A view of the Foxconn pep rally. @AP Photo/Kin Cheung
Factory workers at Foxconn stepped off the assembly line today and crammed into a stadium for a pep rally to boost morale following 12 worker suicides this year.
AP reports that some 20,000 of these workers at the factory complex where Apple, Dell, Hewlett Packard and Sony produce must-have electronic gadgets for the international market sported fanciful costumes, waved pompoms and shouted pro-company slogans.
The stadium is part of the complex in Shenzen where sleeping quarters, restaurants, hospitals, supermarkets and swimming pools are packed into 2.3 square kilometers (about 0.9 square miles) and roughly 300,000 workers live.
As an Apple blogger, I should be utterly aghast at this advertisement from Free Tax USA of an iPad meeting the pointy end of a sniper bullet, but my real gut reaction is just how viscerally satisfying it looks to shoot an iPad in the face. Someone should make a first person shooter of this for the App Store.
While the iPod is busy powering bar taps, the iPad gets in on the fun at Yelp powering an iPad controlled keg for the office. During the 2nd annual Hackathon these serious beer-reseachers knew they had to do something equally productive with Apple’s latest iWonder:
At Yelp, we don’t mess around with our beer. To make sure we never run dry or get a bad pint, the geniuses on this team — John B., Gabe H., Alex D., Julien R., and Jeff M. — built the Kegbot. Controlled by an iPad app, you can tell how much beer is being emptied (and at what rate: cough, John), as well as leave a 5 star review for your brew.
Authorization for pouring your favorite brew comes from a swipe of one’s RFID employee ID badge (after hours, we assume). Of course there’s also a webpage you can check from your desk to see the status of the KegMate. I wonder if Yelp paychecks now include a deduction for beer expenses?
Might Google do to television what the Internet giant has already done for publishing – linking to video content and bypassing the content creators? That seems to be the fear of some television executives who are voicing objections to an Android-based set-top box.
Although Google wants to combine web data with TV episodes and online video, content owners are “skeptical that Google can provide a business model that would compensate for potentially cannibalizing TV owners’ existing broadcast business,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
HBO’s CEO says it will begin streaming its premium TV content to iPads within a few months. The service, HBO Go, will be extended to mobile devices in a bid to outmaneuver Netflix, which already offers an iPad app.
In a Bloomberg interview, HBO CEO Reed Hastings said within six months, it will extend its current HBO Go service to mobile devices. Currently, subscribers to the premium TV channel can view original programming on their computers. In July, video rental service Netflix began offering a similar iPad app.
This cool iPhone 4 wallpaper — fully optimized for Apple’s groundbreaking Retina Display — gives you a look at the inner circuitry of the iPhone every time you use it.
Mac developer Casey Fleser made it available onflickr for your iPhone decorating endeavors. The circuit wallpaper comes in two flavors: lite, with just the CPU over a circuit board, and rococo with the resistors, caps, traces and stuff.
The plainer version is probably easier on the eyes in the long run, but it’s hard to resist the siren call of all that complex circuitry. Which do you prefer?
The iPad is hands down the best mobile internet browsing device I’ve ever owned. Its design, shape, and the easy to use iOS interface make surfing the web feel a lot more natural and less awkward than a notebook. Therefore, it is nice that Apple is allowing alternatives to the default Safari browser which lacks features we’ve been used to using on our computers.
One of those alternatives is a new browser called iLunascape from Lunascape, Inc. and it is available for free (iTunes link) in the iTunes App Store.
This browser takes a new approach to browser user interfaces (UI) on the iPad and I’m wondering why no one else has thought of this yet. The developer’s new specialized UI called the “In Reach Interface” has clustered most common movements and tabs down near the bottom of the iPad display where the user generally holds the device. In addition to this the iPad user experience is the center of attention, but now includes desktop-class tab browsing, easy screen capture and storage, fast and smooth scrolling, simple bookmarking, and iPad rotation controls.
Holding iLunascape in portrait mode on an iPad. Note clustered controls at the bottom.
iLunascape may not be for everyone, since not everyone holds their iPad the same way. However, if you are looking to replace Safari this app is a good start with its unique interface and useful desktop like features. Its free and if you care about your browsing experience on the iPad — go get it.
The EyeTV One from Elgato makes pulling Digital TV (DTV) from the air and down to Earth as simple as 1-2-3. Install the included EyeTV software then plug the device into an available USB port on your computer and you will be watching DTV on your Mac in no time at all.
I tested the EyeTV One on my Macbook Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini and it worked fine on all three systems. My ultimate goal was two-fold. First I wanted something that would give me TV on the go and second I wanted something that could bring DTV to my Mac Mini which may ultimately serve as a hub for my entertainment system.
We start out the day with three hardware deals. First up is a bevy of iMacs from the Apple Store, including a 21.5-inch desktop powered by a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo for $1,099. (You might want to hurry, as these units seem to be going fast.) Also in the spotlight: more 16GB iPhone 3GS handsets from AT&T for $99. Finally, give your iPod Bluetooth connectivity with this $20 kit.
