apple
garrettbrown | September 21, 2016In the early 1990s, sports apparel giant Nike became the “poster child” for sweatshops in its global supply chain – child labor, forced labor (mandatory overtime), wage theft, confiscation of migrant workers’ passports, sexual harassment of women workers, and unsafe and unhealthy working conditions.
Jump ahead 25 years, vast global supply chains with multiple tiers of international “brands,” contracted supplier factories, and numerous sub-contractors are now the norm for consumer goods sectors such as electronics, toys, apparel, home furnishings, food like fish and chocolate, sports shoes and…
milhayser | August 18, 2013Windows takes a lot of crap from fanboys, and Apple products do the same, but while our prejudices can be well-founded it's always worth taking an honest look at the opposition. With its Windows Phone mobile OS, Microsoft has built a very fun and functional platform that in some ways exceeds the user experience of Android and iOS.
Microsoft's presence on mobile platforms somewhat changes its historical relationship with hardware. In the days when you were a PC person or a Mac person, one advantage of the personal computer was an open hardware standard, allowing not only for custom computer…
jtoney | July 27, 2012This post was co-authored by Natasha Bahrami, a foreign policy researcher, and Ali Arab, Ph.D., an assistant professor of statistics at Georgetown University.
Last month, a young American woman was blocked from purchasing an Apple product at a local store in Alpharetta, Georgia. After overhearing her speaking Farsi, the second generation Iranian-American was informed that selling the product to her went against the company's policy. Apple's export compliance policy states that direct or indirect sales of Apple goods to any embargoed…
egrossman | January 26, 2012by Elizabeth Grossman
The morning after President Obama's State of the Union speech that featured plans for reinvigorating U.S. manufacturing, Marketplace Morning Report asked former Obama Administration economic advisor Jared Bernstein why a company like Apple doesn't create more jobs in the U.S. "Well," replied Bernstein, "because the infrastructure for consumer electronics - particularly the assembly for consumer electronics - for many decades has been building up in Asia. And they just have a robust, flexible supply chain there that we simply don't have when it comes to consumer…
oracknows | October 9, 2011I debated a while about whether I should take this particular post on. It's not because there isn't a lot of fodder there deserving of that special form of not-so-Respectful Insolence that only Orac, in his usual inimitable fashion, can provide. There most definitely is. The problem, as is sometimes the case when I get on a roll, is that it represents going back to a topic that I've already covered very recently. In fact, it's a topic I've already covered twice, namely Steve Jobs and the insulinoma that ultimately killed him. Last week, I reposted what I wrote about him back in 2009 after he…
oracknows | October 6, 2011It's been a mere two days since Steve Jobs died. Although it hasn't yet been revealed what his specific cause of death was, it's a good bet that Jobs' death was due to a recurrence of his pancreatic cancer, first diagnosed in 2003, for which he underwent surgery in 2004 and ultimately a liver transplant in 2009. It's a history that I outlined yesterday (at least up to the time the original posts were written) by reposting two posts I wrote about his liver transplant back in 2009. But a funny thing has happened since then, and that's that Jobs has become a flashpoint in an argument that has…
oracknows | October 6, 2011
Another day, another grant. Well, not exactly. We have a visiting professor in town, and I have to give a talk at our department research retreat today. Between going out to dinner, working on the talk, and working on the grant, another day has passed without new Insolence. Bummer. But that pales in comparison to having learned last night while at dinner that Steve Jobs has passed away. Apple fanboy I may be, but I was surprised at how much the news saddened me. It did, however, make it easy to figure out what post(s) I would rerun today. In 2008 and 2009 I did a series of posts about…
sporte | May 1, 2011Last night we went to see "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" by Mike Daisey. Two hours vanished as we sat riveted and listened to interspersed stories of Apple and Shenzhen. Mike spoke of Apple and computers as a lover, familiar with the details, and knowledgeable in the special language of geeks and engineers. He was hysterically funny.
And we all understood.
After all, the night at the play was organized as a spring celebration by the Washington Technology Industry Association, a group intimately familiar with the ways of tech.
From the music preceeding the show, to Mike's…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2010tags: David Kassan Paints a Live Model on his iPad, technology, computers, iPad, Apple, art, fingerpainting, portrait painting, documentary, time-lapse video, streaming video
This video is a time-lapse rendering of an Apple ipad fingerpainting demo that was streamed live from artist David Kassan's Brooklyn studio on Monday, 21 June 2010. The model sat for 3 hours as Mr Kassan painted and answered questions on how he uses the iPad and the Brushes applications.
