Crazy Deaf Joe Blog

Microsoft Word Banned From Stores Starting January 11, 2010

Office workers of America, enjoy your Christmas break. Because come the new year, things could get a little hairy around the office. Microsoft Word is now scheduled to be prohibited from sale beginning January 11, 2010. That’s less than three weeks away. The good news: Microsoft has promised a fix, one which will be rolled out before the deadline arrives.

If you don’t understand, you might have simply missed this story, or dismissed it as something that Microsoft would ultimately use its considerable clout to have pushed under a legal rug.

But it’s no joke. In August of this year, a court sided with a small Canadian company called i4i that holds a 1998 patent on the way the XML language is implemented, finding that Microsoft was in violation of that patent. The result: Microsoft was told to license the code in question from i4i or reprogram it, or else Microsoft Word would have to be removed from sale in the market. The original ruling gave Microsoft until October to get its legal affairs in order, but appeals pushed that out a bit.

Now a federal court has upheld that original ruling — plus a fat, $290 million judgment against the company — imposing the new January 11 D-Day on the matter. Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office will both be barred from sale as of that date — though naturally you’ll still be able to use copies of Word and Office that you already own, and Microsoft will be allowed to keep supporting those copies.

Unless Microsoft ships the promised technical workaround very quickly, things are going to get extremely dicey in the computer world, and fast. Not only will retail outlets selling shrinkwrapped copies of the software be affected, computer manufacturers (who complained loudly about this injunction when it was announced) who bundle Word and Office on the computers they sell will also be seriously impacted by the ruling.

There’s always a chance things will change again as the January 11 deadline approaches, but if your company requires Word or Office to keep operations running, it might not be a bad idea to stock up on a few extra copies now.

Viable CEO John Yeh: “I’m Not Guilty” BULLSHIT!

John T.C. Yeh, president of Rockville deaf-services company Viable, along with three other company executives, pleaded not guilty Monday in a New Jersey federal court to charges that include conspiracy to defraud the government.

A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 22, with pretrial motions due Jan. 11, according to court documents. A motion hearing is slated for Feb. 8.

In mid-November, federal authorities charged the Viable executives and leaders of six other companies nationwide in a six-count indictment. Charges include conspiracy to defraud the federal government out of tens of millions of dollars, submitting false claims and mail fraud.

The executives fraudulently billed the Federal Communications Commission about $390 an hour to interpret calls between deaf and hearing people, federal prosecutors said. The calls, generally referred to as “r calls,” “rest calls” or “run calls,” were illegitimate calls often made by friends or relatives that would be billed to the FCC’s video relay service fund, officials said.

Authorities called Viable the central company in the alleged scheme, directly linked via business arrangements to five of the six other companies involved.

Other Viable executives who also pleaded not guilty this week are vice president of corporate strategy Joseph Yeh, a brother of John Yeh; assistant vice president for business development Anthony Mowl; and human relations manager Donald Tropp.

Stanley Reed, a principal with Lerch, Early and Brewer in Bethesda who is representing Joseph Yeh, said this week that his client is “presumed innocent,” and he was waiting to read discovery materials from the government before commenting further.

Reed’s areas of practice include white collar crime, complex civil litigation and professional responsibility.

Paul Kemp, a partner in the Rockville office of Venable, is representing John Yeh. He could not be reached this week for comment.

Kemp’s areas of practice include white collar crime, commercial litigation and SEC investigations.

Reed and Kemp have worked on cases together for many years, Reed said.

Attorneys for Mowl and Tropp could not be reached this week for comment.

Viable has been under a cloud since a June visit by federal investigators. The company also has been hit with lawsuits in federal and state courts by employees seeking back payment of wages.

*Story by http://www.gazette.net

FCC Approved VRS Listing

If you would like to know which VRS is approved by FCC, you may view the listing at:

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/trs_providers.html

These above are the approved VRS that being cerfited by FCC. The rest others are not being on the list, that means theya re not approved and cerficted by FCC.

Please see the website above.

Thanks!

Breaking News: CACVRS Files For Bankruptcy

FLINT, Michigan — A Flint-based organization that has served the state’s deaf and hard-of-hearing population for decades has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in hopes to keep its doors open.

The nonprofit Communication Access Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc., 1505 W. Court St., filed for debt reorganization Nov. 27 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Michigan.

“The plan is to go back to our core programs,” said Nancy McKenzie, interim director of the center that annually serves hundreds locally and across the state. “We don’t want the community to go without interpreting, communication access for both hearing and deaf (people).

“We’ve been here for 40 some years and we plan to be here for 40 (more.)”

The center shut down its Video Relay Service the day before Thanksgiving, though calls are being handled through another service provider, McKenzie said.

