xandros (the people who now own the Freespire OS and have the PENDING trademark application on file) has ever contacted me or the Freespire.com website, or complained in any way about the site. If having the Freespire.com website up is so damaging, why wouldn't XANDROS be suing me? (Perhaps Xandros understands the concept of Freedom of Speech better than Robertson.)

So, in considering all these things, it's pretty clear that there was no confusion, there were no damages, and there's no upside for Robertson in this, so it obvious to me that this is all about Robertson trying to keep me quiet.

If you want to see just how desperate Robertson is to stop Freespire.com, here's the stuff he's requesting as part of this "trademark" lawsuit. (You can also click here for the entire request in pdf format.) To me it's pretty obvious what he's after (besides his normal bury-them-in-discovery nonsense), and that's to make sure the world doesn't find out what he's really like. For example, be sure and check out #6.

I have no intention of ever keeping quiet. People should know the truth about Robertson. Work for him, and run the risk of being called an embezzler. Invest in him, and get left in the dark. Write a blog about him, and well, you just might get sued.

I rightfully acquired the Freespire.com domain name, and I have a right to express my feelings there. Last time I checked, freedom of speech was still part of America, as much as Robertson would apparently like to change that.

Kevin

Where Have You Gone, Milton Friedman?

2009-03-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.newsmax.com/ruddy/milton_friedman/2009/03/19/193728.html

Kevin

Editorial Cartoons by Steve Sack

2009-03-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Editorial cartoons by Steve Sack...

My Second Annual American Idol Predictions - Season 8 - 2009

2009-03-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Each year I make my predictions for who I think will win American Idol and in what order I think the contestants will be voted off. (My predictions for last year.)

Here are my predictions for this year. As always, I'm not saying these are my PERSONAL favorites, but just how I think America will end up voting.

My predictions are:

#1...

#2...
#3...
#4...
#5...
#6...
#7...
#8...
#9...
#10...

Let me know your predictions, and come back and see how we did.

Kevin

PS: Here are the contestant's names in text form, so you can easily cut, paste and move them around in the order you predict, if you want to post or email me with your predictions.

Adam Lambert
Allison Iraheta
Anoop Desai
Danny Gokey
Kris Allen
Lil Rounds
Matt Giraud
Megan Joy
Michael Sarver
Scott MacIntyre

John Stossel's "Bailouts and Bull" on 20/20

2009-03-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

John Stossel gets it.

John Stossel has once again gotten it right. He's one of the only reporters in the mainstream media who will tell you the truth. If you missed his special last night, here it is. You may also want to watch his previous special, which I blogged about and posted here.

You can watch the six different segments below, or you can also watch this episode in its entirety here at ABC.

Everyone in America should watch this and John's previous reports. Pass it around!

Fed. Government's Failed Bailouts

Fed. Government Scares the Middle Class

Fed. Government's Failure to Control Traffic and at Building Roads

Fed. Government Wants to Controll Pre-School

Fed. Government Spends Billions and Fails to Control Border

Fed. Government's Control Over State Rights

Kevin

Tips from Michael Robertson On Stealing Copyrighted Material

2009-03-09T17:31:00.001-07:00

In his most recent Michael's Minute ("A Tivo for YouTube"), Michael Robertson has tips on how you can make sure and get copies of the illegally uploaded content from YouTube before it's taken down by the rightful copyright holder.

Robertson explains how "Sophisticated users have always been able to do this, but now for the first time it's point and click easy with a menu of choices next to the video that you can choose from." Gee, what a guy, helping make theft point and click easy.

Michael Robertson is ready to be your accomplice.

It seems to me that Robertson is making a career (all be it a not very successful one) out of helping you steal copyrighted material and then letting you pay him to store your stolen goods for you.

I don't think Robertson knows how to find a legit way to make money. Heck, he can't even seem to find an illegitimate way.

Kevin

Obama Makes the Big-Spender Bush Look Thrifty

2009-03-08T12:44:00.001-07:00

If Obama gets his way, by his own admission, the deficit will be above $1 TRILLION over the next THREE YEARS, for a total of around $3.7 T. That's nearly what the big spender Bush II took EIGHT years to do ($4.3 T). And all this put into motion in Obama's first couple of months. Eeegads. Spending under Bush was terrible, but apparently it's going to be even worse under Obama and the D-controlled congress.

Big spender Obama. So much for change.

Obama's $3.6 trillion spending and tax plan is the biggest effort to shift the federal government's role in the economy since Reagan's in 1981. But instead of rolling back government, Obama advocates growing it. ....Shudder.... If Congress declines to raise taxes on carbon emissions, or other areas, it will force the deficit even higher. Likewise, should all his tax increases pass, that could slow the economy even more, and the deficit goes higher still.

I might be for raising taxes if I thought for one minute the Gov would use it to pay down the deficit like Bush I and Clinton did, but I don't trust Obama to do that. He's got way to big of a social agenda and seems to lack a basic understanding of economics. (Clinton also did not control federal spending, considering it increased by almost 30% during his tenure. What saved him was the dramatic increase in tax revenues from a healthy economy created in the tech and other sectors during that time.)

Want to see just how much Obama want's to borrow from your children, watch this:

Glenn Beck graphically depicts our Federal Government's out of control spending.

Politicians, R's and D's alike, just can't resist spending your money, and mortgaging your children's future. The national debt is already nearly $11 TRILLION, that's $35,000 for every person living in America, and this all BEFORE Obama starts with his crazy spending!

The stock market clearly isn't liking what they are hearing from Obama. It's down 20% in the short time since Obama's inauguration and down nearly 40% from the time it was evident that Obama was going to become President. Ouch!

The Stock Market Isn't Buying Obama's Tax and Spend Plan

Look at what CNN's Mad Money host Jim Cramer has to say about Obama's policies.

According to a recent poll, over a quarter of those who voted FOR Obama now regret it.

26% of those who voted for Obama wish they hadn't.

Obama's DISapproval rating has increased from 10% to 26% in just over a month as more people, like me, who had hoped that Obama would be different, have learned about his same-old higher taxes and bigger government programs.

Obama's Disapproval rating goes up from 10% to 26% in just over a month.

So, what's to be done? How do we get our economy back on it's feet?

I would encourage everyone to read Free to Choose by Milton and Rose Friedman. (A 10-part TV series was also made along with this book.) If ever there was a time for people to understand how our economy works, it's now, while Obama and the Democratic-controlled congress try to reshape our country into the great society.

Milton Friedman, he was was an American economist, statistician and public intellectual, and a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Even though this book and his ideas are from a few decades ago, they remain true principles that seem to have been lost.

If you're not familiar with Milton Friedman or his beliefs, you can find several good video interviews with him on YouTube. Here is one small sample of him being interviewed by Phil Donahu.