Along the way, we’ll check out new iPhone apps, along with cases for the iPhone 4. As usual, details on these and many other items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
The robber who ripped off a man’s pinky to steal an iPad is now accused of trying to organize a hit on the victim from jail.
Bill Jordan, 59, had part of his finger amputated after Brandon Smith wrested a just-purchased iPad from him in the parking lot outside Denver’s Cherry Creek Mall store in April. The Apple bag was looped around Jordan’s hand and the thief jerked hard several times to get it off — so hard that flesh came of Jordan’s left pinky. A surgeon later had to amputate part of the damaged little finger on his dominant hand.
Fox 31 reports that the Denver District attorney plans to file new charges against Smith today for trying to arrange the murder of his victim.
Smith reportedly thought his theft case would go away if the victim was ‘eliminated.’ Smith has been in jail for a few months after being charged with theft and assault.
Monday morning’s court appointment was like something out of a movie: Smith’s lawyers showed up ready to discuss a plea agreement only to discover that prosecutors had new charges to file against him.
Details about the alleged plot are scarce but Jordan and his family are reportedly fine.
More as the story develops.
ThinkMac has just released iKana 2, a tutorial app covering the Japanese Hiragana and Katakana characters.
The reworked app can teach over 740 common words using a repetition learning system. It has a new user interface, combining elements of OS X and iOS in a hybrid that I’m starting to notice elsewhere too.
Cloud Engines is taking pre-orders for a Wireless Extender that adds Wi-Fi connectivity to the Pogoplug. The wireless adapter costs $29 but current Pogoplug users can get it for free.
Another analyst is reporting Android sales are on fire. Shipments of Android phones will grow by 561 percent in 2010 and take nearly 25 percent of the smartphone market. Additionally, Apple iPhone shipments will overtake RIM smartphones later this year, according to Digitimes Research.
In the second-half of 2010, Apple will have 15.6 percent of the smartphone market, passing RIM’s 15 percent. For the full year, however, the BlackBerry-maker will lead the Cupertino, Calif. company 16.4 percent to 15.2 percent, according to the research firm.
Adobe CEO on Apple's Anti-Flash Position: "They've made their choice. We've made ours and we've moved on."
Remember the spat between Apple and Adobe over Steve Jobs’ decision to drop Flash from the iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices made by the Cupertino, Calif. company? The argument was positioned as a fight over who would control the Internet. “We’ve moved on,” Adobe’s CEO now tells interviewers.
Talking with the London Telegraph, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen says his company is sooo over Apple. “We’d rather work with partners who are interested in working with us,” the Adobe chief tells the telegraph.co.uk website.
Apple’s sprucing up their online Support Discussions boards to incorporate more social networking features like user profiles, biographies, user avatars and even the ability to have personalized home pages, complete with widgets.
Apple’s announcement about the new Apple Support Communities is terse: “Very soon a major change will be taking place here at Apple Discussions. To help you prepare we have created some documents to give some insight and instructions on this major upgrade.”
Until the rollouts occur, it’s hard to say just how extreme a revision the new Support Communities will be, but somehow I doubt we’re about to experience the 4chanificiation of Apple’s official forums.
Overheating iPods have been consistently making the news in Japan over the last week. First, Apple admitted that their first-generation iPod Nanos can suffer meltdowns, and offered free replacements to any Japanese iPod owners who’ve experienced the problem. On the heels of that comes this story from Reuters, in which an iPod going nuclear knocked a Tokyo rush hour subway train out of commission.
If not for the bad timing, the story’s pretty funny. Around 8:20am, a train in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward was stopped by officials who noticed a strange, burning smell in the train. Staff members quickly investigated, only to be approached by a sheepish and embarrassed commuter with a smoldering, burst-apart iPod in her hands.
It’s not clear at this point what model iPod burst apart yesterday morning, and it’s almost definitely just a fluke, but one thing’s for sure: Apple Japan is going to have a public relations debacle on their hands if iPods don’t stop melting down.
Paul Devine — the Apple global supply manager who was arrested over the weekend for allegedly accepting over $1 million in kickbacks from Asian iPod and iPhone accessory manufacturers for privileged insider information — has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Federal Court.
The plea comes even as Pegatron (a division of Asustek) has suspended the head of one of their units for doing business with Devine.
Pegatron says they thought the money was a brokerage commission, and paid it to an intermediate trading company between 2005 and 2008, but occurred before Pegatron bought up Kaedar, a company which has supplied iPod boxes to Apple for years.
According to Pegatron, the executive responsible for paying Devine the kickback thought she was paying money for a legitimate commercial purpose and not as a kickback.
