Apple aired its first iPad ad during the Oscars last night, but it felt like something was missing, didn’t it? It was a voiceover. So I went ahead and added one for them. You’re welcome, Apple!
Written by: Adam Frucci
CNET thinks they’ve snagged a photo of Apple CEO Steve Jobs schmoozing at the Academy Awards. Does this mean the iPad’s going to make a last-minute appearance in those outlandish $85,000 gift bags? Updated: It’s him.
Is it him? Supposedly he’s next to the woman in the white dress. It’d make sense, given the Up/Pixar connection (FYI, it’s “up” for an award…), as well as all the negotiating he’s surely been doing behind the scenes in regards to movies and TV shows on the iPad. But it’s probably just for Up. Probably.
In any event, is anyone even watching tonight? [CNET]
Update: Macrumors has a pic from an “attendant” dancer/director John M Chu at the Oscars:
Written by: Jack Loftus
February has not been a good month for the Apple supply chain. After the assault, the arson, and the poisonings, now Apple’s annual supplier report reveals that 11 minors were found working in their factories this year.
The 24-page report is full of bad news. The worst of it: three different factories hired 15 year old workers, 11 in total, in countries that had a minimum working age of 16.
Other unsavory findings include over 50 factories keeping workers on the job for longer than the maximum 60 hour work week and at least 24 factories paying workers less than the minimum wage. Stuff that would be bad normally but doesn’t seem quite as bad in light of the child labor: only 61% of Apple’s factories were following correct safety regulations and only 57% had the necessary environmental permits for operation.
Apple didn’t reveal which factories were culpable, or the nations in which these factories were located—they use facilities in China, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, the Czech Republic and the United States—but they are still using them to manufacturing their products. Apple confirmed that the child laborers are no longer employed.
Apple’s no stranger to supply chain controversy, and all of these details come right from their own supplier responsibility report. You’d imagine that at some point people would stop gawking at Apple’s supply chain scandals and actually put pressure on them to make some significant changes in their manufacturing. Hopefully these latest discoveries are enough to start that process. [Telegraph and Bloomberg]
Written by: Kyle VanHemert
Last week we posted an eBay auction where the seller—an ex-employee of Apple—was selling a broken step from the Fifth Ave New York Apple store. Threatened with legal action, he was forced to remove it. Here’s his story.
Hi. Iʼm Mark Burstiner. I host a show called The Circuit. Iʼm an all around geek, Iʼm a project manager on a freelance basis, and I consult in digital strategy. I want to talk to you about a story thatʼs still unfolding.
It may seem trite, but for me, itʼs about the principle at this point. I also want to thank Gizmodo for taking this story, and allowing me to publish it in my own words. Multi billion dollar corporations should not be able to bully an innocent ex-employee into cooperation, especially when the corporations are at fault.
A year and a half ago, I was an Apple employee at the Fifth Ave flagship store. In that time, there was a silly, unfortunate accident. A woman came down the magnificent spiral staircase, and dropped a Snapple bottle. Yes, a Snapple bottle. After bouncing once or twice, the bottle severely cracked one of the steps. Since these steps are so well engineered, the structural integrity of the step wasn’t compromised, but it was certainly a cosmetic problem. Later that month, four or five very big men came to replace the step with a new one. After they were finished, and the steps that were replaced were out on the curb, I left the store. Off the clock and in civilian clothes, I asked the contractors who were there on behalf of Seele, the manufacturer, if I could have a step. “It could be a collectible some day,” I said. They, of course, saw no problem with it, and even collectively helped me lift it into a vehicle. That is the story of how I came to be in possession of a step from the spiral staircase at Apple Fifth Ave.
Fast forward to six days ago, February 20, 2010. Iʼve been cleaning up my apartment, because Iʼm going to be moving soon, and I realized I really didn’t want to move (for the third time) with this step. It should be about time I put it up on eBay, see if anybody wants it and see if I canʼt make some cash to help with moving at the same time. That makes sense, right? I mean people end up with rare memorabilia all the time. After all, I did procure it through totally legitimate means. I asked for permission from the person whoʼs possession it was in. They helped me lift it into the vehicle for chrissakes. We should be all hunky dory, right? Wrong.
The very next day, the eBay posting got a lot of press, and it even ended up here on the Giz. Not 24 hours later, the stair was up to $255, dozens of eBay questions, and 200+ watchers with 9 days to go on the auction. Things were looking good until I was reached out to by a Seele VP. This gentleman informed me that Apple has caught wind of this and is quite unhappy. He requested I remove the eBay listing so that we may work this out when we both had more time. Of course, Iʼm a reasonable guy, so I complied immediately.
