Remember the good ol’ days of sweatshops? People toiled long hours for very little pay, but gosh ‘darn it, they were happy to have a job. These kids today, they aren’t grateful for the $100 they earn each month assembling iPods. That seems to be the message coming from Apple supplier Foxconn about why it is introducing ‘entertainment’ to boost the spirits of otherwise-suicidal workers.

“Unlike the previous generation of workers that regarded work and basic necessities as top priorities in life, post 80s workers don’t just work for money,” a special assistant to the chairman of Hon Hai, which trademarks the Foxconn name, told the Wall Street Journal Friday. About three-quarters of Foxconn’s workers are between 18 and 24 years old.

I’ve long been mystified by both Apple and Microsoft’s inability to put together a useable mouse. Consider my experiences with each company’s showcase mice. On the one hand, Microsoft’s Arc Mouse was a pleasant-to-use and attractive foldable travel mouse, which — like every wireless Microsoft mouse I’ve tried — mysteriously gave up the ghost and experienced catastrophic hardware failure within the first couple of months. On the other hand, Apple’s Magic Mouse is a reliable piece of kit, but it’s ergonomically terrible and nearly unusable for things like gaming.

If only these two mice could come together somehow. Unfortunately, what I want is the hardware reliability of Apple and the conventional feature set of Microsoft’s mice, not the other way around. Microsoft’s forthcoming Arc Touch Mouse is the latter sort of abomination, offering the Magic Mouse’s touch capability as re-imagined by one of the most inept hardware manufacturers on earth.

Even worse? Early rumors pegged Microsoft’s Arc Touch as not launching with the Magic Mouse’s robust multitouch gesture set, but being single-touch only. So what the heck’s the point? It doesn’t even look as good as the original Arc. Forget it. I’ll stick with my Magic Trackpad.

Elements is a fantastic new app for iOS devices that doesn’t really do anything new, except for how well it does it: it is a lovely and versatile text editor for iOS that deftly integrates with Dropbox and TextExpander to allow you to create and edit documents across multiple devices, from your iPhone to your Mac.

As a fiction tinkerer, I love it: Elements will slurp in any document in your Dropbox folder and allow you to easily edit it, versioning any changes every thirty seconds. It even gives you statistics on what you’re writing, like word and line count. The interface is just the way I like my text editors, devoid of any fancy rich text formatting. I’ve been using it in conjunction with my favorite OS X text editor, WriteRoom, and it’s like the two applications were umbilically entwined from birth.

Another fantastic feature? A scratchpad: a pop over panel where you can jot a note or paste some text for easy use later. As Gadget Lab’s resident hungover bike poloer Mr. Charlie Sorrel agreeably writes, this feature “should be standard in any app, mobile or desktop, which uses text.”

Elements is a fantastic program for any iOS writer. It can be purchased from the App Store now for just $4.99.

Yesterday, Apple chipmaker Intel announced a surprising move: they are buying for security firm McAffee for $7.7 billion.

It’s a curious move, and Intel’s motivations for buying McAffee are murky at best. Since McAfee is mostly known for its PC software line-up, which is practically infamous amongst Windows users for being an expensive, system-intensive hog of an anti-virus suite, many are seeing this move as a bet by Intel on Windows.

Remote control of your Macintosh allows you to access a distant computer across a network or the Internet. The screen of the remote Mac appears locally, and you use your mouse and keyboard to control the distant system.  This capability can be helpful for tech support, system administration, finding missing information or more informed parenting (to the chagrin of many offspring).

With the Mac’s increasing popularity there are now an increasing number of options available for Mac Remote Control, many of which are free.  Choices include Apple’s built in Screen Sharing and Remote Desktop software, web based services like LogMeIn and GoToMyPC, and old standards like VNC.

Like prison cakes, iOS updates tend to have secret files baked into the firmware, each capable of sawing through the bars of Apple’s own internal clampdown to free details on upcoming products. The latest beta of iOS 4.1 is no exception, offering a tantalizing first glimpse of three upcoming iOS devices.