Learn more about David Kassan.
awild | April 17, 2010Polistes dominula, the European Paper Waspcaptured with an iPhone
As an insect guy, the first question I ask about any camera is: Can I shoot bugs with it?
To my great disappointment, the answer for most cell phones is no. Cell phone cameras are normally fixed to focus at distances useful for party pictures and street shots. Fixed-focus simplifies the mechanics of the onboard camera, but it also makes close-ups of small subjects impossible. Even Apple's iPhone 3GS- which has variable focus- doesn't focus quite closely enough do anything but the largest insects. So when an aphid plague…
ddobbs | April 16, 2010The Columbia Journalismi review speaks plainly about Apple's insistence on editorial control of its iPad apps:
Look, let's face it. The iPad is the most exciting opportunity for the media in many years. But if the press is ceding gatekeeper status, even if it's only nominally, over its speech, then it is making a dangerous mistake. Unless Apple explicitly gives the press complete control over its ability to publish what it sees fit, the news media needs to yank its apps in protest.
Yes, this is that serious. It needs to wrest back control of its speech from Apple Inc.
grrlscientist | April 15, 2010tags: iPad: The World's Most Expensive Cat Toy, iPad, Macintosh, Apple, laptops, technology, IT, cultural observation, social commentary, humor, funny, pets, cats, streaming video
This cat is demonstrating the value of an iPad as a cat toy. Who cares if it's a bit on the expensive side, since the cat obviously enjoys playing with it?
Sure, it's probably the most controversial gadget that Apple has ever come out with, but come on, your cat will love you for it. Don't be cheap when it comes to cat toys.
grrlscientist | February 2, 2010tags: science, iPhone Apps, technology, education, dinosaurs, American Museum of Natural History, AMNH, streaming video
Introducing the first official iPhone app from the American Museum of Natural History, DINOSAURS: American Museum of Natural History Collections. This app lets paleontologists of all ages explore the Museum's famous fossil halls in depth.
DINOSAURS: American Museum of Natural History Collections contains more than 800 images from the Museum's archive, woven together to create a striking image of the world's most famous dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Double-tap or pinch to…
grrlscientist | January 31, 2010tags: iPad, MADTV, technology, commentary, NSFW, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
It's rude, it's disgusting, it's NOT SAFE FOR WORK! (but admit it, all of you thought this very thing when you first heard the name of Apple's newest technology, didn't you)
grrlscientist | January 30, 2010tags: Downfall, Hitler Responds to the iPad, technology, Apple, Hitler, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
Hitler has been dreaming about the day that Apple's tablet will be announced. That day has come and he is not pleased.
oracknows | January 28, 2010You knew it was coming. You knew from many previous incidents that it was inevitable:
Who knew Hitler was such a Mac geek?
Personally, although I think the iPad looks like a really cool device, I'm really not sure where it would fit into my life. I already have an iPhone, which I love, and I already have a MacBook Pro, which I also love. Given that, I just don't see the need for the iPad, at least not for me. However, I also know that I'm not the sort of person for whom the iPad was designed.
razib | December 6, 2009Apple's Game Changer, Downloading Now:
The way the industry once operated, "Each handset company would come up with its latest iterations and maybe have the hottest device of the season or not," says Ms. Huberty, the Morgan Stanley analyst. "Enter apps into the equation, and that changes. It goes from being a product cycle game to a platform game."
"People will look back on the iPhone as a turning point in the industry," says Craig Moffett, a telecom analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein. "The iPhone will be remembered as the first true handheld computer.
terrasig | June 17, 2009Seen yesterday in the local AP feed: Looks like a great partnership to access historic images on the iPhone or iTouch to satisfy pretty much any scholar or history enthusiast:
Duke and Apple to join forces
DURHAM -- Scholars and students who once had to travel to museums or libraries to view collections of historic images can now do so by clicking on their mobile device instead.
With the launch of DukeMobile 1.1, Duke University Libraries now offer the most comprehensive university digital image collection specifically formatted for Apple's iPhone or iTouch devices. It includes thousands of…
sporte | December 6, 2007I know it's strange! I never thought I would actually go to web sites (intentionally!) to watch computer ads. But the Mac guy is so cute! And the ads with Mac and PC are sooo funny!
I think these little film clips rank right up there with Steven Colbert and The Office.
What think you?