In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology and life science news:

  • FBI is investigating the huge hack at Sony
  • KnowledgeTree has a new CEO
  • iPod music suit begins
  • Aerie ready for Phase 3 clinical trial of glaucoma treatment
  • Amazon grows more reliant on robots

The details:

  • FBI Investigates Sony Hacking

The FBI has confirmed it is investigating a recent hacking attack at Sony Pictures Entertainment, which caused major internal computer problems at the film studio last week.

Sony’s corporate email and other internal systems were knocked offline, according to reports by Variety and other trade publications. Sony workers reportedly saw a message appear on their computer screens that said “Hacked by #GOP,” which may be the initials of a group calling itself Guardians of Peace. Copies of some unreleased Sony films such as “Still Alice,” ”Annie,” ”Mr. Turner,” and “To Write Love on Her Arms” are now being distributed on unauthorized file-sharing websites, as well as the still-in-theaters “Fury,” although a direct connection to the hacking hasn’t been confirmed.

Culver City, California-based Sony Pictures said in a statement Monday that it is continuing “to work through issues related to what was clearly a cyber attack last week. The company has restored a number of important services to ensure ongoing business continuity and is working closely with law enforcement officials to investigate the matter.”

Along with the FBI, Sony has brought in forensic experts from the Mandiant division of FireEye, a Silicon Valley cybersecurity company, according to a source familiar with the case who did not want to be named because the companies have not yet announced the arrangement. Mandiant helps companies determine the extent of breaches and repair damages. The firm has worked on other high-profile computer breaches, including the one at Target last year.

  • Report: KnowledgeTree Has New CEO

KnowledgeTree software founder Daniel Chalef is overseeing product development and Chris Atkinson has taken over as the CEO, according to The Triangle Business Journal.

The Raleigh-based firm is also looking to raise more venture funding in 2015 and has grown to 21 workers, the newspaper said,

The full story can be read at: http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2014/12/01/raleighs-knowledgetree-doubles-revenue-hires-new.html

  • iPod Music Suit Begins

After nearly a decade in legal wrangling, a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit over Apple’s iPod music players heads to trial on Tuesday in a California federal court. A key witness will be none other than the company’s legendary late founder Steve Jobs, who will be heard in a videotaped deposition.

Attorneys for consumers and electronics retailers claim Apple Inc. used software in its iTunes store that forced would-be song buyers to use iPods instead of cheaper music players made by rivals. The software is no longer used, but the plaintiffs argue that it inflated the prices of millions of iPods sold between 2006 and 2009 — to the tune of $350 million. Under federal antitrust law, the tech giant could be ordered to pay three times that amount if the jury agrees with the estimate and finds the damages resulted from anti-competitive behavior.

“The fact that this case is still going 10 years later is a sign that technology often outpaces law,” said Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor.

Attorneys are set to make opening statements Tuesday morning in the Oakland, California courtroom of U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

The case harkens back to the early days of digital music and portable devices, when Apple quickly became the world’s biggest legal seller of downloaded songs after launching its iTunes store in 2003. By agreement with major record companies, which were wary of unauthorized copying and file-sharing services like Napster and Kazaa, Apple encoded the songs sold through iTunes with “digital rights management” software that prevented unauthorized copying. The same software, known as FairPlay, was also built into iPods.

But Apple’s FairPlay was incompatible with anti-copying code used by other online music sellers, such as the RealPlayer Music Store operated by RealNetworks, an Internet streaming company based in Seattle. As a result, songs from rival online stores could not be played on iPods, and songs purchased on iTunes could not be played on competing portable devices, including Microsoft’s Zune and Diamond Multimedia’s Rio music player.

  • Aerie Pharmaceuticals Ready for Phase 3 Trial

Aerie Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AERI), which has a presence in RTP, is ready to launch a Phase 3 clinical trial of its proposed treatment for glaucoma. 

“We are delighted to report that patient enrollment for Rocket 1 has been completed ahead of our expectations. Further, Rocket 2 enrollment remains fully on schedule,” stated Vicente Anido, Jr., chairman and CEO at Aerie. “The accelerated enrollment of Rocket 1 is a testament to the continued high level of interest in Rhopressa we have experienced from the ophthalmology community.”

  • Amazon’s Robot Army

A year ago, Amazon.com workers like 34-year-old Rejinaldo Rosales hiked miles of aisles each shift to “pick” each item a customer ordered and prepare it for shipping.

Now the e-commerce giant boasts that it has boosted efficiency — and given workers’ legs a break — by deploying more than 15,000 wheeled robots to crisscross the floors of its biggest warehouses and deliver stacks of toys, books and other products to employees.

“We pick two to three times faster than we used to,” Rosales said during a short break from sorting merchandise into bins at Amazon’s massive distribution center in Tracy, California, about 60 miles east of San Francisco. “It’s made the job a lot easier.”

Amazon.com Inc., which faces its single biggest day of online shopping on Monday, has invested heavily this year in upgrading and expanding its distribution network, adding new technology, opening more shipping centers and hiring 80,000 seasonal workers to meet the coming onslaught of holiday orders. Amazon says it processed orders for 36.8 million items on the Monday after Thanksgiving last year, and it’s expecting “Cyber Monday” to be even busier this year.

CEO Jeff Bezos vows to one day deliver packages by drone, but that technology isn’t ready yet. Even so, Amazon doesn’t want a repeat of last year, when some customers were disappointed by late deliveries attributed to Midwestern ice storms and last-minute shipping snarls at both UPS and FedEx. Meanwhile, the company is facing tough competition from rivals like Google and eBay, and traditional retailers are offering more online services.