Spicy iPhone

A new profile of the News Corp. baron quotes a source who says he’s willing to press legal action against Google in the event that talks about indexing content fall through.

Hewlett-Packard is updating its line of business ultraportable laptops with Intel’s latest chips.

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple

When a lot of people get their news electronically, skimming over headlines through news aggregators, RSS feeds, and retweets on Twitter, sometimes the majority of information people will get from an article comes from the headline.

When a headline leans towards the sensational side, or doesn’t accurately reflect the information that’s actually contained in the article, it’s easy for poorly-represented news to spread like wildfire. This article from the UK’s The Daily Telegraph, regarding Apple’s self-initiated audit of its overseas manufacturing facilities, is a perfect example, with its attention-grabbing headline: “Apple Admits Using Child Labour.” The sub-headline isn’t any better: “Apple has admitted that child labour was used at the factories that build its computers, iPods and mobile phones.”

Once a person reads those words, his or her knee-jerk reaction is most likely going to be one of disgust and horror. “How could you, Apple?” they might say. If this hypothetical reader owns a Mac or an iPhone, their eyes might glance over at it with anguished guilt; if they don’t own any products from Apple, it’s just one more reason not to buy them.

If you dig beyond the headline, however, to the meat of the Telegraph’s article, where the actual reporting finally begins? Then you get a completely different story as early as the first sentence: “At least eleven 15-year-old children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple.” That’s pretty far from the image conjured by the headline, of legions of school-aged children lined up in factories and slapping together MacBook Pros when they should be slapping together algebra homework. Instead, we find a relatively small number of teenaged factory workers — reprehensible, but not unusual at all for overseas factories. The end of this first sentence is even more important, because it puts the focus where it belongs: three factories which supply Apple. Two paragraphs later, we find another very important bit of news not reflected in the headline: “Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used.”

Other news sites performed better reporting on the matter, but at least one still had an easily misinterpreted headline. Read on to find out more.
Engadget’s headline for its story is a bit better — “Apple supplier audit reveals sub-minimum wage pay and records of underage labor” — but it’s still ripe for misinterpretation. The reporting at least is far better than the Telegraph; right away, Engadget notes that the reports of child labor come straight from Apple’s own 2010 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, and they also note that out of 102 audited manufacturers, most of them said Apple was the only manufacturer that performed compliance checks this rigorous. That means Sony, Lenovo, Dell, HP, and all the other manufacturers out there may well have even worse working conditions at their suppliers’ factories than those reflected in Apple’s audit, but until or unless they perform similar checks, we have no way of knowing.

Another bit of perspective on this comes courtesy of MacRumors: “Apple in 2009 found a total of 17 instances of what it considers ‘core violations’ of its code of conduct, representing about 2% of core issues assessed by its auditors.” Far from perfect, yes, but equally as far from the sweatshop conditions conjured up by the Telegraph’s headline; in fact, if you actually read Apple’s own audit, you find that 97% of its facilities were in compliance with regulations against underage labor.

Finally, the wording from Apple’s audit itself, with emphasis added at key points:

“Apple discovered three facilities that had previously hired 15-year-old workers in countries where the minimum age for employment is 16. Across the three facilities, our auditors found records of 11 workers who had been hired prior to reaching the legal age, although the workers were no longer underage or no longer in active employment at the time of our audit.
In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year prior to our audit, as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment. Apple required each facility to develop and institute appropriate management systems-such as more thorough ID checks and verification procedures-to prevent future employment of underage workers.”

Issues like underage labor, poor working environments, and substandard pay are all very real consequences of doing business with overseas suppliers. Most manufacturers are content with turning a blind eye to the whole thing, so long as the shareholders stay happy and stock prices stay high. By running comprehensive audits of its suppliers, Apple runs the risk of finding out just how poorly its suppliers treat its workers, and by publishing those results, it runs the risk of news outlets like the Telegraph blowing them out of proportion. Despite what some newspapers or news sites would have you believe, Macs and iPhones are not crafted by children, and that’s partly due to Apple’s performance of these audits in the first place.

TUAWTUAW Fact Check: Apple using underage labor? No. originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A man hears that a copy of Stadium Events sold for $13,000. So he rummages in his basement and finds an unopened copy of the same game.

Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone

If you’ve been watching TV over the last few days (and who hasn’t, with that USA / Canada hockey game and the tsunami coverage), you may have seen the latest in the series of iPhone ads.

The ad, titled “Family Travel,” features a voice-over by a Mom who gushes that “It’s unbelievable how much better family trips have gotten…” as she demonstrates using the Southwest Airlines app to check in on a flight from Denver to LA, finds a restaurant for the family (Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli) in the C concourse at Denver International Airport with Gate Guru, makes sure that she has entertainment for her kids in the form of “Finding Nemo” loaded in the iPod app, and then turns off the living room lights at home with the Schlage Link app.