Later that same day, we spoke again. He assured me he was doing me a favor by reaching out to me and requesting that I remove the posting and return the glass step. He repeatedly made the point that if I complied that he would be so kind as so email Apple and tell them Iʼve been cooperative. “Oh, how magnanimous of you,” I thought to myself. As tempting as it might be to relinquish what is now my property, I passed on the offer.
The VP continuously threatened me with “thousands of dollars in legal fees” because both Seele and Apple would not hesitate to take legal action. Even after repeated explanations of how I came into possession of the step, he continued to mitigate for Apple and attempt to make the point that it was Appleʼs position that since I was on Apple payroll as an employee (part-time, non-exempt, off the clock, out of uniform), that requesting the step was on par with giving a direct order to the contractor. That, if you will pardon my language, is bullshit. I donʼt buy it. He proceeded to assure me that Apple would take the position that anything that began in its stores is Appleʼs property. Frankly, Apple can take any stance they like, it doesn’t change the facts.
This man then attempted to convince me that if I were to move forward with not relinquishing the step, that it would be my responsibility in a court of law to prove that I had not stolen it. This, again, is bullshit. In the United States, we are innocent until proven guilty. If Apple would like to attempt to prove that I managed to wrestle a 250lb step from the five very large men handling it, then they are on the good drugs, and I want to know where I can get some.
What this sounds like to me is Seele trying to save face because Apple is furious that they were irresponsible enough to relinquish ownership of the tread. Though it may be embarrassing for both corporations, it may simply be a lesson learned at a high price. Let me put it this way: If you caught a foul ball at a World Series game, got it signed by a player, received a high five from the security guard on the way out of the stadium, and went home, that ball is now yours, right? It started as one entityʼs property, and through a series of consensual transactions, it ended up in your hands. Now, letʼs say a year and a half later, the player who signed it is huge, and you decide to put it up for auction. If the MLB reached out to you and said, “Hey! No way, buddy. That was OURS. Hand it over!” Guess what? That wouldn’t fly.
The next day, we spoke once more over the phone. Again, I heard the same points from the man, but this time I did not take a passive approach. I made it quite clear that if he wanted the step, heʼs more than welcome to purchase it from me, or participate in the eBay auction. He made me an offer lower than the most recent bid on the auction, and I declined. At this point, Iʼve lost time and money due to dealing with this. Not to mention, now that the step has seen some press, the demand is growing. (Iʼve been receiving eBay messages all the way up until this morning.) He assured me if I did not comply, my information would be forwarded to Apple, and the conversation ended.
As far as Iʼm aware, I have done nothing illegal. I have not stolen. I have not deceived in any way. The step is not confidential, and it is not IP. The step is the very same that any New Yorker could see by walking into Apple Fifth Ave. The only thing I am guilty of is taking the risk of throwing out my back through having to move the step multiple times. I saw an opportunity, I asked for permission, received it, and proceeded. I wonʼt allow a major corporation to bully me into a corner. At the time of this posting, it has been seven full days since I put the listing up, and I havenʼt heard from Apple directly a single time. I have every right to sell my property, and I plan to do so.
Hereʼs what Iʼm going to do. Iʼve put the tread back up for auction, but have shortened the auction period from 10 days to 3, starting at the same $200 price point and Iʼm dropping the buy-it-now option. I just want to get rid of this thing. If it sells for a lot, great. If it sells for a little, whatever. Either way, Iʼll keep you posted if I hear from Apple or on any other developments.
I realize this has been long-winded, but it was important to me to share this. I just donʼt think itʼs right for corporations to take cases that might otherwise be passed off as trivial and turn them into a week-long ordeal, all for the sake of paranoia. If youʼve read through all this, thank you. I appreciate your attention and time.
Written by: Mark Burstiner
If the iPad seems a bit extravagant and the JooJoo’s sordid past turns you off, the 7″ iLet Mini HAL might be device for you. It’s no powerhouse, but at least you’ll be able to say you own a tablet.
The 600MHz VIA CPU isn’t blazing fast and the 7″ touch screen isn’t luxuriously wide. The 2GB of flash memory isn’t great. The Android 1.6 OS isn’t ideal.
But if you just want a tablet without all the bells and whistles for doing some surfing from the couch or reading some documents in bed, the HAL seems like a fine option, especially considering the $199 price tag.
