In response to the dramatic situation over at Foxconn’s industrial factories, Engadget reports that Apple will begin to pay employees directly (assumably on only their product lines - but I could be wrong), increasing their monthly wages (by what amount isn’t currently specified). While it’s a step in the right direction, I feel that a simple pay-raise isn’t enough. Much regulation is needed to ensure fair & reasonable work (and employment) within Foxconn hell, as employees will still be subject to the intolerable, slave-like conditions they face on the assembly lines. Currently, Apple’s solution is a doable, temporary betterment while they and other companies are hopefully discussing with Foxconn on how to treat people like human beings instead of dogs.
Apple to Increase Foxconn Wages
First Look: Netvibes for iPad
I don’t know how many people are still using Netvibes, but I’ve always been interested in trying out the service. And it turns out that maybe I’ll be able to do it this week, when the company will launch a first beta of their iPad optimized website.
Flash Content Arriving on iPad via Smokescreen?
Yesterday, Engadget reported that Flash content may be playable on the iPad via a project called Smokescreen from developer Chris Smoak. While we don’t know if Chris has the beard to back up his badass monicker, we do know that Smokescreen somewhat works. Simple Flash animations like Flash ads run fine, but if you’re going to stream Hulu - good luck. Read more
Chronicle, A Journal for your iPad
Lots of journal & note taking applications have landed in the iTunes App Store for the iPad, and the basic decision usually comes down to, “What’s your style?” Some like the moleskine or leather bound look, other’s like the spiral notebook, but I always try to pick out something that has one or two differentiating features. For Chronicle, it was Google Docs syncing, note annotations, and privacy lock.
Find the Perfect Bowtie Theme with Bowcase
Bowtie is a great music controller for Mac and iPhone we reviewed back in February. It allows you to control what’s playing in iTunes without the need to actually open iTunes, it’s minimal and, most of all, it’s customizable.
One of the greatest strengths of the app is indeed the possibility to apply themes to it, and these themes are essentially made of simple HTML, CSS and Javascript.
Apple Announces Over 2 Million iPads Sold In Less Than 60 Days
Apple is breaking every record, and has just announced over two million iPads sold in less than 60 days since the introduction of the new device on April 3rd. The iPad was released in 9 more countries 3 days ago, and you can expect a 3 million announcement coming in a few weeks.
The question is, will they post a press release for every million mark? Check out the press release after the break.
Former Apple Exec Warns About Ballmer’s “Distortion Field”
Jean-Louis Gassée is a former Apple exec and BeOS founder, and he’s warning us about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer distortion field.
As you can read on Monday Note:
“Microsoft shareholders ought to worry about Steve Ballmer’s own distortion, and about the self-inflicted effects of such a strong field,” Gassée writes today. “We all remember Vista, it was a godsend for Apple. Did Ballmer acknowledge that there were problems? What about the Xbox 360 reliability nightmare? The apologies were left to underlings.”
Seems like everybody hates Ballmer these days. Remember when he was rumored to get on stage at the WWDC and introduce developer tools for iPhone OS? Good times.
[via 9to5mac]
Leaked Intel Roadmap Reveals 2.8GHz Core i7 Processors, New Macbooks Later This Year?
A leaked Intel roadmap has surfaced on Engadget, and it turns out that the company will release a speed bumped Core i7 processor later this year. As Macrumors reports:
“The upcoming Core i7-640M will run at a base frequency of 2.8GHz with “turbo boost” speeds up to 3.46GHz. This new processor draws the same power as the current MacBook Pro processors so should be a natural upgrade for Apple.”
Indeed it’s very likely that Apple will implement these new processors in the new Macbooks sometime this fall or next year, but you can bet that the next Macbook line won’t be just about speed bumping. Also, we don’t think we’ll be hearing anything about desktop computers at the upcoming WWDC. Remember, it’s about the iPhone OS platform.
Opera Releases 10.60 Alpha
Opera has just released a first alpha version of its browser, labelled 10.60. It’s available for download here, and the final version will be released “this summer” for Mac, Windows and Linux at the same time.
10.60 seems to be a “finely tuned” version of the popular 10.50, with enhanced tab functions (visual peeks on hover) and an even faster Javascript engine. Other changes include widescreen speed dials, a more visible Menu button and many other fixes.
Go download it here.