For those of you who are sticklers for advertising accuracy, note that Southwest flight 1403 is not an actual SWA flight between DEN and LAX and that the restaurant list for Concourse C at Denver International Airport is actually a mashup of restaurants located throughout Denver International Airport. All of the apps are free, although Schlage Link does require a monthly subscription and appropriate Z-Link hardware on the home front (similar to the Christmas tree ad from the holidays).

TUAWNew iPhone ad: Family Travel originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iLounge and Schlage are giving away five (5) Schlage LiNK Starter Kits (retail value $300). Schlage LiNK Starter Kit with Wireless Keypad Deadbolt includes everything you need to create your own remote access solution. Installation and set up are simple, you’ll be up and running quickly. Creates a Z-Wave® wireless network within your home that connects the Schlage Wireless Keypad Lock to the internet through the secure Schlage Bridge. Web-based…

I’ve been using Grooveshark for about two months now and am in love with the service. I still like to have local copies of my music, but you can actually treat Grooveshark like an online jukebox with full control over all the music in your playlist — none of this “play a song like this one, but not actually this one” silliness that I’ve encountered with Pandora and Last.fm. Don’t get me wrong — music recommendation services are a great idea, and the VIP version of Grooveshark does offer something similar to those other two services — but there are times when I just want to hear one specific song, and Grooveshark lets me just type the name of a song or artist and then play whatever I want to. Full songs, no previews, and links to Amazon or iTunes if I want to buy a local copy.

The iPhone version of the service was released for free on Cydia yesterday, although it’s only available for paid VIP subscribers ($3/month). The app can stream music over most any connection, although it obviously sounds best over 3G or wi-fi. Songs start to play within two seconds of being selected, and they almost never stutter. If you know you’ll be heading into an area of spotty coverage you can also choose to cache songs for offline play so you can take Grooveshark into the deepest, darkest, signal-less hole and can still enjoy whatever you took the time to cache.

[thanks to Person of People]

© Ragart for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. |
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The Plant Doctor provides interactive diagnosis and advice about plant diseases in gardens, landscapes, nurseries and farms.

The app provides descriptions of ten of the most common plant diseases.

If users are unsure about the nature of their own problem, they may purchase a diagnosis.

For diagnosis, the app collects user-supplied text and photographs and sends it to a professional plant pathologist having more than 20 years of experience.

The user receives communications from the pathologist, including the probable disease name and pathogen, disease management tactics, and contact information for local experts who may provide more information or examine samples.

Application is free. Special price for a diagnosis: 99c (regular $1.99)

Learn more here: PlantDoctorApp.com

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. |
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The worlds’ most expensive wallet for an iPhone is here, awaiting its rendezvous with equally lavish iPhones. Christened as the Crimson Gold “SUPREME” edition by its designers Davide De Nizza of Milan & Stuart Hughes of Liverpool, the wallet is a fusion of the choicest materials. It has been hand stitched from variety of leathers such as python crimson, Nubuck pink, violet Nubuck and leather gold. The buckle itself has been made from 46 grams of 22ct solid gold and is studded with 25 flawless diamonds, each weighing 0.75 ct. Other than sapphire, the buckle is available in four interchangeable gemstones including opal, ruby, emerald and a huge 3ct single cut flawless diamond. All the precious stones are positioned from the inside of the wallet using a unique locking device. Priced at $99,500, the Crimson Gold “SUPREME” edition is limited to only three units and will be available from Republica Fashion (Milan Italy) and at Stuart Hughes (Liverpool, England)

I’d obviously just never make it as a stupidly rich person – because I just find zero appeal in any of these ridiculously priced iPhone accessories – or even any of the gold / diamond / whatever jewelry studded iPhones.  For instance, the same Stuart Hughes designer mentioned above also makes ‘the world’s most expensive mobile phone‘, an iPhone encased in gold that goes for just shy of $3 million dollars.

Apart from finding the prices absurd, I also just find a lot of this stuff really ugly looking – yup, definitely not going to make it as a rich man. 

Via: Born Rich

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. |
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Square is a much-talked about upcoming device plus app combo for the iPhone, that allows anyone to accept credit card payments right on the iPhone itself.  Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, is so impressed by the idea that he’s invested in it, and he’s got a nice video demo up of both device and iPhone app.

This really does look interesting.  The device is very small and just plugs in easily to the iPhone’s headphone jack.  The Square app also looks impressive, showing GPS location of where a card was used, allowing for signatures, doing all the authorizing and processing, and even letting you send an instant receipt. 

Kevin’s also got some good suggestions on when this would come in handy – from selling band t-shirts at a market stall to just selling individual items via Craigslist. 

Check out the video demo HERE when you get a chance. 

© PatrickJ for Just Another iPhone Blog, 2010. |
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Post tags: credit card payments on iPhone, iPhone credit card reader, Square