Get this book, read it, and see if it doesn't make a lot of sense, and if it does, is Obama putting us on the right track?

Kevin

Michael Robertson Continues to Embrace Censorship on the Web

2009-01-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Michael Robertson is suing me for my freespire.com website, which is critical of Robertson for his treatment of employees and shareholders. (Linspire didn't even have a trademark application pending for the term "Freespire" when I started using freespire.com, and the freespire.com domain name was even offered to Linspire before I started using it, so it's pretty obvious to me that his legal bullying is a silly attempt to stifle my freedom of speech.)

Tonight, Michael Robertson broke a new record for censorship on his blog at michaelrobertson.com. Robertson was once again trying to justify making copies of music files and storing them in lockers without authorization (the same thing he did that tanked MP3.com). I made a legitimate post to his forum and my post was censored in less than three minutes! Wow, they're fast with the censorship button over there. =) Instead of rebutting my post, or responding to it, Robertson just has it censored. Nice!

Here is a copy of my post, for those of you who blinked and missed it before it was censored. (Click on the image to enlarge it.) You'll see from the "PS" in my post I was even expecting to be censored, knowing how much Robertson dislikes contrasting points of view.

Click on above image to view my censored post at michaelrobertson.com.

Here is the link that was in my post if you want to check it out: http://www.sideload.com/cb/search/?keywords=the+beatles&pg=1

It appears censorship remains alive and well not just in China, but at MichaelRobertson.com.

Michael is welcome to post to my blog's forum anytime without fear of censorship. In fact, the Linspire shareholders would love to hear from him and what happened with Linspire's cash and assets.

Long live Freedom of Speech!

Kevin

Photos of My Daily Run and Full Moon

2009-01-18T12:18:00.001-08:00

I run 3 to 4 miles a few times each week. Yesterday during my run, I took a few snap shots with my iPhone. I'm lucky to be able to just step out my front door and enjoy this beautiful run anytime I want. It's easy to see why I love to run, and why I love San Diego.

Click to Enlarge

We also had an amazing full moon a few nights ago. These photos, taken with my iPhone, don't do it justice, but gives you an idea. It was really incredible.

Click to Enlarge

My Email to Apple about their iPhone App Store Approval Process

2009-01-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

Below is an email which I sent to the good folks at Apple.

Apple,

As the CEO of a company with a popular app in your iPhone app store (Dating DNA), I'd like to offer up the following suggestion:

Apple should offer "priority reviews" to developers for $20 (or whatever amount makes sense) per app submission. In other words, developers could still submit their apps to the App Store for free and wait several days for the normal review process, OR they could choose to pay an extra fee for a quicker turn around. Apple would then use those funds to hire more QA testers.

The problem we have as a developer, is we release a product which both the developer and Apple find no problems with, but once thousands of people start using it, users may discover a serious crash or bug. There is currently no way for developers to get users an immediate fix for this. =( This causes the iPhone user to suffer, and it gives the developer a black eye for not having corrected the problem quickly. They blame the developer (low star rating, bad write ups and reviews, angry emails, etc.), not knowing a fix has been waiting for approval from Apple for weeks.

Charging a fee would also solve the problem of developers submitting new versions too often, because they know their either going to have to wait or pay a fee. You could even charge the fee EACH TIME the app needs to be re-submitted, forcing developers to really make sure the app or update is tested fully before submitting.

As you know, the App Store is hot, and it's only going to get hotter. This problem needs to be solved for the sake of Apple, developers and, most importantly, the customer. My suggestion seems like a very fair and easy solution to implement. For the smaller developers who can't afford a fee, it would still be free but they just need to wait a little longer, but for the bigger developers who have invested tens of thousands of dollars into their app, they could pay for quick turn around on updates and fixes.

Thanks for considering my suggestion, and keep up the great work!

Kevin Carmony
CEO, Dating DNA

PS: I sent this to people I personally know at Apple, as well as their developer program team. From the dev prog team I received an auto reply that they would get back with me, but it started with:

"Please note that the Apple Developer Connection will be closed from Wednesday, December 24th through Friday, December 26th for the December Holiday. We will re-open on Monday, December 29th, 2008."

Hmmmm....considering today is January 15th, it makes me wonder when they'll be getting back to me. =)

Networks Are Training Us NOT To Watch New Shows - Eli Sone and Dirty Sexy Money Canceled

2009-01-03T10:36:00.001-08:00

It bites when you start watching a new TV series, only to have it canceled. This is particularly true when the producers of the show have no warning that it's being terminated, leaving the ending to a series unfinished and ambiguous. More and more TV shows are an on-going story rather than a series of unrelated episodes, and it's frustrating to have shows such as Jericho be yanked without an ending.

The Network Irony

Today, more and more TV shows are available "on demand," through Amazon, iTunes, the networks' own websites, etc. This creates an irony for the networks. You see, because we all now know that we can download a series anytime we want, the networks are training us NOT to watch new shows. I know for myself, I almost never watch a new show for the first season or two, because I worry that I'll just get all into it, only to have it then get canceled. So, I tell myself, "If it makes it into a second or third seasons, THEN I'll go back, watch the earlier episodes on demand, and then start watching the regular series."

This happened to me recently with three shows: House, Eli Stone, and Dirty Sexy Money. I had heard good things about all of these series, so I recently got them all on demand, got all caught up and hooked on all three shows. House had survived for many seasons, so I figured even if it was canceled anytime soon, it would have been worth the ride. However, I had just finished watching all the episodes to Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money only to hear they were being pulled. Ugh!

I guess I need to start not bothering with series until after four or five seasons, not just two or three.

Sign this petition to save Eli Stone.

Sign this petition to save Dirty Sexy Money.

Email ABC to save Eli Stone and/or Dirty Sexy Money.

Kevin

Court Hands Michael Robertson Yet Another Loss, Ruling Supports Former Linspire Employees

2008-12-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

Several months back, Michael Robertson* and then-Linspire CEO, Larry Kettler, sued Linspire's bank, Comerica. The court has now ruled in the matter. The case was so absurd that not only did Robertson lose the case, but it was kicked out in summary judgment. That means the judge felt Robertson was so clearly in the wrong that it wasn't worth the bother of a trial, and the Judge refused to let Robertson's lawsuit proceed. This is yet another victory for truth and justice and stands as further evidence that Robertson's attacks on former employees were unfounded. (Here is a copy of the ruling. This was the tentative ruling which the judge confirmed as the final ruling during the hearing.)

Does Anyone Believe Michael Robertson Anymore?

So, why did Robertson sue his own bank?

To answer that, let me fill in some more of the story surrounding my departure as CEO for Linspire...

