Although still lower than the national average, Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn’s worker suicide problem is becoming such a public relations nightmare, so it’s understandable that their announced plan to raise wages for about 420,000 factory workers is being seen by many as a way to mitigate worker deaths.

The pay raise is substantial: each worker will currenly earning $131 a month will get a 20% pay hike. On Foxconn’s part, they claim the pay hike has been planned for some time… but it’s hard to believe the recent publicity about worker conditions hasn’t, at the very least, pushed this plan onto the fast track.

Employees seem hopeful. “[The pay hike] may help the suicide situation, because we workers just need money and the financial pressure on us is great,” one worker said.

It’s been a long 57 days, but if you’re in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland or the UK, and you jumped to pre-order an iPad when it was first announced, you’ve probably already gotten one in my hands.

On the other hand, poor suckers like me who missed the initial pre-order date due to their own idiocy have another couple of weeks to wait. And if you aren’t from one of the international countries blessed by the hand of Jobs for the first round of international iPad launches, but instead live in some more exotic and fragrant clime, you’ll have to wait until some time in July before you get an iPad at best.

So, which of our own chattering non-Yankee natives are now holding an iPad in their hands? What do you think? Is it everything you hoped it would be? Sound off in the comments!

We start the day with three MacBook deals: first is a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with three years of AppleCare for $1,499. Next is a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook with fifteen-inch screen for $1,499. Finally, there is a 2.66GHz i7 MacBook Pro with 17-inch screen and three years of AppleCare for $2,749.

Also on tap is the latest iPad freebies, including “InsanityX,” a puzzle game. We’ll also check out the latest crop of App Store price cuts, including “Sqrl Shooter, a squirrel hunting game.

Along the way, we’ll also take a look at bargains on Mac software, gadgets and other items. Details on these and many more items are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FncILxajmlw

Rats: just as we were hoping for a heart-pumping, fist-waving performance from Steve Ballmer, a la’ Monkeyboy iPod mash-up above, Microsoft has officially denied he will be appearing at Apple’s WWDC via Twitter:

Steve Ballmer not speaking at Apple Dev Conf. Nor appearing on Dancing with the Stars. Nor riding in the Belmont. Just FYI.

There’s hope, though perhaps he will be considering a stint on “So, You Think You Can Dance?” or emceeing a roller derby match.

Via App Zone

“It is a long game,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told reporters on Thursday in response to Apple overtaking his company on the stock market. “We have good competitors but we too are very good competitors.”

He added: “I will make more profit and certainly there is no technology company on the planet that is as profitable as we are.”

“Let’s see what happens as I am still pleased that 94 times out of a 100 somebody picks a Windows PC,” he said.

Microsoft shares closed at $25.01 on Wednesday, giving it a market cap of $219.18 billion. Apple closed at $244.05, a market value of $222.07 billion.

Apple now sells 70 percent of digital music in the U.S., a retail market research firm announced Wednesday. Additionally, Internet retailer Amazon now ties with Walmart as the second most-common source for music purchases nationally, just the latest sign of declining demand for physical CDs bought in brick-and-mortar stores.

Earlier this month, Billboard announced Apple sells 28 percent of all music, with Walmart a distant second at 12.5 percent of music sales.

NPD also announced Apple’s rate of growth is slowing, picking up one percentage point over the previous year, perhaps indicating the Cupertino, Calif. company is maxing-out at seven of every 10 digital music purchases in the United States. By comparison, Amazon gained four points for 12 percent, a level shared by Walmart.

Digital sales now comprise 40 percent of total music purchases, a five percent increase over last year, according to NPD. “Online shopping offers consumers who still want CDs more variety than they would get in a brick-and-mortar store; plus recommendations, and other interactive features that raise the overall value proposition for music buyers,” Russ Crupnick, NPD vice president of industry analysis, said.

Unclear is how much market Google might capture after a recent report the Mountain View, Calif. Internet giant is planning a service converting iTunes downloads for Android users.

[via AppleInsider]

UPDATE: Microsoft denied Ballmer would be present with a pithy tweet. Darn.

There may be a few surprises at the upcoming June 7 WWDC keynote after all.

Barron’s reports that a sliver of that day’s agenda (exactly seven minutes) has been allotted to a Microsoft presentation. Speculation is that the microphone would be handed over to none other than that bouncy preacher with the overactive sweat glands himself, Steve Ballmer. He just may be giving that signature rallying cry of “Developers! Developers! Developers!” to a Mac audience:

Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with tiny Global Equities Research, contends that 7 minutes of the June 7 keynote by Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been blocked off for a presentation by Microsoft (MSFT) to talk about Visual Studio 2010, the company’s suite of development tools. Chowdhry says the new version of VS will allow developers to write native applications for the iPhone, iPad and Mac OS. And here’s the kicker: he thinks Microsoft’s presentation could be given by none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Using VS would allow PC folks to make apps without having to switch over to a Mac and employ Xcode, reasonable enough, but the disparity in speaking styles (and clothing styles) make Ballmer’s air time at the Apple event a little hard to imagine.

If the spectacle is anything like the fake video above of his incursion at MacWorld, sign me up.