The first two tipped products aren’t particularly surprising: a reference to an iPod 4,1 is clearly pointing towards next month’s updated iPod Touch, which is likely to boast an A4 CPU, FaceTime support and a Retina Display.

Similarly, once you know that iProd 1,1 was the internal Apple coding reference to the first-gen iPad, iProd 2,1 is easy to peg as a second-gen iPad. What’s curious here, though, is the fact that Apple’s officially programming support for a second generation iPad at all into iOS 4.1. If Apple sticks to a yearly product update for the iPad, we’re eight months away from an update to the tablet; does the reference to iProd 2,1 in an iOS update scheduled for next month indicate a surprising hardware refresh for the iPad line later this year, possibly fixing the begrudged lack of FaceTime support?

The final reference, though, is the most intriguing: an unknown device described as “unknownHardware” tagged with a unique Apple product ID of 20547. Smart money is this being an iOS-driven update to the AppleTV, although we’ve all been surprised by Apple before. Only September’s annual iPod event will give us partial answers.

We all hate chores. Whether it’s taking out the trash, washing the dishes or any other number of horrifyingly dull tasks. Game developer Rexbox aims to inject some fun into these mundane tasks with the release of EpicWin for iPhone, which turns your to-do list into a game.

Brandon Smith is in jail accused of ripping off Bill Jordan’s pinky while snagging his iPad outside a Denver Apple store. Smith is also now accused of putting out a hit on Jordan from jail to stop the trial.

Smith spoke to CBS about the whole mess the day before his appearance in court. (Yes, CoM has gone all iCrime central this week with the news of Apple-related mayhem. Once you get started, it’s hard to stop).

Smith has still not confessed to the crime — either the iPad theft or the murder plot — but did say:

“I’m sorry for whatever, and for him losing his finger. That’s awful from just a theft. That’s a bad theft gone wrong, you know what I’m saying.” And adds that if he could give him his own finger he would.

Smith, who just turned 21, says he was jacked up on drugs (speed and heroin) at the time of the crime and while he admits to desiring Apple’s latest device, he still will not say he committed the crime.

“I wanted one but I’m not going to say that I ripped one off and everything.”  Smith also denies writing the hit letter, saying his cellmate did it. Smith’s brother turned him in after seeing the video surveillance footage on crime stoppers.

Ugh. Maybe he should think about changing lawyers for a more coherent strategy (is he apologizing to the victim for the crime or not?) before appearing in court today.

Via CBS

Research in Motion reportedly is shopping for a mobile ad platform to help the BlackBerry maker better compete with Apple’s iAds and Google’s AdMob. The only hitch: the company that tops RIM’s list of candidates — Millennial Media — just isn’t that interested in being acquired.

Millennial Media CEO Paul Palmieri told the Wall Street Journal the company wants to launch an initial public offering and remain independent. If snatched-up by RIM, Palmieri’s company would lose all the opportunity to serve ads to the lucrative iPhone, iPad and other iOS devices protected by Apple’s iOS developer agreement. The agreement, initially aimed at Google, denies ad network access, unless approved by Cupertino. Since Apple has its own ad network – iAd – its unlikely Millennial would get another bite of the Apple.

Ok, here at CoM we know Apple makes must-have technology. We really do get it. But c’mon people: don’t get yourself thrown in jail to prove Apple makes coveted gadgets that people will sometimes maim other people to get.

Case in point: Tyanthony Devon Dunbar, 28, now sits in jail slapped on an attempted murder charge after allegedly shooting his 26-year-old cousin Antonio Maurice Harley following a morning scuffle (no, not shuffle) involving an iPod. The incident took place in Colleton, South Carolina; the report doesn’t mention what kind of iPod it was.

Does anyone ever get into this much trouble over a Zune or a Blackberry?

Via Post and News