When I was CEO, I decided to make some shifts in the company's product line strategy which required letting some employees go. These were wonderful, hard-working, committed, trusted, long-term employees, most having worked for Linspire for around five years. These had been some of the most key individuals for Linspire over the years, including our lead OS engineer, the Director of the OS, and other employees and executives.

It was unfortunate that we needed to let these good people go, and I felt the least we could do was give them fair and reasonable severance to ease the blow. After all, it was these very same employees who had just helped Linspire turn in an extremely profitable year. Their good work had allowed us to pay off all of our debt and still have millions of dollars in the bank (which some shareholders believe Robertson took and/or squandered). At a minimum, I felt it only fair to use a very small portion of that year's profits to pay them a respectful severance. I wanted to treat these employees with respect and fairness. I knew by treating these long-time employees fairly, they would be happy to continue to help us if called upon (as departing employees so often are).

That's how I felt anyway. Michael Robertson, however, being the greedy man that he is, originally wanted to see these good people terminated with only two weeks severance. After a week of arm twisting, he suggested slightly more, but still less than I felt what was appropriate.

Fortunately for these employees however, Robertson had no operational or executive role at Linspire (he played absolutely no role in the huge profits we brought in that year), and it was up to me as the CEO to set the severance amounts for any laid-off employees. So, contrary to Michael's suggestion, I laid the employees off with the reasonable severance amounts I felt were appropriate, totaling only a few percentage points of the huge revenue and profits these employees had brought in that year. Prior to every action I took, I consulted with outside counsel to ensure that everything I did was proper and within the scope of my authority.

In less than 24 hours from when I had laid off the employees, I received this email from Robertson:

KC,

Do not do your proposed reduction in force. Please focus all of you energies on getting the new products to market at this time.

-- mr

Translated, I took that to mean: "Hey, before we stick the knife in these employees' backs and fire them with a few measly weeks of severance, let's abuse them one last time. Don't tell them anything about the pending layoffs just yet, but rather, keep them slaving away for a few more days until we get CNR.com and the new version of Linspire out and THEN you can fire them."

When I read this I became so infuriated at the level of greed Robertson had, that I decided to resigned, and sent Robertson this email:

Michael (Chairman of the Board),

I hereby offer my resignation, effective immediately.

After six years of quality service as President, and two years of having also been CEO, it is apparent that you are no longer willing to let me function in ways I see best for the company. Since closing on [recent lucrative deals], you have tried to challenge me and my authority as CEO and attempted to override my judgment with decisions which I do not believe to be in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.

To facilitate a smooth transition, please contact me as soon as possible so we can discuss and coordinate how to best message my resignation to employees, customers, the press, [partners], etc.

Thanks,

Kevin Carmony
President & CEO, Linspire, Inc.

I further told Michael that I didn't want one dime in severance for myself. I just wanted to be done with Robertson's greed, rants and unethical tactics and move on.

Michael replied and immediately accepted my resignation. However, he never did meet with me. Instead of coordinating with me a successful course of transition for Linspire with customers, employees, and partners, Robertson set about a maniacal plan to do all he could to take away the severance payments given to these good employees. He tried to reverse the severance payments, but of course the employee's banks refused. He then did the unthinkable. He filed a false report with the San Diego police department claiming that the money I, as CEO, had given these good employees as severance had been embezzled by them! Who does something that insane?!? Because he wasn't happy with my decision as CEO about their severance payments, he calls them all embezzlers???

Fortunately, seeing the nonsense in his claims, the police department didn't even open a file up on the case and dismissed it out of hand. However, that didn't stop Robertson from continuing to call these good employees embezzlers, even to this day. For example, Robertson, still calling these employees embezzlers, had false reports filed with the IRS to try and keep the portions of the severance payments which had been withheld for taxes. (The IRS met with all the employees and had them each file a 3949-A fraud report against Linspire, which they each did). Linspire also called these employees embezzlers to try and deny some of their unemployment claims. (They lost on all those attempts as well.)

Michael Robertson ran these employee's names through the mud and did everything he could to get his greedy hands on the employees severance, but alas, to no avail. Two of the employees even offered to give back their well-deserved severance, and Robertson told them it wouldn't be necessary, and yet he continues to this day to call them part of a "criminal conspiracy" to embezzle money from Linspire.

Michael Robertson Sues His Bank

After losing his bogus claims with the San Diego police department, the IRS, and the unemployment office, Robertson decided to sue his bank, Comerica, trying to get the bank to reimburse him for the severance payments, claiming that I was not authorized to wire these to the employees.

So, yet again, Robertson dragged out his ridiculous claims that these severance payments were embezzlement. Even though I was the CEO, and the payments were authorized by me, Robertson claimed that no one but he had real authority to make these severance payments. Not the CEO, CFO, Controller, etc., no one but him. The rest of us were all just embezzlers.

Judge Dismisses Robertson's Case in Summary Judgement

Comerica, also realizing how ridiculous Robertson's claims were, and knowing they were certainly in no way responsible for sending payments instructed by the CEO, filed a motion for summary judgment to have the case dismissed. In other words, they asked the Judge to rule that the case was so groundless, that he kick it out of court and not waste any more of the courts time.

Judge Meyer Rules Robertson's Statements as "Irrelevant."

I attended the hearing which lasted only about a half hour, at which the Judge granted Comerica's motion and disposed of the case in Comerica's favor.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Judge Meyer's ruling:

"Carmony was plaintiff's President and CEO at the time the payment orders were made. Long was plaintiff's Controller. Undoubtedly, both were agents of Plaintiff Linspire, Inc., and were acting within the scope of their agency."

"[The] implied powers of a general agent or manager are very broad, embracing authority to do all acts customarily connected with the business in which he is engaged....An agent has authority: 1. To do everything necessary or proper and usual, in the ordinary course of business, for effecting the purpose of his agency..."

"[Carmony and Long] had actual and apparent authority to cause the payment orders to be issued in plaintiff's name."

At one point during the trial, the Judge seemed frustrated with Robertson's lawyer, and asked him:

"Carmony's the CEO, and Long is the controller! How can there not be authority?"

"Well, I'm not sure I understand. Carmony's the CEO and Long's the controller, and they were at the time of these transactions. How can there be any factual dispute as to whether or not they were authorized agents of Linspire?"

The judge's ruling correctly confirms that I, as CEO, had the authority to wire these employees their severance payments. Sadly, even with a judge saying all this in an open-court ruling, I'm sure Robertson will continue with his false embezzlement allegations against these good employees, showing just what kind of unethical person he is.