And anyway, the storage is expandable via SD card and the OS is upgradable. It has Wi-Fi, 128MB of RAM, a USB port, and claims a 16 hour battery life. Best of all, Haleron says it’s shipping the HAL on March 1st. So, if only for a few weeks, you can be the first of your friends to be officially on the tablet bandwagon. Haleron via Ubergizmo]
Written by: Kyle VanHemert
The latest iMac was released 16 weeks ago. Since then, it’s been plagued with problems, most notably flickering and/or yellow screens. Today, the saga comes to an end because Apple has acknowledged the issues and offered their support.
At long last, Apple has released a statement to us, admitting the production issues with iMacs—which reader and forum anecdotes imply to be a bit less frequent than before but still very much present at some level—and labeling AppleCare as the proper channel for related complaints.
“We’ve addressed the issues that caused display flickering and yellow tint. Customers concerned that their iMac is affected should contact AppleCare.”
These two short sentences might not look like much, but the statement is Apple’s first open acknowledgment of the jaundiced screen issue, and it identifies the problem as one worthy of AppleCare solutions.
From the start of these iMac updates, I made a deal that “…if Apple can come forward and openly admit the mistake while providing an adequate solution to their customers, I’ll laud them as an example as to how companies can take an unforeseen manufacturing issue and make things right.”
Today, Apple met the terms of that deal, and so will we.
Of course, just because Apple has “addressed” these iMac issues doesn’t mean they have completely ferreted out the problems. (Their diction leaves some room for interpretation.). Since the production halt a few weeks back, Apple’s forums seem a little quieter regarding yellow screens, and flickering had already been solved by a firmware update. Still, about 20 people have written us since the production restart—some of them now on their third+ iMac—encountering new iMacs with yellow displays (verses just a handful offering the all clear). That response is slightly more positive than it was in the past, when basically everyone who wrote me complained of flickering screens, yellow screens and a number of other maladies.
Unfortunately, we tried to reconnect with every person who’d written us after suffering through multiple returns, but very few responded either way. My guess is that some had their issues dealt with, while others just gave up on the iMac altogether. Sitting on a few grand for a few months isn’t an easy thing to do for most people in this economy.
Yes, it’s a downright shame that Apple hasn’t been able to completely eliminate the yellow screen issue from the iMac line, whether their yield is 99.9% or somewhere far lower. At this point in time, I don’t think that every iMac shipping is inflicted with a dealbreaker of a screen (which honestly seemed to be the case for a bit in late 2009/early 2010), but I don’t think that nearly every iMac is shipping perfectly, either.
Yields have gotten better. How much better? I honestly don’t know.
(This photo is a yellow-screened 27-inch iMac produced after the production restart—displayed file dates are from an older Time Machine restore.)
As consumers, should we really be content with Apple’s response when evidence shows the problem isn’t entirely fixed? That decision is yours. But I will say, even with constant pressure from a website such as Gizmodo (along with many other publications that, thankfully, jumped on the bandwagon), a fundamental principle holds true: The longer you tell a lie, even a tacit one, the harder it is to tell the truth. For Apple to come clean after 16 weeks of shipping questionable systems should be something that the public can embrace, at least in part.
Because fanboyism and flame wars aside, if we leave no incentive for companies to be forthright regarding their mistakes, why the heck would they?
Yup, but with one huge caveat: You should run this test upon receipt. If any part of that screen doesn’t match to your liking, you may very well still need to return your first iMac before getting a system that works as advertised.
Luckily, Apple has acknowledged the issue and thereby removed some of the risk from you, meaning, at the very least, customer service will take your problem seriously. And hopefully, the next time Apple or any other company ships a new product, they’ll notify us of the problems instead of vice versa.
The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 1: The Beginning
The Faulty iMac Saga: Chapter 2, Even Steve Jobs Can’t Fix ‘Em
The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 3: We Have Your Internal Memo, Apple
The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 4: Apple Buying Out Customers
The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 5: The Moment of Truth
A special thanks to Gizmodo Editorial Assistant Kyle VanHemert for all of his research work on this project, along with all the Giz readers who kept exchanging iMacs for us. If anyone out there is still having issues scoring a replacement for faulty iMac after contacting customer support, contact us at submissions@gizmodo.com and we’ll forward you on to Apple PR, at their request.
Written by: Mark Wilson
With a new iPhone expected to debut this summer, Apple’s phone-related patents start to take on added weight. Especially when they’re as badass as the one unveiled yesterday that turns the iPhone’s camera into a swipe pad.
