UBM ELECTRONICS BRANDS—EE TIMES, EBN, EDN, ESD, DESIGN News, Test & Measurement World and Embedded.com—collaborated on March 28 to publish a special digital issue titled “The Day the Lights Went Out in Japan.” Content covers the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the impact on the people, business and industry in Japan in an effort to raise awareness. Stories include: 1) Japan's rolling blackouts: Is the smart power grid working? 2) How Japan's nuclear power plants failed, and the consequences; and 3) Impact of “loss of electric power” on Japan's economy, electronics industry and the global market. “Japan is at the forefront of technology development, and this tragedy is widely felt across the globe. We are uniting the electronics industry to assist the Japanese people,” said Paul Miller, UBM Electronics CEO. Electronics marketing partners participating in the magazine were asked to donate a minimum of $5,000 per page. Readers are asked for a $10 contribution when downloading the issue. One hundred percent of profits will be donated to the American Red Cross' relief efforts. The issue is available at www.eetimes.com/japan. —Tanya Meyer

GARY BROWN, GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF DIRECT MARKETING agency RMG Target, avoided jail time late last month after being found guilty of assaulting John O'Connor, a judge at the 2009 An Post Direct Marketing Awards in Dublin. Upon accepting the Agency of the Year award for the fourth year running, Brown delivered a controversial speech poking fun at rivals: “I would like to say it's great to see new faces coming in like [competitor] Acorn doing really well and other people making great videos that make us laugh every year,” he said. O'Connor, former CEO of IRS (Independent Radio Sales), and fellow judge Justin Cullen, managing director at digital agency Radical, took exception to the speech and pulled Brown aside while he celebrated with clients. After heated verbal exchanges between the men, Brown reportedly struck O'Connor as many as five times. Brown pleaded self-defense in court, but Judge Ann Watkin ordered the executive to donate 20,000 euros to the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic charity. RMG Target took Agency of the Year for a fifth time at the awards show in May. —Nathan Lipkin

IN THE WAKE OF THE JACK GRIFFIN-TIME INC. FALLOUT, NEWLY reappointed IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg announced in February at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in La Quinta, Calif., the start of his “Randall Needs an Office Tour.” “We're reconstructing the IAB office, so we will be doing a lot of swing-shifting. My goal over the 30 to 40 or 50 days is to work in a different IAB member's office every day. I'm open to invitations, including from cities outside of New York. That way I'll get to meet more of you, more of your teams, and learn more about what we should be doing at the IAB,” Rothenberg told meeting attendees. As of March 17, Rothenberg has so far been hosted by Jay Sears, general manager at Internet advertising company Contextweb; Andrew Pancer, COO of social ad targeter Media6Degrees; Andrew Kraft, senior VP-tech sales at brand-focused solutions company Collective; Bob Sauerberg and Drew Schutte, president and senior VP-chief revenue officer, respectively, at Condé Nast; and Richard Rosenblatt and Joanne Bradford, CEO and chief revenue officer, respectively, at Demand Media. Tour updates can be viewed at http://twitter.com/r2rothenberg. —T.M.