Judge Further Rules Robertson's Statements as "Irrelevant"

As part of their "evidence" against Comerica, Linspire included a declaration from Robertson. Filled with nonsense and misstatements, Robertson basically rants that he was the one with the authority, not the CEO. He claims this because I and the laid off employees were all just a bunch of embezzlers. Never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story or lawsuit, he attempted to re-cast layoffs, private executive meetings, and severance payments as some kind of sinister plot carried out by a group of conspiring embezzlers, continually using such words as "secret meetings" and "unauthorized wire transfers" to describe regular business affairs.

Here is what the Judge had to say about Robertson's declaration:

"Because virtually all of the substantive statements made in Mr. Robertson's declaration are irrelevant, the Court declines to issue individual rulings on each discrete objection."

In other words, I was the CEO, wiring the severance payments was authorized, and Robertson just needs to get over it and deal with those facts.

I had told Robertson on numerous occasions and in emails that if he disagreed with how I was running the company, that there were steps shareholders can take to remove a CEO. Those steps were never taken, so I had full authority to give these employees severance, even though Robertson wanted to give them paltry severance for their years of hard work.

Our CFO had an employment agreement guaranteeing him two-years of severance should he ever be terminated. I amended that agreement some time ago, all by myself, without any board approval, and removed the 2-year severance commitment. Interestingly, Robertson claims that I didn't have authority to grant severance payments. If this were true, then I certainly wouldn't have had authority to amended our CFO's employment agreement. Perhaps the CFO should sue Linspire to receive those two years of severance?

Greedy Robertson

Even if Robertson was legally in the right here (which the court has ruled he wasn't), it would still show how greedy he is and how he treats employees. Regardless of court rulings, the fact remains that Robertson wanted to treat these employees poorly, and when I refused to do that, he calls them thieves and embezzlers to get back at me and them. Does it get any lower than that?

Robertson "said" he wanted to only give them the smaller severance so that he could keep as much money in the company as possible for it to succeed. Hmmmm...how did that work out for everyone? In just a few months after I left, Linspire was gone and the shareholders have yet to be told anything. Robertson said he didn't want the employees to get more money, and so who ultimately would have gotten the money if I hadn't paid these employees severance? Robertson! It was very transparent to me then, and remains so today, that Robertson wanted as much money for himself as possible. I believe his greed is pretty evident and should give anyone pause before ever working for him. (If you should ever find yourself considering going to work for Robertson, email me for a list of dozens of former employees you can speak with first about Robertson.)

It was pretty ridiculous for Robertson to think that the bank would pay him money just because he disagreed with the severance amounts I, as CEO of the corporation paid. It gives you an idea as to the alternate reality Robertson lives in.

Rather than running around suing people, perhaps he should just focus on actually building something. I've never sued anyone in my entire life. Have you?

Kevin

*Note: As far as anyone knows (since Robertson isn't talking to shareholders we can't be certain), Michael Robertson is the only employee at Linspire, now called Digital Cornerstone, Inc. So, when Linspire/Digital Cornerstone sues someone, it's Robertson doing the suing.

Emily Richards Photo-Montage Video

2008-12-13T16:33:00.000-08:00

"Time's not a friend to the days we hold on to." ~ Emily Richards

Kevin and Emily at lunch recently.

For those of you who know me well, you know that I use to live in Los Angeles where I had an artist management company. Yesterday, Emily Richards, one of the artists I managed (and Indie Superstar =), called to see what high res photos I had that she could use for an upcoming project. I have hundreds of photos of her on tour, performing, etc., so I started going through these looking for something that might work for what she needed.

While sifting through these photos, it really took me for a trip down memory lane. Wow, we really had so many good times (and bad =), and made so many good friends. Flooded with all these memories, I was inspired to put together this short photo-montage video of some of the pictures that had special meaning to me. I put the photos to the music of a very rare Emily Richards song. It was recorded as a quick demo in one take at my home in LA and we used it as a special "hidden track" on Emily's "out-take" CD called "Sounds in the Basement." In fact, the title for the CD came from the lyrics of this song. The CD is no longer available commercially, so even the most die-hard Emily Richards fans have likely never heard this song, even though it has always been a favorite of mine. Emily wrote the song years ago, long before I had even met her. I think you'll see, however, that it's amazing how a song written in one part of her life, fit so nicely with a completely different period of her life. (Emily really should re-record this song properly one day. I'm sure she'll cringe hearing the rough vocals, but it's still a beautiful song.)

HIGH Resolution LOW Resolution

Putting this video together had extra special meaning to me, since Emily and I were unable to communicate for the past year due to circumstances, and have recently been able to reconnect, and we can start working together again. (By the way, if you're in the Los Angeles area, be sure and come by Life on Wishire this coming Monday night at 9:30 PM to see Emily perform a few songs. I'll be there as well with many of our friends, celebrating John Jones birthday.)

For those of you not familiar with Emily's music, you can find her on iTunes, etc. I'd recommend her Valhalla CD to start you out, but they're all fantastic.

I hope you enjoy watching and listening to this video as much as I did putting it together.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Loses Motion in Shareholder Dispute over Linspire's Missing Assets

2008-12-05T14:27:00.001-08:00

I have some good news to report to the 100 some-odd shareholders who remain in the dark about Linspire's missing cash and assets...

Robertson Loses Motion in Shareholder Lawsuit.

As I had reported back in September, Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler were sued in a derivative lawsuit, alleging misconduct by Robertson and Kettler which harmed the Linspire corporation and its shareholders. (Linspire had millions of dollars in the bank just months prior to its demise, but Robertson remains silent as to what happened to the corporation and Linspire's cash and assets, leaving minority shareholders in the dark.)

You would think with all the attention Robertson has been getting by ignoring the Linspire investors and shareholders, that he would be doing all he can to come clean to them as to what happened. Instead, Robertson's tossed out a legal maneuver which I believe was simply a ploy to try and intimidate the plaintiff who had sued Robertson on behalf of the company and shareholders. Robertson filed a motion to force the plaintiff to come up with a $50,000 bond before they could continue with their case against Robertson and Kettler.

Robertson and Kettler Lose Motion

This week the court denied Robertson and Kettler's motion requiring the bond, which means the case can continue to discovery and eventually to trial.

Even though Linspire minority shareholders still remain in the dark as to what happened, this is at least a small victory for them to see that Robertson will eventually have to explain himself in court.

It says a lot about Robertson when it has taken this type of lawsuit to get him to explain to shareholders what happened and that he continues to fight the process rather than just being forthright with the shareholders.

The question remains: What is he hiding?

Kevin

Two Nights, Two Great Concerts - Coldplay & Australian Pink Floyd Show

2008-11-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

I saw two great concerts the last two nights.

