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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
08/07/09
Granted, its not smart to cut out the outside world completely while still interacting with it, but as far as I am concerned this is still a pretty big stretch to say that the mp3 player was a cause of the accident.
I say, blame the jogger-hating angry beaver that caused the tree to fall!
08/06/09
The tree is in custody, and may be charged pending an investigation. Witnesses say that he appeared to have been intoxicated at the time of the event.
08/06/09
08/06/09
Actually can any noiseblocking be blamed? I'm pretty sure theres very few things that make a noise when falling apart form people and planes. Most things only make the noise when they hit the ground.
08/06/09
08/06/09
08/06/09
I keeed. I keeed.
08/06/09
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08/07/09
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07/29/09
For those thinking "surely this is bollocks":
These is some very credible, peer-reviewed, medically journalled research linking the particular frequencies of light used to serotonin production in the brain.
For those thinking "why not just open the window":
I live in a country that has a wet, grey, overcast winter. There is nowhere near sufficient sunlight. I could move ... or now, I can stay!
For those thinking "can't I just visit a blue website"; no. It won't be remotely bright enough. Also I have a feeling that 440nm LCD blue doesn't have research to back it up, unlike the 470nm blue light used in this device. Plus, you won't be able to multitask.
I love my goLITE BLUE. It's changed my life, vastly for the better.
07/27/09
It sounds to me as if Foxconn are responsible here. they were the ones directly with direct contact with the employee. Tragic story. They would have known how important face as part of the Chinese culture.
I dont know why Apple are so secretive. Even Coca-cola has become so mush more transparent recently and it has helped their image an incredible amount.
07/24/09
Apple, Microsoft, its irrelevant what company is complicit in these things, Apple is the one that got caught this time and they must be held accountable. I have no particular issue with Apple just because its Apple.
I take issue with the companies that are taking advantage of these Chinese human beings and their cultural norms who are in a communist country that does not have the human rights record, the labor laws, the environmental laws, the wages and on top of all that also has a culture that expects suicide for minor failure.
Talk about a corporate dream world..indentured servants that are willing to kill themselves...literally for your profits!
Using these people like this when they don't have these protections and wasting their cultural honor to commit suicide for a goddamn iphone secret is a reprehensible, disgusting and awful action and should be punished both civilly and criminally.
If you can't make that simple connection I can't help you.
07/24/09
07/24/09
07/24/09
Did you say 270,000-employee plant?
It's, like, if you have 270,000 human beings working at the same facility, for the same company?
Or did I miss something?
Cause this is so flacking crazy.
07/24/09
"face" and the cultural differences between USA and China are precisely the point and why Apple is culpable here.
They choose to enforce over the top secrecy for a stinking phone for chrissakes and choose to do business in communist China.
Their corporate secrecy requirements caused this person to lose "face" in a culture where suicide is the result....that is assuming this was a suicide and not a murder.
Recall the stories of the lead paint toy and baby formula executives who "committed suicide" also....in a communist country we will never no the truth since it can and will be suppressed.
07/24/09
Past the hippie duplicitous "let's bash company x and z because we think they are evil", here are some thoughts:
1. Trade secrecy normality: anyone who's worked for a corporation knows trade secrets are common, necessary and that they are contractually enforced, both with employees and third parties. All whom assume them by signature upon hire and are each responsible for protecting and holding these secrets. A business such as Foxconn has NDAs and contracts that protect the partners' business and trade secrets (be it Microsoft, Dell, Apple, so forth) plus it's in their own interest to safeguard them.
Comments about Apple secrecy and how it should be abolished because it's "evil" may come from people who never had a job.
2. Editorial abnormality: in this form this article does not qualify for new and does not appear to benefit anyone but ad revenue of the publisher. overhyped, duplicitous and misguiding, it appears to want to agitate and create mistrust.
3. The hippie attitude dude and the absolute truth imposer: sadly is an impostor.
4. The economic reality:
Although it would be desirable and absolutely fantastic, two billion Chinese living the American life standard (that consumes 1/6th of the world's resources) wold would require 10x more of that ore. In plain language, feeding the American lifestyle in China alone would require resources unsustainable and unavailable on this planet.
That lifestyle cannot be supplied materially and financially by the US or all the world's countries combined. No amount of price increase per iPhone or whatever you buy would effectively raise the quality of life of those people.
As workers gain access to credit and proper wages they tend to raise their minimum needs bar. As they move on to luxury needs (HD TVs, SUVs, so on) their compensation claims stall the margins of their employer, thus determining the relocation of production facilities to cheaper areas.
Sadly, what most of you are asking for is impossible. (not today, not in the current way we do business and consume, not with the available technologies)
Certainly, the prices of our goods - i.e. if manufacturing was done in the US - would not jump by 10% of 50% but possibly by factor 100x or more.
Bringing back the production to the homeland would not benefit anyone really. The math is done on well documented online repositories that I warmly recommend you check.
The fact that such economies exist in China or elsewhere is because we had asked for cheaper and more advanced goods, at an unmatched replacement rate and someone there was happy to sign the dotted line and hook up with say, Foxconn, to manufacture them for us at a wage they considered fair.
5. The unlucky post mortem hero, Sol:
like everyone else, had also signed an agreement with his employer (Foxconn) to guard those prototypes with serious discernment.
He most probably wasn't forced to carry the iPhones and was most clearly advised about the responsibility of his job.
While he had apparently failed to do so, his employer (Foxconn) decided to take the necessary steps to protect the business by retrieving the unit.
Apple had also contractually asked Foxconn to guard their trade secrets. I'm sure that Apple had trusted Foxconn to run their business as they see fit as long as they deliver.
In this process it appears that Sol had been overwhelmed by his mistake which may also be voluntary and called it quits.
In the business world there are contracts. And those who sign them assume their responsibility for delivering or whatever it is they sign for. No exceptions.
Those who can't take the heat ultimately quit or, more unfortunately, commit suicide.
Foxconn is a mature business that can take care of itself. I resent the lust for boycott, parenting, vengeance or punishment from our end, Apple or PETA.
This is business. And it's done by humans who take responsibilities.