Instead of dragging potential buyers out of a car to discuss details, Mercedes Benz is using the iPad to keep them on the showroom floor while getting down to brass tacks.

Some 40 Mercedes Benz dealerships are testing the iPad program, which uses the company’s MB Advantage software. The sales staff can scroll through info on the latest offers, check rebates and start running the credit application while the customer sits in the Mercedes they are interested in buying.

“We wanted to bring the mobile revolution into the dealership,” Andreas Hinrichs, vice president of marketing, told the Wall Street Journal. . “The iPad is consumer centric but there is a business side to it as well.” If the pilot program is successful, the company will roll it out for all 350 US dealers.

Good for the seller, sure. But for the buyer? They just might miss a shot at reality in a cubby-hole office, making a decision they regret while high on that new-car smell.

China Telecom, the nation’s largest fixed-line carrier, has up until now, stood on the sidelines as Apple’s iPhone entered the Asian marketplace. Now comes word the carrier will enter the fray, joining China Mobile in expressing interest in offering the iPad.

“If there’s a demand from customers, we welcome any creative new device,” China Telecom CEO Wang Xiaochu said Tuesday. Wang said his company and Apple are evaluating customer interest in the device, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Both of us have to evaluate the market situation in China to see how large the market demand would be,” he said. “It will determine whether we have any interest in any cooperation.” The telecom is also working with Research In Motion and Palm. As in the U.S., Chinese carriers are eying smart phones as a way to gain more revenue.

Apple, long an irksome thorn in the backside of software giant Microsoft, Wednesday overtook the Redmond, Wash.-based company as the most valuable technology firm. The Cupertino, Calif. company was worth $223 billion at the end of yesterday’s trading, compared to $219 billion for Microsoft.

Key to Apple’s rising fortunes are the iPod and iPhone, turning the desktop computer company into a global consumer electronics giant focused on entertainment and mobility. Apple’s share prices have skyrocketed in the past year, doubling its price to over $244. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s shares have remained relatively steady, inching up to $25, compared to $20 a year ago.

Some people are hesitant to jailbreak anything because they worry it will ruin their device. Think of jailbreaking as an addition to your device and not a substitution. Jailbreaking is the only way to unlock some awesome features on your iPad. Earlier this week I walked you through on how to jailbreak your iPad using the Spirit jailbreak. Now I will tell you why you should jailbreak your iPad.

Pop quiz. You’re at your local AT&T store when two unarmed men rush in and steal multiple iPhones without harming anyone. What do you do?

a) Calmly wait for the police to arrive and take your report.

b) Rush out of the store on foot, pull out your hand cannon, brace your legs and fire round after round at the fleeing get-away vehicle as onlookers and passers-by scream in terror and dive for cover, all the while laughing maniacally after every squeezed off shot.

Most of us would pick the former, but Roger Witter of Gresham, Oregon chose the latter and ended up in jail for it, prompting the local police to issue this statement in the understatement of the year:

“It is important to remember that no matter how frustrated one may be with crime and the criminal justice system, it is not permissible to use deadly force in this type of situation.”

The two iPhone thieves remain at large… probably because Witter’s Dirty Harry jackassery distracted police long enough for them to make their clean escape. What a doofus.

Here’s a device filling a mystery niche if I’ve ever seen one: the iP49 is a bulky, fold down clamshell travel alarm clock which includes a dock for an iPhone or iPod… itself a travel alarm clock. Double indemnity of redundancy. ho!

Personally, I’m not sure I get it, but in case you do, the iP49 features separate weekday/weekend alarms, customizable snooze times, gradual wake and sleep volume controls so you don’t start off the morning swallowing your tongue.

It also boasts “Bongiovi Acoustics’ patyented Digital Power station technology and four neodymium compression drivers,” which sounds impressive and promises to provide “studio quality” sound wherever you are. It also boasts both an AC adapter and a built-in, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

The iP49 is available from iHome now for $159.99.

If you pre-ordered an iPad and you live in the land of Marmite and Pickle, keep an eye out for a member of your local postal constabulary this morning: according to reports, numerous Brits are claiming that their iPads are already en route or already delivered, a day before Apple’s May 28th U.K. launch.

It seems like Apple might have been prepared for this: according to reader Paul B., they’ve pushed Pages, Numbers and Keynote to the UK App Store, which weren’t available until now.

Any of our readers hailing from Albion holding an iPad in their hands yet? Brag to us poor sucker continentals in the comments.

The Windows era is over announces Joe Wilcox at Betanews. Is it?

He certainly makes a compelling argument. Like other tech behemoths before it, Microsoft’s products are simply being rendered irrelevant by new technologies, new ideas, and new products that have come out of the blue and swept them aside.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQRYNWbd5rI&feature=player_embedded

Firefox isn’t likely to come to the iPhone anytime soon, but a new application being developed by Mozilla called Firefox Home will at least allow you to take your Firefox data on the run with you.

Based upon Firefox Sync technology, Firefox Home allows iPhone users to always have access to their Firefox browsing history, bookmarks and open tabs, as well as access to their “Awesome Bar,” which allows them to browse to a site with the minimum of typing fuss. Find what you want, and Firefox Home passes on any opened pages to Mobile Safari.