On Monday I saw the Australian Pink Floyd Show here in San Diego at the Copley Symphony Hall. I was blown away! They played pretty much the entire Wall double album (one of my all time favorite records) from start to finish and then bits of Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Where Here, etc. for their encore. I didn't know anything about these guys until a few days before the show. Pink Floyd is one of the few bands that I have always wished I had been able to see, but haven't yet, so I figured a tribute band was the next best thing. It was unbelievable! The venue was great and the sound fantastic. I went with ex Linspire patriot Kevin LaRue (and fellow progressive rock fan) and we had a great time on the 5th row. They tour all the time, so if they are coming to your town, GO!

Then last night I saw Coldplay in Orange Country at the Honda Center (the "pond"). This is my third time seeing Coldplay. Last time I saw them in 2005 we were on the front row, and this time on the second. As always, the band was fantastic. I wasn't thrilled with the sound of the Honda Center, however, as it had this very annoying echo, and you'd heard every sound slapping back at you a split second later. It made it nearly impossible to even understand what Chris Martin was saying when he'd talk into the mic. Also, I tend to have the worst luck with sitting by annoying fans. Last night it was the two women sitting right behind us who wouldn't be quiet all evening and spilled their drink on me! Literally, dumped the entire cup down my back. Fans need to learn to not get so drunk that they ruin the show for everyone around them.

Two great nights. Below are photos and video I shot from the shows.

This is a short excerpt of video I shot of some of the night with Coldplay. The best, up-close footage is in the last half of the video.

Some photos I took from the Coldplay show (click to enlarge)...

Some photos I took from the Australian Pink Floyd Show (click to enlarge)...

I didn't shoot the below video, but it gives you an idea how fantastic these guys are. Comfortably Numb was a real mind blower!

Here is some great audio of their show just a few weeks before ours.

Kevin

Ubuntu's Impressive Numbers

2008-11-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

I remain impressed with Canonical and Ubuntu. My Ubuntu computer works brilliantly. With each release I see the delta between my main OS (Mac OS X) and desktop Linux, becoming smaller and smaller. Mac still has a bit more polish and service offerings, but the main difference for me remains the quality of software available for Mac vs Linux, but even there the line is starting to blur considerably.

Ubuntu 8.10--Impressive OS is only four years old.

Considering that Canonical is barly four years old, here are some impressive numbers to consider (source):

Ubuntu has 8 million+ users.
Ubuntu has over 500 active developers.
120+ of those developers are full-time Canonical engineers.
Canonical has over 215 employees.
Ubuntu has over 600,000 forum users.

The latest 8.10 release of Ubuntu is now available for download. If you haven't already, you should check it out. It's definately better than Vista, and getting very close to OS X.

Kevin

Michael Robertson--Still Hiding Details About Linspire's Demise

2008-11-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

Five Months And Counting--What Happened to Linspire?

It's been five months since Michael Robertson sold off Linspire in a secret back-room deal with Xandros, and yet, the 100 some-odd minority shareholders haven't received any details about this transaction. Robertson has time to file frivolous lawsuits against me to try and take away my freedom of speech, but he doesn't have time to talk to all those shareholders who have lost thousands and thousands of dollars on worthless Linspire stock.

Is there anyone who can be left with doubt as to Robertson's attitude toward employees, investors and shareholders?

Michael Robertson--No Respect for Investors and Shareholders

The lawsuit against Robertson over the missing cash continues, but for Linspire shareholders, we remain completely in the dark.

What is Robertson hiding? Incompetence? Greed? Theft? All three? After five months, if he had a reasonable story to tell shareholders, wouldn't he have done that by now?

By my calculation, Linspire blew through around $35 Million and left absolutely nothing to show for it. Perhaps Robertson is just embarrassed by his colossal failure with Linspire. I netted a profit during my two years as Linspire's CEO, and there were millions in the bank when I left, yet in one quick year it's all gone.

Linspire, SIPphone, MP3tunes, AJAXwindows, not exactly an impressive track record. I can see why Michael prefers to keep in hiding.

Kevin

My High Scores on Fieldrunners Game for the iPhone

2008-11-14T19:27:00.000-08:00

UPDATE:

My new high score is now 686,525 (Level: High, Rounds: 100). Screenshots below.

Original Post:

OK, I admit it, this is the one iPhone game I've become rather addicted to.

Here is the end game of my highest score to date (85 Rounds, 432,250 points, Medium Level). I took this snap shot just seconds before losing my last life, thanks to a flood of those blasted helicopters!

You'll notice I leave an alleyway along the top. This way, when the enemy is about to the end of my route, but they are still kickin', I can "unlock" my field by releasing the sole man in the upper left-hand corner, then locking the end of the route, forcing the enemy to head back in the opposite direction and taking an additional beating. (I guess there is even a term for this, "juggling.") It's just those dang helicopters that can fly overhead that I need to beef up more for!

Here are my high scores (all on the Medium Level, other than score #8 was on Easy):

Any other Fieldrunners addicts? Share your score.

Some great scores (and pointers) to be found here.

Kevin

The Good News About Obama's Win

2008-11-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

As those of you who follow my blog know, I was a Mitt Romney supporter for President. I felt our country needed someone like Romney, who really understands how the economy works and has shown time and time again he can turn things around. Unfortunately, Romney lost in the primaries to John McCain, who I then reluctantly supported because I didn't like Obama's lack of experience, position on taxes, and Liberal record. Today, however, America has spoken and Barack Obama will be our next President.

Congratulations to Barack Obama -- I'm Proud of America

Even thought Obama's associations, lack of experience, view on taxes, and Liberal voting record concern me, there is one thing about his victory that I'm very happy about, and that is I'm proud to be an American today, which just elected an African American as its president. I'm excited to have our first minority as President. I believe it shows that America isn't a racist nation. Of course there are those few who still discriminate and hold racist attitudes and views, but I believe the majority of Americans do not hold race against others.

I do worry about Obama, Pelosi and Reed controlling the federal government, and I'll do what I can to keep our country from swinging to big government and expanded social programs (and will be ready to support Romney in 2012 if Obama drops the ball!). However, for today, I'm just going to be proud to be an American where we have a free election system and where anyone truly can become President.

Congratulations to Barack Obama and his historical victory. Regardless of who you voted for, today every American should be proud of their country. I am.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Sues Me to Impede My Freedom of Speech on the Internet

2008-10-27T19:12:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I have used my blog as a resource to bring to light the questionable actions of Michael Robertson, and to go public with his treatment of employees and shareholders. Today I was served with a lawsuit by Michael Robertson in an effort to obscure my blog and impede my freedom of speech. I have to say that I wasn't surprised to learn that Michael would use a frivolous lawsuit to threaten and silence me, but it won't work. I will not let Robertson bully or intimidate me with this or any other nuisance suit. Such lawsuits only serve to shed further light on his unscrupulous tactics.