The technology described in the patent, dug up by the diligent folks at Patently Apple, would allow an iPhone user to fast forward and rewind through voicemails, navigate web pages, or scroll through contact lists and iTunes simply by swiping one finger against the iPhone’s camera.
The proposed controls would also be tap sensitive, meaning that you can access different phone or UI functions simply by tapping the camera with your forefinger. Theoretically, all of these controls would also apply to the iPad… should it ever, you know, get a camera.
The patent was originally filed in Q3 of 2008, which may have left just enough time for Apple to have implemented the tech by this summer. Let’s hope so… this is one of those patents that actually seems as functional as it does cool. [Patently Apple]
Written by: Brian Barrett
The Achilles’ Heel of the latest and greatest Nehalem-based Mac Pros seemed to be their trouble handling audio processing—even playing a song in iTunes reportedly caused overheating and sacked performance. Mac Pro Audio Update 1.0 offers sweet relief.
According to MacWorld, the new update, which rolled out last week, seems to help the matter both in terms of cooling temperatures and reclaiming processing power.
In a series of tests, they determined that installing the update resulted in a significantly quicker Aperture import and Compressor encoding with the machine simultaneously running iTunes—19% and 16% improvements, respectively. After the update, the Mac Pro’s CPU was also running 30 degrees cooler and sucking less power from the CPU and power supply.
The update is currently only for Snow Leopard machines, so Leopard users, who have also reported the problem, will have to wait a bit longer to get things sorted. [MacWorld]
Written by: Kyle VanHemert
Recently, Apple removed Wobble—an app that adds real jiggle to photographic boobies—from the App Store. Other removals followed. Now, a developer who talked to Apple has the scoop on the future of iPhone titillation, and it is bleak.
Really bleak. Like no racy photos, no suggestive language, no bathing suits bleak.
This devastating news comes by way of TechCrunch, who has been following this story closely (but not in a weird way). Initially it seemed that Apple’s new policy was to ban “overtly sexual content,” which was disappointing, but, you know, understandable. Now TC has received word from a developer who has discussed the matter with “multiple App Store reviewers,” and things aren’t looking too hot. Not even close to hot, in fact.
Said developer was told “there will be no more applications that are for any purpose of excitement or titillation.” Huh? I get pretty excited playing Tapulous—are they going to ban that too? Well, if you’re thinking that maybe behind the hyperbole things aren’t actually so bad, think again. Here’s the full shakedown, as recapped by the developer of Wobble, an individual who has been standing in the shower since Apple first turned on the cold water on Thursday night:
1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)
2. No images of men in bikinis! (I didn’t ask about Ice Skating tights for men)
3. No skin (he seriously said this) (I asked if a Burqa was OK, and the Apple guy got angry)
4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs (yes – I am serious, we have to remove the silhouette in this pic)
5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned
6. Nothing that can be sexually arousing!! (I doubt many people could get aroused with the pic above but those puritanical guys at Apple must get off on pretty mundane things to find Wobble “overtly sexual!)
7. No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content (not sure how Playboy is still in the store, but …)
This can’t be life! Of course, the glimmer of hope here is that Apple is still reviewing their policy and taking a hard line while doing so, just to be safe. On the other hand, this could it, the real deal, the Puritanical future of apps on the iPhone. I hope you have a thing for girls in turtlenecks. [TechCrunch]
Written by: Kyle VanHemert
In this week’s porn-free app roundup: Expensive instant messaging apps, humbled! Cars, leered at! Zombies, organically defeated! Enigmatic Japanese game developers, being enigmatic! The sun, closely monitored! Malls, fearlessly navigated! And more…
If you’d like to view the following gallery as a single page, click here
• This Is Why I Want Photoshop 1.0 on My iPhone Right Now
• A Better Way to Passcode Lock Your iPhone (At Your Own Risk)
• You Can Now Download iPhone Apps Up to 20MB Over 3G
• Google Buys iPhone Email Search App reMail and Pulls It From the App Store
• SlingPlayer Mobile 1.2 With 3G Streaming Now Available
• Street Fighter IV on iPhone Brings New Definition to Sore Thumbs
• Apple Removes An Innocent Boob-Jiggling App From the App Store
• Opera Mini On iPhone Is “Fast,” Though There’s No Pinch To Zoom
• Here’s What Final Fantasy For iPhone Will Look Like
This list is in no way definitive. If you’ve spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!
Written by: John Herrman
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