“We were a very small company in a large industry,” she said. “We were not getting the call volume we needed to sustain the program.”

ELGA Credit Union employee Sheila Bisaha, who is almost completely deaf, said she misses the Video Relay Service provided through the CAC and would like to have it back, said Nancy Shoenfelt, marketing director at the Burton-based credit union.

“It just makes it more difficult for her to communicate with a person who has hearing loss that needs information,” Shoenfelt said, adding Bisaha also helps communicate with several credit union members who are deaf.

The CAC provides interpreters across the state, serves walk-in needs, provides teachers and aides to the Michigan School for the Deaf and has group homes for the deaf who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled.

Since the summer, the center has cut its staff in half to about 100 employees and has scaled back its local senior citizens program, an outreach program mainly for homebound deaf senior citizens, McKenzie said.

Financial woes forced the center in September to shut down the CAC JOBS program that helped deaf and hard of hearing people find jobs. The program had placed more than 100 people in employment.

McKenzie said the organization began to suffer from lack of cash flow in September, primarily because of some federal nonpayment for its Video Relay Service interpreter calls.

Providers such as CAC are paid per minute for every call that is sent through the relay system, McKenzie said.

Deaf and hard of hearing people use Video Relay Service to make phone calls. Through video links, the deaf sign American Sign Language back and forth to an interpreter, who translates for the hearing person.

“They are an incredible asset to our community,” said Mike Zelley, president and chief executive officer of The Disability Network in Flint, adding the center’s interpreting service is key to the deaf community here.

The center also has lost money helping other Video Relay Service providers, Viable Communications and Hawk Relay, to get on their feet and become certified to do their own billing, McKenzie said.

McKenzie said the center hopes to be out of bankruptcy in four months.

“The board strongly believes CAC is really vital to this community, especially the deaf and hard of hearing,” said Diana McKittrick, board president, adding that staff has made huge sacrifices such as wage and benefit cuts.

“The deaf community is behind us,” McKenzie said. “They want us to stay open.”

In its bankruptcy petition, the center listed having an estimated 100 to 199 creditors, estimated assets of more than $10 million to $50 million and estimated liabilities of more than $1 million to $10 million.

The center’s 20 largest unsecured claims total more than $5.3 million, including $3.49 million to Viable Communications in Rockville, Md. and $1.27 million URRelay in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Journal could not reach the two businesses or CAC attorney Dennis Haley for comment.

Flint bankruptcy attorney Jeffrey Chimovitz said it’s not unprecedented for a local nonprofit to file for bankruptcy protection.

Chimovitz represented the Clio Area Amphitheater in its 2005 Chapter 7 filing.

Communication Access Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Inc.

• What: A group of volunteers in 1965 began to extend services to the deaf and hard of hearing, providing relay services. It officially incorporated in 1972 as a nonprofit. The center provides interpreters across the state, serves people who have walk-in needs, provides teachers and aides to the Michigan School for the Deaf and has group homes for deaf people who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled.

• Where: 1505 W. Court St., Flint.

• Details: www.cacdhh.org.

FCC Announces Workshop on VRS Reform

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
December 3, 2009 Rosemary Kimball 202-418-0511
E-mail: rosemary.kimball@fcc.gov

FCC Announces Workshop on VRS Reform
to be Held on December 17, 2009

Washington, DC – The Federal Communications Commission today announces it will hold a workshop on December 17, 2009, as part of its comprehensive review of the Video Relay Service (VRS) program, to ensure that the program’s underlying structure fosters the efficient, effective, and lawful provision of VRS. This workshop is open to the public and is intended to gather data and information on these key areas:

The most efficient way to deliver VRS, particularly whether the service should remain a competitive service or be provided via competitive bidding;
A fair, efficient, and transparent compensation methodology; and,
Mechanisms for combating waste, fraud and abuse, addressing service rules, and addressing technical matters such as interoperability, ten-digit numbering, and emergency call handling.

The Commission will provide additional details about the workshop as it approaches.

The workshop will be held in the Commission Meeting Room at the FCC’s Washington, DC, headquarters, 445 12th St., SW, on Thursday, December 17, 2009, from 2:00 – 5:00 pm. The event will be open to the general public. In order to ensure that everyone has access to the content, a live webcast of the workshop will be available at the FCC’s website at http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/, and archived for viewing at a later time (at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/trs.html), or people may listen in to the workshop by dialing 1-866-566-7390 and entering Code: 4732812. An agenda and list of participants will be released prior to the workshop.

Open captioning and sign language interpreters will be provided for this event. Other reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request. Please include a description of the accommodation you will need and as much detail as possible. Also, please include your contact information. Make your request as early as possible. Send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).