Carol Bartz resigns from Yahoo board

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carol Bartz, the former chief executive of Yahoo, has resigned from its board of directors shortly after lashing out at the other members, calling them "doofuses."

Bartz was fired last week as CEO of the Sunnyvale-based Internet company by Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock. A few days later, she blasted the board in an interview, saying its members had been impatient to see revenue growth that she didn't expect for at least another year.

The company's chief financial officer, Tim Morse, has been named interim chief executive.  Bartz' career in Silicon Valley included 14 years running software design firm Autodesk. She was hired in January 2009 to head the struggling Internet giant.

Bartz' resignation as a director was confirmed Sunday when a spokesman for the board sent an e-mail saying: "On Sept. 9, 2011, Carol Bartz resigned from the Board of Directors of Yahoo! Inc. effective immediately."

-- Hugo Martin

Photo: Carol Bartz speaks at an American Assn. of Advertising Agencies conference in San Francisco in March 2010. Credit: Robert Galbraith / Reuters

Cornell lab prints food, says digital cuisine could change restaurants

There are printers that can spit out 3-D model cars and others that can make paper solar panels. Next up: technology that can print food for restaurants and homes.

Engineers envision printed breakfasts synced with alarm clocks and gourmet spreads downloaded from high-end restaurants but served at the dinner table. Printers could to linked to digital food logs and programmed to churn out meals that fill in the day’s nutritional blanks.

Sound like "The Jetsons"? Printer-produced gastronomy is closer than you think.

Cornell Creative Machines Lab, featured recently in Fast Company, has a printer that can create a scallop nugget shaped like a miniature space shuttle. The machine has made cakes that, when sliced into, reveal embedded messages.

Using edible inks such as liquid or juiced meats, the printer uses electronic blueprints and technology that can create new food textures.

Known as “solid freeform fabrication,” Cornell engineers say it’s the next step in culinary innovation -– a space that has recently seen gelatin spheres with liquid centers, hot fluid in flash-frozen shells and meats dished out through syringes.

The ability to print food could have significant ramifications for chefs and industrial food producers alike, according to scientists. And the average American, who spends more than 30 minutes a day preparing meals, could save more than 150 hours each year using a commercial version of the machine.

Watch the printer making icing and cookie dough below:

 

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-- Tiffany Hsu

twitter.com/tiffhsulatimes

Photo: A space shuttle scallop nugget, fresh from a food printer. Credit: Cornell Creative Machines Lab

Video: The Fab@Home project, launched by Cornell scientists, aims to promote 3-D printing in the home

NASCAR goods, identity theft, Medicare fraud: Your weekly ScamWatch

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for.

NASCAR merchandise –- A San Fernando Valley man pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges related to a long-running scheme in which he defrauded investors -– some of them friends and family members -– of more than $13 million, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release. Eliott Jay Dresher, 64, of Chatsworth told investors that he would use their money to buy NASCAR apparel and merchandise at a discount and then sell it to retailers for a profit. He promised investors returns of 20% to 25% every six months. But instead of making the payments through NASCAR-related profits, he used new investor deposits to pay returns to earlier investors, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The charges to which Dresher pleaded guilty carry a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Law enforcement officials suggest that people be extra cautious when offered investments with extremely high returns or guaranteed profits.

Identity theft -– A Northern California man pleaded guilty to conspiracy and identity theft charges related to an identity theft ring that victimized 29 people, Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris said in a news release. Nick Luu, 30, of Vallejo will face a sentence of four years in state prison in a plea agreement with prosecutors, Harris said. During a six-month period in 2009, Luu and five other people stole personal information from a variety of sources, including records at a San Jose law office and a Santa Clara dental office where some of the conspirators worked. They used the stolen information to set up credit card accounts in the victims’ names and used the cards to steal nearly $200,000, prosecutors alleged. They used change-of-address forms at local post offices to have the credit cards and bills sent to post office boxes they opened as part of the scam. Law enforcement and consumer protection groups recommend checking your credit report at least once a year to make sure that no one has set up bogus accounts in your name.

Medicare –- Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have charged six people with defrauding the Medicare program of nearly $11 million through a series of false billings. In one of the cases, George Kakopian and Yervand Khachatryan were accused of operating a medical supply company that submitted more than $4 million in bills to Medicare for wheelchairs and orthotics that were not medically necessary or were never given to Medicare beneficiaries.

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-- Stuart Pfeifer

Photo: A NASCAR event in Richmond, Va. Credit: Steve Helber / Associated Press