Pegatron isn’t the only company to have either conspired or been burned by Devine’s scheme. South Korea’s Cresyn andJin Li Mould Manufacturing have also been named in Apple’s civil lawsuit against Devine. It’s not clear at this point if these companies were actually conspiring with Devine, or if they’ve just been burned by one rogue, criminal mid-level manager.
iPad furniture may be a growing trend, but not everybody can afford $2500 for an iPad Chair (myself included). Now the cheap geeks are getting in on the fun. iVan at iPadFORUMS.net tells us of this useful domestic repurposing project:
I bought a microphone boom stand. Unfortunately this one is a little cheapish and not quite sturdy enough so I had to add a 5 pound counterweight to offset the iPad’s heft and that of the supporting panel.
That panel is cut from half inch MDF covered in black self adhesive felt material. So are the rails that maintain the pad. I affixed it to the boom with a speaker wall mount bracket.
Total cost of project, $80.
Armchair not included. You knew you were saving that weight set in the basement for something!
Apple’s flagship product, the iPhone 4, will arrive in China in early September, according to one report. The new handset will allegedly be sold by Apple’s partner in the Asian giant, China Unicom. The iPad will also arrive in the country sometimes afterward, although specifics are unknown.
MarketWatch, citing a China media group, reports China Unicom has acknowledged the iPhone 4 and the iPad will ship to the nation soon. However, the two products won’t be introduced into the China market simultaneously.
Apple will build future iPhone and other gadgets from Liquidmetal, says a former top researcher at Liquidmetal Technologies, whose technology Apple is licensing.
“I think they’re going to make the iPhone out of it,” said Dr. Jan Schroers, the former director of research at Liquidmetal Technologies, the first company to commercially develop the space-age technology. “It’s quite obvious from what Liquidmetal has done in the past and what the technology is capable of.”
Apple has signed an exclusive agreement to use the Liquidmetal Technologies’ IP in consumer electronic products. Liquidmetal is a high-strength metal that can be processed like plastic. NASA has says it is “poised to redefine materials science as we know it in the 21st century.”
Dr. Schroers is the second high-level executive from Liquidmetal to say Apple has ambitious plans for the revolutionary material. Last week, the alloy’s co-inventor, Atakan Peker, predicted that Apple may use Liquidmetal for a new antenna to replace the problematic part in the iPhone 4.
Speaking exclusively to CultofMac.com, Schroers said Apple could create very intricate and beautiful gadget cases by blow-molding melted alloy like glass. Schroers has created one-piece perfume jars from Liquidmetal using a blow mold (see the picture below).
The technology could also create permanent holographic logos that are etched right into the metal, or elaborate patterns that generate color effects.
“You can really do some novel things with metal that previously were impossible,” he said. “In two years, you could see something the world has never seen in metal.”
This perfume bottle is made of metal but was blow-molded like plastic. It is completely seamless.
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Because style is important to you – you’re part of the Cult, after all – the small, sleek, all-white look syncs well with Apple designs. As for practicality, it fits in your pocket, so you’re always guaranteed a connection, and a super fast one at that. Plus, the battery life and rechargability guarantees you hours of continuous use. Think of the iSpot(R) as bringing balance to the force of iPhone’s notorious low battery issues (sorry, Steve, but it’s true).
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The iSpot is available nationwide from https://www.clear.com, and available in CLEAR(R) retail stores and authorized dealers.
Just how difficult could it be to distribute brand new iPads to every single pupil in a school? More difficult than you might think.
Fraser Speirs – caped superhero and Mac developer by night, school IT manager by day – has taken on the task at the school he works for in Scotland, and has started documenting the whole process for the benefit of anyone else who might be thinking of doing the same.
Cult of Mac is making it rain again with some great apps for your iPhone and iPad. We’ll pick 5 random winners to win 6 great apps. If you want a chance to get your hands on some great apps this week, then follow the instructions carefully below:
Tag us Cult of Mac in your status and mention we’re giving away free apps.
Your Status Tag will be your entry into the giveaway, only ONE entry is allowed per person, and the giveaway will last until 11:59pm tonight. We’ll contact the winners on Tuesday or Wednesday and how to get the codes!
Optional step – Tell us what you think about these apps if you own them already in the comments section.
Special Thanks to Appular for helping us put together these app code giveaways! If you’ve got a mobile app that you’d like marketed effectively, contact the good folks at Appular!
Clearly not the sort of person to let this be the end of the matter, Philip didn’t hesitate: he took after after the mugger, screaming “Somebody call the cops!” and “Give me back my phone!” at the top of his voice.
Remember: Fifth Avenue. Broad daylight. Lots of people about.
A passer-by joined the pursuit, and it didn’t take long for the thief to be caught up. He tried bluffing about having a knife, but Philip saw through it and grabbed him anyway. The iPhone was regained, the mugger ran off, and I’ll leave Philip to conclude the tale:
“Owning the newest Apple gadget is apparently very dangerous, ha ha. He didn’t go for my wallet or anything, he went for my iPhone. I might have to be more careful from now on and consider not wearing Apple’s signature ‘please mug me’ white earbuds. Oh well, live and learn, that’s New York City for ya.”