The demo app is a bit rough graphically, which Mozilla acknowledges, saying it’s as yet unbranded. But the functionality looks fluid, and while the websites I visit on my desktop differ greatly from those I visit on my iPhone, the option to have my desktop browsing data up-to-date in my pocket at all times is certainly nothing I’d pass over.

Tomorrow’s the official international launch day of the iPad in nine select countries, so why not celebrate with a slice of delicious iPad cake, complete with edible candy App Icons. I call dibs on the Plants Vs. Zombies, Twitterific and Kindle for iPad app slices.

Photo via Flickr user Extra Ketchup.

Apple didn’t even need to release the iPad overseas in order for it to become an international hit, according to analytics released by AdMob on the day before the iPad’s official international launch.

According to AdMob’s data, international usage of the iPad hovered at around 25% of total traffic in April.

That’s an amazing number, but it groks with my own experience living in Germany: iPads are fairly easy to find here on eBay and Craigslist, at entirely reasonable premiums. The iPad may be big in the States, but it’s going to be huge in the rest of the world.

Logic3’s latest accessory, the LCD ProDock, is a compact dock for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPod Classic that isn’t particularly remarkable in any way, except for one: it comes with a neat, Nano-like LCD remote that allows you to browse your docked iDevice’s media content through an iPod-style interface.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard cheapie dock, featuring component and composite video outputs for hooking up to a television or stereo, but we do like that remote. We’d like it even better if it had a clickwheel instead of buttons.

You can pick the LCD ProDock up now for just £79.99

The sometimes accurate, oft wishful thinking Digitimes has a doozy of a story this morning, claiming that the fourth-generation iPhone we’ve seen time and time again in countless leaks might not be the one Jobs hoists onstage at WWDC in June.

According to their interview with senior analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple has two iPhones its currently working on, internally called the N90 and the N91. The N90 is the iPhone Gizmo got their hands on, while the N91 is a less impressive handset more similar to the iPhone 3GS.

The N90 is the iPhone Apple wants to release, providing they don’t have any unexpected setbacks (such as component shortages). The N91 is the iPhone they’ll release if they can’t get their ducks in a row.

Egretlist is a neat idea for an iPhone application, based on the data you store inside Evernote.

The app looks inside your Evernote notes (Evernotes?) for checkboxes, and extracts those items on their own. Then it re-arranges and re-displays them in a very smart, Moleskine-style notebook format.

What I like about this idea is that the todo items retain their context inside Evernote. You can keep a short list of todos with the other notes and info that relate to them – then, when you simply want to see the todo list as a whole to see what you should do next, Egretlist gives you that at-a-glance overview.

The Evernote team are impressed as well, and they’ve published an interview with the Egretlist developer that explains the thinking behind it in more detail.

The Asian electronics giant Foxconn is in full damage control mode after yet another suicide at one its giant Chinese factories, which cheaply pump out electronics for Apple and others. But one of the company’s representatives made an unfortunate statement when talking about the conditions at its factories:

“There is a fine line between productivity and regimentation and inhumane treatment,” said Louis Woo, an aide to Mr. Gou at Hon Hai. “I hope we treat our workers with dignity and respect.”

But of course, that’s not true at all. There’s a huge difference between productivity and inhumane treatment, not a “fine line.” And it’s that gap that makes all the difference.

Foxconn has a reputation for a stressful and oppressive work atmosphere. Employees are paid relatively well, but are pushed hard to produce and are not allowed to talk to each other during work, according to reports. The work is repetitive, mind-numbing and robotic. Stress, isolation and hopelessness: it’s a recipe for trouble.

Apple and the other tech companies that are Foxconn’s customers must bear some responsibility here. It’s time Apple stepped up its annual audit of contractors and lived up to its promise of “ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility.”

If you’re in the Oakland area in California some time in the next couple of weeks, you might like to pop along to the second iPhontography exhibition.

Organiser Knox Bronson (we’ve mentioned him before) is a keen proponent of iPhone photography, which he considers an entirely new artistic medium.

In one of the biggest and unlikeliest turnarounds in business history, Apple is the most valuable company in technology, passing Microsoft in market capitalization.

Apple’s market cap has passed $227.1 billion — ahead of Microsoft’s $226.3 billion. Apple is up about 1.8% today, and Microsoft down about 1%.

Of course, this may change tomorrow, but for the moment, Apple is the new king of technology.

What a difference a decade makes, when Apple was on the ropes and Microsoft look unassailable. Now, Apple is clearly at the forefront of the next huge wave in tech: mobile. Microsoft isn’t even in the game.

I find my cinema display offers plenty of screen real estate for the things I do everyday, and with my MacBook Pro hooked up, having two displays is a real benefit. It’s nice to have the ability to browse through one document whilst typing up another on a separate screen, or have easy access to my music library or my Twitter feed without having to move or minimize the application I’m working on.

However, I don’t always want to be sat at my desk. I often like to get stuff done from the sofa when I’m feeling a bit lazy, or from the garden on a nice day. Now I can have two displays wherever I’m working thanks to Air Display from Avatron Software on my iPad.