Michael Robertson--No Champion of the 1st Amendment

Robertson, unhappy about my blog, sues me

The Internet has become a bastion of free speech for bloggers. Robertson, who claims to be a strong supporter for such rights, seems to feel quite differently when that speech is critical of him.

You see, just as the Internet is a marvelous vehicle for companies to promote their goods and services, it can be an equally effective tool for dissatisfied customers or disgruntled employees and shareholders to criticize a particular product, company or management team. Much to the chagrin of trademark owners, such "gripe sites" (which often include the company name or trademark in the URL), are very difficult, if not impossible, to shut down. Fortunately, the First Amendment typically shields the operators of corporate gripe sites from liability. If the gripe site is non-commercial in nature, the operator's freedom of speech will generally override the trademark owner's interest in controlling the use of its company name or trademark, as it should.

Freedom of Speech on Freespire.com

Earlier this year, Linspire was given the opportunity to purchase the domain name Freespire.com. They declined. When I was CEO, I spearheaded the Freespire project, but I was unable to obtain the freespire DOT COM domain name, so we did everything at freespire DOT ORG. We tried incessantly to obtain the .com domain, but the owner would never sell it to us. So you can imagine my surprise when earlier this year, the owner finally agreed to sell the domain and it was offered to Linspire, but they declined to acquire it. (I think that also sums up the commitment Linspire had to Freespire.) So, around eight months ago, only AFTER Linspire declined to purchase the freespire.com domain name, I decided to acquire it as a non-commercial opinion site to share my views about Linspire, Freespire and desktop Linux in general.

It had been over six months since I had left Linspire, and I had become increasingly disappointed with its management and decided to use Freespire.com to vent that dissatisfaction. I had certainly been observing the downfall of the company, and by this time I had learned about Robertson having filed false claims against several executives, calling severance payments "embezzlement," and I wanted a venue to express my displeasure. For me, the writing was on the wall that Robertson was destroying the company. (Just a few months later the company was gone and the shareholders remain in the dark.)

At the freespire.com site, I praised the good work other distributions were doing with Linux (Ubuntu, Mint, Nimblex, etc.), expressed dissatisfaction with Linspire/Freespire, and linked to my blog. At no time have I ever sold any of these distributions or had a financial stake in them. I was merely exercising my freedom of speech.

So, today, Michael Robertson (via the now-defunct Linspire shell company "Digital Cornerstone") sued me for "cybersquatting, trademark infringement, and unfair competition," claiming that the freespire.com "gripe" site should be taken down and seeking $100,000 and other damages.

First, I'm a little confused how Robertson is suing me for trademark infringement, considering there is no registered trademark for "Freespire." (Linspire filed for one but never actually got it registered and all the Linspire IP went to Xandros months ago.)

My freespire.com site never sold anything. It never used the Freespire logo or even used the Freespire name in large fonts or type. There was certainly no confusion, as it was quite clear this site wasn't Linspire's site. In fact, there was even a disclaimer stating the fact that the site was not owned by or affiliated with Linspire or the Freespire distro in anyway.

Companies hate "gripe sites," but consumers appreciate
them and the First Amendment Protects Them

As I pointed out earlier, it's rare that a non-commercial blog or opinion site is found to be cybersquating or violating trademarks, as they are protected by the First Amendment. And it's extremely rare for monetary damages to be awarded in a cybersquating case, particularly one as non-consequential as this one. (The freespire.com domain only got around 100 hits per day, and even fewer today. See the Alexa graph at the end of this blog.) Yet Robertson is seeking $100,000 in damages? Linspire never complained or objected about the site, even though there was a clear contact link for the site's webmaster on every page. No cease and desist letter was ever mailed. They never sought relief or arbitration from ICANN. No, instead, in classic Robertson fashion, he headed straight to the court room because this lawsuit is about intimidation and suppressing speech, not about legitimate damages.

The lawsuit even states, "Although the FREESPIRE mark was recently assigned as part of an asset purchase, [Robertson] expressly reserved all rights in and to all claims against Carmony arising from the freespire.com domain name and website." Now, why would Robertson want to carve out that one thing to hang on to? He's no longer involved with Freespire, so why does he care? Is he desperate for money? With Robertson's companies struggling and laying employees off, does anyone really believe this is the most important thing Robertson should be concerning himself with? His motives are pretty transparent--to suppress freedom of expression that is critical of Robertson.

Keep Speech Free at Freespire.com

This is a nuisance lawsuit, intended to silence my freedom of speech. I will defend my right to free speech by continuing to point freespire.com to my blog and keep reporting on Robertson's disturbing actions.

I'll keep you posted on this YARL (Yet Another Robertson Lawsuit).

Kevin

UPDATE: Michael Robertson made a pretty ironical post today on his Michael's Minute. So I made an appropriate response, and it was quickly censored and removed. Below is a screenshot of what it looked like BEFORE my post was censored (click on it to enlarge to read). Michael Robertson is welcome to post here at anytime and I will assure him his non-anonymous comment will be published. As I say, Robertson can dish it, but can't take it. Just more evidence of his desire to squash free speech.

Censorship at MichaelRobertson.com

Penn & Teller on the First Amendment (Explicit Language)

World's Smallest Political Quiz

2008-10-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

Click here to take the World's Smallest Political Quiz and see where you stand.

Here are my results, which might help people understand me and some of my views.

Kevin

Barack Obama Hides Welfare and Socialism in his "Tax Cut"

2008-10-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

Obama "spreading the wealth around."

I have a very good friend who is planning on voting for Barack Obama. Even SHE refused to believe me when I told her that people who pay no income tax (about 40% of Americans) will actually get a check in the mail under Obama's "spread the wealth around" tax plan. I admit it's hard to believe, but quite true.

Read this Wall Street Journal article.

What Obama calls a "tax cut" is really a tax increase, and that tax increase is really a welfare payment to millions.

It's one thing to "tax the rich" to build highways and support our national defense, but when you take money from one group and give it to another, that's WELFARE, and when your government FORCES you to do it, that's SOCIALISM.

I never hear Obama talking about expanding the pie, only about how to slice it. I'm all for helping those in need, but the best way to do that is to grow the economy with LOWER taxes so everyone can have a good job. As pointed out in my last blog, the private sector can do much more to help people than government.

I have been unemployed for the past year as I've been starting a new business, so I have no income. Senator Obama, if elected to President, PLEASE do NOT mail me my welfare check. I prefer to earn a living through work and productivity.

Kevin

John Stossel's "Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics"

2008-10-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

John Stossel, one of the few level headed individuals in the media and a fellow Libertarian, has made yet another excellent 20/20 Special. John looks at the fallacies of big government.

I would HIGHLY encourage everyone to watch this entire program BEFORE voting. I'm glad at least someone from the mainstream media is debunking the concept that we should turn to government to solve all our problems.

For your viewing convenience, I've put the entire program below. (Note: If you'd prefer to watch this in a higher resolution directly from the ABC News website, go here.)

PART 1 - False promises from politicians. Spontaneous Order. Central planning and government vs self organization and business.

PART 2 - Housing crises. Regulation vs deregulation. Bailout. Necessity of business failures.

PART 3 - Rebuilding New Orleans. Government vs volunteers and the private sector. Government bureaucracy.

PART 4 - Campaign finance reform. Law of unintended consequences. Using regulation to prevent competition.

PART 5 - Farm subsidies. Job obsolescence. New Zealand eliminates farm subsidies.

PART 6 - People run America, not Government. People bring change, not politicians. Personal responsibility.

BONUS SECTION FROM PREVIOUS WEEK - Should some people not vote?

Kevin

Michael Robertson Continues His Shell Game with Linspire's Missing Cash

2008-10-15T06:40:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned last month, Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler were sued for mismanagement of the now defunct Linspire. Although I am not a party in that lawsuit, it was my hope that it would help shed some light on what happened with the millions of dollars in missing cash and other Linspire assets.

Robertson and Kettler finally responded to the suit, and I got a copy of their response. From what I could see, what they produced did not provide any meaningful data on the missing cash. It appears that Robertson simply dumped on the plaintiff over 200 pages of misc. bank statements (not even covering the full periods from Aug. 1, 2007 to present). They failed to produce any meaningful financial statements, Income Statements, Balance Sheets, closing documents on the Xandros deal, etc. From the mishmash of evidence that was provided, it IS CLEAR there were in fact millions of dollars in cash when Robertson took over as sole Board member just over a year ago, BUT it is still very UNCLEAR where that cash ended up.

Michael Robertson - What is he hiding?

The lack of meaningful financial documents in Robertson's response didn't surprise me in the least. After having worked with Robertson for over six years, I witnessed first hand all of his legal maneuvers and tricks. One of his favorites was to overload opposing counsel with meaningless discovery documents, forcing them to sift through piles of papers to find the needle in the haystack, rather than just producing the documents which clearly show he is in the right. (This is a tactic people often use when they're NOT in the right.)

If Robertson and Kettler had nothing to hide, why wouldn't they provide HELPFUL documents that show EXACTLY what happened with the cash? If there is a good explanation, why wouldn't they simply provide that evidence? What is Robertson hiding?

According to one of the documents, the new Linspire Board was made up of Michael Robertson, his wife Leslie, and Larry Kettler (Robertson's consummate "Yes Man"). Not exactly what you'd call an "independent" board. Also, I'm not sure how Leslie and Larry could be on the board, considering the shareholders were never notified of these changes. The shareholders WERE properly notified when Michael fired all the other board members over a year ago, but have not been notified of any changes since. Again, why hide this?

So, my questions for Michael Robertson are:

1. If the only financial documents you plan on providing in the derivative lawsuit are bank statements, why not provide ALL the bank statements for the periods of August 1, 2007 through the present? (I would suggest to the plaintiff's lawyers that they subpoena the bank statements for the missing periods and START looking there. If Robertson is going to force you to look for the needle in the haystack, at least make sure all the haystack is there.)

2. Why haven't you held a shareholders meeting since taking over exclusive control of the Linspire Board over a year ago?

3. Why after months of you having sold Linspire to Xandros haven't you shared any details of that transaction with the 100-some-odd shareholders?

4. Why haven't you produced any meaningful financial statements, such as Income Statements or Balance Sheets to shareholders or to the plaintiff and lawyers in the derivative lawsuit?

5. Why are you trying to dissolve the corporation so quickly without explaining anything to the shareholders?

6. What happened to all the cash? Did you funnel it to yourself and/or your father-in-law? Did you squander it all in one short year through incompetent management of Linspire?

7. And lastly... When we had to let some very good, committed, long-term employees go at Linspire, you said you wanted to only give them two weeks of severance. I disagreed, and as CEO, I made the decision to give them more reasonable severance packages. You were so greedy and upset with the CEO's decision, that you filed a bogus police report and called them all embezzlers! Your argument for giving these good employees such piddly severance payments was that you wanted to keep as much money in the company as possible, claiming this would be better in the long run for those employees, the shareholders and the Linspire customers. So, my final question for you Michael: How'd your brilliant plan work out for everyone?

Kevin

"Get a Dog" - My Dog Toby and a Sprinkle Cupcake

2008-10-11T23:33:00.000-07:00

My dog's absolute favorite treat in the entire world is a Sprinkles Cupcake. Don't worry, they're made special for dogs. (Oh, and I don't mind them myself, the ones for people that is. =)

Thanks to John Jones for letting me use this song. He's never released it, but he should.

Click below video to play.

Below is a photo of the line I had to wait in for 30 minutes to get my Sprinkles!

But Toby seems to think it was well worth the wait. =)

Kevin

Song "Get a Dog" (C) by John Jones.

Michael Robertson Sued Over Linspire's Missing Cash

2008-09-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

To this day, Michael Robertson has yet to explain to the 100 some-odd shareholders what happened with the millions of dollars in cash and assets that were owned by Linspire just a few short months ago. The assets seem to have completely vanished, leaving shareholders with no return on their investment or even so much as an explanation as to what happened.

In June, Robertson sold Linspire to Xandros in a back-room deal without any shareholder input or detailed notification. Even though Robertson sold Linspire three months ago, shareholders still remain completely in the dark as to the financial details of the transaction. How does that pass any smell test for investors?

Michael Robertson - Greedy, crook or just incompetent?

At the time the deal was announced, I predicted it would take a lawsuit to ever get Robertson to go public with the details, as it was my belief Robertson's motive for this transaction was likely to hide unauthorized transactions which he may have made using Linspire's assets as his personal piggy bank to reward himself and his father-in-law as well as fund his other companies. It appears I was right in my prediction as a lawsuit has now been filed against Michael Robertson and Linspire's then-CEO Larry Kettler in an effort to force Robertson and Kettler to finally explain to shareholders what happened.

Click here for a copy of the suit with all the details of the allegations.

The lawsuit is a "derivative suit" which is a lawsuit instigated by a shareholder of a corporation, not on the shareholder's own behalf, but on behalf of the corporation. The shareholder brings an action in the name of the corporation against the parties (in this case Robertson and Kettler) who allegedly caused harm to the corporation. Such derivative suits are often brought against officers or directors of a corporation for violations of fiduciary duties owed to the shareholders vis-a-vis the corporation. The derivative suit against Robertson and Kettler was instigated by Kevin LaRue, the one-time VP of Marketing for Linspire and a current shareholder, but any proceeds of a successful action are awarded to the corporation, benefiting all shareholders, not just LaRue.

Because Michael Robertson was the Chairman of Linspire's board and apparently their only board member (shareholders have never been given notice of anyone else having been added to the board since Robertson fired all the other board members over a year ago), it would be improper for him to make deals that would only benefit him as the majority shareholder. The lawsuit alleges Robertson did not fulfill his fiduciary responsibility to not only act in his best interest but in the interest of all shareholders.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this suit, if nothing else, it will hopefully, once and for all, bring to light what happened to Linspire. The minority shareholders have a right to know, and it's unfortunate it has taken this lawsuit to get any information form Robertson.

If my suspicions as to Robertson's actions and motives were unfounded, why wouldn't Robertson have come forward with all the books and details long before now? What is he hiding? Why is it taking a lawsuit to bring things to light? Robertson's behavior simply enforces my belief that he was in fact taking advantage of Linspire shareholders and is doing everything he can to cover up his actions.

A year ago, Michael and I disagreed over what was best for the future of Linspire and the shareholders. I resigned and Michael got his way, insisting he knew what was best for the future of the company and that he could return more value to employees and shareholders than the plans I had proposed. So far Robertson has produced nothing of value for the shareholders and the company appears now to be gone. Is Robertson a greedy majority shareholder who navigated things to make sure he got all the assets, a crook who stole the assets, or is he just incompetent, having squandered millions in one short year?

Hopefully this suit will once and for all uncover the truth and the shareholders will finally know what happened with their investment in Linspire and Robertson.

Kevin

PS: "Xandros has done more than any company to put Linux in front of users..." ~ Michael Robertson (More than Ubuntu? Novell? Red Hat? Linspire even??? Robertson said this recently. With statements like this, you can see why I have a hard time believing anything else he says.)

Photos of Lake Powell, Jayson Haws, John Jones & Friends

2008-09-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a week at Lake Powell so thought I'd share the link to a few photos (and one video) I took while there.

Click for Lake Powell Photos

Thought I'd also share the photos of the pool party, BBQ and concert (with Jayson Haws and John Jones) I held at my home on August 30th. Thanks to Cliff Beshers for the great shots he got of Jayson and John.

Click for Pool Party & Concert Photos

It was an incredible weekend with Spring Awakening on Friday night, the party and concert on Saturday and then a private box at the Del Mar races on Sunday. Thanks for a great weekend everyone!

Kevin

Off to Lake Powell -- See You In A Week

2008-09-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

If you need me, I'll be right here...

Click to enlarge

Kevin

See How Good You Are At Spotting Compatibility

2008-09-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today, Dating DNA launched a new featured called "Match Game." You can learn more about it on the Dating DNA blog here.

To play the game and see how good you are at spotting compatibility between me and other Dating DNA users, simply visit http://datingdna.com/game/123-456-789.

Let me know how you scored.

Kevin

Xandros Remains Out of Touch

2008-09-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

Xandros pretends to be moving Freespire to Debian, when in reality, all they are doing is using the Freespire brand as the free version of Xandros. Because Xandros is based on Debian, not Ubuntu, this was the easiest way to do this without using any engineers.

The real news here is that Xandros will finally have a free version of their OS, albeit several days late and several dollars short. If Linspire was too late with our move to a free version with Freespire three years ago, it's WAY too late for the struggling Xandros just doing this now.

Xandros remains irrelevant, out of touch, and I predict will continue to struggle. Ubuntu, Red Hat and Novel will continue to dominate the space.

Kevin

PS: An Anonymous Coward asked me to post a graph with Dating DNA. Happy to. Amazing what I've been able to accomplish with basically a hobby in one year with virtually no money compared to the tens of millions Linspire and Xandros have plowed through. I remember Michael Robertson making fun of a start up company that blew through $10M and had nothing to show for it. I wonder if he still makes those snide remarks today? =)

My Fall Tivo Schedule

2008-09-07T22:30:00.001-07:00

The new TV series are starting up. Thought I'd share what's on my Tivo. Am I missing anything good?

All the Sunday news programs, nightly news and political talk shows, all the news magazines, etc.

Prison Break (Mon - 8PM - 9/1)
Heros (Mon - 9PM - 9/22)
24 (Mon - 9PM - 11/23)
Boston Legal (Mon - 10PM - 9/22)
Penn & Teller: Bullsh**t (Mon - 10PM - 8/21)

House (Tue - 9PM - 9/16)
The Shield (Tue - 10PM - 9/9)
Fringe (New - Tue - 9PM - 9/9)
Damages (Tue - 10PM - 1/6/09)

Dirty Sexy Money (Wed - 10PM - 10/1)

Ugly Betty (Thur - 8PM - 9/25)
Survivor (Thur - 9/25)
Lost (Thur - 10PM - 1/1/09)

Amazing Race (Sun - 8 PM - 9/28)
Entourage (Sun - 10PM - 9/7)

Let me know if you have any recommendations.

Kevin

Radio Interview with Dating DNA’s CEO Kevin Carmony

2008-09-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed about Dating DNA on the Computer Outlook radio program on September 5, 2008. You can hear my interview from their archives at www.computeroutlook.com.

Kevin

I Have An Idea - TWO Competing Tax/Benefit Systems

2008-08-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

Here's my idea...

We have TWO tax codes and TWO government benefit "packages." One would be set by the Democrats and on by the Republicans. Democrats can collect all the taxes they want from fellow Democrats, and Republicans from Republicans. Each party then has their own set of "perks."

For example, if you want "free," government-run health care, you can pay taxes to the Democrats and get that perk from them. If you would rather pay less in taxes and be responsible for your own health care insurance, then you could choose Republican. You get the idea.

Competition would then keep both parties on their toes. Everyone could decide which party gives you the most bang for your buck. High taxes and big perks? Or lower taxes and lower perks?

Of course, some functions would need to be agreed on and provided together from both parties (highways, national defense, etc.), but we'd have competition for all those fun little perks that politicians like to promise us (free health care, college education, welfare, etc.).

Of course, this plan would never work, at least not for the Democrats. Why? Because they need all those Republican entrepreneurs and business people to pay big taxes to pay for all their programs.

Obama's program is a simple three step plan:

1. Tax 5% of the population.
2. Give lots of perks to the other 95%.
3. Take all the credit, pat yourself on the back, and think YOU actually produced and accomplished something of worth.

No thanks.

Kevin

Joe Biden Doesn't Want to be Vice President

2008-08-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

I'm glad Joe Biden will do us all a favor by suffering through being Vice President when he doesn't want to be.

Fib? Gaff? Confused?

Just a few days ago (jump to the middle of this clip)...

Kevin